Soft Skull and PopMatters Sitting In A Tree

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We’re a little sad that we didn’t hear it from Richard Nash directly (nary a word on his blog even, but clearly a man can’t do everything all at once), but we know how busy publishing moguls can be. Besides the news is everywhere, it wasn’t like we were going to miss the announcement. Soft Skull Press has entered into a mutually beneficial alliance PopMatters. The new baby will be called PopMatters Books Imprint. But we’ll let them explain the union in their own words: The PopMatters Books Imprint will extend the discussion and documentation of global pop cultural matters […]

Publishers and Editors

Tips For The Self-Published

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As we’ve noted in the past, there are a lot of good reasons to go the self-publishing route. Most who choose this option don’t understand the sheer effort involved with this option — in fact, if you look around at advice for the self-published, it often seems overly optimistic with a bright red halo of unrealistic. Be prepared for hard work. Getting your book on the shelves of a major retailer can be done, but is that your best option? Before we look at the big boys, let’s look at another option. Claire Zulkey, writing at Media Bistro’s “MBToolBox”, suggests

Marketing For Introverts, Non-Traditional Publishing

On The Question You Cannot Avoid

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We dread this question because we know that readers are hoping we will relate some sort of mystical epiphany that we attained after years of meditation, or at the very least, an encounter with an elderly uncle who shared family secrets on his deathbed before swearing us to secrecy. And we writers will often oblige and invent a crowd-pleasing moment of revelation, or worse yet, refuse to answer by invoking the vow of silence we made to our uncle of blessed (and imaginary) memory. Mysteries in Plain Sight

Quote of the Week

Yeah, But What’s For Dessert?

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Far too many writers have longed for the opportunity to suffer from Second Novel Syndrome, only to discover the disease is at least as debilitating as puberty. And like adulthood, SNS may be something you live with until a kind-hearted friend takes you aside and says, “Dude, seriously, people are getting creeped out by you sleeping with such a young book.” The conventional view on SNS [Second Novel Syndrome] is that it is a seizure caused by a loss of innocence. Don DeLillo said a first novel comes to the writer as a gift and he doesn’t necessarily know how

Tools and Craft

Not Just A Southern Thing

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New York Publisher. Sounds so big, doesn’t. All those bright lights and tall buildings. Lunches at Michael’s with your incredibly hip (and incredibly young) editor. Both of you are wearing black. It’s slimming and repels city grime. But is a New York publisher right for you? Maybe you’d like someone willing to take a risk. Maybe you’re looking for a personal touch. Maybe you’re looking for someone like Kathy Pories of Algonquin Books. She’s looking for you, especially if you have passion for your work. I think we have such a proliferation of well-trained and well-schooled writers these days who

Publishers and Editors

It’s Your Fiction – Do Something With It

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We’ve never been fond of the starving artist model, but do understand that making your living from writing alone is a tough prospect. Sure there are alternatives: Though you’ll often hear them complaining, there are a thousand ways for writers to make money. They can be waiters, for instance. Or work in parking garages. If all else fails, there are always grants. And if even that fails? That’s what parents/spouses-who-are-lawyers are for. Also a generous patron. 2006 will be remembered as the year that changed the entertainment industry forever. Creative minds will find innovative ways to bring their art to

The Future of Publishing

File Under: Ho Hum Yawn Whatever

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We admit it: we spent about five minutes last year trying to work up enthusiasm for the mystery that might be JT Leroy. Hmm, that’s a lie. We only made it three minutes, tops. As it turns out, we didn’t care, don’t care, and probably won’t care in the future. Unless there’s an opportunity for making fun of someone or something. Then we will invoke our gender-given right to change our mind. Apparently Leroy has a stand-in for public appearances. Also, apparently Leroy doesn’t exist. Or not. It appears the name is a pseudonym that comes complete with backstory. Quite

Books/Mags/Blogs

The Da Vinci Coup: Leave No Shelf Space Free

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Bear with us a moment while we work through our confusion: Random House will be printing five million copies (give or take) of the paperback version of The Da Vinci Code. Now to us, that seems excessive given the fact that everyone in the known universe already has a copy. The hardcover has topped bestseller lists for years now — is there really anyone out there who hasn’t read the thing? Oh right, collectors. There are Dan Brown freaks who want each and every edition. And people who were waiting to buy the paperback, though one presumes a large percentage

Books/Mags/Blogs

On Precision In Language

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A panel of linguists has decided the word that best reflects 2005 is “truthiness,” defined as the quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts. Honestly, “truthiness” is selected the word of 2005

Quote of the Week

The Gap and How to Use It

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This is a how to article. It’s about the Gap. Long before there was a store by that name, the Gap slipped into the vernacular, worming its way onto TV. Picture this: in the year 1966, news comes from three sources including Walter Cronkite. TV news is sedate, stentorian, ominous. There was a Missile Gap in the Sixties, a Knowledge Gap after Sputnik. On the fashion scene archival evidence suggests that women of the era bore an odd resemblance to David Bowie, not as he appeared then, as much as he does now. Every squeeze of the aerosol can created

The Business of Publishing
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