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I’m using yesterday’s topic of borrowing and lending to another level today. For those who’ve worked their way into the publishing business in the past few years, the preconceptions of what it means to be a writer have learned the new definition. They’ve also learned about the new work ethic of writers.

Today’s Writers

Writers shamelessly promote their work, and the work of others, everywhere they can because their careers’ futures depend on that promotion. Also, the big publishing houses today simply don’t have the promotion budgets they had in the past.

Other writers encourage us to guest blog on their sites, whether for self-promotion to a new audience or for a new book recently released. Guest blogging can also be used to promote a new voice/viewpoint about a specific topic being discussed. Either way, both the borrower of the audience and the lender of said viewers come away with something needed.

For the first time in centuries, writers are taking charge of their own livelihoods in the business. Many independent-thinking writers, who created their own presses, have turned their backs on the major publishing houses. They no longer consider it wrong to go without an agent. These career-oriented writers have changed the face of the industry in the past decade.

Small presses, POD’s and eBooks are making profits harder to come by for the big boys right now.

Future Possibilities

Whether I give information out for free, or I receive such information for free is irrelevant to the overall picture. The reason I can say that is because it’s beginning to look like the industry will soon be owned by the writers themselves in some respects.

Blogs and newsletters written by and for writers are created every day. They cover all the genres, and they take no prisoners. Whatever a writer wants to know is out there. Surfing and search engines make it impossible to overlook much that’s available.

When you consider that writers, editors, bloggers, along with magazines are ranking websites, newsletters, etc. on a regular basis, the built-in watchdogs guarantee that a careful user is safer from publishing scams than they used to be.

As encouragement, universities across the country are making free writing courses available by the dozen. Paid courses are also easily found and evaluated as to viability to the particular writer and well and skill set desired. And if a writer is determined, she can take an MFA degree online, or as a low-residency program from numerous colleges across the nation.

Advertising and promotion is easy to come by. Small, writer-controlled, publishing houses are moving in to entice new writers and secure established ones. A combo house—one which publishes both eBooks and POD simultaneously can take a well-written manuscript and turn it out to the public in a matter of only a few weeks/months instead of one to two years as happens with the big publishers. The lead time depends on the editing necessary for the manuscript and the dedication of the publishing staff.

Many of these same small presses use talented editors, promotion—including trailers and online, and help with marketing after the release of the book.

Building Publishing’s Future

Whether the new face of publishing comes at the expense of the major houses around the world isn’t the question. We should be asking if we want to

I’m using yesterday’s topic of borrowing and lending to another level today. For those who’ve worked their way into the publishing business in the past few years, the preconceptions of what it means to be a writer have learned the new definition. They’ve also learned about the new work ethic of writers.

Today’s Writers

Writers shamelessly promote their work, and the work of others, everywhere they can because their careers’ futures depend on that promotion. Also, the big publishing houses today simply don’t have the promotion budgets they had in the past.

Other writers encourage us to guest blog on their sites, whether for self-promotion to a new audience or for a new book recently released. Guest blogging can also be used to promote a new voice/viewpoint about a specific topic being discussed. Either way, both the borrower of the audience and the lender of said viewers come away with something needed.

For the first time in centuries, writers are taking charge of their own livelihoods in the business. Many independent-thinking writers, who created their own presses, have turned their backs on the major publishing houses. They no longer consider it wrong to go without an agent. These career-oriented writers have changed the face of the industry in the past decade.

Small presses, POD’s and eBooks are making profits harder to come by for the big boys right now.

Future Possibilities

Whether I give information out for free, or I receive such information for free is irrelevant to the overall picture. The reason I can say that is because it’s beginning to look like the industry will soon be owned by the writers themselves in some respects.

Blogs and newsletters written by and for writers are created every day. They cover all the genres, and they take no prisoners. Whatever a writer wants to know is out there. Surfing and search engines make it impossible to overlook much that’s available.

When you consider that writers, editors, bloggers, along with magazines are ranking websites, newsletters, etc. on a regular basis, the built-in watchdogs guarantee that a careful user is safer from publishing scams than they used to be.

As encouragement, universities across the country are making free writing courses available by the dozen. Paid courses are also easily found and evaluated as to viability to the particular writer and well and skill set desired. And if a writer is determined, she can take an MFA degree online, or as a low-residency program from numerous colleges across the nation.

Advertising and promotion is easy to come by. Small, writer-controlled, publishing houses are moving in to entice new writers and secure established ones. A combo house—one which publishes both eBooks and POD simultaneously can take a well-written manuscript and turn it out to the public in a matter of only a few weeks/months instead of one to two years as happens with the big publishers. The lead time depends on the editing necessary for the manuscript and the dedication of the publishing staff.

Many of these same small presses use talented editors, promotion—including trailers and online, and help with marketing after the release of the book.

Building Publishing’s Future

Whether the new face of publishing comes at the expense of the major houses around the world isn’t the question. We should be asking if we want to

This post is sponsored by a trip to Amazon.

Today, I bought pretty (awesome) books even though I'm not supposed to be buying any until my current to read pile has shrunk. In fairness, I'd been meaning to pick up Lavie Tidhar's 'The Bookman' for a year, and I loved Carrie Ryan's two previous books so I had to have 'The Dark and Hollow Places' and then I discovered a book by Genevive Valentine that I hadn't heard of before - Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti. Check out that blurb and the cover... Plus, yesterday I finally renewed my subscription to Interzone and Black Static, because I'd have felt guilty if I didn't, and they're fantastic magazines and I worry, our small presses are going to fold in on themselves and die!!!

Bloody hell, I guess I have my melodramatic head on today. Someone fan me and feed me grapes.

In other news: Did you know, I'm cultivating a forest in my back garden and there's a note on the seed packet about monsters? Stay tuned for more news...

That sentence is sponsored by things I hate about summer: gardening, gardening and yep, more gardening. Guess what I did today? Well some folk would claim 'my acts' didn't resemble gardening at all but I stick my tongue out at them and hand them a spade.

I guess, if I'm done writing for the day (we don't talk about the word count), I should catch up with my reading. I have about a thousand short stories to read before I can buy anymore (promise), and that is not an exaggeration. Okay, maybe a slight one. Oh wait, it's almost time for So You Think You Can Dance?

I do, I do.

During this crazy shopping time, we all need convenience, and it's hard to be much more convenient than a Barnes & Noble this time of year. So, I've put together a list of mine, and other small press books, that you can currently walk into pretty much any Barnes & Noble and buy right off the shelf. It doesn't get much more convenient than that.

And if you plan on making a special trip, click on the books title to see if the book is in the Barnes & Noble nearest you.

From CBAY Books:

• The Book of Maps by David Michael Slater -- Although this is the third book in the series, you don't have to have read the first two. The twins start on a whole new adventure in this one as one of the oldest demons comes after them. There's a lot of action in this one, and you might just find yourself biting your nails as everyone in the world seems to be against the kids in this one.
• The Necropolis by PJ Hoover -- This is the final book in The Forgotten Worlds Trilogy, and I have to say, it's the best one yet. From an editorial perspective it's great to see how the author's writing has grown, but from a kid perspective, the book is just cool. Lots of exciting stuff happens, there's some more time travel, and we finally get to see what's happening in Atlantis. Like I said, cool.

• The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn -- The New York Times #1 Bestseller (pretty good for a small press book) is always a great gift. Dealing with separation anxiety, this picture book is good whether a kid is starting school or daycare or even going to stay at Grandma's for a few days.

• Yoga Pretzels by Tara Guber -- A fabulous collection of yoga poses suitable for even the youngest yogi. These come on large flashcard sized cards so that you can always see exactly what it is you are working on.

© Copyright 2006-2010 Madeline Smoot. All rights reserved. May be excerpted and duplicated for educational purposes.

Now it's getting interesting.

More than a decade ago at writer's conferences and other venues I talked about the future of publishing progressing more towards electronic delivery and print-on-demand. I was treated like a person from Mars.

Well, guess what! Here we are.

With the launch of the Google Ebook Store there is now strong competition for all things EBook.

See the attached link for the PW article:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/retailing/article/45429-look-out-amazon-google-ebooks-has-arrived.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly%27s+PW+Daily&utm_campaign=531f432bb4-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email

Truth be told, I also commented on how it would take younger generations who embrace all the new techonologies and the cost of doing business to swing publishing towards Ebooks and print-on-demand; and indeed, that's what has happened.

My questions now concern how this impacts on small presses who actually embraced the Ebook and print-on-demand format very early on and often were criticized by the larger publishers as being less-than-professional for doing so.

Self-publishing is going to be another interesting arena. I hope someone is collecting data on this because it will be quite revealing.

And if you're curious about all the different EReaders out there go to the following link:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-books-ereader-pg,0,3208287.photogallery

I don't know who invented the term Cyber Monday, but I'm happy to say Loathsome, Dark, & Deep made it to Amazon just in time. Even though pre-orders are finished, you can still enter the "Very Loathsome Contest" until midnight (CST) tomorrow.

(or you could just buy five or six copies...that'd be a good idea, right?)

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2631716,alligator-chicago-river-caught-082410.article

Well, today they captured a baby alligator that was swimming in the Chicago River. What made this event so unusual is that alligators are not common to the Chicago River. Anyway, the poor critter will be watched for about three months, then hopefully released somewhere it can adapt. They say it was probably somebody's pet, since it looked well fed and in good shape.

I like to use everyday examples and tie them to my writing experience. Many writers swim around, do their best to follow the rules and try to get somewhere, yet all along they're swimming in the wrong place. The problem is how to know where the right place is. Is it better to go with a small press, a traditional press, or perhaps strike out on your own by self-publishing through ebooks, or print on demand?

All of us alligators need to make that decision. We can't expect someone to scoop us up and make the decision for us, as happened to today's gator. Take heart, though, you can always change your mind if needs be, or do a combination. Right now, I have two novels with a small press, one is self-published, and all are also in ebook form. I've submitted a partial to a traditional house, but am undecided what my next course will be. When the time is ripe, I'll take action.

Now, where do you swim? Or, aren't you sure yet?

Cross-posted from Tu Publishing:

A big thanks to Alana Joli Abbott, who arranged the online auction to benefit our Kickstarter campaign, and to everyone who donated something or who bid on the items in the auction.

Now that the auction is over, we're still heading toward the home stretch in our Kickstarter campaign. As of writing this, we are at $6502 with 58 hours to go! That means we are $3498 short of our $10,000 goal. Can we make it in 58 hours? Well, we jumped about 25% up in the last several days, so it's very possible!

Several people have been asking why we're doing this Kickstarter campaign. Mary Robinette Kowal said it best over on her blog:

Once upon a time, someone starting a new publishing house would either have a personal fortune or would seek large private investors. Crowdsourced fundraising allows the masses to chip in for projects they believe in.

Cross-posted from the Tu Publishing website:

We've gotten a little press lately: the Galesburg, IL, Register-Mail and the Galva, IL, Galva News recently ran stories on us. Stacy Whitman, our editorial director, grew up in Galva, so the stories are local interest--focused.

Excerpt:

Galva native Stacy Whitman is starting a small press in Orem, Utah, dedicated to multicultural fantasy and science fiction books for children and young adults. The editor of more than 20 books for children and young adults, including the New York Times bestselling picture book A Practical Guide to Monsters, Whitman hopes to address a gap in the childrens book market with the company.

Fantasy has a long history of being drawn from the folklore and fairy tales of Europe, Whitman said. J.R.R. Tolkiens classic Lord of the Rings novels, inspired by Norse and British folklore, have spurred two generations of adventurous fantasy books. However, many other cultures in the world also have enthralling folklore with the potential for reshaping and inspiring modern stories.

The press hopes to be open to submissions from writers as early as January 2010. Looking for a different way to raise capital for the company, Whitman is raising money with a project on Kickstarter.com.

I came down with bronchitis over the weekend (even had to go the hospital---yikes!) and haven't been able to post the way I intended to. Now that I'm home, I am still recovering, but wanted to remind everyone that we've only got about 2 weeks left on our Kickstarter campaign. If you've been thinking about donating, and you're starting to think about holiday gifts, consider the Kickstart Tu auction, especially for the writer or book lover in your life. They've got all sorts of great stuff, including handcrafted mugs, made-to-order crocheted Alice in Wonderland dolls, a FULL YEAR of advertising on YA (& Kids!) Books Central, out-of-print children's books and a folklore pack, and writing critiques and line edits. Oh, and don't forget the giant box of manga for that manga and anime lover in your life! I plan to add some D&D and Star Wars minis later this week, and if you're a Brandon Sanderson, Jim Hines, or Howard Tayler fan, you've got the chance to get a Garden Ninja Studios customized mini from the Mistborn, Goblin Quest, or Schlock Mercenary worlds.

In addition to winning an auction, you'll also get the rewards from the Kickstarter level at which you donate---for more on how the auction works, check out the rules here.

The auction ends Dec. 9th, to make sure that the donations to the Kickstarter have enough time to go through.

If you don't have money, but do have something you'd like to donate to the auction, please feel free. And either way, please spread the word among your friends and family---we've only got a few days left, and a long way to go!

Thanks for all your support! With your help, we'll be able to get up and running!

And also, a big thanks to those who have pledged to Tu Publishing this week. We're getting closer to our goal. Once I catch up on critiques, my next project will be to add more content to the Tu site and make it more than a relatively static website.

We're planning an anthology contest, rules for which will be announced when I've had time to put them in writing, so start polishing those short stories featuring multicultural characters or settings for young readers. I'm posting about it here but not at the Tu site yet because I want to post about it officially there when I've hammered out the rules, when I'm ready to take submissions. But in the mean time, be thinking about those stories. There will be a young writers category for teen writers, as well, so tell the teens in your life who love to write.

I'm cross-posting this from the Tu Publishing website, the website of my small press. I promised you the announcement of a project, and I've finally finished it at 3:15 a.m. I'm going to go ahead and share it everyone despite the video needing a little fine-tuning still. (I seem to have a different resolution camera than Christine Taylor-Butler, who helped me out by providing an educator's and parent's perspective on multicultural fantasy and science fiction.) The Tu Publishing site is a work in progress--I didn't have time last night to completely update it when I posted the video, but it will be changing and getting more informative soon.

Just a reminder (though I iterate it below, too) that those who have used the "donate" button here on this blog are on the list to receive the same incentives put in place in the Kickstarter project. You've been very helpful as we've gotten through the red tape to start a company, and I want to reciprocate, even if it's a pretty small gesture comparitively.

Tu Publishing is a woman-owned small press startup that believes in the power of books to change lives. Childrens books, especially, have the ability to inform, inspire, and entertain in a way that few mediums can.

The word tu means you in many languages, and in Ainu (the language of Japans native people), it means many. Tu Publishing is dedicated to publishing fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and historical fiction for children and young adults inspired by many cultures from around the world, to reach the "you" in each reader.

Kids who love to read do better in school. One way to encourage that love of reading is to provide stories that readers can identify with. By increasing the number of books that feature multicultural character and settings, we can influence the multicultural world of tomorrow.

Fantasy and science fiction, mystery and historical fiction--these genres draw in readers like no other. Yet it is in these genres that readers of color might feel most like an outsider, given that such a large percentage features white characters (when they feature human characters). It is the goal of Tu Publishing to publish genre books for children and young adults that fills this gap in the market--and more importantly, this gap in serving our readers.

As author Mitali Perkins and many others have pointed out, books can be both a mirror and a window to other worlds for readers. Tu Publishing hopes that by publishing books that feature multicultural characters and settings and books with worlds inspired by all the many non-Western cultures in the world, we might shine a mirror on you and open a window to many.

To be able to achieve that goal, we need to raise enough money to fund the acquisition, production, marketing, and distribution of our first two books, for which we hope--with your help--to begin acquiring in January 2010. With your help, we can make this happen.

We have officially started our fund-raising project at Kickstarter.com and invite anyone interested in being a part of making Tu Publishing a reality to check out the project.

What is Kickstarter.com? If you know Cheryl Klein, you might have seen her project to publish a book of her essays on writing there. This project is similar, except that it's a bit more than Cheryl needed because we also need to pay a modest advance to the authors and publicize and market the books we acquire. It takes a lot of money to get a publishing company started, and we thought that this would be a nice, secure way for anyone interested to get involved, and to get something back for it. Kickstarter runs their payments through Amazon payments, and the project is only funded if the full goal amount is reached by the deadline. If it isn't reached, no harm, no foul, and no payments go through, with the idea being that it would be worse to have a project be underfunded than not funded at all.

For those who have already donated before we started the Kickstarter project, you are on our list already of people to receive the same incentives here. Thank you for your support.

***Please forgive the resolution problem at some points of the video. We're working on fixing it, but in the meantime, please ignore it.***



The challenge portion of this

Whether or not you can donate, I'd love to see people, especially teen readers/nonreaders, share their own video or blog responses to this video, discussing whether you identify with the characters in the books you read and whether it matters to you. Mitali Perkins got this ball rolling separately as a part of the larger conversation about race in children's and YA in her blog post asking "are books windows or mirrors?" I found her use of the mirror/window analogy very important--books can be a window to other worlds, but they also need to be mirrors in some ways, especially for young readers. The more "mirror" books we have for every child, the more "windows" there are for everyone. What do you think?

I recently received a copy of Nobrow Magazine, a new periodical created as a platform for artists and illustrators. Limited to 3000 numbered copies, the magazine is gorgeously printed in just two spot colours, and features the work of folks like Jordan Crane, Mcbess, Stuart Kolakovic, Paul Blow, Toby Leigh, Sam Arthur, and others. It’s a decently sized book at about 9.5″ x 13.5″, and the work looks great shown at such nice big size. Can’t wait for issue 2.