Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Publishing Industry News

This week's Publishing News and industry blogs post covers 11/15-12/2.


Publishing News

Nook Press, Barnes & Noble's e-book self-publishing site, now offers POD self-publishing for print books. Also, B&N gets back into selling audiobooks.

Simon & Schuster opens e-lending to all libraries, even those that don't give readers a "buy it now" button.

Judge Cote approved the terms of settlement for Apple in the Apple vs the DOJ case. However, Apple doesn't have to pay the $400 million until the appeal has had a chance to overturn the settlement.


Industry Blogs

QueryTracker's Publishing Pulse for 11/21.

Live in Spain? Thinking about publishing? Writer Beware shares a warning that Author Solutions Inc, known as a US vanity publisher, is expanding into Spain under the name MeGustaEscribir. Avoid.

Agent Janet Reid answers questions and gives advice. She suggests you don't start out with a joke beginning--agents get such ridiculous queries that they take them seriously. And now that you have an agent, how do you avoid screwing up the relationship? (She gives 9 steps. Hint: Be polite to everyone, and don't panic.) Can you call it Stockholm syndrome in a world without a Stockholm? (Probably not; find another way to describe it if you're concerned with accuracy.) If your second manuscript steal elements from your unsold first, and you're worried about agents recognizing it, should you mention it's not the same book? (Change the title. If the title's different, the agent probably won't recognize it from the query.)

Reid answers more questions and gives more advice. What kind of gift is appropriate give your agent? (You don't have to give your agent a gift. If you must, a card is fine.) Is it better to go with an agent who reps one of your books at a time, or who wants to rep your whole career? (It's up to you, but here's the functional difference between the two approaches.)

Agent Nephele Tempest posts a couple of Friday Links blogs. 11/14, 11/21, 11/28. One of her posts is an interesting post on writing people of color if you're white.

On the Editor's Blog, a warning not to let your standards fall just because you're on the second book. Or the tenth. Or whatever. Every book should be your best work.

Some upcoming writing and publishing online workshops by the Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance Writers. Also, how to design a magic system for your fantasy world.

On the Books & Such Literary Agency blog, what you should know about FaceBook's latest revamp: the one that makes unpaid ads less visible.

Agent Jessica Faust reminds us to update our addresses if we've moved in the last year, now, so that tax forms go to the right houses.

Smashwords CEO Mark Coker posts that self-publishing is, yes, getting harder because of how many books are out there--but at the same time, it's still the best time to be an author. He gives advice on how to succeed.

Just because NaNoWriMo is over, doesn't mean the tools aren't still useful. GalleyCat tip #15: consult cheatsheets, like color reference guides and The Hero's Journey map. And more NaNoWriMo tips!

GoodReads publishes an infographic on reading and gender, as in, what percent of a female author's readers are male versus what percent of a male author's readers are female, and how many readers there are of each gender.

Not sure what book to get your reader friend for the holidays? Penguin has a book recommendation hotline! (But obviously, you should get them Into The Tides. [/end self-plug])


2 comments:

  1. I have to agree, it is the best time to be an author. Thanks for all the nice information in this post.

    ReplyDelete