This post, from Fay Risner, originally appeared on her Booksbyfay blog in September of 2009 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission. This is Fay's entry in our anniversary contest, in which the winners are selected based on total unique page views. So if you like it, and would like to see Fay become a regular Publetariat Contributor, spread the word and the link!

Friday, Civil War Days begins in Belle Plaine, Iowa. I'm going to sell my books in the park on the fringes of North versus south battles. So am I ready?

This post, from M. Louisa Locke, originally appeared on her The Front Parlor blog on 2/16/10 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission. This is Locke's entry in our anniversary contest, in which the winners are selected based on total unique page views. So if you like it, and would like to see Locke become a regular Publetariat Contributor, spread the word and the link!

This post, from J. Daniel Sawyer, originally appeared on his Literary Abominations site on 3/1/2010 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission. This is JD's entry in our anniversary contest, in which the winners are selected based on total unique page views. So if you like it, and would like to see JD become a regular Publetariat Contributor, spread the word and the link!

This post, from Edward G. Talbot, originally appeared on the Edward G. Talbot site on 2/16/10 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission. This is Edward G. Talbot's entry in our anniversary contest, in which the winners are selected based on total unique page views. So if you like it, and would like to see Edward G. Talbot become a regular Publetariat Contributor, spread the word and the link!

The best things in life are free. But you can give that to the birds and the bees. I want money.
-The Undertakers, "Money", 1963.

Publishing is an industry everyone loves to hate. They publish too much garbage. They waste untold millions printing and shipping books that wind up in the dumpster. They're only in it for the money. These observations contain plenty of truth, but they also strike me as rather useless. The bigger question for me is how is the growing trend of free and low-priced fiction going to impact publishing, and by extension the price and quality of available books.

This post, from Shaun Kilgore, originally appeared on his site on 3/5/10 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission. This is Shaun's entry in our anniversary contest, in which the winners are selected based on total unique page views. So if you like it, and would like to see Shaun become a regular Publetariat Contributor, spread the word and the link!

Why did I start this publishing company? Here's the short answer: Because my wife was interested enough in starting a business herself that she volunteered to help me create Founders House Publishing.

You see, just before this happened, I was preparing to work with a friend on a small publishing venture, the first real push in that direction that had any legitimate chances of getting off the ground. (I still hope to work with him in the future.) It was in the process of helping my father find a place to publish his book, Echoes From The Past: A Memoir Of Family Heritage, that my wife and I decided to do it ourselves. Sure, there were other options, but this made sense in a variety of ways. Why do it, you might ask. Let me see if I can answer that.

This post, from Virginia Ripple, originally appeared on her The Road to Writing blog on 3/6/10 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission. This is Virginia's entry in our anniversary contest, in which the winners are selected based on total unique page views. So if you like it, and would like to see Virginia become a regular Publetariat Contributor, spread the word and the link!

Last Sunday I had a wonderful thing happen in my absence at church. My mother (who is one of my biggest fans ) took my book to her Sunday school class and, for lack of a better description, “marketed” it. Before the class was over there was a volunteer to write up an article for the church newsletter. Before the worship service that follows Sunday school concluded, the minister was informed of my book. He said that, if the person who volunteered to write the article hadn’t, then he would have. From there it’s supposed to make it’s appearance at the next monthly elders’ meeting. It seems that things are beginning to roll for Fear Not! Discovering God’s Promises for Our Lives.

So why does it all feel like I’ve failed?

This post, from PJ Kaiser, originally appeared on her Inspired By Real Life blog on 3/6/10 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission. This is PJ's entry in our anniversary contest, in which the winners are selected based on total unique page views. So if you like it, and would like to see PJ become a regular Publetariat Contributor, spread the word and the link!

As readers of this blog will know, I’ve been writing stories and working on my novel for several months now and I am approaching the point where I am considering submitting some stories to literary magazines.  A few weeks ago, I started perusing some of the magazines listed at Duotrope’s Digest and I came across several magazines and online sites that admonish writers to avoid O. Henry endings.

With this cross-posting, the very knowledgeable yet down-to-Earth Mick Rooney joins Publetariat's roster of regular contributors. 

Today, publishers are looking more to cut back on the amount of titles they release and focus their marketing clout and expenditure on extracting as much as possible from the branding of high-end authors. That doesn’t mean mainstream publishing editors aren’t open to new authors with an original book or voice. It just means the playing field is getting a little less hospitable.

Along with most citizens of Kindle Nation, I happen to believe that some of the big publishers are making a big mistake by trying to control retail ebook prices and raise those prices by 30 to 50 percent. This mistake is compounded, in my view, by the apparent circumstance of its having been arrived at through a collusive, anti-consumer process in which the "Apple 5" of MacMillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin, and HarperCollins have been lured by Steve Jobs into trying to fix prices and restructure retail relationships all at once.

That being said, congratulations to MacMillan CEO John Sargent for having the guts and transparency to speak up and address readers directly in this post on the company's blog yesterday:

This post, from author Charlie Stross, originally appeared on his Charlie's Diary blog on 2/23/10.

I'm back home, I'm over the jet lag (for now), and I'm looking for something to write about.

It struck me, reading the comments on my various postings about the Amazon v. Macmillan spat in January, that many people don't have the first clue about how the publishing business works — or even what it is.

Hey, wouldn't it be great if you had a little brother or sister hanging out on the interwebz all day and tattling on anyone who said anything about you or your work online? Then you could quickly respond with appreciation to any kudos, and if it seemed like it would do any good, with damage control to any not-so-kudos. As it turns out, you already do have just such a little tattle-tale, ready and waiting to report back to you. Its name is Google Alerts.

There’s no bigger decision you make in designing a book than picking the body typeface. A book by its nature is a long reading experience, and as book publishers we want our books to be as easy to read as possible while communicating the author’s intent. Style and fashion also play their part in many book designs, particularly in popular niches. The accumulated expectations of 500 years of book readers also come into play. Books are pretty conventional objects, after all.

Over the past few days I’ve been reading up on e-book file formats. I have a collection of short stories I want to publish, and I have a working understanding of the technology that readers will use to embrace that content, but until recently I haven’t worried too much about delivering content to that technology. (The main reason for my delay is simply the pace of change. Time spent trying to understand or master e-content technology six months ago would have put me at buggy-whip risk.)

I’m struck by 2 posts today that I need to share with anyone who has not “got” social media yet. The bottom line is that authors/writers need social media and vice versa. It is increasingly important if you want to connect, sell, network and promote yourself and your books.

I watched the most godawful movie the other day. It's my fault, usually my 10-minute rule is pretty good. But somehow this one lasted beyond 10 minutes and we suffered through it. [New York, I Love You] With a cast of people who I generally like, an interesting soundtrack, and pretty good cinematography I had to think about why it was so terrible to watch. First, the stories were not compelling. They were overly dramatized in these long cinematic sequences.

It was smug. It was self-gratuitous.

Facebook groups are a great place to meet people who share your interests and to subtly promote your book. For maximum exposure, join existing groups and start your own Facebook group.

To find groups to join, enter keywords in the Facebook  search box.  When the search results come up, click on the Groups tab to view groups focused on your topic.

Click the Join Group button to join a group. Write an introductory greeting on the group's wall, and post your book cover in the photo section. Your book cover will show up on the group page and also in the newsfeed of your friends, a great way to subtly promote your book. You can also post videos on group page. It’s not wise to post wall messages and images on more than one group page per day.

This post, from Judy Sandra, originally appeared on her JS Media blog on 2/13/10 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission.

Profiles in Publishing is a continuing investigation into the brave new world of publishing at JS Media Blog by Judy Sandra.  PIP will be a series of articles and interviews about methods and movers, reporting on who is exploring, who is inhabiting and who is succeeding in the new publishing landscape.
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We live in a whole new publishing world. I released my independently published book The Metal Girl (JSM Books) last month. Naturally, I sent an announcement to a personal mailing list. The first sale that I know about is a new acquaintance who excitedly emailed me, “I just bought your book on Kindle!”

Sale #1 = Kindle. I was more stunned that the first sale was on a Kindle, than I was that there was a sale. What to think.

This article, from Laura Backes, originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of the Children's Book Insider newsletter and is reprinted here in its entirety with the CBI's permission. While the CBI newsletter is primarily aimed at authors of children's books, the advice given here is applicable to any work of fiction.