Category: On Publishing
Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You
Okay, ladies: It’s almost springtime. You’ve spent the winter tightening up that manuscript, writing the (gulp!) first 30 drafts of your query letter, and you’re ready to hit “send.” It’s Agent Time. And you, fellow writer, are on your way to getting published. No, no, wait. Not yet. DO NOT SEND THAT LETTER. Read this […]
Dumped: Stories of Women Unfriending Women
An anthology? How hard could that be? Great idea. Get other writers. Everyone already loves the title. “It’s just way more work than you can imagine. Even if you imagine a lot of work, it’s more.” Eleanor Henderson and Anna Solomon It was at least five years ago when the percolating began. You know what […]
Women Writing Women
Like most of us, I began writing with the hope of creating the kind of novels I most wanted to read. While I tried to figure out what that was, I was lucky to land a minor ghostwriting job, which led to more. Writing as someone else came easily. I could submerge in another person’s […]
Quick Guide to Self-Publishing
The stigma around self-publishing is still strong. ‘If it’s a good enough manuscript it will find a publisher,’ is an oft repeated phrase (particularly by those who have found a publisher). After thirty years of writing, honing my crafting and, yes, on occasion being traditionally published, I no longer believe this to be true. Yet […]
Dear Me on a Bad Publishing Day…
Dear Me on a Bad Publishing Day, Rejection is part of this. You’ve known that for a long, long time. It wouldn’t be quite right to say you’re fine with it, but you’ve made peace with it as part of the process. You’re a pretty glass-half-full, I’ve got this sort of gal. Every now and […]
Publishing : Has anything changed since the 19th century?
While researching my new biography, La Belle Créole, I unexpectedly discovered the vibrant literary world of early nineteenth-century Paris. And surprisingly, that world was not that dissimilar from our own. My subject, Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo, Countess Merlin – was a fascinating, multitalented woman. After a complex and tumultuous early life in Cuba and […]
Getting In
As Heidi Klum says on Project Runway, either you’re in, or your out. The world of publishing works this way, too. There are barriers and hurdles to get over, doors to walk through, people who welcome you, and those who turn their backs. This is the story of how I got in, and why some […]
A Look at Traditional Publishing
The world of publishing is changing faster than anyone could ever have imagined. And it is true that there is much lamentation over the fact. But for authors, these changes have meant that a host of opportunities have presented themselves. Never before have creative writers had as many options as we do today. As with […]
Why I Chose to Self-Publish
I’m sure there are some who write entirely for themselves, but most of us do so for other people. But how do you get your words turned into a book, so that your story can be shared? The traditional route was to attract an agent. He or she would then go on to find a […]
Seven Reasons You’re Publishing Too Soon
If you’re like many of us, the chance to publish a book of our own writing is like arriving in the promised land. It is the holy grail, an elixir, a blissful intoxication. Seeing our work in print can’t come soon enough! I’ve felt that way. (Still do every time a new edition of When […]
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