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Blog reader Stefne Miller wrote me: Part of the bonus of having an agent is the ability to sit down with someone and track a course for the writer’s career. The writer gets a professional opinion about what’s in their best interest and plans for the future can be made. For someone like myself who…

Guest Blogger: Mary DeMuth I never thought I’d self publish anything. Truly. I’m a traditionally published girl with eleven books under my author belt. I love my publishers, love what they’ve done. But there came a time when one of my book ideas didn’t fit within their needs. The kernel of the idea to e-publish…

“Two Minute Tutorials” Ohmygosh! Another video! And guess what. I decided to name my video series “Two Minute Tutorials” and wouldn’t you know, today’s video is 3 minutes. C’est la vie, as they say. So this installment of “Two Three Minute Tutorials” answers the question, “Why Don’t Agents Give Reasons with their Rejections?” (I’m trying to get…

We’ve discussed editing before, and it can be confusing that the word “edit” can mean so many different things. In publishing, there are three basic types of edit that a book might go through (although the lines can be blurry): The copyedit: Detailed editing including the nitty gritty of grammar, punctuation, typos, word choice, even fact-checking.…

Drat, I simply couldn’t come up with a post for today. But I have a cool fireworks picture right? And ten really good excuses reasons for no post. 10. Way too busy Twittering and Facebooking. 9. Negotiating deals for a few of my clients this week… it’s taxing, you know! 8. Sunshine beckons. Must. Get. Outside.…

(Updated re-post) I’m still musing over the vacation I took last month with my family. It felt like a magical time of connecting with my daughters and husband, totally “away” from the Internet and the phone and the office. I admit I find it challenging, but I was intentional in my efforts to stay unplugged…

A couple of days ago, Michael Hyatt had a terrific post on his blog, Four Reasons Why You Must Take Responsibility for Your Own Marketing. He reiterated truths about the important role you, the author, play in the promotion of your own book. He reinforced what we’ve all been hearing: Publishers don’t market books. It’s all…

Today I debut my video blogging. Please go easy on me – I’ve never done this before! I decided that in my video blogs I’ll answer questions readers have sent me via email, Twitter, my Facebook page, or the blog. So if you have a question you want me to answer in a video, send…

This has to be the most common question I get these days, from all kinds of writers including my clients. To use the words of one of my authors: Am I hurting my traditional career by self-pubbing? My pressing goal is to become a best-selling, traditionally published author. First of all, if you’re agented, the…

Writers often get freaked out by all our blogs and twitter posts about “bad” queries and big mistakes people make that can make them look…less than professional. But here’s the thing. If you’re reading blogs and books and getting yourself educated about how to get published, then I’m sure you’re going to be fine. You…

I’ve been writing this blog for three-and-a-half years and this whole time, I’ve been on a Monday through Friday blogging schedule. So now I’m experimenting with posting on weekends, too, which I think will give me more time for some fun stuff like comics and questions and polls and contests and videos. But I’m wondering if…

Is this perfect to finish off our week or what? Cartoon courtesy of “The Napkin Dad” Marty Coleman, Photographer and Artist Visit Napkin Dad Website See Marty Coleman’s photography View Napkin Dad Products

Every time time I mention a publisher's "editorial process" on this blog, invariably multiple commenters will mention the "fact" that publishers no longer edit. Others will talk about the terrible mistakes they find in published books, and decry the publishing industry's lack of standards. A typical example is David A. Todd's note on May 2: "...publishers no longer do careful line editing of the book, nor careful proof-reading." From my perspective, having been in the trenches for 16 years now, I believe this is an erroneous generalization.

Yesterday we talked about how slow everything seems to go in traditional publishing, and how it can be tempting to think of "quick" e-book publishing as better simply because it's faster. I have a couple of things to add today about how this industry is changing.