The Editor Defined

The Editor Defined

Publishing is an old industry that's assembled its own internal lexicon. As you'll find with any trade, publishing jargon can be difficult for laymen--and even authors--to decipher. A widely misunderstood term is the deceptively simple title of editor. When most people; again even some authors, hear the word "editor", they…
August 20, 2020

No Future for Oldpub

Pulp Speed exemplar Dean Wesley Smith isn't exactly bullish on oldpub's long-term prospects. Most writers who break into traditional publishing are done in two books. Maybe three if they are lucky. And when I say most, I would give a conservative guess of 95%, more than likely closer to 99%.…
July 7, 20209 Comments
Neo-patronage

Neo-patronage

Imagine that you're an artist of some sort desiring to make a living through your art. In the case of novelists, this used to mean seeking approval from an agent and then an editor before landing a book deal with one of the big New York publishers. That publishing model…
June 8, 202010 Comments
How Amazon Cut Your Royalties Under Your Nose

How Amazon Cut Your Royalties Under Your Nose

Since the dawn of KDP, indie authors have been questing for the newpub holy grail: that magic formula for earning a living on Amazon. If we rendered KDP in visual terms, it would look like the Valley of the Kings or the Dakota Badlands, with hopeful authors digging away like…
May 14, 202010 Comments
Danger With Opportunity

Danger With Opportunity

One danger that dissenters from Death Cult dogma should regularly remind ourselves of is that the Cult is now the mainstream, so most folks don't share our views on pop culture. Keeping tabs on reactions to my Pop Cult exposé, I've been surprised to see how many ordinary Conservatives--even devout…
April 27, 202018 Comments
One Foot in the Grave

One Foot in the Grave

... and the other on a banana peel is an accurate description of the current state of oldpub. Author Kristine Kathryn Rusch plumbs the exact depth of the hole. There’s a shortage of paper, because it comes from China. The two largest printers of magazines and books in the U.S.,…
April 24, 202019 Comments
Zahn Goes Indie

Zahn Goes Indie

It's been a tough month for oldpub, Editors at the Big Five publishers were already scrambling for their Xanax and Franzia over the imminent collapse of their lumber monopoly. Now their living nightmare just got worse. For the two of you who cut school the day we discussed Timothy Zahn…
April 8, 202014 Comments
PublishingInTrouble.jpg

It’s a Great Time to Be in Publishing

... If you're actually in publishing and not lumber distribution. Hat tip to author Rawle Nyanzi for documenting this frank admission from Tor Books editor Beth Meacham: For years, I've called out legacy New York publishers for being in the lumber business instead of the story business. A book isn't…
April 6, 202021 Comments
Mad at a Library

Mad at a Library

The Internet Archive's announcement of a National Emergency Library to give students access to reading material during the quarantine has run afoul of a certain Witch. Courtesy of @Dataracer117 on Twitter: Not a good look--especially since archive.org is in fact offering Wendig's books through their lending library--not via direct download.…
March 30, 202021 Comments
Big Publisher 4 Sale

Big Publisher 4 Sale

Oldpub shouldn't get too cocky about newpub authors' recent sales dip, especially since the Big Five New York publishers are about to become the Big Four. ViacomCBS is preparing to sell its venerable publishing unit, Simon & Schuster, as the company re-evaluates all its assets in a fast-changing business landscape.…
March 4, 20203 Comments