I think we can safely describe Douglas Preston as a loyal author and servant of Hachette. I also think there is a danger that Preston is allowing himself (by fault or design) to be portrayed as a crusader for all authors when in fact he represents the commercial interests of a select group of authors, or…
Writing and reading for pleasure – Part 2: What to Write? | Douglas Burcham | Guest Post
Douglas Burcham continues his series of articles on writing and reading for pleasure. Part Two: What to Write? “You will have to write what readers want and not write a story already written by another author.” “Can you fly me to the moon and remember to come back?” Of the two statements each is probably…
Writing and reading for pleasure – Part 1: Why write? | Douglas Burcham | Guest Post
Douglas woke frightened in the night, sensing a grim reaper had left home, when would she arrive? … Could Douglas disappear? Part One: Why Write? Today is four years since I started to write fiction, well other than all the business reports I wrote before while at work. I suppose for up to five years…
Content Marketing Tips for The Publishing Industry – Jessica Davis | Guest Post
This is the era of digital marketing and among the different types of online marketing, content marketing reigns supreme. Along with social media marketing, content marketing has worked brilliantly to produce excellent results for companies both big and small. Content marketing is much subtler than other forms of marketing and is considered more trustworthy by…
Books don’t just happen, someone has to take a risk | Herald Scotland
I came across a fascinating piece by Ian Bell in yesterday’s Herald Scotland. Bell bids a farewell to Mainstream Publishing, a Scottish publishing house founded by Bill Campbell and Peter Mackenzie in 1978. Their lives have gone into the imprint, good times and bad. Now and then the triumph was just to survive in a…
Infinite Shades of Grey: The Promise and Peril of Self-Publishing | Tamblyn at FutureBook UK 2013
This is Michael Tamblyn, Kobo’s Chief Operating Officer, delivering his speech at last week’s FutureBook 2013. His speech is titled “Infinite Shades of Grey: The Promise and Peril of Self-Publishing”. Tamblyn reflects on a testing time for the e-book publishing platform when almost overnight all its books were removed from circulation following a news article…
The Key Book Publishing Paths 2.0 | Jane Friedman
Some TIPM readers will remember when I featured Jane Friedman’s excellent infographic on 5 Key Publishing Paths in June of this year. I wrote this article about the infographic and shared some thoughts on it. It led to some comments and discussion with Jane, here and elsewhere, and a lively and lengthy debate on how…
Guest Post: People in the Publishing Industry You Need to Be Following
The publishing industry is a tough business all around, particularly for writers. The best way to get published is to always, always be aware of the trends, influencers and happenings within the major publishing world, and social media makes that easier than ever. Here’s a selection of publishing industry insiders you need to be following on…
15 Things Traditional Publishers Might Say To Each Other About Self-Publishing Service Providers
1. “Look, we’ve nothing to worry about. They’re all just glorified printers and author mills. We’re the real cultivators and promoters of literature.” 2. “I mean, it’s easy to make money if you just sell services to authors and not their books.” 3. “Martha, it’s like I said about e-books years ago. Those service…
17 Things Self-Published Authors Might Say To Each Other
1. “If any author can self-publish a book, then it must be pretty easy.” 2. “Yeh, sure there’s lots of self-published authors now, but they didn’t properly self-publish like I did.” 3. “She must be lying about her sales figures.” 4. “Where do you all get the time to do the…