(no subject)

[alg]

Good morning! I have been awake since six am, and wow! It is a beautiful day. I have the windows open, and there is a wonderful cold breeze blowing in. My bedroom window faces Manhattan, which means it faces the water, even though I can't see the water, and I get wonderful breezes -- although when it's freezing outside and the wind chill is, like, negative seventy-million, it's not so much fun.

(All I want this morning is a cup of coffee and a Danish. Wow, how bad do I want a Danish? Pretty badly. Instead I had a crescent roll. Not quite as good, but what's a girl to do?)

I want to thank again everyone who provided me with links and stories on Monday -- that was awfully nice of you guys and I really appreciate it! I am well on my way to recovering (especially now that my dentist has called in a new prescription for me, and I have much stronger painkillers, phew).

Now that I can focus for longer than 500 words, I am ready to write more about demystifying publishing.

I am really glad that these entries are helping y'all. And I am flattered that so many people are reading them -- I know I tend to be pedantic and long-winded, so it's amazing to me that you guys can get through these entries. *g*

I do want to remind you that these answers are by no means universal. Remember the first rule: Don't be an idiot.


Publishing is Hard!

Writing is an art, but publishing is a business -- and here are a few basic suggestions on how to navigate that business. Complete with explanations of various departments within a publishing company, and how they all work together to make your book. And, of course, my witty and charming commentary!




Thanks for reading; I hope this has helped at least some of you!

Comments

[belmanoir.livejournal.com]

Heh. I think part of what makes it so great is first of all, that I hate BS myself--it just makes me nervous, because I always feel like there could be something else HORRIBLE going on beneath the surface and I would never know. That's one reason I find your conference presentations so helpful--everyone is saying that they never take an agent's personality into consideration, and you're like, "You know what? If you think your agent is a heinous bitch, SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE." And of course that's common sense, but common sense gets lost sometimes.

Which is the other reason these are so great--on a lot of writer listservs and so forth (not all, but a lot), people get so caught up in nitpicky details like "OMG I put my page number on the lower-right-hand corner and then I heard I should have put in the upper-right-hand corner and I have a full out and should I send a new copy and should I call and should I e-mail and OMG my career is OVER!" So it's refreshing to hear that, hey, you know what, just being a mature person and researching what you need to do and then nicely and politely doing your best is FINE.

I know that some people don't respond well to it, but it works really well for me personally. So yeah, thanks again.

[alg.livejournal.com]

Well THANK YOU!!!! This is always nice to hear. Clearly my attitude doesn't work for everyone (I am shocked at the things people will say about me in public livejournal posts *g*) but I'm glad it works for some!

Thanks again -- I appreciate hearing that I've been helpful. :)