Resources

The following links are from the footnotes and appendix of my book Publishing and Marketing Realities for the Emerging Author. Although the “Specific Blog Posts & Articles of Interest” section at the bottom of this page is only available on this blog, and it’s updated frequently.

BLOGS TO FOLLOW

• All Indie Publishing
• Christine Rose
• Dean Wesley Smith
• Digital Book World
• Ethan Rose
• J. A. Konrath
• Jody Hedlund
• O. M. Grey
• Self-Published Author’s Lounge
• Terrible Minds
• The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog
• Write It Forward

REFERENCED SITES
INTRODUCTION

• Anderson, Chris. “Why publishers should focus on the misses instead of the hits.” Publishers Weekly. 17 Jul 2006. Web. 07 Apr. 2011.
• Bowker. “Bowker Reports U. S. Book Production Declines 3% in 2008, but ‘On Demand’ Publishing More than Doubles.” Bowker. 19 May 2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Deahl, Rachel. “BookExpo America 2010: The Changing DIY Ethos.” Publishers Weekly. 24 May 2010. Web. 07 Apr. 2011.

NEW YORK BIG BOYS & INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS

• Agent Query: Free, one-stop writer’s resource on the web about literary agents and publishing.
• Nathan Bransford: There is a plethora of publishing and querying advice on this blog useful to the emerging author, especially his “Be An Agent for a Day” series from April 2009.
• Hedlund, Jody. “Is the Query System Dying?” Jody Hedlund: Author & Speaker (blog). 10 Jan. 2011. Web. 07 Apr. 2011.
• Gardner, Rachelle. “New Query Policy…and 2010 Stats.” Rants and Ramblings: On Life as a Literary Agent. 8 Jan. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2011.
• Predators & Editors
• Query Shark: Read the entire blog. Seriously. Take copious notes. I know there’s a lot to read. I know it’s a lot of work. This is the price of finding a NY Big Boy.
• Query Tracker

“SELF-PUBLISHING” & VANITY PRESSES

• Bowker
• Carins, Michael. “The ISBN Is Dead.” Personanondata. 04 Aug. 2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Curtis, Richard. “Behind Publishing’s Wednesday of the Long Knives.” eReads. 04 Dec. 2008. Web. 07 Apr. 2011.
• Doctorow, Cory. “DIY Publishing: getting Amazon & LuLu to co-exist.” BoingBoing. 04 Apr. 2011. Web. 04 Apr. 2011.
• Konrath, J. A. “Ebooks and Self-Publishing – A Dialog Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe  Konrath.” A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing. 19 Mar. 2011. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.
• Lightning Source (LSI)
• Smith, Dean Wesley. “Paying for Self-Publishing Help.” The Writings and Opinions of Dean Wesley Smith. 25 Mar. 2011. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.
• Strauss, Victoria. “Print-On-Demand and Electronic Self-Publishing.” Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. 7 Mar 2001. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.
• Striphas, Ted. “Is the ISBN Still Necessary?” The Late Age of Print. 14 Aug. 2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.

Recommended freelance editors and artists

• Adrienne Crezo, editor.
• TS Tate, editor.
• Helen Ginger, editor.
• Muffy Morrigan, editor.
• Catherine Somerlot, artist. Avalon Revisited cover artist.
• Ia Esterna, artist. Rowan of the Wood and Witch on the Water cover artist.
• James Koenig, artist. Fire of the Fey cover illustration.
• J. R. Fleming, artist. Caught in the Cogs cover artist
• Rocky Kelly, artist.

MARKETING

• Adriani, Lynn. “Web Seminar Debates How Self-Publishing Will Lose It’s Stigma.” Publishers Weekly. 23 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Archived Blog Tours. Yule ’08. Beltane ’09. Samhain ’09.
• Bitten By Books.
• “Don’t You Want a Kindle?” Video on YouTube. TheTuberRose.
• “Facebook Reaches Majority of Web Users.” eMarketer. 24 February 2011. Web.
• Howard, Cortnee. “How Publishers Weekly is Ripping Off Self-Pubbed Writers (Open Letter).” The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog. 25 Jan. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• “National Survey Finds Majority of Journalists Now Depend on Social Media for Story Research” George Washington University. 21 Jan 2010. Web. 07 Apr. 2011.
• “Why Most Facebook Marketing Doesn’t Work.” ReadWriteWeb. 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.

Twitter Resources

• TweetAdder
• TweetDeck
• Search Twitter
• SocialOomph
• FutureTweets
• TwitterFall – very Zen
• TwitterFeed
• Tweepi
• Twiends

eBOOKS & AMAZON
Further Reading:

• Baig, Edward C. “Volume of Kindle book sales stuns Amazon’s Jeff Bozos.” USA Today. 29 July 2010. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.
• Bosman, Julie. “A Successful Self-Publishing Author Decides to Try the Traditional Route.” The New York Times. 24 Mar. 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2011.
• Bosman, Julie. “Noted Self-Publisher May Be Close to a Book Deal.” The New York Times. 21 Mar. 2011. Web. 04 Apr. 2011.
• Campbell, Lisa. “Amazon has ’80% online share,’ claims new survey.” The Bookseller.com. 03 Mar. 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2011.
• Considine, Austin. “eBooks Make Readers Less Isolated.” The New York Times. 20 Aug. 2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2011. Excerpt: “With the price of e-readers coming down, sales of the flyweight devices are rising. Last month, Amazon reported that so far this year, Kindle sales had tripled over last year’s. When Amazon cut Kindle’s price in June to $189 from $259, over the next month Amazon sold 180 e-books for every 100 hardcovers…”
• Fowler, Geoffrey A. and Marie C. Baca. “The ABCs of eReading” The Wall Street Journal. 25 Aug. 2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2011. Excerpt: “A study of 1,200 e-reader owners by Marketing and Research Resources Inc. found that 40% said they now read more than they did with print books. Of those surveyed, 58% said they read about the same as before while 2% said they read less than before. And 55% of the respondents in the May study…”
• Grossman, Lev and Andrea Sachs. “Is Amazon Taking Over the Book Business?” Time Magazine. 22 Jun. 2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Henkel, Guido. “Take pride in your eBook formatting.” Guido Henkel (blog). 7 Dec. 2010. Web. 04 Apr. 2011.
• Katz, Kristina. “What I Learned At BEA 2009 Regarding the Future of Writing.” Get Known Before the Book Deal. 4 Jun. 2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Miller, Carrie Cain. “E-books Top Hardcovers at Amazon.” New York Times. 19 Jul 2010. Web. 07 Apr. 2011.
• Nordin, Ruth Ann. “More on Pricing and Explaining How Smashwords Works.” Self-Published Author’s Lounge. 6 Feb. 2011. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.
• OpenRightsGroup. “Gaiman on Copyright Piracy and the Web.” YouTube. 03 Feb. 2011. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.
• Spector, Mike and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg. “Chapter 11 for Borders, New Chapter for Books.” The Wall Street Journal. 12 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.

MARKET TRENDS
Book Buying Trends 2009 – BEA
Book Buying Trends 2009 – BOWKER
Summary from 2010 BEA Survey:

Retailers preferred:

• 23% Independent Bookstores
• 22% Major Retailers like Barnes & Noble
• 21% Online Retailers (down from 23% in 2009)

How readers choose a book:

• 52% Author Reputation
• 49% Personal Recommendation
• 45% Price
• 37% Book Reviews
• 22% Cover Art/Blurbs
• 14% Advertising

REFERENCED & RECOMMENDED BOOKS

• All A Twitter by Tee Morris.
• Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing by Dean Wesley Smith. WIP. Blog Series.
• Podcasting for Dummies by Tee Morris, Chuck Tomais, and Evo Terra.
• Sams Teach Yourself Twitter in 10 Minutes by Tee Morris.
• We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media by Kristen Lamb.
• YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts by Alan Lastufka and Michael W. Dean.

SPECIFIC BLOG POSTS & ARTICLES OF INTEREST

• Blank, Dan. “How to Leverage Twitter When You Have Little Time.” Digital Book World. 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Blank, Dan. “The Pros & Cons of Twitter.” I Feel Fine (blog). 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Bowker. Book Industry Statistics.
• Bransford, Nathan. “Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: Which Way Will You Make More Money?” Nathan Bransford, Author (blog). 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.
• Friedman, Jane. “Bestselling Author Turns Down $500K Deal to Self-Publish.” There are No Rules. 21 Mar. 2011. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.
• Gardner, Rachelle. “Do-It-Yourself Book Publishing.” Rants & Ramblings On Life as a Literary Agent. 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Gardner, Rachelle. “How to Get Published (The Definitive Post).” Rants & Ramblings On Life as a Literary Agent. 9 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Hedlund, Judy. “Is Marketing Non-Stop & All-Consuming For All Authors?” Jody Hedlund’s Blog. 24 Jan. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Hedlund, Judy. “Is Schmoozing the New way Into Traditional Publication?“Jody Hedlund’s Blog. 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Janczuk, Weronika. “12 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was Writing My First Novel.” A Room of One’s Own. 15 Jan. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• King, Carla. “The Pitfalls of Using Self-Publishing Book Packages.” Mediashift. 25 Mar. 2010. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.
• Kole, Mary. “The Agent’s Role in Today’s Digital Book World.” Digital Book World. 13 Jan. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Konrath, J. A. “Time Is Money.” A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing. 23 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011. (Comparing timelines between NY traditional publishing and self-publishing)
• Macdonald, Jim. “How To Get Published.” Making Light. 6 Dec. 2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Milliot, Jim. “Amazon as Publisher, Publishers as E-tailers.” Publishers Weekly. 09 May 11. Web. 09 May 11.
• Perrottet, Tony. “How Writers Build the Brand.” New York Times. 29 Apr. 2011 Web. 04 May 2011.
• Plank, Tonya. “Meet Mega Bestselling Indie Heroine Amanda Hocking.” Huffington Post. 5 Jan. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2011
• Rusch, Kristine Kathryn. “The Business Rusch: Writing Like It’s 1999.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Blog). 11 May 11. Web. 12 May 11.
• Rusch, Kristine Kathryn. “The Business Rusch: Royalty Statement Updates.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Blog). 20 April 2011. Web. 11 June 2011.
• Shatzkin, Mike. “A Modest Proposal for Book Marketing.” Digital Book World. 24 Dec. 2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2011. Excerpt: “The big publishers are undeniably SEO-conscious, investing real effort thinking about what search terms apply to each book they publish. They’re all experimenting with Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites as well.”
• Shember, John. “The ABCs of e-book format conversion: Easy Calibre tips for the Kindle, Sony and Nook.” 03 Jan 2010. Web. 06 May 2011.
• Smith, Dean Wesley. “Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Can’t Make Money in Fiction.” The Writings and Opinions of Dean Wesley Smith. 18 Dec. 2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Smith, Dean Wesley. “Think Like a Publisher #9…. Selling to Independent Bookstores.” The Writings and Opinions of Dean Wesley Smith. 24 Apr. 2011. Web. 07 May 2011.
• Smith, Dean Wesley. “Writers Are Losing the Fight Again.” The Writings and Opinions of Dean Wesley Smith. 10 May 2011. Web. 12 May 2011.
• Strauss, Victoria. “Sales Statistics.” How Publishing Really Works. 17 Mar. 2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
• Wendig, Chuck. “Six Signs You’re Not Ready to Make a Living as a Professional Writer.” Terrible Minds. 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 04 May 2011.

I stopped updating this list in June 2011. Find more links, especially new information on the fast-changing publishing industry on the “Supplementals” page.