Writing

October 10, 2013

The Great Novella Tournament of Champions: Billy Budd v. The Secret Sharer

The Great Novella Tournament of Champions celebrates a classic literary form believed to be poised for a comeback. The judge is a long-time fan of the form who is in the final stages of self-publishing a novella of his own. Off we go! First up in our celebrity novella deathmatch are a couple of… Continue reading

Authors, GNTOC, Novellas, Tournament of Champions, Writing

art, Bartleby the Scrivener, Billy Budd, Genre fiction, Heart of Darkness, HermanMelville, Joseph Conrad, Literary fiction, Melville, Moby-Dick, novella, Patrick O’Brian, Secret Sharer, Writer, Writing
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 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 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 23, 2013

Welcome, Beta Readers!

Thanks to everyone who has served as a beta reader, or to those of you who have signed up for more. As always, I hope the process will not be too painful. (Side note: at the first deposition I ever took, the first thing out of my mouth was a reassurance to the witness that… Continue reading

Publishing, Uncategorized, Writing

Beta, Beta reader, E-Books, reading, Writer, Writing