 Red Room Writer Profile
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Josie Brown's Blog
October 20, 2009
- The always-introspective Jane Friedman of Writer's Digest has come up with a column on "3 Sure-Fire Ways to Insult Someone in Publishing." After you read what she writes, if you're published, you may wince if (like me) you recognize yourself in some of what she says. But then again, publishing isn't a perfect world, and mistakes do happen. There are too many bad book covers and books ...
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October 13, 2009
- One of the joys of belonging to my local chapter of Romance Writers of America - the San Francisco Chapter (major shout-out here) is because of some of the wonderful programs they pull together for published authors. (Of all ilk, really. Yo: mystery, thriller, commercial lit, and lit writers, seriously: it's worth attending these meetings, for the mojo alone.)Take, for instance, yesterday's ...
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June 8, 2009
- It's being published by Simon & Schuster. I'm thrilled, as you can imagine. Let's start with the fact that I'm enchanted with my editor, Megan McKeever. The excitement she and her team have for this project is an author's dream.And just think: this time next year, it will be on a bookstore shelf near you.What's the story? It is a chronicle of the bitter divorce of a ...
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March 20, 2009
- Am TOTALLY bummed when I hear about supposedly smart companies doing something that hurts those that help make their bottom lines. The parable of the scorpion and the frog comes to mind. You know it by heart: Those two critters make a deal to cross the river together–despite the fear on the frog's part that the scorpion will bite it, and produce instant paralysis. But wanting to believe, ...
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March 16, 2009
- Crikey. T'warnt there, but apparently the publishing industry panel at SxSW did a major crash-and-burn. While the session was entitled "New Think for Old Publishers," what it demonstrated was that publishers can't new-think at all–or at least, they can't articulate what they are thinking (let alone doing) to nudge publishing over that bridge into the 21st Century.About a decade ...
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March 11, 2009
- With Borders teetering and Barnes & Noble cutting stores and staff, the whole publishing industry needs to rethink its sales and distribution model. This article, published in at IdeaLog.com, focuses on the results of an ongoing survey between THA Consulting and Book Industry Study Group. Obviously its findings are of interest to authors, too, who want to finetune their self-promotion ...
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March 10, 2009
- Titter is my new Crackberry. Is there a support group out there for me? And if so, am I supposed to give my confession in 140 characters or less? You think I'm kidding, right?Seriously, I blame my agent (the indubitable Holly Root). If she hadn't mentioned she was on it, I would have skipped that plank on the Bridge into the 21st Century. (Isn't that the new slogan for the GGB? If it ...
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January 12, 2009
- We all know someone who has lost their job recently. And you can just imagine how many of your fans and readers may now be out of work -- and out on the streets. Hey, if they can't buy food, how can they buy your books? Gemma Halliday came face-to-face with two of hers: a teen and her mother. In fact, the teen, Katy, has been blogging about life on the streets. you can read how she and her mom ...
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December 23, 2008
- As authors, it is an integral part of our nature to solve mysteries not of our creation: especially those stories writ large by life. We attempt to unravel plot strands, to analyze the most compelling characters in the story. Needles to say, every author rewrites history. In his essay for Salon (below), Jason Boog gives a succinct analysis of the assassination attempt on the book industry. The ...
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December 19, 2008
December 15, 2008
- Recently I wrote about another author's (very) final response to the rejections of her manuscript: it was to bury it with a formal funeral. The act of creating characters, plot and emotion consumes a writer's body, mind and soul. So yes, I'm glad she found the catharsis she sought in that act. The day after, I found this article in the Guardian UK's "Book Blog," written by British ...
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December 11, 2008
- I can certainly empathize with Mary Patrick Kavanaugh, the author mentioned in the wonderful Rachel Swan's East Bay Express article below, who made the decision to "bury" her novel, Family Plots, when she couldn't sell it to a New York publishing house. Hey, it wasn't as if Mary didn't give it the ol' college try. According to the article she spent years writing ...
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December 6, 2008
- I've got to stop reading the New York Times. No, seriously. Everytime I do, I run across an article that moves me to blog on something that keeps me from my task at hand: finishing my book.Yeah, okay, I admit it: I'm always looking for a reason to procrastinate.Then again, the world is bigger than my plottin' and schemin'.What got to me this time was this article about employees of a cookie ...
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December 3, 2008
- My stomach curdled when, drifting through the New York Times' site, I found this article that predicts college tuitions may no longer be affordable for even middle America, let alone those struggling on the financial fringes of our country's economic abyss.A month ago, Martin Brown (in SingleMindedWomen.com) ruminated as to whether college is worth the cost, given its dollars-to-donut return on ...
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November 21, 2008
- My awe of the elegant eloquent thriller author M.J. Rose knows no bounds. Besides being a incredible writer, she is also a renowned promoter of all authors and their books. Considering the current economic doldrums, that takes some fortitude. With a little help from here friends, M.J. has created a site called “Buy Books for the Holidays” blog. It doesn’t end there, says ...
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