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Louise Marley's Blog
November 21, 2009
- The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have also spoken: "SFWA supports the fundamental principle that writers should be paid for their work, and even those who aspire to professional status and payment ought not to be charged for the privilege of having those aspirations. Until such time as Harlequin changes course, and returns to a model of legitimately working with ...
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November 20, 2009
- I suppose no one can say writers' organizations have no power! The MWA has offered this statement on Harlequin's self-publishing venture:"...it is common for disreputable publishers to try to profit from aspiring writers by steering them to their own for-pay editorial, marketing, and publishing services. The implication is that by paying for those services, the writer is more likely to ...
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November 19, 2009
- Harlequin, the legendary romance publisher, has joined forces with Author Solutions, a vanity (self-publishing) press. In response, the Romance Writers of America has declared Harlequin no longer eligible for the benefits RWA provides.RWA is an excellent writers' organization, devoted to good business practices and promotion of its members' work. This decision is a courageous and responsible ...
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November 17, 2009
- A colleague, Scott William Carter, has come up with a scale to rate our level of interaction on the internet, through Twitter, Facebook, blogging, and so forth. I read his post with interest, because of the ongoing discussion of promotion. How much is enough? And how do we make it suit our own style?His blog post pleases me because of this paragraph: " I do think every writer should ...
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November 15, 2009
- The Writer Beware! page sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has a wonderful new post by Victoria Strauss. It's worth a read: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/notes/science-fiction-and-fantasy-writers-of-america/wanna-be-a-virtual-authors-assistantmaybe-not/202421969873In fact, Writer Beware! is always worth following. It's hard getting published, and lots of ...
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November 13, 2009
- This article by William Petrocelli is a must-read for all lovers (and producers) of books: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-petrocelli/not-a-simple-price-war_b_336233.htmlHe says, in part: "Predatory pricing is a means of driving other booksellers out of business. When this happens, the choice of books is one of the first things to suffer. Some readers think that if their favorite ...
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November 11, 2009
- That title is not mine, although I love it. It's the title of an intriguing but not very informative blog post, which you can read here: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20091109/FREE/911099984 It relates an event which evidently recently took place in Seattle, during which Amazon flew ten New York agents into Seattle to talk about e-books and to try to erase their image as the Evil ...
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November 10, 2009
- Next week I'll be teaching a workshop for some teen writers (that is, teens who write, not writers writing for teens) as they participate in NaNoWriMo, sponsored by their public library (which warms my heart cockles more than I can say). Even the concept of NaNoWriMo used to set my teeth on edge, but I've softened a bit. (Just for the record, my workshop will be called "Pick a Plot: ...
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November 8, 2009
- I've been fortunate to sell most of the books I've begun, usually on proposal. Just one died in its early stages; its demise came about when my editor, talking about the plot of the novel, asked "So what?" Ouch. That was a painful moment, but an instructive one.Like the editor I quoted in my last post, I'm a lover of beautiful prose and well-rounded characters. I love creating ...
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November 3, 2009
- At the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, California last weekend, the super-smart editor Beth Meacham, of Tor Books, observed that "There is an unnecessary tension between beautiful prose and story-telling." She pointed to some examples of books which are not so wonderfully written, but which tell stories that keep the reader turning pages: Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter, Twilight, ...
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November 2, 2009
- I'm just back from the World Fantasy Convention, a conference attended by writers, editors, agents, and readers that was held in San Jose, CA this year. As always, with this group of people devoted to the written word, I'm amazed at how creative they are--every one of them. Writers don't just write--they paint, they make jewelry, they cook, they garden. They also often make music of every ...
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October 27, 2009
- My agent sent me a packet, at the beginning of my publishing career, which was full of advice for how to promote my book. It was very clear that entrusting all promotion to the publisher was not a good idea, and that bit of wisdom hasn't changed. Unfortunately, nearly everything else has.The packet spoke of bookmarks, postcards, book signings, mailings, reviews. The year was 1995, not all ...
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October 23, 2009
- The late, lamented Miss Snark (who according to my inside sources has transmogrified into the Query Shark, bless her) had a great summary for a query that included "What happens in the first fifty pages". These days, when the markets are so tight, I recommend to my students that something had better happen in the first ten pages. At the very least, there has to be some sort of ...
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October 21, 2009
- Until I marketed my essay "A Red and Blue Marriage" last year, it had been a long time since I had to write a query letter. I wouldn't mind if I didn't have to write one again! I had forgotten how hard it is to get in what you want to say without sending the editor in a spasm of yawning. How much do you say? Does the editor already know your name, in which case a list of your ...
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October 16, 2009
- Like my father, who was a fine doctor with abysmal money sense, I'm not the most practical person in the world. I've worked in the arts all my life, and I've probably just been lucky sometimes to keep my head above water. I do try--I read my contracts, I keep track of my delivery and acceptance payments, I struggle to understand royalty statements. But when things go well, and a bit of ...
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