Search found 33 matches
- March 20th, 2011, 11:33 am
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: Does grammar matter, and will it?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 10160
Re: Does grammar matter, and will it?
Anything you submit should be as clean as you can possibly make it. It's normal, in a book-length manuscript, to have a few typographical errors and the occasional editing glitch. That's why you get several sets of eyes on your work before it goes to press. If there are any technical flaws in your q...
- September 8th, 2010, 5:11 pm
- Forum: Finding An Agent
- Topic: Finding an agent with a sense of humor
- Replies: 16
- Views: 7023
Re: Finding an agent with a sense of humor
How can writing be funny?
- August 19th, 2010, 5:43 pm
- Forum: Self-Publishing
- Topic: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
- Replies: 90
- Views: 41403
Re: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
And by the way, I wouldn't even discount that the reading experience of e-books will soon surpass print books. Maybe not as much for fiction (black and white words are black and white words), but imagine say INTO THIN AIR interspersed with color photography of Everest, which isn't financially viabl...
- August 18th, 2010, 5:41 pm
- Forum: Self-Publishing
- Topic: Agenting needs to evolve
- Replies: 53
- Views: 24692
Re: Agenting needs to evolve
Knight, the fact is, this happens. It's just not happening to you. Talented writers get fellowships to go to MFA programs. There are folks out there getting artist-in-residence grants and other funding that allows them to write full-time even though their writing isn't paying their bills. There are ...
- August 18th, 2010, 12:00 pm
- Forum: Self-Publishing
- Topic: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
- Replies: 90
- Views: 41403
Re: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
The fight over control of Barnes and Noble indicates that Len Riggio and Ron Burkle believe that the bookstore business is worth investing in. The Shatzkin kind of analysis is a better news hook ("Things to Stay The Same" is a poor headline), but it seems like the people who have skin in t...
- August 17th, 2010, 3:28 pm
- Forum: Self-Publishing
- Topic: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
- Replies: 90
- Views: 41403
Re: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
I mean, saying that there are no benefits besides the ease of distribution is kind of like saying CDs or records are the same as mp3s because it's still the same music. The ease of distribution and storage are pretty much the entire benefit of mp3s, and it's why they've taken over the world. Purist...
- August 16th, 2010, 4:55 pm
- Forum: Self-Publishing
- Topic: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
- Replies: 90
- Views: 41403
Re: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
Weirdly, Bryan, your bad eyesight makes Kindle a significantly more attractive prospect for you. You can resize text on an e-reader very easily. It doesn't matter to me; I keep it set on the smallest text size to minimize the frequency of the device's slow-ass page-turns. but you might appreciate it...
- August 16th, 2010, 12:55 pm
- Forum: Self-Publishing
- Topic: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
- Replies: 90
- Views: 41403
Re: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
Just strictly speaking about the dictionary function, I also have never been someone who stops and grabs a dictionary when I don't know a word or the exact meaning of one. But there's a big difference between putting your book down, getting up, going across the room, finding the dictionary, looking...
- August 15th, 2010, 10:41 am
- Forum: Finding An Agent
- Topic: MC "hijacking" query?
- Replies: 14
- Views: 5883
Re: MC "hijacking" query?
This may be an absurd idea, but I need an answer. Would having your MC "hijack" your query be a bad idea? Even if they were the type of person to do something like that? For instance, say my MC is an alien creature. In the query they could say some human (i.e. me) has taken it upon themse...
- August 15th, 2010, 8:20 am
- Forum: Self-Publishing
- Topic: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
- Replies: 90
- Views: 41403
Re: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
Sentimentality won't save a format from real progress. People loved video stores and record stores and those are mostly gone. People probably thought the printing press was a vulgarization of the elegant work performed by scribes. The question is whether e-books represent a real step forward. The st...
- August 13th, 2010, 4:48 pm
- Forum: Self-Publishing
- Topic: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
- Replies: 90
- Views: 41403
Re: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
10. I disagree. The book is text on a page, but reading is a much larger experience driven by numerous factors. Improving the experience improves the story. Imagine a book that comes with its own soundtrack, or that links out to reference material so you can better understand historical elements, o...
- August 13th, 2010, 11:21 am
- Forum: Self-Publishing
- Topic: 10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
- Replies: 90
- Views: 41403
10 reasons e-books might not eat the world
The idea that e-books are going to largely replace regular books is quickly becoming conventional wisdom, and the market has grown quickly in two years. But I wonder if the e-book audience won't soon reach saturation instead of continuing to grow. Maybe I am like the people who thought music lovers ...
- August 5th, 2010, 10:44 am
- Forum: Social Media and Book Promotion
- Topic: Do you have a new blog post?
- Replies: 2655
- Views: 821489
Re: Do you have a new blog post?
The worst pick-up line I've ever heard: http://somethingpersuasive.blogspot.com
- August 2nd, 2010, 9:54 pm
- Forum: Self-Publishing
- Topic: Justin Beiber Writing a Memoir... oh, he's 16 yrs old
- Replies: 9
- Views: 3843
Re: Justin Beiber Writing a Memoir... oh, he's 16 yrs old
He should milk it for all it's worth while he still can. That kid is already a quarter of the way through the transformation from adorable moppet to weird-lookin' dude. Do you think that nose he's got will work on the face of an adult man? He's at the top of the big hill on the rollercoaster, and wh...
- August 1st, 2010, 10:13 pm
- Forum: Finding An Agent
- Topic: The 75% Rule
- Replies: 11
- Views: 4989
Re: The 75% Rule
Hi all - Appreciate the discussion here -- thank you. I thought I'd add a couple clarifications & comments: * The 75% rule came from novelist Marcus Sarkey, who has a background in advertising. I think this detail is important, because from his point of view, the query letter is a marketing pie...