Jacke Wilson

October 4, 2013

Writing and Writers: The Levels of Financial Success

Level 1: The Lottery Winners Riches beyond compare. This is the land of writers with amusement parks based on their characters, ownership of professional sports teams, etc. Level 2: The Serious Earners Writers can pay all their bills solely from their writing. No financial support from spouses, parents, savings. Level 3: The Hacks Same as Continue reading

Authors, Publishing, Writing

Arts, Business, E-Books, Self-Publishing, Writer, Writers Resources, Writing, Writing and Editing

October 3, 2013

The Author as Publisher (Dream? Or Nightmare?)

Another fascinating and informative post from Kristine Kathryn Rusch. This time about the use of contract addendums to grab the rights of authors. Are you ready to stand on your own and keep the publishers and agents out of the equation? Here’s a litmus test. Which of the following best describes you and your feelings Continue reading

Authors, Publishing, Writing

Business, Financial planner, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Money, Mutual fund, Personal finance, publish, Self-Publishing, Writer

October 2, 2013

What They Knew #7

“We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness.” –Arthur Schopenhauer Continue reading

Authors, What They Knew

Schopenhauer, Writer

October 1, 2013

Jonathan Franzen, Horse’s Ass

In anticipation of his forthcoming book, the Internet has been having fun with Jonathan Franzen’s astonishing recent article What’s Wrong With the Modern World. I’ve done my share of piling on. It might be time to remember just what a horse’s ass he is. The Jonathan Franzen Horse’s Ass Quiz Which of the following is Continue reading

Authors, Publishing, Writing

Amazon, Beet, Don DeLillo, Facebook, Get a Life, Guardian, Jonathan Franzen, Literary fiction, Munich, Oprah, reading, Salman Rushdie, Twitter, Writing

September 30, 2013

Storytelling and the Marketplace

I’ve been writing a long time. I can divide my writing into three phases: the phase when I was trying to tell a story, the phase when I was trying to write something suitable for an agent, and the (current) phase when I am again trying to tell a story. Writing for word count might Continue reading

Authors, Publishing, Writing

Arts, Christmas, Conrad, Fiction, Homer, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Storytelling, uncle, Word count, Writer, Writing

September 28, 2013

The Author Who Lived Dangerously: A New Model for Publishing

This is a true story: So the author writes a 30,000-word story and finds himself in literary limbo. Even though he’s achieved some success with his previous books, magazines aren’t willing to publish a story this long. They only have so many pages, after all, and adding extra paper will be expensive to print and ship. Continue reading

Authors, Publishing, Writing

Author, Book, Genre fiction, Jonathan Franzen, Literary fiction, novella, Publishing, Saul Bellow, Scott Turow, Writer, Writing

September 27, 2013

Streaming Television and Digital Publishing

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, has an interesting perspective on television viewers and their desire to have control over what they watch. He starts with a historical analogy: “Two hundred years ago, a lot of fiction was written for magazines. It was a serialized format for novels. And then book manufacturing got cheap enough where you Continue reading

Publishing, Writing

E-Books, House of Cards, Literary fiction, Netflix, novella, Orange Is the New Black, Publishing, reading, Reading (process), Reed Hastings, Self-Publishing, Television program, Writer, Writing

September 26, 2013

Rise of the Novella?

Some interesting speculation that digital publishing, with its lower overhead costs, will lead to the rise of the novella. And why not? Readers like reading them, authors like writing them, but most importantly: sometimes that’s how long a story should be. It’s the difference between Monty Python ending a scene abruptly vs. SNL stretching one out Continue reading

Authors, Publishing, Writing

Amazon, Krusty, Literary fiction, Monty Python, Publishing, reading, Self-Publishing, Simpsons, Writer, Writing

September 25, 2013

Grandma’s Memoirs: A Self-Publishing Thought Experiment

When my grandmother was approaching 90, she decided it was time for her to write her memoirs. Why not? She had lived a full life, spanning nearly the entire twentieth century, from her girlhood in Europe during World War I, through immigration to the United States, all the way to the the end of the Continue reading

Publishing, Writing

Angela’s Ashes, Christmas, Ellis Island, Grandparent, Memoirs, New York City, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Switzerland, United States

September 24, 2013

A Good Sign You’re a Candidate for Self-Publishing

…is when you submit your manuscript to agents and find yourself hoping they will reject it, because their acceptance will interfere with the plans you have for running your own shop. Continue reading

Publishing

Candidate, Facebook, Manuscript, Publishing, Writer