Author name: Booksquare

Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism.

File Under: Anonymous Tip

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We received a tip this morning of interest to those who write historical romance (leaving us so far out, we could be in). Word on the street is that Avon is desperately seeking historical romance in 90,000 to 100,000 word range. Apparently, they’re simply not getting quality submissions. Nothing in the Western vein, though Native American stories will be considered (we will, in the interest of keeping this post focused, refrain from offering our thoughts on this particular sub-genre of the romance world). Study current USA Today bestsellers for an idea of what they’re seeking. Yes, we find this tough […]

Publishers and Editors

Agent Speak: Boutique Agency

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Today’s conundrum: what makes an agency a “boutique” versus an ordinary agency? And, if you’re not a boutique, does that spell disaster? Or, if everyone’s a boutique agency, except those agencies that aren’t, is there an even hotter buzzword to describe a small, selective, hands-on agency? Just curious. Of course, this has nothing to do with the topic at hand. In this case, boutique means an agency filled with agents looking for just about every type of project out there. David Gernert, Erin Hosier, Tracy Howell, Karen Rudnicki, and Matt Williams represent a wide range of fiction and non-fiction. So

Agents

And So We See The Future

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Richard Curtis concludes (we believe) his series on Publishing in the 21st Century with a look at how computers have transformed the industry. Yes, children, it’s not just the fact that editors and agents are accepting submissions via email (and we do so appreciate those who do — though we may be less appreciative of those who reject via email). Curtis spends a lot of time focusing on blogs as the writers’ platform, and suggests that a good blog is an increasingly critical component of the publication process. He goes so far as to say: When traditional publishers talk about

Tools and Craft

Yet More Excitement

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We continue to work our way through On Writing (this means we should go to the gym more; or workout longer. Ha!), and we’re finding it fascinating (though, in some areas, fantastical — perhaps that is how life really is). Maybe it’s our intimacy with the subject that leads us to think writing for noir (can one write noir without a fontical flair?) publisher Hard Case is a logical fit for Stephen King. Yeah, definitely intimacy. He strikes us as the kind of guy we’d actually be able to talk to at a party. And, yeah, you, the one we’ve

Books/Mags/Blogs

Interesting Ruling, Trust Us

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Private Ryan is not indecent. You’re, like, all, why do I care? You write. You’re trying to capture a character. Sure, that character says and acts in ways that some don’t like. You could change things, sure, but is that true to the character? We were in an airport recently, and a woman, barely, sitting next to us was on the phone. She made about fifteen phone calls. It was like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle, but we got the gist: she as going home to study, but forgot her books at school. Yeah, well, we’ll leave our assessment of

Square Pegs

Yesterday’s News (Literally and Figuratively)

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Count us among the relieved. All this crazy technology is actually…wait…building writing skills. Some users of Instant Messenger go so far as to correct spelling. Avoid contractions (why, we don’t know; we love contractions). Some even form complete sentences. Again, we cannot explain the folly of youth. The Web Not the Death of Language

Square Pegs

File Under: Things That Make You Go Hmmm

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It is entirely possible that we don’t get the concept of fake books. Or rather, we don’t get the dividing line between a real book and a fake book. We understand plagiarism. We kind of comprehend bait and switch. It’s the part where an entire new work is written, right down to the reviews. Is it the book or the reviews that make the work fake? How does one distinguish between a pseudonym and a fake name? Why, oh why, doesn’t the press answer all the questions we could possibly ask? (Via The Literary Saloon at The Complete Review) China

Square Pegs

We’re Not Suggesting Anything

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Was it just yesterday that we sat cross-legged, scribbling notes on a post about Penguin, etc (and, today we realize that we missed “Pearson” in our alliteration game; such is the problem with karmic bliss)? At the time, based on our hobby of analyzing corporate woes (hey, we could drin–oh, never mind), we realized that someone had to go. You must, please, pardon our cynicism. We don’t know Dennis Stevenson, and we’re certainly not privy to his thought process, especially when it comes to making life-altering decisions. It’s simply that we spent far too much time working in Hollywood. You

Publishers and Editors

On Why We Keep An Okay Harlequin Presents from 1986 Handy

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Not that I don’t reread books. I’m sure all serious readers do, and for a variety of reasons: the pleasure of recognition, to see how the book has changed over the years (for they do, you know: they grow new limbs up there on the shelf), revisiting an oasis (sometimes it turns out to be a mirage) of order, because it’s near our chair and we’re too lazy to get up and fetch another. The many sides of ‘The Stranger’

Quote of the Week

The Other Side of the Dream

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They say that selling your second book is sometimes harder than selling your first. After all, you are a known commodity. People have expectations. You need to rise to a moment that someone else defines. That first book, you didn’t have all that extra baggage. This one, the second, now it’s for real. Yes, yes, yes, all that second book stuff is the essence of drama, but nobody wants to read about your struggles with The Man. Not interesting in the least. We all know that the first book is the stuff of dreams, the triumph of the spirit, and

Books/Mags/Blogs
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