Literary fiction

October 8, 2013

Literary Gatekeepers and “Trends”

Great new interview with highly successful indie author Denise Grover Swank over at Simon Whistler’s Rocking Self Publishing podcast. The interview covers a lot of ground, with the primary focus being Swank’s three-part post Business Plans for Self-Published Authors. I’m sure there’s a lot of good advice in the business plan, which I haven’t read Continue reading

Authors, Publishing, Writing

Business plan, Denise Grover Swank, Genre fiction, Literary fiction, Literature, reading, Self-Publishing, Steven King
October 6, 2013

Marketing Self-Published Literary Fiction

So much to agree with in this James Campbell post from 2012: A quick summation: yes, there is a difference between genre fiction and literary fiction; no, genre fiction is not necessarily ‘lower’ than literary fiction or mere escapism; yes, literary fiction has just as many cliches and tropes as genre fiction; and yes, there Continue reading

Authors, Publishing, Writing

Book, E-Books, Genre fiction, Literary fiction, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writer, Writing
October 5, 2013

Self-Publishing Progress Update

Drafts complete: Yes (five) Extensive revisions complete: Yes (four) Assessment to move forward: Yes (two) (both novellas) Website operational: Yes Beta reader feedback incorporated: Yes (one draft, multiple readers) Editing complete: Yes (one) Formatting for Kindle finished: Yes (except for back matter) (one) Cover design: In progress (one) Preview on Kindle device: None Uploaded to Continue reading

Authors, Publishing, Writing

Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, Apple, Beta reader, Book, Book design, E-book, E-Books, Genre fiction, Goodreads, Indie Publishing, IOS, Kindle, Kindle Fire, Literary fiction, Publishing, Self-Publishing, 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 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 22, 2013

The Mindset of Independent Publishing

Another great post from Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who writes: After thirty years of living like this, it’s really hard to understand that the first three weeks of an indie-published book mean nothing more than three weeks five years after the book’s initial publication. Every week is the same. I still struggle with that mindset. It’s Continue reading

Publishing, Writing

Arts, Betsy Brandt, Breaking Bad, Genre fiction, Kristine, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Literary fiction, Publishing