It's going to be a while before we hear the final verdict--and probable appeals--in the tale of Penguin Random House's desire to "merge" with Simon & Schuster. What we're getting in the meantime is a ringside seat to the lengths those folks at Randy Penguin and their hand-picked editors and agents (yes, agents) will go... Continue Reading →
Randy Penguin Says DOJ Doesn’t Understand
Penguin Random House--AKA Randy Penguin--is whining about the DOJ. Now, I whine about the DOJ a lot, especially these days as it works with the White House to expand the government's reach into our every day life. But Randy Penguin is busy wringing its hands (flippers?) in anguish as the Feds try to block its... Continue Reading →
Odds and Ends and In-betweens
Lots going on in the world of books and publishing right now. Because of that, I'm going to throw some things out here and would like to know your thoughts on it. That's the short version of what today's post is all about. The longer version is my brain is fried and I'm stressed and... Continue Reading →
An Astonishingly Honest Look At Publishing
Life is still up in the air here in my small corner of the Lone Star State. Because of that, I find myself coming up for air with less frequency as real life demands on my time increase. But come up I did this morning. So I went looking for inspiration and came across this... Continue Reading →
Bob Honey: A Cautionary Tale
There was a time when I wanted nothing more than to sign a publishing contract with a traditional publisher. I would have sold my soul, or come close to it, for that opportunity. Over the years, as I did more research into the publishing industry and as more opportunities for indie publishing became available, that... Continue Reading →
Of slush piles and indie and tigers and bears, oh my!
Sorry for the delay this morning, everyone. I have had an upper respiratory infection for the better part of a week that is laying me low. Because of that, I'm taking a break from the formatting series. I will pick it up again, hopefully, tomorrow on my blog. Today, however, I'm going to take my... Continue Reading →
Choppy water ahead
Sometime in the last week, I came across a blog post where someone talked about going into a newly opened Barnes & Noble and how surprised they were by what they found. The store had opened in the space once occupied by a Borders, iirc, and the blogger had had high hopes for the new... Continue Reading →
Strikes one, two and possibly three
Sorry I'm late with this morning's post. Put it down to being hijacked by a plot that has been trying to take over my life for the last couple of days coupled with WordPress changing its interface (which isn't fair when I haven't had enough coffee to try to figure it out). In case you... Continue Reading →
Beware. What’s that you say? Another one bites the dust.
It's December and time for everyone to start panicking because the holidays are just around the corner and there's still shopping to do and meals to plan and relatives to visit. It's also a time when most of us seem to forget there are those out there who are more than willing to separate us... Continue Reading →
And people wonder why the industry is in the shape it’s in
This past Sunday my critique group met and, as usual, we talked about what's going on in publishing. One of the topics we discussed was something Kate brought up in her post last week: Archway Publishing. In case you missed Kate's post, Archway most definitely isn't a publisher I'd recommend any author go running to.... Continue Reading →