Publishing Industry News

What's been going on in the past couple of weeks in the publishing industry?


Industry News

Amazon pushes its ad-supported Kindle to consumers. This lowers the price of most Kindle products, with only the Kindle Fire lacking advertising sponsors. Experts also estimate that Amazon eats a $10 loss on each Fire sold. Consumers can also purchase 'ad-free' Kindles, but these are no longer considered the standard model and are more expensive.

The Google Nexus 7 Tablet will advertise its e-reading compatibility, and recommend ebooks.

New Leaf Literary & Media spins off parent company Nancy Coffey Literary Agency. The two literary agencies will continue to work together, with New Leaf handling sub-rights for Nancy Coffey Literary.


NewsCorp, which owns amongst many other companies HarperCollins and TV network Fox, will be splitting its publishing and media businesses.

California libraries will be lending 10,000 self-published books from Smashwords, and will allow library patrons to upload books to Smashwords for self-publication.

The Authors Guild, nine indie publishers, and Readerlink (a wholesaler) all submit protests to the DOJ against the settlements with Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster, based on the idea that the settlements will encourage predatory pricing by Amazon and will eliminate competition.

Odyl is launching the Facebook app Riffle, which it hopes will become the Pintrest of books.

Industry Blogs

QueryTracker's Publishing Pulse for 6/22.

What's the purpose of a query letter? It's not to tell the agent what happens in your book; it's to sell the manuscript to the agent. QueryTracker helps us write our "novel summary" paragraph by reminding us what it's all about.

QueryTracker also defines when and how to use dialogue tags and punctuation. Use dialogue tags when you're not sure who's speaking. Don't have long conversations without tags. If you put in body language or physical action, you can probably skip the tag altogether, but make sure you end your sentence with a period if the sentence is really over.

Ash Krafton on QT tells us where writing contests come in: the feedback helps us polish even if we don't win, and it looks good if we do. It's a good way to test the waters and discover if you're ready to submit to agents.

Everyone knows to start a story with active writing. But does this mean action? Not always; active writing is hook-you, grab-you-by-the-brainstem-and-rope-you-in, can't put it down writing. That doesn't necessarily mean a car chase or a death-defying stunt. Agent Kristen reminds us of the difference between the two. Sometimes this even breaks the show-don't-tell rule. If the author pulls it off, then the rule should be broken -  only if the author pulls it off! A reminder that rules aren't laws.

She also offers fantasy writers a blast of hope: apparently agents have been looking for epic fantasy lately. But if you're an urban fantasy writer, it's a tough market.

Rachelle Gardner discusses how agents choose a publisher when there's more than one offer on the table. Is the whole team enthusiastic? Is the editor a good match for the author? What are the contract terms, and what history does the publisher have with this genre? What's the author's opinion? And what's the money?

Heather Kopp guest blogs for Rachelle Gardner with a discussion on why you should go ahead and start blogging, even if you're unpublished. On the other hand, Gardner reminds us that unpublished novelists' first duty is to write, not build a platform, so don't freak out if you're not yet ready to begin the social media crawl.

Nathan Bransford asks a question that's got my curiosity going: Are interactive books like color TV? In twenty years, will non-interactive books be like black and white television?

Buddy Media puts out a cheat sheet for good tweeting, as in when and how your tweets will get the most engagement. Link to the GalleyCat summary since the Buddy Media link requires downloading to see the cheat sheet.


What major industry news have you encountered in the past couple of weeks?

Wednesday Writing Prompt: You wake up here, what next?

It's the beginning of summer (in the Northern hemisphere, anyway). You've been plodding along through work, school, or life in general, and the thought crosses your mind that you might be getting stuck in a rut.

One night, peering out the window, you notice a lighting storm in the distance. It seems to be headed your way, so you unplug your computer and then go to bed as usual. Strange dreams plague you, mostly nonsense, and you're pretty sure at one point you remember something about a giant robot.

Morning comes, and sleep hangs tightly onto your eyelids. You lay in your soft bed, wondering why it seems so much brighter than usual in your room, and why you're still so tired. For that matter, what's wrong with the bed? It's all... sandy...

You open your eyes, and see this:

What happened, and what's going to happen next?

Creating a fantasy language: Lesson 3

Part 3: Making it more complex.
(Creating a fantasy language: (Lesson 1, Rationale, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 4, Choosing words, Creating an Alphabet)

In part one of writing a fantasy language, you made root words and began to make vocabulary. In part two, you created the basic sentence structure. The next logical step is to get more complex: begin making more complicated sentences by adding more of what you already have.

Now that you’re getting more than a few words, you’ll want to start reading your sentences aloud (or whispering them to yourself at your desk, whichever). Not only will this help avoid writing things that can’t be spoken, it will also start hinting to you where you need punctuation.

Start with a review, something that you can already do:

You put a ball down on the floor.

ut (you) (male)

Cortan (ball)

nansan (to put down)

ne (a)

ke (the)

bason (floor)

tep (on)

You on the floor put down a ball.

ut tep ke Bason nansanla ne Cortan.

Remember, our basic sentence structure is

(Who) (where) (what happens) (what)

Or, more grammatically: (subject)(preposition)(verb)(object)

This leads to a question, what if it’s the subject to which the preposition applies? For example, let’s say we’re talking about a person on a chair.

at (he)

Witkin(chair)

New rule: when the preposition applies to the subject, each word in the prepositional phrase gains a prefix of the same gender as the subject (in this case, a- for male).

He, on the chair, puts a ball down.

He (the one on the chair) puts down a ball.

at atep ake aWitkin nansanda ne Cortan.

Okay: PROBLEM. I just tried to read that aloud. (Go on, try it.) See what I mean? It’s hard to say. People try to avoid speech patterns that are difficult to say.

So let’s alter this rule.

Revised rule: When the preposition applies to the subject, the preposition and the object of the preposition gain a prefix of the same gender as the subject.

He (the one on the chair) puts down a ball.

at atep ke aWitkin nansanda ne Cortan.

Now read that aloud. For me, this was much easier – and only a one-letter change!

Now let’s see how this combines with a preposition that applies to the object as well.

it (she)

(who)(where who is)(where object goes)(what happens)(to what)

(subject)(subject’s prepositional phrase)(object’s prepositional phrase)(verb)(object)

She on the chair puts a ball down on the floor.

She on the chair on the floor puts down a ball.

it itep ke iWitkin tep ke Bason nansanda ne Cortan.

Now read it aloud.

I don’t know about you, but I had to pause for breath between the prepositional phrases. That’s usually a sign that a comma will be used. Let’s add some punctuation to that:

New rule: put a comma after prepositional phrases applying to the subject.

She on the chair, on the floor puts down a ball.

it itep ke iWitkin, tep ke Bason nansanda ne Cortan.

Now for a little practice:

She on the floor drops a ball on a table.

Cortan (ball)

san (to drop)

ne (a)

ke (the)

bason (floor)

tep (on)

it (she)

Witkin (table)

She on the floor, on a chair drops a ball.

it itep ke iBason, tep ne Witkin sani ne Cortan.

You (the guy under the chair) drop the table to the floor.

You under the chair drop the table to the floor.

ut (you)

uz (under)

ne (a)

ke (the)

Witkin (chair)

tep (on)

Hoskon (table)

Bason (floor)

ti (to)

You under the chair, on the floor drop the table.

ut a’uz ke aWitkin, ti ke Bason sanla Hoskon.

What new rules did you create for your language? Or try writing a sentence using these rules, and share your results in the comments!

Vocabulary so far:

san: to drop	nansan: to put down	nansanko: to lie down	ko: self	koma: self-aware
uzko: to be sick	kopalli: to self-reprimand	palli: to reprimand	uz: under	syl: to cast magic
sylpana: the magic source	pana: lake	ako: I (male)	iko: I (female)	utu: you (object)
ata: him	iti: her	oto: it (obj)	at: he	it: she
ut: you	ot: it (subject)	der: to cause	ne: the	kes: one
des: two	tres: three	fes: four	res: five	ses: six
pes: seven	les: eight	nes: nine	doc: ten	cortan: ball
hoskon: table	elti: into	el: in	fodratan: anger	fodrishin: hostility
fodrish: hostile	del: to create	witkin: chair	bason: floor	borr: to roll
dupon: bowl	tep: on	laksh: to give	Merin: flower	Stiton: hair

The Word Box: Randomness vs. Chaos for writers

As defined by the Free Online Dictionary:

Randomness:
1. Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective2. Mathematics & Statistics Of or relating to a type of circumstance or event that is described by a probability distribution.3. Of or relating to an event in which all outcomes are equally likely, as in the testing of a blood sample for the presence of a substance.
Chaos: 
1. A condition or place of great disorder or confusion.2. A disorderly mass; a jumble.3. The disordered state of unformed matter and infinite space supposed in some cosmogonic views to have existed before the ordered universe.4. Mathematics A dynamical system that has a sensitive dependence on its initial conditions.

Today, I'm looking at randomness vs. chaos in the scientific and mathematical sense. Is there a difference between something being chaotic, and something being random? Yes.

Randomness, as summarized in the mathematical lingo, is closest to definition #2 above. It has to deal with the probability distribution*. The point is that truly random things are out of our hands; systems including randomness cannot be predicted because they cannot be controlled.

*To get an idea of what probability distribution is, it's the odds of something happening. Your chances of rolling any given number are theoretically 1 out of 6 on a 6-sided die. However, rolling two dice means you can roll any number 2-12. It's more likely that you'll roll a seven than a twelve because there are more ways to roll a 7 (5+2, 4+3, 1+6) than ways to roll a 12 (6+6). So if you roll one die, your probability distribution says that every possible outcome has an equal chance of occurring (i.e., you're equally likely to roll any number 1-6); if you roll two dice, you're more likely to roll certain numbers than others, according to your probability distribution.

Chaos, on the other hand, is all about not having randomness. The idea is that every teeny-tiny differences in beginning circumstances make huge differences later on, and that the equation is affected by many, many things. It's considered unpredictable because the equation is so complicated that people cannot hope to measure everything that goes into it.

Weather is considered to be chaotic. There are so many variables that it's impossible to predict exactly what will happen. Yet this doesn't change the fact that weather follows patterns and is certainly affected by circumstances.

It's not random (you know in August at the equator you won't have snow), but the difference between a hurricane hitting the coast or missing it may be something tiny (like the heat rising off a concrete parking lot making an updraft that slightly shifts the course of a breeze that warms a current of air that rises up and leaves room for colder air below it...). Systems including chaos cannot be predicted because they are too complicated to measure every bit that goes into them.

What does this mean as writers, in terms of which to use? 

It means that random should be used when nothing influences how something turns out. Obviously what you put in will determine what comes out (you won't roll a 14 on a 6-sided die), but which of the possible outcomes occurs is not definitively controlled. Examples of random things: rolling a die, drawing names from a hat, winning the lottery, possibly meeting a soul mate (depending on world), which genes you'll get from each parent

It means that chaotic should be used when the results are too complex to be predicted. Examples of chaotic events: horse racing, weather systems, the results of a medicine on a new patient, the effects of a childhood trauma on an adult

Taking into account standard usage, you can get away with using random in most scenarios. It's almost impossible to create a truly random system (I could make arguments about rolling dice being chaotic, and I'm sure someone is already debating the randomness of genetics), but as far as most people are concerned, "close enough" means "I can't predict how this will turn out, so it counts."

However, if you're dealing with a mathematical or scientific issue, your character is more likely to use chaotic if they're a scientist. They probably won't notice (or won't mention) if someone else uses random instead, unless it's a particularly clear-cut case and they're feeling picky.

What does this mean as writers, in terms of plot?


Personally, I want major points of randomness to be foreshadowed beforehand, so they don't seem to be coming out of left field. Minor points can make good plot twists, or be part of the world - but beware of misusing them. "And then she rolled a 7 and won the hero's freedom" will probably leave the reader feeling cheated.

Chaotic elements are when things escalate out of a character's control. Now those are fun. Even better if the character sees it getting out of hand and tries to do something to stop it. Then it becomes a chase of trying to change the outcome by adding in favorable variables to the problem, and those don't always turn out as they should.

I recommend using random elements only to create problems, and never to solve them. As I heard Cherry Adair once put it, your reader will never believe it if random chance helps your character, but will always believe it if chance makes things harder.


Do you have any random elements in your stories? If so, what are they? If not, is there anything that appears random, but isn't?

Wednesday Writing Prompt

Need a little something to spark your creativity? Get the muse going with random dialogue that lets your imagination run wild.

This week's challenge:
Use this dialogue to write a story in less than 150 words (including these, meaning you get 125 to play with):

"You're late."
"Sorry, sir. My time machine broke down halfway back from next week, and I had to walk the rest of the way home."

Post your stories in the comments below, or throw them into your works in progress if they fit!

Creating a fantasy language: basic sentences

Lesson 2
With a little vocabulary under your belt, it’s time to begin constructing grammar. Start simple: How to construct a basic sentence.

(Creating a fantasy language: (Lesson 1, Rationale, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 4, Choosing words, Creating an Alphabet)

Chances are, as you created vocabulary, you created patterns in your words. For me, most nouns end with –an, -in, or –on. Adjectives had no endings, and verbs in infinitive form had no endings because they took endings when conjugated.

Let’s start with verbs.

Your first rule is to decide how to conjugate your verbs. When I was learning German, we looked at 6 present-tense ways to conjugate a verb:

to walk:

I walk

you walk

he/she/it walks

they walk

you all walk

(formal) you walk

In this language, I’ve decided gender is important. So I’m going to be more specific:

san (to drop):

I male: sana

I female: sani

you m: sanla

you f: sanli

he: sanda

she: sandi

it: sando

they: sandia

you all: sanlia

you formal: sanla si/sanli si

Now let’s make a sentence. I want to say, “I drop a ball.” The speaker is feminine.

Relevant vocabulary:

iko (I, female)

san (to drop)

a (ne)

cortan (ball)

My sentence is:

iko sani ne Cortan.

Note that I’m not capitalizing the sentence at this point. If you plan on using capital letters (say, capitalizing all direct objects and objects of prepositions), then that is a grammar rule to begin working on here. Therefore, I am not capitalizing the beginning of my sentence to avoid confusion.

Let’s try another sentence.

She makes him angry.

Or, literally, “she causes anger in him.”

it (she)

der (to cause)

ata (him)

el (in)

fodratan (anger)

it el Ata deri Fodratan.

she in him causes anger.

Because I once decided that prepositions go before the verb in complex verbs, I’m following that up by placing the prepositional phrase before the verb in the sentence. This means the adjective gets pushed back to the end of the sentence.

This basic structure can become a rule:

(Who) (where) (what happens) (what)

He falls into a lake.

at (he)

sanko (to fall)

elti (into)

pana (lake)

ne (a)

at elti ne Pana sankoa.

he into a lake falls

You all lie down under a table.

utia (you all)

nansanko (lie down)

uz (under)

ne (a)

hoskon (table)

utia uz ne Hoskon nansankolia.

y’all under a table lie down

What's the basic sentence structure of your language? What rules (or patterns if they're not strict) do you have so far?

Vocabulary so far:

san: to drop	nansan: to put down	nansanko: to lie down	ko: self	koma: self-aware
uzko: to be sick	kopalli: to self-reprimand	palli: to reprimand	uz: under	syl: to cast magic
sylpana: the magic source	pana: lake	ako: I (male)	iko: I (female)	utu: you (object)
ata: him	iti: her	oto: it (obj)	at: he	it: she
ut: you	ot: it (subject)	der: to cause	ne: the	kes: one
des: two	tres: three	fes: four	res: five	ses: six
pes: seven	les: eight	nes: nine	doc: ten	cortan: ball
hoskon: table	elti: into	el: in	fodratan: anger	fodrishin: hostility
fodrish: hostile	del: to create

HTML Tables

Publishing Industry News

What's been going on in the publishing industry over the past two weeks? Quick links and summaries for your perusal:


Industry News

Barnes & Noble urges the DOJ to reject the settlements of 3 big publishers over the price-fixing lawsuit, saying that the settlements are not in the public's best interest and that there is no factual basis that the settlements will actually address the issues raised by the lawsuit.

E-book retailer Kobo reveals plans for a self-publishing platform. Author royalties will be up to 70% and authors can set the prices as they please, including giving books away for free.

Hachette Group is beginning a new line for commercial fiction called Redhook.

For Cloud, iPad, and Android, Kindle now supports childrens' books, graphic novels, and comics.

In the Authors Guild vs Google lawsuit over the book-scanning project, Google asks for an extension to file its motion for summary judgement. Also, French publishers drop their lawsuit, working out a settlement with Google to allow out-of-print books by French authors to be scanned.

Publishing companies (including Amazon) will soon be able to have their URLs end in .book.

Think Amazon's the only company dealing with book scammers? Not so. Barnes & Noble's PubIt! bans Nora A. Roberts, a scammer trying to cash in on the famous Nora Roberts.

Want to weigh in on the DOJ's lawsuit against major publishers? Deadline for public commentary is June 25, so get your letters written before then. (Where to send your letter)


Industry Blogs

QueryTracker's Publishing Pulse for 5/8.

Nathan Bransford posts The Last Few Weeks in Books.

Agent Natalie Lakosil suggests that writers do not requery a revised manuscript to the same agent unless the agent originally asked for a revise and resubmit, or the story has been basically completely rewritten. Requerying the same agent with a different manuscript is a good idea, though.

Jami Gold posts her ultimate guide to pitch writing.

The Zola Social Reader is an app that brings the people back into bookselling, allowing critics and friends to make their choices known instead of relying solely on algorithms for book recommendations. Notes can be shared, and you'll be able to write in the margins and highlight and share that, too. The beta version has just been released; the official is expected no sooner than July.

Rachelle Gardner reflects on what's changed in the past 4 years. She also talks about using the setting as a character in your book - the correct setting can enhance your characters' moods, display their faults, challenge them, or show what they want to be. And she advices us on using emotion in our publishing careers. The key to getting someone to buy your book is to connect them emotionally; if an agent turns you down, it may because they're having a bad day themselves, so don't let it get you down; if you want your readers to remember your book - they'll always remember how you made them feel, even if they forget the plot.

Janet Reid gives us an example what should be in a personalized PR announcement. Let's say you just got published and want to let your friends know. If you want to come across as not spam, you need to: personalize (yes, that's include each name and write to each person, and talk about why they'd like it and mention something specific to them that wouldn't apply to each generic person), include full information (title, word count/page count, price, publisher, genre), and a full URL (including introducing the URL with "Here's my book" or some such).

Over at GalleyCat, advice on how to market to the YA audience. Keep up the social media, go on blog tours, go to independent bookstores and invite readers, get people talking about you.

Here's an excellent inspirational post from Danyelle Leafty to keep us going, via Winston Churchill's advice.

If you're writing children's books and plan to write for e-readers, be careful about including too many apps, as they may be distracting and reduce a child's ability to retain information from the story.


That's all I've found on my news round-up.What other major publishing news have you encountered over the past two weeks?