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News You Can Use – Jan. 1, 2013

By Steve Laubeon January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

Amazon is Ripe for Disruption – Interesting article from Forbes Magazine by Suw Charman-Anderson.

Authors Who Say “I Don’t Have Enough Time for Promotion” Are Doomed to Fail – Toni Shannon encourages authors to become disciplined for success.

Can an Old-Fashioned Non-Interactive Author Survive in the Social Age? – A great counterpart to the previous article. This is from PBS and Felicia Pride.

4 Steps to Creating Enjoyable Reader Experience on Your Fiction Author Website – Stephanie Beman shares some good advice.

Looking Ahead to 2013: What Should the Church Expect? – Tom Rainer takes a look at the upcoming year.

What Wikipedia Can Tell Us About the Future of News – A sort of scary article about the speed of news and how it is reported via crowdsourcing. It makes a point that this is the way of the future.

The Twelve Book Days of Christmas – Very entertaining by Roger Tagholm

On the first day of Christmas,

the book trade sent to me

A tablet in a pear tree. (click through for the rest)

2012 – A Year in Review

By Steve Laubeon December 31, 2012

by Steve Laube

With today being New Year's eve we have a chance to reflect, evaluate, and celebrate the events of this past year.

Our agency was extremely busy this year closing on 118 new book contracts covering nearly 200 new books. That meant we averaged a new contract every two business days. Amazing. What makes this exciting is that, despite dour predictions, publishers …

Category: Agency, Book Business, Conferences, Steve, TrendsTag: 2012, Agency, Book Business, Trends, Year in Review

Love Came Down at Christmas

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 20, 2012

This year I am being blessed with a stress-free Christmas. Why? Because I am spending the day with a few key people in my life who love me. Just before the Lord takes me home, these are the type of people I'll want surrounding me at my bedside.

I am responsible for the dinner, but with these people, if the steaks burn, we're fine. We'll order Chinese. Or dig something out of the freezer.

We …

Category: Christian, Faith, Personal, TamelaTag: Christian, Christmas, Faith

News You Can Use – Dec. 18, 2012

By Steve Laubeon December 18, 2012

Ornaments for Book Lovers - For last minute online shopping?

Let the Ebook Price Wars Begin: Three Ebook Pricing Predictions - Interesting article from Forbes magazine. The predictions are quite reasonable.

Psy Makes $8 Million by Ignoring Copyright Infringement - Care to see how much a viral video can create literal revenue? Read this article for some behind the scenes discussion of this …

Category: News You Can Use

Serious Talk with Your Potential Agent

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 13, 2012

What are some of the things you should ask when an agent has called to offer you representation? Here goes, in no particular order:

1) Would you go over your contract terms with me? Even though you will be reading the agency contract before signing, this is your chance to learn the main points you can expect to see. Ask questions now. After you review the contract, don't be afraid to ask for …

Category: Agents, Book Business, Contracts, Get Published, TamelaTag: Agents, Book Business, Get Published

Proper Care and Feeding of …You!

By Karen Ballon December 12, 2012

Thanks so much for all your thoughtful responses last week. I gained a great deal from reading and pondering them. This week, I’d like to take a look from the other side of the desk. As an author myself, I know how hard the writing gig is. And I know a LOT of authors, published and not, who have hit speed-bumps -or even felt like the Editor/Publisher/Agent semi just flattened them in the middle of …

Category: Agents, Book Business, Career, Craft, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Critique, help, Writers

News You Can Use – Dec. 11, 2012

By Steve Laubeon December 11, 2012

Timing your book’s launch date for maximum impact – This post by Alan Rinzler is a MUST READ for every author. Think about where your book would fit most effectively and talk to your publisher about it. If you self-publish you have no one to blame but yourself for missing the opportunity to maximize your release date.

NY Times Creates Separate Middle Grade & YA Bestsellers Lists – Now there …

Category: News You Can Use, Steve

Fun Fridays – December 7, 2012

By Steve Laubeon December 7, 2012

Every once in a while it is "fun" to do more than laugh. Instead we can revel in the beauty of God's creation.

Enjoy this incredible time-lapse study of the leaves turning in Central Park. Less than three minutes long.

Fall from jamie scott on Vimeo.

Category: Fun Fridays, Steve

Why Is My Royalty Check So Small?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 6, 2012

This is it! You’ve had a book published, and your advance money is long gone. But your publisher has promised a royalty check and you know exactly when that check is supposed to arrive. You run to the mail box every day for two weeks until finally, Voilá! The check is here! You rip open the envelope to see a grand total of: $28.52? What???!!! How can this be? So much for the big screen TV. …

Category: Book Business, Contracts, Money, TamelaTag: Book Business, Money, royalties

“The Great Unspoken” – Why Agents Don’t Critique

By Karen Ballon December 5, 2012

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There’s a secret agents and editors share. Something they seldom discuss with each other, and never with writers. It’s something they dislike. Intensely. It ties their hands when it comes to guiding writers guidance. It’s the #1 reason they turn down proposals, and the #2 (and sometimes #1) reason they’ve gone with form rejection letters. It’s something many inexperienced agents and editors try to …

Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Get Published, Karen, Writing CraftTag: book proposals, Critique, Rejection