Here are a few interesting blog posts which I read this week.
Wandergurl at Book Thingo has reviews on all six book in Eloisa James’s Desperate Duchess series. Have you read this series? Did you like it?
Magdalen has a fun post on Espresso Books: Books that keep you from going to sleep because you just have to finish them. What’s the last book you read which kept you up late? Mine was Skin Game by Ava Gray.
Katiebabs has been focusing on the topic of self-publishing this week. Reading the various interviews with self-published authors, two things struck me. Firstly, none of the authors interviewed mentioned the bottom line (i.e.: what they actually earn from their writing once the costs of self-publication are covered and taxes paid). Secondly, most of them brought other skills to the table in addition to their writing talents. Moriah Jovan successfully ran her own business before becoming self-published. She also designs her own covers. Gary Ballard was experienced in the field of internet marketing prior to self-publishing his books and was able to utilize this knowledge to help sell his work. Even if sites such as Lulu can help authors connect with freelance cover designers, editors, and so forth, I think an author who doesn’t possess a talent in some area related to the publishing process other than writing would be at a serious disadvantage. What do you think?
Karen Knows Best has a post on the American media’s sympathetic attitude towards Amanda Knox, who was recently convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher. I stopped reading American coverage of the trial because it was making my blood boil. As far as I’m concerned, criticisms of the Italian judicial system seem to be centred around the fact that it’s not the same as the US system. Much has been made of the fact that Knox probably wouldn’t have been convicted had she been tried in the US.
Firstly, until and unless the American lawyers making that pronouncement have read ALL the evidence IN ITALIAN, their opinion is meaningless. Secondly, Amanda Knox chose to go to Italy. She chose to commit murder – or not, depending on your point of view. She was tried in an Italian court of law and found guilty. Whether or not you or I find the Italian system fair, the Italians do not seem to have an objection to it and it is their country. Those who do not wish to be subject to the laws of other countries should not travel.
Amanda Knox was not the only person convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher. Rudy Guede and Raffaele Sollecito were also found guilty but no one seems to care about them. Why? Because they’re not American? Because Guede is black? Please! If Amanda Knox were poor, uneducated and black, the American media wouldn’t give a shit about her, either. Do you think reporting on the case was biased in Knox’s favour?
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Haven’t read any Eloisa James
I made the mistake of starting the Mane Squeeze by Shelly Laurenston after midnight the other night… I ended up finishing that sucker not too long before my bro was getting up for work.. It was blooming brilliant.
I think self-pubbing is something that you have to go into with your eyes wide open, with a lot of research + hard work etc. Though one thing with regards to the marketing – most mid listers etc with the main pubs realistically have to do all their own marketing, from my understanding there would be limited shelf space in b&m stores, so they really need to do the hard yards to get their name out there, so some similarities there??
The Amanda Knox thing to my knowledge hasn’t really made that big of a splash here in Oz, but from what I have seen on the international blogs and news has seemed quite biased. I think the article that KKB links to brings up some very valid points.
@Edie Your point about traditionally published mid listers having to do a lot of self-promo is spot on. I should have mentioned that in the post! If I had to design my own book cover, it would probably be featured in one of Katiebabs’s WTFuckery posts…
For some reason I haven’t read any of Elosia James’ books, but I’ve heard good things about them. I’m torn about the Amanda Knox case, but the media has been pretty biased depending on what country you are in. In the US, it seems like they didn’t have a lot of evidence against her, but in the international news it seems like they did. The main point: don’t get into trouble in a foreign country!
ROFLMFAO that is why you make friends with designers etc.. lol It is something you outsource.
Yeah it is something that bugs me a bit the lack of promoing by main pubs, IMO authors should be getting a higher percentage royalty, considering how much of that kind of leg work they have to do. Just think it is something there should be a bit more of an outcry over, but that could just be me being overly opinionated as always.
If you’re going to run business — which is what publishing is — you have to know how to do it right or end up losing some money or worse. It’s not something you can do for fun on the side.
I started Desperate Duchesses (the first in the series) and found it was the opposite of an espresso book (so, what? an Ambien book?). I just never cared about the protagonists, so I stopped reading it. It’s still a DNF, but not because it doesn’t deserve to be finished, but simply because it never again rose back up to the top of the TBR pile. Someone — you, perhaps, Sarah — assured me that the rest of the series is much better. So I have purchased one other from the series and we’ll see.
Thanks for the link!
Self-publishing is a business decision that has to arise from one of several possible rationales: 1) “My book is so unique that commercial publishers aren’t interested, but I believe in it and think word-of-mouth will work for me”; 2) “I have the sort of business experience that I think I can make work well in this Brave New World of marketing & promotion”; 3) “I really don’t think many people will be interested in my book (it’s about local history, for example, or my family’s genealogy) but I do want it in book form, so I’ll self-publish to get the 150 copies I think I’ll need.” There may be more rationales — but the point I’m trying to make is that anyone considering self-publishing had better be really hard-nosed about why she’d doing it and what she hopes to get. It is a good bit of money, and pays for itself only with a lot of hard work.
I haven’t followed the Amanda Knox trial. If she didn’t participate in the actual murder (and I don’t know if she did or didn’t), then she got a raw deal that might not have happened in the U.S., if only because a competent defense attorney would have demanded that Amanda’s trial be conducted separately from the other defendants, forcing the prosecutors to show forensic and other evidence that she participated. But if she did participate in the murder, then the verdict seems fair. Sarah — you’re right that we tacitly accept the laws of any country we visit, but we also rather rely on the notion that our embassy in that country will help us. I don’t know what role, if any, the American Embassy played in the Knox affair. That she is a pretty white American being tried in Italy matters only in the court of (American) public sentiment — and that’s the most unjust and ignorant court of all!
It’s called a “horse tranquilizer” book…
Self publishing still makes my head spin. You really do have to do your research and be very knowledgeable. Self-publishing is much like running your own business.
Also many didn’t realize that self-published authors use editors. And that is a lot of money, let me tell you!
@Colette A Buckeyed Girl Reads So true!
@Edie There are writers’ groups but no union that I’m aware of. Or am I wrong on this?
@Nadia Lee That’s exactly what I mean. Not everyone is cut out for running their own business. I realize traditionally published writers are not employees in the regular sense, either, but there’s so much that their publisher/agent takes care of for them.
@Magdalen An Ambien book – I love it! I just finished one of those…
@katiebabs
That’s just it. I think every author could benefit from an editor, no matter how they’re published. And for every extra job you have to farm out, the more it will cost you up front, and the more you have to earn back in order to break even. I could never design my own cover, for example. Thank you so much for the interesting series of posts!
I think American coverage of Knox is sure as heck biased in her favor. And, funnily enough, on the little snippet of the report about the trial that I saw, they didn’t mention or show Guede at all (!).
When I went to Italy for a class in 2007, one of the undergrads I traveled with knew Knox and said that there was definitely some weird stuff going on between her and Kercher and her boyfriend. Who really knows what happened, though. I do feel for her parents–imagine sending your kid off for a semester of study in Italy and she winds up being arrested and sentenced to 26 years in prison. That’s a freaking nightmare.