Publishing Industry News

Oh dear, this was a wee bit late. My apologies, an unexpectedly busy weekend interfered. This week's publishing news and industry blogs covers 8/20-9/5/2016. It's a bit light, as summer tends to be slow and some of the major sites I follow have been on vacation.

Publishing News

Publishers once again appeal the GSU e-reserves ruling.

Amazon announces plans to open another brick-and-mortar location.


Industry Blogs

Agent Kristin Nelson shares Story Openings to Avoid.

Agent Kristine Kathryn Rusch continues her Contracts/Dealbreakers series by looking at the agent clause in publisher agreements, things she considers dealbreakers in agent contracts, how to hire a lawyer, and a look at an actual contract, released due to a lawsuit, with a breakdown of the problems in it. (It is worth mentioning that Rusch is strongly against hiring agents and prefers hiring contract lawyers.)

On the Editor's blog, questions about writing in deep point-of-view are answered. No, if your protagonist wouldn't think in similes and metaphors, you can't get away with using them in deep POV.

A look at the current publishing industry in Hong Kong and China.


Also, because I missed most of last week, a few pictures for public domain:

Flowers in Ravello, Italy

Sunset in Edenton by the salt marsh lighthouse

Succulent growing on a wall in Ravello, Italy

View in Praiano, Italy

Flower Pics

Guess who forgot Friday again?

Well then, a few more pictures for public domain:

I took Good Friday off and had a long weekend, and must say I have no regrets. Chores crossed off the list, relaxing, Twilight Princess, and Jessica Jones.

How do you spend your long weekends (when you manage to get them)?

Photos for public domain

You may have also noticed a lack of blog post last Monday (oops!), wherein work grew (as it occasionally does) and I lost track of day, month, year... So, as my usual apology, some more photos for public domain:

Weddings in stories?

Ack! I forgot Friday's post! Well, you know the drill. Some more pictures for public domain.

Why did I miss the post? I was a friend's wedding. Which makes me think about the weddings I've seen at the ends of stories. Not "Red Wedding" kind of weddings (obviously no one can stop reading a Martin-style wedding), but happy weddings.

It's not a bad way to wrap up a movie (usually one or two short clips of a wedding, like Aragorn and Arwen's wedding), but I rarely see weddings ending books. I've actually seen more weddings-for-the-sake-of-wedding endings in fantasy books than in romance books, probably because we all know what a regular wedding is like, but fantasy one is something new and different. (Although there are entire romance genres where a wedding starts the book... but that's serving a different purpose.) What was the last wedding you read in a book? Did you think it wrapped it up well?

Anyway, since I missed last Friday, here are some pictures for the public domain:

Let's call this the "textures and memes" set.

A little texture, anyone?

For all your meme-ing needs.

Light playing on a bottle.

I'm sure there's a thirsty meme for this one, too.

What TV shows get better over time?

Oops... Those long weekends make it hard to remember to post!

While my friends taunt my Facebook feed with glorious DragonCon pictures, I've been enjoying a lovely weekend at home, which is... actually, also nice. Chores and writing and relaxing and tasty food and walks with a camera. And watching the side bit of Netflix as I write.

There tend to be three kinds of TV shows, I've noticed: episodics, those that improve with time, and most common--those that decline as time goes on. You have a great first season, and then a second season comes through and just... fizzles. Sometimes a third season follows up and tries to reverse the errors of season two, with everything from deus ex machina to time travel.

Sometimes the problem is that the scriptwriters change and the second season no longer follows the plot laid out in the first. Whatever story had been posed, the plot becomes erratic, and the story loses coherency. Other times, the problem is that the story outlives the writer's original arch--a series expanded and renewed beyond its original plot's capabilities. It takes quite a bit of creativity to fix a series that gets more airtime than the original plot supports, although some series can handle it with adequate new stakes.

In fact, some series improve with time through that very same method. The first season's premise runs out, but a better premise moves in. Even better are the premises that are built open, made to be write years' worth of seasons. Episodic series tend to be able to survive just about everything (think monster-of-the-week or anything else where a plot rarely lasts more than a single episode). But dramas made to last, they rise or fall.

What TV shows hold up best over multiple seasons? Which series go from decent to great?

Well, more pictures for the public domain, for my lapse in timeliness.

Compilation of Public Domain pics

So to make it easier to find all the pictures I've released to public domain (for being late to post), I'm putting together a compilation post! All these pictures in this particular post are taken by me, and I've released them to public domain, where they can be used for any reason without need for acknowledgement or to obtain permission from me.

(Note that pictures in other posts are not public domain, and you should contact me to request permission to use them for commercial purposes.)

You can also find a bunch of images I've been retouching on this Pin board on Pinterest, which, although not originally made by me, are public domain in the US due to expired copyright.

Whoops! Pictures for Public Domain for forgetting to post

It's Memorial Day... a moment first to acknowledge those who gave their lives in service to the country. We enjoy many freedoms thanks to those willing to defend them.

  Also, I forgot to post, so a few more pictures released to the public domain. You'd think I'd learn better, wouldn't you? But it was a sunshine weekend in May, and there's hardly a more beautiful time of year.

As always when I do a "whoops, I forgot to post" post, these are public domain and free to use without acknowledgement, for any purpose.

Flowers

Look! Spring flowers!

(No, I'm not just trying to distract you from the fact that I forgot today's post... >.> I'm also trying to distract me, too.)

I'm releasing these photos to public domain status, because that's what I do when I forget a post. So sure, you can totally use these for any nefarious purpose you desire, without even worrying about crediting me.