Think you should self-publish? Think again.
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July 2, 2011

Authors and Publishers and Agents mash it up in new ways as the book business gets remade. The reallocation of risks and rewards happens as self-publishing, e-books, and the current economies of scale with new digital technologies encroaches on the crumbling financial houses of traditional publishing. Agents without advances these days from trade publishers now retool to manage and administrate the self-publishing initiatives of authors…. [Read More]

Listen to Blog Talk Radio Books
by,
June 23, 2011

If you are an author who wants to get published, you need a website, blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms. Publishers expect the author to play the primary role in social media marketing. You can hem and haw, but most book professionals are going to insist you build your author brand online. Luckily, Swenson Book Development, LLC assists authors with their… [Read More]

Danielle Sherwood is the reader on the book beat
by,
June 12, 2011

When Jill Swenson asked me to write a 500 word post for Swenson Book Development LLC book blog, I was apprehensive. For one, writing creatively has never been one of my strengths. But writing critiques, doing research, and procrastinating are. Helping others write is why I want to work in book publishing. Even if the publishing industry is struggling. I refuse to say publishing is… [Read More]

Publishers “higher standards” excludes authors at BEA
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May 31, 2011

“Attendance at BookExpo America last week, including BlogWorld, was 23,067. Excluding BlogWorld, whose participants were not included in last year’s attendance figures, attendance was 21,664, down just 255, or 1.2%, from 21,919 in 2010. BEA emphasized that this year’s slightly lower number reflected higher standards: the show “strategically vetted more attendee groups to improve the quality of those participating in BEA.” One resulting major change:… [Read More]

Launching Martian Summer
by,
May 1, 2011

Leave it to a creative director from one of the world’s biggest internet marketing companies to creatively call into question many of the old assumptions about book publishing. With his wacky sense of humor, Andrew Kessler opened a Book Store on Hudson Street in New York City to launch his new book, Martian Summer (Pegasus). It’s not a Books Store; it’s a Book Store. Just… [Read More]

Publishing is a whole new ball game
by,
April 8, 2011

HarperCollins now offers prospective authors AUTHONOMY. This is more than a self-publishing venture. It’s a cash cow based on wannabe authors’ vanity; not on selling books. They get writers to register at their exclusive site and gain feedback from other writers in a community of commentators and critics. Posting their writing on this corporate site is also a breeding ground for new ideas beyond agents’… [Read More]

First time author?
by,
March 16, 2011

Are you a first time author who can’t get a foot in the door of publishers? If you’ve published books previously, it’s much easier to get your book concept under editorial consideration than if you are a first time author. It’s a catch-22; or is it? How can you jump the high hurdle of being a first-time author? Build a publication record. Just because you… [Read More]

Cleaning Nabokov’s House
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March 8, 2011

Leslie Daniels is a great writer whose background as a literary agent serves her well in her craft. Romance, baseball, a dog, small town upstate culture, crime, memoir/creative nonfiction, writing and authors and agents: women’s fiction has a fresh new voice. Daniels mixes it all up so there’s something for everyone. Plus humor, sardonic and ironic. Walking away from a marriage because you don’t know… [Read More]

Mars is Far
by,
March 4, 2011

For many writers, getting a book contract from a trade publisher is further away than Mars. I tell it like it is. With my broken right wrist, it feels far beyond the stars for my manuscript in the drawer. I’ll be lucky to knock out this quick post and publish it here today. If you want to watch a rising star with a bestselling book… [Read More]

How Authors Can Overcome the 10 Mistakes Big Publishers Make
by,
February 18, 2011

So you want to get your book published, but your chances of securing a contract with a big publisher continue to diminish and they bleed financially. Amazon undercuts the publishers’ price; making it increasingly difficult to recover production costs. Borders files for bankruptcy this week while the small and independent bookstores of Main Street continue to close up shop. J.E. Fishman of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania,… [Read More]