The Lone Voice In The Publishing Wilderness, Or We Found A Man Who Agrees With Us

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It’s certainly not easy to do, let us tell you, but Peter Olson sees things our way. Larger formats and higher prices may not be the key to enticing readers: “The acceptance of that format with that particular size and at those price points is so great, it would be a major change if readers gravitated to something different at this point,” Olson said. “You’re looking at a very attractive product from a media point of view,” he added. “It’s a lot of hours of reading for a very little amount of money.” That and bigger books mean even bigger […]

Publishers and Editors

Laugh? Cry? We Simply Don’t Know

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First we’d like to welcome Conner to the ranks of published authors. Conner, a young writer, recently experienced the heartbreak of rejection (subject matter deemed too “violent”) and the joy of seeing his work in print (first link below). If creativity must be contained within undefined boundaries, then today’s kids are losing out. Okay, perhaps we can buy into the notion that, by virtue of nationality, Agatha Christie is “un-American”. But Jack London? To say that we’re disheartened by the notion that an author’s personal beliefs would overshadow his contributions to the literary world would be an understatement. We do

Square Pegs

If This Is News, Please Raise Your Hand

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We realize it’s the job of the press to find new and intriguing angles to not-so new and intriguing stories. We appreciated this article on mystery fiction because the author took it up a notch. As it turns out, mystery novels reflect some very basic aspects of life. And they do it with immediacy and relevance. (Via

Books/Mags/Blogs

There Ought To Be A Support Group For This

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It what can only be considered the best of good luck, author Seth Greenland (The Bones, guesting at The Elegant Variation) just happens to have a friend with a debut novel on the shelves right now. This is good luck because so does Greenland. This allows Greenland to explore the trials and associated tribulations of such a debut from a distance. He doesn’t need to explore his own behaviors or fears — clearly his friend provides sufficient fodder for examination. Or somethign like that; it strikes us that one may not necessarily wish to examine fodder. Remember, the author described

Square Pegs

More Formulas For A Sunny Morning

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We have safely returned to the Center of the Universe (complete with a warm, if uniquely feline, welcome home). It is good be back in California — water is much cheaper and easier to find here. We left SXSW with a notebook full of items of interest to writers, and will hopefully dig deep into our lazy soul to share them. Until such time (our other welcome home gift is a trip to Culver City for fun and work. Not necessarily in that order), we continue to bring you the same high level of service you’ve come to expect. In

Square Pegs

He Does The Math So We Don’t Have To

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Someone recently said that math is scary. It’s not — it’s just plays the heavy on TV. What should be scary is not understanding math as it relates to your business. In the past, we’ve talked about your royalty statement is real-life algebra (you know, the stuff you swore you’d never use). Mad Max Perkins of BookAngst 101 helpfully tracks the advance earn-out process using real numbers. All you have to do is substitute your royalty rate and advances into his formula. Easy as pie*. Mad Max also has a few thoughts on the importance of reviews and a grammar-bliss

Tools and Craft

Editorial Changes Crossing Our Inbox

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We are reminded that we used to be much more on top of things. Old age is rough. Really rough. However, today we received word of many changes. Being lazy and jetlagged (not mutuallly exclusive concepts), we’ll start with the easy and work our way up to rough over time. Tanya Staratt is now Tanya Staratt, late of Harlequin, Toronto office. Word is she’s gone next month. She was a great person to work with, despite the fact that our work and her publisher never seemed to find common ground. Shannon Godwin is leaving Silhouette, presumably for another job in

Publishers and Editors

And Now We Are Reminded of Why Fiction Matters

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After our last rant, we thought we’d take a little break and contemplate life. No fun, that. We merely moved to the next item on our list (we are experimenting with the concept of getting things done — so far the things are winning). And read an article that made it all clear. It doesn’t matter how serious you are or what color your cover is; fiction is all about telling a story. I you can have a part in changing your world while doing it, that is it’s own reward. The writing reflects the rising discontent in the kingdom

Square Pegs

When Snob Appeal Backfires

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You know, Jodi Picoult had us for a second there. We were buying into her angst, so to speak. But when she didn’t connect the dots, she lost us after presenting what would be a fine argument. To summarize, her book The Pact resonates with high school students and is being included on reading lists. Once, a mother declared the book “trash” and wanted it banned (our regular readers know how we feel about this subject). Picoult disagreed — her book was not smut or trash. No, Picoult believes her books are better than that. They are not “beach” reads

Books/Mags/Blogs

The Heavyweight Champion of Arguments

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In this corner, we have publishers citing evidence that consumers want to pay more for bigger books (The Reading Glasses Argument). In the other corner, we have a study that suggest readers want to pay less for books, size not mentioned (The Books Are Expensive Argument). Sure, your first reaction might be that the British are cheap, but that argument doesn’t hold up for long. Publishers, noting the decline of mass market paperback sales, are legitimately alarmed, and of course it makes sense to think that aging eyes are responsible for a decline of of approximately 30 million units over

Books/Mags/Blogs
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