{"id":388,"date":"2008-12-14T06:14:01","date_gmt":"2008-12-14T14:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=388"},"modified":"2008-12-14T06:14:01","modified_gmt":"2008-12-14T14:14:01","slug":"writers-authors-and-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=388","title":{"rendered":"Writers, Authors and the Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Be sure to read Paul Greenberg\u2019s essay, \u201cBail Out the Writers!\u201d in The New York Times <\/em>December 9, 2008 edition. I\u2019d be interested in your comments. How many of you are part of the 185,000 who claim writing as your primary career? I\u2019ve been doing so since around 1973. Would like to invite you to chime in on Greenberg\u2019s perspective. Here\u2019s the link to the story:
\n http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/12\/14\/books\/review\/Greenberg-t.html<\/a> <\/p>\n

Things are definitely slow for freelance writers and authors right now, but they always are this time of year. When I was doing a lot of writing for magazines, everything would start to slow down in the second half of November and come to a halt in December. It happened that way every year. There was no (or very little) communication from editors during this time. Clients stopped sending me their chapters, publishers ceased responding to queries or inquiries. <\/p>\n

This year, add to that dire holiday report the fact that consumers are not buying books. I think the only thing people are happy to spend money on these days is gas. Since the prices have come down, it\u2019s almost exciting to fill your tank. Everywhere I go, people are gleefully bragging about how much money they saved at the pump this week. Now, those thieving oil company execs are pretty good guys, right?<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019d spend more time with you this morning discussing the future of publishing or encouraging you to keep writing despite the forecast, but I think I\u2019ll go dig out my cat story book and start preparing it for publication as an ebook. This is something I\u2019ve been putting off only because I\u2019ve been so busy all year. It\u2019s a pure labor of love project that I\u2019ve been eager to return to. Besides, we all know that, in times of fear and uncertainty, we gravitate toward anything that\u2019s warm and fuzzy. After 911, sales for comforters and cozy blankets and pillows rose, as did chocolate candy sales. When things are looking bad, people want to read what makes them feel good inside&#8212stories that cause them to smile. Of course, we are also looking for answers. We want to know what to do next, how to proceed, how to protect ourselves should things turn even more ugly. Keep this in mind as you ponder what to write next. <\/p>\n

If you want to become more deeply embedded in the publishing field, you\u2019ll want to invest in my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book<\/em>.
\n http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/rightway.html<\/a><\/p>\n

If you have a book that is stalled or lagging as far as sales go, you might be able to revive it by reading my ebook, The Author\u2019s Repair Kit<\/em>. It\u2019s only $5.95.
\n http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/author_repairkit.html<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Be sure to read Paul Greenberg\u2019s essay, \u201cBail Out the Writers!\u201d in The New York Times December 9, 2008 edition. I\u2019d be interested in your comments. How many of you are part of the 185,000 who claim writing as your primary career? I\u2019ve been doing so since around 1973. Would like to invite you to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t