"For a long time, I assumed publishing companies needed sales and marketing executives in generalist positions to focus the priorities of the house, but that's just more Kabuki. Books only the editor has read become bestsellers. Titles launched with a battalion of support go straight to the remainder bins. We all like to believe we are essential to a book's success, but the truth is, we are a marginal factor. The author, and the book, matter most, followed by the media, booksellers and readers. We're facilitators. The most important decisions we make are at the acquisition and positioning stages. That's where sales and marketing experience is most useful and why those executives should be assigned to specific titles at the outset."...authors usually write the best promotional copy (they're writers, after all), and they certainly know their readership best. Yet they are underutilized in the publishing process. Empower them. Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin's Three Cups of Tea, for example, has been sustained by a dynamic author and a multi-year speaking tour, and the hit Twilight series has greatly benefited from Stephenie Meyer's extensive online promotional efforts. At Hachette, I've had a peripheral view of the Twilight phenomenon. It began with an astute, passionate editor and publisher named Megan Tingley, who read the manuscript on an airplane, and made a pre-emptive three-book deal. The readership built gradually, and with the help of much inventive in-house marketing. But everyone within Hachette points to the author as the driving factor in the books' success."Jonathan Karp, 12 Steps to Better Book Publishing (PW 4-20-09)
Hehe ;) yeah I mis-spell alot when I'm not in word lol.I'll just further add to what I did earlier :)As a self-publishing author, it all depends on how well people can write and read - personally, I suffer from Dyslexia and Aphasia, so my words sometimes come out as non-sensical, sometimes (sigh) - or appear not well written. In the past, I have had many ill comments about the "editing, structure," etc in my books, simply because I'm still learning how to write in some cases, and grammar is one of those walls :( yet, they don't know me, they don't know how much I have had to go through just to get 3 books written and self-published. Literally 1,000's of hours of energy poured into writing, proofing, etc - just to have it shot down with a few careless sentences. They don't realise that the author has had to edit books for both print and ebooks - totally different formats - they don't realise how much effort goes into the covers, the margins, and then there is the process for getting it all done for Kindle. Totally different formatting process, but one that has to be repeated. And then there is carefully correcting any errors in the books - sheesh - the list goes on - and even with the improvements, these people won't be bothered to read it anyway!Sometimes I have thought "you know what? this really isn't worth it, because it's doing more harm for my self esteem than good". Damn right depressing.Needless to say, I carried on anyway - if I had no obsession, it wouldn't have happened. But there are many other authors out there that take the criticism to heart, and most the time, its criticism that viciously attacks the persons difficulty in writing - all because its not perfect in the eyes of the written words of the gods.I don't have a dyslexia teacher looking over my shoulder telling me its wrong - instead, its other writers that seem to share their advice - which normally means they tear it to pieces, without even taking the story into consideration (and most the time they arrogantly won't bother reading through one page, just one parapraph - then assume its just ALL bad).It just amazes me how uncaring some people who write or read, are, who are also into the self-pubbing. It almost feels like "writing" should be just left to those that seem to be a part of this "universal" book club of how books should be written...this isn't to say that some constructive advice has helped - but it is amazing how many readers, or fellow writers, will just open fire with all guns without a care. Competition? This is a concern of mine - you have a self-pubbed author that has the highest grades in English (uni/college, whatever). His story is weak, his reviews okay, not 5 stars, but its well written - it would make S.King proud - however, it's not selling so well as a competitors book - also a self-pubbed author. Now, I can easily see a person who has been groomed for success, seek it, but not be as so fortunate as the sod who just want's to tell a story - and by luck has had great success. This is, unfortunatley, an ingrediant for jealousy. It doesn't take much to, for example, create a new account on the internet - download a free kindle book from this author (thus earning the right to leave reviews on amazon, as its considered a sell in the system) - and then proceed to disect it piece-by-piece - leaving a 1 star review to boot. This is what worries me. It is the internet - everything is pretty much anonymous.However, I think authors should take heart - because at least they have one! I also think a part of the problem is that alot of this self-publishing stuff is now done over the internet - and people don't show, through words, the empathy that lacks within them when they write - and it shows when people get highly criticizing.I've never understood it - no one hassles, or even talks to me like trash, when I'm out in person having a drink in the pub.The internet, I think, is partly responsible for the way that the criticizing masses can get there points across without any consideration. Or of course, they are just jealous trolls lol :)I can't wait for the UK to finish legislation with this matter: -18408457I think you can expect to see a massive down-turn of personal "writing attacks" after this gets through as an eventual law. Most people who have criticized my writings in the past ussually hide behind an "alias". This will hopefully be something that will decrease the amount of self-pub attacks in the most direst of circumstances.Thanks for letting me post, Rolando!
Stephen King Refuses E-book Format: I’ll Read J. A. Konrath Instead
"Familiar": Following a night of drunken partying, aspiring lawyer Jackson (King Bach) and his ditzy, sculptor girlfriend Fawn (Hannah Fierman) visit a mysterious fortune-teller named Boone (Keith Arthur Bolden). While performing a palm reading on Fawn, Boone slips Jackson a note reading "Something bad followed you in here." Later that night, while watching a movie with Fawn, Jackson witness a strange creature lurking in the darkness, observing him intently. The next day while at work, Jackson receives a blank fax message, discovers that the contents of his desk have been meticulously stacked while he wasn't looking, and nearly has a pair of dark, clawed hands reach out at him from a bathroom stall. Following these occurrences, Jackson attempts to warn Fawn that something may be after him, and while she doesn't initially believe him, she gives him a hand-sculpted lamb as a present. Making another trip to Boone's place, Jackson finds an old book that reveals that the entity following him is a familiar, a creature of darkness that attaches itself to a human host, and will do absolutely anything, even kill, to remain tethered to said host. Boone informs Jackson that familiars can't be exorcised, instead needing to be physically removed. He instructs Jackson to draw a sacred circle, place a piece of "innocence bait" (an item that was created without an ounce of negative energy) inside said circle, and trap the Familiar in a "blessed crate" when it comes to collect the bait. The first time Jackson attempts this, the Familiar mimics his dog and tricks him into letting it escape. Trying again with the lamb Fawn made him, the Familiar appears to be mimicking Fawn, who begs Jackson to help her. Not intending to be fooled twice, Jackson ends up pushing the crate into a lake, which drowns whatever is inside. When Jackson returns home, he finds the Familiar waiting for him with Fawn's water-logged corpse, revealing that it had swapped places with the real Fawn. The Familiar proceeds to possess Fawn's corpse, have her shuffle over to Jackson, and ominously tell him that she finally believes him as the story ends.
It will be interesting to see the holiday sales in December 2010, and maybe even more so, the post-holiday sales in January 2011, when millions of people unwrap their Kindles and other e-readers and go looking for new e-books to buy. 2ff7e9595c
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