One of my writerly email groups opened a thread on translations this week. In particular, the group wanted to know about Babelcube, a website where writers and translators can meet and, with luck, work on a project together. On one of my panels at MileHiCon, I had discussed having your books available in other languages. […]
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It used to be that everyone on the panel would give the same answer to basic questions. On the basic how-to-get published questions, there was only one answer, and it was the same for writer after writer after writer. Now, the basics differ depending on who you talk to. We all agree on craft issues. But when we move to how to get published, writing panels actually get contentious….
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I’ve written five openings to this blog today. I want to write a completely different blog—and I will. In fact, I’ll write five completely different blogs, but I can’t publish them for several months. If I publish them now, then the people I’m referring to will know I’m referring to them, and that would be […]
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Once upon a time, a writer taking on a big publisher like that remained secret, partly so that the writer could sell another book. (Even then, the large publisher would often bad-mouth the writer in private to any other publisher who would listen.)
Times have changed.
Continue ReadingA freelance writer needs to be an artist and a businessperson. Sometimes those roles conflict. And sometimes we get put into truly uncomfortable situations. The most uncomfortable situations occur when we have to take drastic action on the business side, action that might have an impact on the creative side. In the old days, before […]
Continue ReadingIt’s been a long time since I’ve spoken to a bunch of writers at the very beginning of their careers. When Dean and I teach our in-person workshops, we teach professional writers. With our online workshops and lectures, we deal with writers who are just starting out, but we don’t interact in person. (I’m not […]
Continue ReadingHere’s the one sentence response that I expected to last week’s post and didn’t receive: I know some writers have had troubles, but my agent [editor/publisher] would never do something like that. Am I optimistic enough to believe that writers—traditional and indie—are finally getting the message that they’re business people? And, as business people, they […]
Continue ReadingThe new year hadn’t even had a week to catch its breath before the first year-end numbers for 2014 appeared. The definitive numbers—if you can call any numbers “definitive” in traditional publishing—won’t show up until late February or early March. But the early numbers reveal quite a bit. Publishers Weekly spent the first full week […]
Continue ReadingA few weeks ago, at our weekly professional writers lunch, a writer mentioned a private listserve he’s on with other writers, all of whom are traditionally published. According to him, that list has been discussing an abusive editor, one who is tearing apart her bestsellers, making them revise their books repeatedly while telling them that […]
Continue ReadingRecently, I got e-mail from another career writer, talking about a rights grab from a traditional publisher. I saw the document in question; it’s egregious. I do not have permission to talk about this particular document nor would I, since it’s proprietary, but it’s the kind of document I’ve seen at least six times in […]
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