If You Can’t Beat’em, Publish Them
Published August 22nd, 2011 | 
For the past couple of years, traditional publishers have been scrambling to respond to the changes wrought upon them by the digital revolution. In the beginning, they poo-pooed new technology such as the ereaders and POD. They had nothing but scorn for self-publishers who chose to publish and distribute their own works, bypassing traditional channels. They dismissed them all as untalented amateurs and lamented the loss of quality control. Now, it seems, they are seeing the benefit of recruiting successful self-publishers to mainstream publishing deals.
This is nothing new, really. Some successful self-publishers have eventually gotten book deals with major publishers in the past. Remember that kid who wrote the fantasy novels about dragons? Or, how about that guy who wrote the sappy Christmas-themed novel. Sure, it’s been known to happen. But now it’s happening with a guy who sold a million copies of his thrillers on the Kindle.
Remember John Locke? I blogged about him earlier this year. He sold his thrillers directly on the Kindle Market. Now Simon & Schuster has smelled the coffee and has decided that it’s not such a bad idea to snap up a writer with a huge built-in audience from self-publishing. Locke did all the work himself, now S&S gets to reap benefits from his hard work. Another self-published e-book writer, Amanda Hocking, had already signed a 4-book deal with St. Martin’s Press. This is the future of publishing, folks. Get used to it.
Everybody Thinks They’re Nostradamus
Published November 18th, 2010 | MIT Media Lab founder, Nicholas Negroponte, predicts that printed books will be dead and gone within five years. Do you believe that?
I don’t. And if I were him, I wouldn’t bet money or buy insurance based on that prediction (I’d hate to see the insurance quote for anything based on such a premature speculation, anyway). Truly, the only conclusion one could reasonably make at this point in the history of the eBook is that, yes, the market for printed books will shrink dramatically over the next several years. But, recall that publishing prognosticators have been forecasting the death of printed books for well over a decade now and it simply hasn’t come to pass. My feeling has always been and remains that printed books will continue, only the means of production and method of distribution will change. Certainly, the mass market paperback (those once-cheap-but-now-not-so-much potboilers you typically find in supermarkets, drug stores and in bus/train stations) will disappear. We’re already seeing that happen. And it’s only logical to conclude that a product that is no longer cheap or terribly convenient for readers cannot compete with eBooks, now that the e-readers have dropped in price to more affordable levels. What will probably happen is that traditional book printers will probably go out of business as well as many, many book stores. On-demand, book-at-a-time printing will become cheaper and more efficient and actual book-printing will be in the hands of smaller, more agile publishing houses. The line between professional and amateur writers will blur etc. and so on . . .
Do you believe me? Well . . . don’t. While my own prognosticating is at least based on logic and actual market trends, its just a prediction and, as with all such predictions, you never know which way the head with roll until the axe falls. So don’t bet money or take out any insurance on me either. Just don’t believe anybody that puts an expiration date on printed books because they really don’t know what they are talking about.
The Healthy Writer
Published November 4th, 2010 | As we enter National Novel Writing Month and so many of us writers begin our 50000-word quest, I’d like to reiterate a point I’ve made in the past about health and fitness for writers. Basically, if you spend a lot of your time, sitting on your ass in front of a computer, staring at a howard miller wall clock, eating out of a microwave, you’re going to gain weight and make yourself vulnerable to health problems.
And it’s not just about losing weight at all costs. You’re not going to get fit and healthy taking diet pills appetite suppressants or other stimulants. It’s about eating a reasonable diet and maintaining a regular exercise regime.
So, as you begin your quest for novel-writing gold, this month, don’t just make a commitment to write 50000 words, make a commitment to yourself to maintain a healthy balance. Get plenty of sleep. Eat a good breakfast. When writing, set limits. Don’t write and write and write nonstop. Take breaks. Exercise — not in a gym, at least take a walk and do a few jumping jacks. Drink plenty of water and limit you consumption of alcohol, caffeine, sodas. Get Luck.
