Blog Posts for Louise Marley

The Mystery Writers of America weigh in on Harlequin

Louise Marley — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:08:41 -0800

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 ...

Harlequin loses its RWA rating

Louise Marley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:56:45 -0800

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 ...

How connected do we need to be?

Louise Marley — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:15:24 -0800

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 ...

Another way to separate aspiring writers from their money

Louise Marley — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:30:20 -0800

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-wri... fact, Writer Beware! is always worth following. It's hard getting published, and lots of ...

It's about what you get to read.

Louise Marley — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:30:20 -0800

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_... 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 ...

Amazon sucks up to literary agents

Louise Marley — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:24:48 -0800

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 ...

NaNoWriMo

Louise Marley — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:42:30 -0800

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: ...

"So what?": the tough plot question

Louise Marley — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:19:53 -0800

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 ...

An unnecessary tension

Louise Marley — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:02:56 -0800

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, ...

The creative impulse

Louise Marley — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:10:07 -0800

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 ...