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Enduring the Long Road to Publication

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This past June, I got a tattoo: three ginkgo leaves that span nearly the length of my inner forearm. The leaves dance in an invisible breeze, and I love it. My mother-in-law believes it’s a temporary tattoo, one that will rub off with summer swims in Seattle-area waters of body—lakes, canals, chlorinated pools, Puget Sound. But no, it’s not going anywhere.

One of my dear friends and writing partners told me, “You know what I love most about your tattoo?” Without waiting for me to answer, she waved her hands in circles, palms open toward me, indicating my whole exterior: my Capri pants and gingham-checked blouse, probably my cross necklace too. “This,” she said. “This outfit and you and a tattoo. It doesn’t make sense in all the right ways.”

Getting a tattoo, however, was not about getting a tattoo. It was all about the ginkgo leaves. [Read more…]

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“Bracing For It” in 19 Languages: AmazonCrossing Opens to Submissions

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Looking for the Lingo The first thing Bloomberg News' Allesandro Speciale wanted to know when he sat down to interview me here at Frankfurt Book Fair's Business Club is: "Is translation as big an issue this year as it seems?" Answer: yes. As the glut of content in the book marketplace deepens, what could be more natural than to look to distant readerships for new sales? Canelo publisher Michael Bhaskar said it in starkly frank terms during his onstage interview with me yesterday, … [Read more...]

Trade Shows, Authors, and Expectations

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What If We're Asking Too Much of Our Book Fairs? When our good colleague Jael McHenry wrote What You Would Have Learned at BEA earlier this month, she did a fine job of listing some of the common views and assumptions among many writers about the industry's major trade shows. Excerpting here: If you're an aspiring author, there's pretty much no reason to go...If you've ever needed a physical representation of what it's like to be a reader, this is it — rows and rows, tables and tables, … [Read more...]

The Dreaded Training Debate: What If It Can’t Be Taught?

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No, this is not about talent vs. skill. Let's just set that aside for today, shall we? There's no need to engage the ineffable this time. "Like toadstools," one seasoned observer called it in a note to me recently -- this sudden proliferation of "author services," especially the ones there to teach you, instruct you, train you. They're everywhere, these kitchen-sink companies, and many of them seem to be peddling (or claiming they do) parts of the job we're not even sure can be … [Read more...]

The Book-Promotion Balloon: Where’s the Helium?

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Regarding the graphic above, man, was I glad I was able to bear down on those lolling tuna boats Dickens and Hugo—they need to get up from their on-deck hammocks and at least think about hitting the book-peddling accelerator before I catch them. Though I do hope I didn't peeve dear Charlotte; however, she being the eldest of the sisters, she's learned how to take these roller-coasterings. [pullquote]But alas, all that glitters is not gold stars: this image of my book billowings was as … [Read more...]

The New Class System

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This month in keeping with our look inside publishing, I’m departing from my usual craft advice to give you my view of the new state of the industry. I don’t see the new shape of things as many do: the twilight of the dinosaurs, the old-thinking Big Five print publishers staggering, falling to their knees and heading for extinction as they’re overwhelmed by a nimble army of small, warm-blooded mammals whose claws are the sharp, smart, flexible tools of electronic publishing. It’s true that … [Read more...]

A Call To Arms

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There is a revolution taking place. You can’t miss it, really. It’s rising up all around us—in the way books are published, in how they find their audience, and how authors interact with their readers. The thing about revolutions is that they are both exciting and scary. People and systems are vulnerable during revolutions when all that change and upheaval is taking place. But we on the front lines, or even those of us just hanging out on the sidelines with a vested interest, can be a part … [Read more...]