An attitude of gratitude isn’t just a holiday message. It’s a company philosophy for Swenson Book Development LLC. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to affirm our sentiments that we have so much for which to be grateful. We appreciate all the good books our clients have published: Almost Everything Takes Forever (Antrim House) Dear Friend Amelia (Six Mile Creek Press) Drawing Love (Indie Writers Press)… [Read More]
A professional developmental editor works with a book author to: complete a manuscript that will interest agents and/or acquisition editors at publishing companies; develop a winning book proposal (perhaps the most important role a development editor can play); position and package the writer’s concept to an agent or publisher; and establish an electronic persona and online audience platform for the writer. A book development editor is NOT… [Read More]
I’m not a fiction writer. I stick to what I know and what I know is English literature and social media. Yet this past week, I attended a workshop at the Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL) on writing historical fiction. On Wednesday night I assisted Jill Swenson, the host and experienced writer, editor and CEO of Swenson Book Development LLC. It was the last meeting… [Read More]
Swenson Book Development, LLC is pleased to announce that starting in September our blog will begin featuring three weekly articles or columns. Here’ what we have planned for our subscribers to receive on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. Tuesday: For the love of books Those who publish and sell books for more than the sake of a lousy buck are today’s unsung heroes. Ithaca… [Read More]
Steven Piersanti, the President of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, recently updated his 2009 report on the publishing industry earlier this summer. Previously I posted an essay here that referenced Piersanti’s points raised in 2009 and how authors could overcome the 10 big mistakes big publishers make (February 28, 2011). Piersanti’s assessment in 2011 reflects the changes in technology and the economy in the past two years. In… [Read More]
Swenson Book Development, LLC works to match an author’s project with an agent or publisher. Our success in doing so makes many people wonder how we do it. Drawing back the curtain on the Wizards of Bookery, we reveal one of the methods employed in our toolkit to serve our clients’ objectives. Publisher’s Marketplace is the largest online network of publishing professionals. Our professional subscription… [Read More]
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]
“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]
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]
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]
