Thoughts on books and publishing

I learned the other day that small publisher From the Asylum Books and Press is closing up shop. They were a publisher of speculative fiction anthologies, which is a tough market even for big publishers, and must be especially tough for little publishers trying to compete in the big bad book selling world. I had a story accepted for their anthology Things Aren’t What They Seem, which was supposed to be out this fall, and I had a feeling that there might have been some problems, when the publication was delayed, and I didn’t hear anything. I received an email the other day letting me know the sad news. I often wondered if e-books and the internet will put an end to new fiction anthologies and short fiction magazines and zines. I’m still not taken...

. . . because we’re all so busy cleaning the house, getting our nails done, [insert something stereotypically female here]. OK, just to be clear (because it’s not always apparent on the internet), this is sarcasm. I do not believe any of the above, and hopefully you don’t either, but there are people out there who do. For proof you need only read the comments to this blog post by Moonrat over at Editorial Ass and take note of a certain anonymous commenter that got into a little debate with Maggie Stiefvater. This all began with Publisher’s Weekly posting their picks for the 10 best books of 2009. All 10 books are by male authors. The announcement of the list and it’s testosterone laden nature caused something of a stir in the...

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time behind the wheel of my car, both for work (My job involves driving around visiting libraries, how cool is that?) and for family obligations (there was a round trip to Maine which included a traffic-filled ride up to Vacationland). I actually kind of enjoy driving with the exception of that trip up to Maine. The problem with spending so much time on the road is that it cuts into my reading time. Audio books are my salvation. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve “read” Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows, The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington and I am in the midst of Looking for Alaska by John...

I’ve been flipping through a book called The Making of a Bestseller: Success stories from authors and the editors, agents, and booksellers behind them by Brian Hill and Dee Power. The book is something of a mish-mosh, and most of the information is not relevant to me, but something said by the only YA author quoted in the book struck a chord with me this afternoon, and prompted me to put down the book and get on the internet. In the section on promotion authors were talking about in-store signings. Christopher Paolini said that in-store signings are not very lucrative for writers and can be real hit or miss affairs. He pointed out that he has always done much better with school visits. Paolini noted that at store signings he would be lucky to sell 40 books,...

I purchased a reprint copy of Crotchet Castle by Thomas Love Peacock some time back because it was one of those books that was on my to-read list for awhile. For those not familiar with reprint books, these are cheap, very bare-bones reprints of books that are out of print and, presumably, in the public domain, or perhaps so not in demand that the rights can be had for a song. I’ve seen these sort of books before, but never before actually read one. It’s not a pleasant experience. First there are the covers. There’s this rumor that you can’t judge a book by its cover, but people do it all the time. My day job is pretty much based on the idea that you can judge a book by its cover. These reprint books tend to have the most boring covers...

So, now that I will be a published novelist (well, it’s still a ways a way) my father has become suddenly interested in the whole publishing world. The other day he gave me a newspaper clipping of someone recommending YA titles to senior citizen readers. In my library days I routinely recommended YA books to adult readers, some of whom were surprised that the books were really good and didn’t seem to be kids books at all. YA stands for young adult not old child. That would be OC, and that usually refers to some place in California, but anyway I am wandering way off topic. The other day Dad had a clipping from the Wall Street Journal for me about the publication of Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, and how the publisher has made an interesting decision...