Fempub

Fempub

May be a better name for the dying New York publishing cartel than oldpub. Data courtesy of author Ben Cheah: Some significant context: digging under the following data points turned up that it predominantly applies to oldpub. In that regard, they make for a pretty accurate snapshot of oldpub's readership…
December 26, 201928 Comments
Oh the Mundanity!

Oh the Mundanity!

Author JD Cowan sifts through the wreckage of the Mundane Sci Fi Movement so we don't have to. Take, for instance, one of the offspring of his ideas. As of 2019, the Mundane Science Fiction movement is 15 years old. Never heard of it? Then you understand how much of…
December 13, 201910 Comments
No Company for White Men

No Company for White Men

Best selling author Jon Del Arroz relates the cautionary tale of Spencer Ellsworth, a promising author who put his career in oldpub's hands and had to watch helplessly as they threw it away. First a little background: Spencer made his oldpub bones writing articles for cult agitprop organs like Bleeding…
November 19, 201917 Comments
The Death of the Mid List

The Death of the Mid List

... has not been highly exaggerated. As megabestsellers command more of publishers’ marketing budgets and retailers’ shelf space, breaking out the next crop of hit makers has become a challenge. Book publishing has long been a hits-driven business. The bestsellers, the logic went, paid for the flops. And it was…
November 7, 201912 Comments
JDA #Killstream

JDA #Killstream

Author and comic book writer Jon Del Arroz joins independent journalist Ethan Ralph on the notorious #Killstream! Join Ralph and Jon as they talk #ComicsGate, Cruci-Fiction, and the future of pop culture. Will it be written by Christian newpub authors or by Chinese bots? Listen in to find out! (Skip…
October 9, 2019
Amazing Spider-Man #666

What Really Killed Comics

Everybody has a theory of how the American comic book industry died. "It was the early 90s investor boom," some say. "The glut of variant covers and similar sales gimmicks created a bubble, and when it burst it took out the direct market." Others lay the blame on publishers driving…
September 23, 201940 Comments
Death of the Publisher

Death of the Publisher

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know I like to keep my finger on the pulse of the publishing industry. Staying abreast of developments in your field comes with the territory when you're a professional author. I started out like most aspiring writers thinking I had…
September 16, 201911 Comments
B&N: Rising from the Ashes?

B&N: Rising from the Ashes?

In a surprise twist I certainly didn't see coming, Barnes and Noble's new owners may have taken the only action that might just save the teetering brick and mortar bookseller chain from oblivion. In 2018, it seemed like the days of the United States’ last major bookstore chain were numbered.…
September 6, 201919 Comments
Serious Internet Business

Serious Internet Business

The curious intersection of the publishing business and the Internet has forced authors to moonlight as social media mavens. This is true regardless of whether you self-publish and predates oldpub's collapse. Since every author is now a serious internet businessman, how to build a social media following has joined nuts…
August 21, 201913 Comments
Witch Test Still Inerrant

Witch Test Still Inerrant

Meanwhile, on Twitter ... Once you understand the heretical creed of the Death Cult and learn to recognize their ritual cant and other verbal tics, knowing when to apply the Witch Test is easy. The strictures of their code do the rest. As members of an anti-Christian secular religion, death cultists…
August 16, 201939 Comments