If I had stayed in publishing instead of moving to tech writing and thence into IT, I would have hit the same problem this woman had: it’s hard to be an acquisitions editor when your taste doesn’t match the market’s.

More power to those who can “write to market,” but some of us can’t.

Originally shared by Karen Conlin

Peternelle is one of my Tweeps. Her first novel, The Beast Is an Animal, just hit the shelves. Part of the process was keeping a prologue she added at what she thought was the end of the process, and ditching the other 250 pages to start over.

“The voice that I found in that prologue was my voice.”

I have a random novella, which could expand, that I’m not completely sure what to do with and that is well down my publishing schedule. It’s a bit… different. I might query a couple of these folks with it and see what happens.

Originally shared by Erica Verrillo

Here are seven agents looking for fantasy of all kinds, shapes, and colors. All are from reputable agencies, which means they don’t charge reading fees. (Never pay an agent to read your work!) All have brokered deals with established publishing houses, and all are seeking fresh, new talent. Good luck!

http://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/2015/11/7-agents-looking-for-fantasy-writers.html

I’m a fan of Lindsay Buroker’s books as well as of her SFF Marketing Podcast, and I really appreciate how she includes a thoughtful counter here to the common “write to market” advice. Like her, I’m not very mainstream, and the thought of uncritically aping the tropes of something that’s already selling well is abhorrent to me, but there is a middle path between that and writing something that nobody but you will like.

Originally shared by Steve Turnbull

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHOR?

This is a round up of the current situation by the highly successful self-published author Lindsay Buroker.

I strongly recommend you read it all, carefully,

I haven’t seen much result from any advertising, including AMS (that reminds me, I should check my campaign and see if that’s changed at all). YMMV.

Originally shared by Debby “D.G. Kaye” Gies

Nicholas C. Rossis sharing precious data on best sites to promote our books.

Genre. It exists, in part, to help bookstores shelve things. The reason they want to do so is that it’s also a reflection of the kind of experience people are looking for from their book – or, at least, it tries to be; but the most creative writers can’t be confined by it.

Originally shared by Kat Richardson

It makes me ridiculously happy that one of the great SF authors–who is also a woman–has been added to the Library of America. And of course I agree that all genres should be given equal respect in the forum of literature.

Via Matthew Cox, a sensible, thorough, and calm assessment of the current state of Amazon review policy.

My personal policy has always been that I disclose when I’ve received a book from the author or publisher for review purposes; that I disclose knowing the author on social media; and that I do not review any anthology or boxed set in which my work appears. Also, of course, I never accept anything other than the book itself in compensation for the review, before or afterwards.

All of this is now official, clearly spelled out Amazon policy (except the bit about disclosing social media friendship, and as far as I’m aware I’ve never had a review removed where I made that disclosure).

Originally shared by Alex J. Cavanaugh

Author Earnings reports its first ever dip in indie market share, sales and earnings, since beginning its analysis in February 2014.

Consensus among commenters seems to be that this is because Amazon isn’t counting KU borrows correctly if books are read in Page Flip mode.

If you have a novella in the epic/high fantasy/sword & sorcery/quest genre that is NOT eurocentric, and would like the opportunity to wait for months for Tor to most likely reject it, here’s your chance.

(Cynicism aside, this could be a good opportunity if you have the right piece.)