There’s a good article in the October 7th Book Promotion Newsletter by Fern Reiss on the future of publishing. She tells it like it should be—no “returns” policy or hard-copy galleys required, publishers should market their authors’ books even online and she suggests changing the whole book model. Good article. I recommend you read it. If you agree with her points, perhaps a campaign could be launched.
http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com
Yes, there are a lot of annoying things about the publishing industry and some of them were negotiated or otherwise adopted years ago. Things have changed dramatically. And with natural or even unnatural (forced) changes brought about by the digital age, for example, there must be some willingness toward flexibility, at least. But nooooo. Some of the policies are simply non-negotiable and rigid.
We all know what can happen to a rigid tree in the wind, don’t we? It will eventually snap under the pressure. Which way will it go? What will be the end results?
In the meantime, we can do our part on behalf of our projects by continually striving to improve our writing, by producing quality works that are wanted/needed, by representing our books from a professional standpoint and by keeping our fingers on the pulse of the publishing industry.
Member Survey Brings Surprises
We’ve been running a survey at SPAWN to find out what our members need/want from a publishing support organization. Most, who have chimed in so far, are interested in becoming more educated within the publishing industry. They want to know how to produce an excellent product, what publishing option to choose, how to navigate the publishing maze, how to negotiate a publishing contract, how to promote their particular books and so forth. We just had a conference call board meeting and decided that we can best serve our members at this juncture by presenting webinars featuring experts in publishing and publishing-related fields.
Subscribe to SPAWNews (it’s FREE) and be among the first to learn about our webinar schedule for 2010. Actually, I think we’re going to present one session in December. Oh, did I tell you the sessions will be free? Subscribe to SPAWNews and receive a free ebooklet: “Promote Yourself! 25 Ways to Promote Your Work Whether You’re an Author, Artist or Small Publisher.”
http://www.spawn.org
There’s no way you can go wrong—everything I’ve mentioned here is FREE. And that does not mean they have no value.
Surprises in Patricia Fry’s Array of Books
I’ll be traveling for the next 10 days and someone else will be plugging in blog posts that I have prepared for you. It won’t be a daily post, but watch for posts coming probably on October 10, 13 and 15.
He is also shipping books for me. So it’s okay to place your order this week. See my array of books—some of my titles might surprise you. Did you know that I published a metaphysical memoir some years ago? It is an absolutely fascinating read. It’s called, Quest For Truth. I also have a book (and ebook) of true cat stories. You’ll see the gorgeous cover featuring our white odd-eye cat, Winfield on the home page.
If you are an author or hope to be, the book you need is The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Order it now before you make any more mistakes with your publishing project.
http://www.matilijapress.com