Quick question for my readers: do you prefer the links popping up in a new window, or acting as direct links? Warning for this week: I have them opening in new windows. Just trying a little something different. Let me know if you prefer this format!
Industry News
The DoJ is close to settling with Apple over price-fixing. This settlement may end Apple's "most-favored-nation" status. The deal may also shift pricing control from publishers to retailers, which is a move away from the agency model publishers have been using and back towards Amazon's wholesale model. Good news for Amazon.
Estimates on the amount of money lost by untaxed Amazon purchases puts the number at about $52 billion. That's right, with a b. Taxes that could have gone to fixing state deficits.
According to GalleyCat, 20% of global readers have purchased at least one eBook in the past 6 months.
Google ends its eBook agreement with indie bookstores, meaning it will no longer sell eBooks through any medium except Google Play as of January 2013.
Got something published? A new site has pirated copies of many copyrighted works, including romance and other genres, despite claiming to be only for children's eBooks. I suggest checking the site for your own work and request it be taken down, assuming you don't like e-pirates handing out free copies of your work without permission. Terms for getting the material removed are on this page. The site's copyright agent in charge of these issues is Josh Jones, 427 California Ave, Unit 1, Santa Monica, CA 90403, e-mail: copyright@epubbud.com, fax: 310-862-4900. Books may be posted with slightly incorrect titles and may or may not include the author's name, which only makes finding out if you've been pirated all the more fun.
Is fanfiction going mainstream? With the publication of Fifty Shades of Grey, which acknowledged its origins as Twilight fanfiction, readers and writers begin to question the boundaries that have prevented fan-written fiction based off other published works (including manga, TV shows, movies, books, etc) from entering the market in the past. Of course there are legal issues, but there's also the question of a possible shift in cultural regard towards fanfiction as a legitimate form of literature.
In Nova Scotia, libraries are protesting Random House's price increase by no longer purchasing Random House eBooks.
A look at publishing in Russia, the 3rd largest book production market in the world (after the US and China). Due to declining reading habits, the country is expecting a loss in sales this year.
BookExpo America is opening its doors to the public for the first time this year. Okay, so it's invite only (there's only a thousand extra tickets floating around, offered to publishers and booksellers to award as they choose to fans).
Industry Blogs
Talking about BookExpo, Rachel Stark weighs in with her opinion. Some booksellers aren't too happy, but could having a book convention be a good thing? ComicCon sure gets a lot publicity, and is very popular. Would a book convention generate the same excitement towards reading?
Thinking about creating an interactive book in Apple for the iBookstore? The system still has a ways to go yet; only links and videos work (except links to Amazon); anything else places the book under the "Apps" page.
There's a contest on BackSpace for the best logline of a fictional work (as in, a manuscript that has not yet been written).
And the deadline for the FF&P's On The Far Side contest has been extended to May 30, with a new category added. Entries must be romance with any of the following subgenres*: Hard SF/Futuristic, Dark/Light/General paranormal, Time Travel/SteamPunk/Historical Elements, Dark/Urban/General Fantasy, Young Adult, any of the above With Romantic Elements *(meaning the novel isn't romance but has romantic elements), and new this year: Erotic Paranormal Romance.
GalleyCat suggests scanning your author website (or any personal website, for that matter) for malware, and offers suggestions on how to do so for free.
A writer asks Jessica Faust if she should look for another agent after a contract expires. BookEnds doesn't do automatically expiring contracts, but she suggests in cases that you make formal your contract severence before seeking a new agent. It's not okay to look for a new agent when you're still active with your current one. However, if the agent hasn't placed the manuscript, consider offering her your next to sell. Many now-published authors didn't sell their first manuscripts, anyway, but made their first sale on subsequent ones.
She is also asked about permissions for quotes. There's a bunch of different factors involved; it's best to check before using them. That isn't something to worry about in the submissions to agents process, but it should be taken care of before publication. (I would especially look into it as a self-publishing author!) And how long do you wait for someone to get back to you on a full manuscript submission, when you've been referred to them by another agent? Wait about 10 weeks before giving them a nudge. Also, respond to people on Twitter - make it interactive for them. And don't forget to update your website. Your real fans will check by every so often (I probably check Lisa Shearin's site once a month or so, myself), so don't let them leave disappointed.
Rachelle Gardener reminds us to treat our writing like a business in terms of taxes. That is to say, go ahead and set aside your tax when the check comes in, because it's not automatically taken out. Keep your receipts. And put something into savings!
She talks about making a living as a writer: Part 1, Part 2, Challenges, and what one writer did to make ends meet when she quit her day job.
Nathan Bransford publishes the Last Few Weeks in Books. He also talks about why the Harry Potter eBooks are and are not a big deal.
QueryTracker posts the Publishing Pulse for 3/30.
And they offer lessons to be learned from the investment industry, and tips on social networking (make it interactive! Don't "follow and unfollow," and respond to everyone, not just the same select few. And don't constantly advertise your book. People aren't following you to receive spam.)
Suzanne Purvis offers 16 tips for getting productive in the writer's seat.
Janet Reid instructs that writers should not put a table of contents into their manuscript submissions. She also lets us know the proper filename to give our manuscript submissions: TitlebyAuthor.doc (.rtf, etc)
Industry News
The DoJ is close to settling with Apple over price-fixing. This settlement may end Apple's "most-favored-nation" status. The deal may also shift pricing control from publishers to retailers, which is a move away from the agency model publishers have been using and back towards Amazon's wholesale model. Good news for Amazon.
Estimates on the amount of money lost by untaxed Amazon purchases puts the number at about $52 billion. That's right, with a b. Taxes that could have gone to fixing state deficits.
According to GalleyCat, 20% of global readers have purchased at least one eBook in the past 6 months.
Google ends its eBook agreement with indie bookstores, meaning it will no longer sell eBooks through any medium except Google Play as of January 2013.
Got something published? A new site has pirated copies of many copyrighted works, including romance and other genres, despite claiming to be only for children's eBooks. I suggest checking the site for your own work and request it be taken down, assuming you don't like e-pirates handing out free copies of your work without permission. Terms for getting the material removed are on this page. The site's copyright agent in charge of these issues is Josh Jones, 427 California Ave, Unit 1, Santa Monica, CA 90403, e-mail: copyright@epubbud.com, fax: 310-862-4900. Books may be posted with slightly incorrect titles and may or may not include the author's name, which only makes finding out if you've been pirated all the more fun.
Is fanfiction going mainstream? With the publication of Fifty Shades of Grey, which acknowledged its origins as Twilight fanfiction, readers and writers begin to question the boundaries that have prevented fan-written fiction based off other published works (including manga, TV shows, movies, books, etc) from entering the market in the past. Of course there are legal issues, but there's also the question of a possible shift in cultural regard towards fanfiction as a legitimate form of literature.
In Nova Scotia, libraries are protesting Random House's price increase by no longer purchasing Random House eBooks.
A look at publishing in Russia, the 3rd largest book production market in the world (after the US and China). Due to declining reading habits, the country is expecting a loss in sales this year.
BookExpo America is opening its doors to the public for the first time this year. Okay, so it's invite only (there's only a thousand extra tickets floating around, offered to publishers and booksellers to award as they choose to fans).
Industry Blogs
Talking about BookExpo, Rachel Stark weighs in with her opinion. Some booksellers aren't too happy, but could having a book convention be a good thing? ComicCon sure gets a lot publicity, and is very popular. Would a book convention generate the same excitement towards reading?
Thinking about creating an interactive book in Apple for the iBookstore? The system still has a ways to go yet; only links and videos work (except links to Amazon); anything else places the book under the "Apps" page.
There's a contest on BackSpace for the best logline of a fictional work (as in, a manuscript that has not yet been written).
And the deadline for the FF&P's On The Far Side contest has been extended to May 30, with a new category added. Entries must be romance with any of the following subgenres*: Hard SF/Futuristic, Dark/Light/General paranormal, Time Travel/SteamPunk/Historical Elements, Dark/Urban/General Fantasy, Young Adult, any of the above With Romantic Elements *(meaning the novel isn't romance but has romantic elements), and new this year: Erotic Paranormal Romance.
GalleyCat suggests scanning your author website (or any personal website, for that matter) for malware, and offers suggestions on how to do so for free.
A writer asks Jessica Faust if she should look for another agent after a contract expires. BookEnds doesn't do automatically expiring contracts, but she suggests in cases that you make formal your contract severence before seeking a new agent. It's not okay to look for a new agent when you're still active with your current one. However, if the agent hasn't placed the manuscript, consider offering her your next to sell. Many now-published authors didn't sell their first manuscripts, anyway, but made their first sale on subsequent ones.
She is also asked about permissions for quotes. There's a bunch of different factors involved; it's best to check before using them. That isn't something to worry about in the submissions to agents process, but it should be taken care of before publication. (I would especially look into it as a self-publishing author!) And how long do you wait for someone to get back to you on a full manuscript submission, when you've been referred to them by another agent? Wait about 10 weeks before giving them a nudge. Also, respond to people on Twitter - make it interactive for them. And don't forget to update your website. Your real fans will check by every so often (I probably check Lisa Shearin's site once a month or so, myself), so don't let them leave disappointed.
Rachelle Gardener reminds us to treat our writing like a business in terms of taxes. That is to say, go ahead and set aside your tax when the check comes in, because it's not automatically taken out. Keep your receipts. And put something into savings!
She talks about making a living as a writer: Part 1, Part 2, Challenges, and what one writer did to make ends meet when she quit her day job.
Nathan Bransford publishes the Last Few Weeks in Books. He also talks about why the Harry Potter eBooks are and are not a big deal.
QueryTracker posts the Publishing Pulse for 3/30.
And they offer lessons to be learned from the investment industry, and tips on social networking (make it interactive! Don't "follow and unfollow," and respond to everyone, not just the same select few. And don't constantly advertise your book. People aren't following you to receive spam.)
Suzanne Purvis offers 16 tips for getting productive in the writer's seat.
Janet Reid instructs that writers should not put a table of contents into their manuscript submissions. She also lets us know the proper filename to give our manuscript submissions: TitlebyAuthor.doc (.rtf, etc)
I prefer opening new tabs, so neither makes a difference to me. I always right-click links and choose the "open in a new tab" option.
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