Protagonists and Pandas: An Interview with Leigh Stein, author of The Fallback Plan
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January 10, 2012

Leigh Stein, author of The Fallback Plan (Melville, 2012), will unashamedly tell you that she’s lived with her parents four times. Her newly-released novel, a coming-of-age about post-college angst, is spliced with details from her own experience and speaks volumes to the plight of so many twenty-something’s undergoing a quarter-life crisis. Stein’s protagonist, Esther, is a recent Northwestern graduate suffering from the post-grad blues. While… [Read More]

10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing by Piersanti
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August 7, 2011

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]

Social Networks for Readers: Geek Out, Literati-Style
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July 7, 2011

Last week eBookNewser featured an article on ten social networks for readers. It seems online communities for readers are popping up everywhere in response to the e-book boom. Online writing and reading groups are less exclusive now; increased competition and advanced features means better options for reading and developing books across the web. Meaning more opportunities to find a website that complements the books you… [Read More]

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]

Why should authors blog? Top 10
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January 24, 2011

1. Writing improves with practice. 2. Blogging allows you to hone your rewriting skills with its many editing functions. 3. Blogs attract readers; and the more readers the bigger your audience. 4. Blogs generate important feedback from readers. 5. Blogging connects you with other authors, readers, and book lovers. 6. A blog is a low cost way to market yourself as an author and promote… [Read More]