This post, by David Gaughran, originally appeared on his Let's Get Digital Site on 5/15/12.

 The leading literary agents’ organization – the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR) – penned an open letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) opposing the terms of the settlement reached with three of the publishers named in the Agency price-fixing suit.

I won’t go into the details of how wrongheaded that letter was. It has already been systematically taken apart by Joe Konrath, Bob Mayer, and Dean Wesley Smith.

This post, by Andrew E. Kaufman, originally appeared on the Crime Fiction Collective site and is reprinted here in its entirety with that site's permission.

This post, by Mandy DeGeit, originally appeared on her blog on 5/14/12.

You all know I’ve been ranting about my first ever publication coming out for the last little while… “She makes me smile” was picked up by Undead Press (Anthony Giangregorio) to be published in their anthology called Cavalcade of Terror and the book was released May 1st 2012.

[Publetariat Editor's note: strong language after the jump]

This post originally appeared on techdirt on 5/4/12.

Following the massive success of her Kickstarter experiment, we asked Amanda Palmer if she wanted to write a quick guest post about why she thought the offering was so successful. Here's what came back, including a bonus bit from Sean Francis, who has helped Amanda for years on the tech/social side of things.

Recently an author asked me "How do you stage an in-person book launch with a novel that's published as an ebook? How do you autograph a computer screen?"

Here are some suggestions for doing a live book launch event for an ebook:

This post, by D.D. Scott and Theresa Ragan originally appeared on The Writer's Guide to E-Publishing on 5/14/12.

Happy Monday, WG2E-Land!!!

Gosh, I sooo wish I’d come across this superfab scoop when I’d first started out in Indie Epublishing, but since I came across it this past week, I just had to share it with y’all!!!

This post, by Edward W. Robinson, originally appeared on his Failure Ahoy! Adventures In Digital Publishing site on 5/4/12.

So not 12 hours after my post about how Amazon's algorithms work, Amazon changed their algorithms again. This is a big enough deal they apparently just caused me to quote Britney Spears.

Fortunately, the latest changes weren't a complete revolution. By all accounts, there is once again a single list seen by all customers. I'm not sure exactly how this new list works--the Avengers are still working on it--but it seems to hew very closely to one of the lists we already understood. And if you are a Select author who leans on free giveaways for sales, here is my current advice to you:

With 500,000 new books being published every year, how can you compete? How do you get seen and noticed? How will independent booksellers fall in love with your book and promote it in their stores and on the recommended reading lists? Relax, I’m about to give away the deep, dark secrets of book marketing.

This post, by Jane Friedman, originally appeared on her Writing On The Ether site.

Be sure the editor (or editors, if it’s an editing service) is qualified. You’re looking for professional publishing industry experience–preferably, as an editor for reputable publishers–and/or professional writing credentials (legitimately-published books, articles, etc.). If the editor has a website, a resume or CV should be posted there.

This post, by JA Konrath, originally appeared on his A Newbie's Guide to Publishing on 5/10/12.

I just read the letter the Association of Authors Representatives sent to the DOJ yesterday. 

The following infographic, from Online Universities, is reprinted here with that site's permission.

[infographic after the jump]

This post, by Jani Patokallio,originally appeared on Gyrovague on 4/30/12.
E-books will be obsolete within five years.  Crippled by territorial license restrictions, digital rights management, and single-purpose devices and file formats that are simultaneously immature and already obsolescent, they are at a hopeless competitive disadvantage compared to full-fledged websites and even the humble PDF.
 

This post, by Ann Voss Peterson, originally appeared on J.A. Konrath's A Newbie's Guide to Publishing blog on 5/8/12.

This is a guest post by my friend Ann Voss Peterson. But it's more than that. It's a call to arms, a cautionary tale, and a scathing exposé.

Don't believe it can be all those things? Read on...

This post, by Suzanne White, originally appeared on The Passive Voice on 5/7/12.

From the comments to Kris’s Post – Spread the Word, a classic letter to The Author Guild from 70-year-old author Suzanne White:

It’s unfortunate that an entity which professes to be an “Authors Guild” doesn’t work for authors. It works instead for the publishing industry. It works to try to protect what is obsolete.

 

This post, by Sam Cheever, originally appeared on 'Tween You And Me on 5/4/12.

Over the last week I've noticed something that has me really concerned. My titles are selling. And then they're being returned. I've been indie publishing for about 2 years now. I can count on three fingers the number of returns I've had of my ebooks over that period of time.

Over the last 2 days I've had 8.

This post, by Jodie Renner, originally appeared on The Blood-Red Pencil on 4/18/12.

Fiction writers—one of the fastest ways to bring your story world and characters to life is to portray the setting through the senses, feelings, reactions, and attitude of your protagonist.

I’ve been noticing that more and more people are reading e-books from tablets and fewer people are buying e-ink devices like the original Kindle. When I straw-polled this perception on Twitter, it seemed that I was right. While we are seeing more Kindles and Kobos than ever, the number of iPads and other tablet devices seem to far outstrip the e-ink growth.

There are so many great writing craft books and blog posts out there I just had to do my first monthly mash-up focusing on those. The following are some of my favorite books, in no particular order:

This post, by Jane Friedman, originally appeared on her site on 4/26/12.

As the market evolves, Amazon is becoming a home for readers.

Say what? “A home for readers?” The Evil Amazon? Did the jungle drums just miss a beat?

There is so much for readers to do on Amazon – so much book-related content for them to peruse before buying.

There it was again. I could swear I just heard a friendly word for Seattle.

This post, by Lawrence Block, originally appeared on his site on 4/22/12.

All these things happened in the space of a week or so:

1. My friend Pat reported that the POD paperback of the book he’d co-authored with my friend Dick had gone on sale quietly at Amazon, with a score of copies sold in the first several days. (The eBook has already been selling for a month or so.)