Writing and Publishing News

I came across some links you might find useful. You may be aware of some and others might be new. In fact, I may have shared some of these with you before. This makes a good case for spending time checking out my blog archives. There are interesting, useful, educational, entertaining tidbits in each and […]

This is the blog post I prepared for you yesterday. But I guess the timing wasn’t right for you to see it as I could not get on my blog site most of the day. When I realized my blog site was finally available, I was at a colleagues home trying to help her with […]

Although we sometimes talk about the point of your story or the purpose of your book, that isn’t what I mean here today. My question, “what’s the point of your book?” refers to how you view your book project. What do you expect from your book? Do you expect that it will earn you some […]

How many of you promote your books based on your comfort zone rather than what actually sells books? Maybe you haven’t figured out, yet, which promotional method or activity works best in selling your particular book. But are you giving each one a good try? And are you trying new ones out? Or are you […]

How many of you have (or at one time, had) these sentiments: “I do not want to be a bookseller. I am an author. I wrote a book. I want to do more writing—I do not want to be distracted by the annoying, humiliating practice of book promotion.” I’ve also heard authors say: “I will […]

A website is a website is a website, right? Not anymore. No longer, do you necessarily land on a website and see a welcome page, then click your way around to visit other rather humdrum smatterings of information or promo. Not in Jane Howatt’s world. Jane is a writer. She is currently working on a […]

A colleague/friend/SPAWN member suggested this blog subject. It is a real irritation, frustration and insult when our professional submissions are dissed (disrespected and dismissed) by magazine editors or publishers. It really is. I lived in the world of “no response” for many years as a freelance article writer. Actually, it wasn’t always this way. When […]

Two of my articles appear in publications this week. My piece on shifting your writing into high gear in order to survive the economic downturn is in the October 2009 edition of the Freelance Writer’s Report (print version). If you’re a freelance writer, you really must subscribe to this newsletter. I’ve been subscribing for years. […]

This weekend, while composing an article for a publishing newsletter, I referred to the fee-based self-publishing process as “pay-to-publish.” What do you think? Does this describe it? I may have told you that a “colleague” lambasted me and others who use the term “self-publishing” when referring to AuthorHouse, Infinity, Dog Ear Press, etc. They used […]

How much is it going to cost me? This is a question I get often from potential clients who are seeking an editor for their manuscripts. Sure, it’s a legitimate question. But it’s not a question I can respond to with any accuracy until I see the project. I explained to someone this morning that, […]