Historical and Contemporary Romance Author
I was not at this year’s RT, so I can’t speak to the precise dynamics that occurred this year. However, in the past, authors who did not have returnable print books (that is, most authors published by digital-first houses and self-published authors) had a SEPARATE signing on an entirely different day. That signing was poorly attended by the public because…
Many of you may recognize the title of this post as a direct quote from the New Testament. Specifically, it’s from 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13. The verse is often read at Christian weddings because it includes statements such as “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast” and “Love never ends.” Of course, I don’t think Paul…
So, the book I’m working on right now because it’s something I know Julian wanted me to write and because, to a certain extent, the book’s hero is based on him and his inventive mind, is a YA novel called SuperNormal. I started this years ago but set it aside because the plotting and world-building seemed daunting. Now, however, nothing…
Our minister read this for me at the Celebration of Life. I wanted to share it here as a further tribute to my beloved son. When Julian was a baby, he was a terrible sleeper. I always read in the parenting books that newborns slept 12 hours a day, but if Julian slept that much, he did most of it…
As I’m sure most (if not all) of you know, my 16-year-old son was killed in a car accident on Thursday, March 20th. I’m not writing this post to vent my grief, but to tell you all how much I appreciate and value the love and support I’ve received from the romance community (as well as my communities of church,…
If you’re reading this post, chances are you’ve already heard about the petition requesting that Amazon require reviews to be posted under the reviewer’s “real” name. Last I heard, the petition had about 6,000 signatories, including Anne Rice. The idea here is that, if people are required to use their real names when reviewing books, they will be less likely…
It pains me to have to write this post so soon after writing one promoting the potential benefits of going with a digital small press. I’m still a believer in the digital small press model, but frankly, authors have to be so, so careful when signing contracts these days, even when the publisher is well-known and reputable. If you don’t…
In all the emotionally fraught discussions of the past few weeks about the making the choice between traditional and self publishing, there’s been very little discussion about the fact that there is a third option. It’s not either turn down an advance with low digital royalties OR self-publish. Authors who don’t want to self-publish but either don’t get an offer…
For the record, I totally agree with folks who’ve said that the much-discussed, ballyhooed, and denigrated Author Earnings report way overreaches the conclusions that can be drawn from the current data set. Both Dear Author and Courtney Milan have done excellent posts on the subject, so I won’t belabor the point. But the defenders of the traditional publishing model who…
Because I’m apparently incapable of staying out of trouble lately, I got into a discussion on Mike Shatzkin’s blog the other day about advances and earn-out. In discussing Hugh Howey’s comparison of earnings for authors in traditional publishing versus self-publishing, Mike (who’s an industry consultant) pointed out that it’s hard to pinpoint a traditionally published author’s income based on royalty…