Publishing
Adjusting to the new – scroll vs codex
Now that the Kindle has finally been released in Canada, people there are chewing over what it might mean to them, and to publishing. Ian Brown is not convinced it’s a good thing and says so in the Globe and Mail. Others are excited about the new technology, in the way many people are with…
Read MoreFrom this broken hill…
I recently heard of an internationally acclaimed author whose work I admire IMMENSELY, having his newly finished novel turned down. (And no, I’m not going to name names.) I don’t know why the book was turned down, although I can’t imagine it was because it wasn’t well written. This man is simply incapable of writing…
Read MoreThe writer is 'branded'
Publishers and agents will sometimes ask a writer about his or her branding. They want to know what the marketability of the writer is. What the backstory is. They want to know what the publicity angle will be for a book. And, more often than not, they want the writer to provide this information, if…
Read MoreTo Self-Publish or Not To Self-Publish
Do it yourself publishing I frequently get letters from emerging fiction writers, asking me what I think about self-publishing. What a difficult question. The truth is that (and these words may come back to haunt me one day) I can’t imagine self-publishing. I’m sure there are some reputable companies out there. I’m know there are…
Read MoreIf you love books – a writer's plea
The dodo. Quite extinct, as books may well be, if reader’s don’t buy them. We all know how terrible the economic situation is right now. We’re all suffering. The same is true of the publishing industry, which hasn’t had a good year in quite some time now. Publishing houses are laying off staff, and closing…
Read MoreWhat to do until the publishing Messiah comes…
Ironically, a couple of days after I wrote that last blog on “How to Write a Novel,” I received a disturbing email from Publisher’s Weekly. The notice stated that the venerable Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has temporarily stopped acquiring manuscripts. This, understandably, has sent authors and agents into something of a flap. This is the house…
Read MoreWriting & Reading about The Big Questions
I’ve been reading a lot of obituaries and tributes to David Foster Wallace since I wrote last, and I’m struck by how deeply touched people are by his work, and in some cases how puzzled they are by their deep reaction to his death. What is it about this man that moved us so? For…
Read MoreIf we get the next thing, will it be enough?
I spend a lot of time thinking about the writing life, which is hardly surprising, I suppose, since it’s the life I’m in. However, I consider myself living in a sort of authorial hinterland. I am published, thus far, only in Canada, and yet for the entire span of my career, I have not lived…
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