When A Wet Fish Slaps You Even as self-publishing authors may weary of hearing about the problems of much independently produced content — typos and other editorial woes — a new showcase means yet another reason to shoot for precision and excellence to meet the marketplace’s standards. Bill Clinton used to talk about being able… Read More
Pattern Recognition and Writerly Advice | Porter Anderson
How many of us really know how to use all this writerly advice? Particularly when much of it is written by writers for other writers, how much of it is a case of the sight-impaired leading the hard-of-hearing? Does anyone ever worry (you may remember that I like this analogy) that all these how-to books for writers by other writers start to come across like John Updike’s ladies of the church who fund-raise by selling cupcakes to each other? Read More
Publishing Gatekeepers: Pretty Sure They Don't Wear Black Hats
In Writing on the Ether–read each Thursday at JaneFriedman.com–Porter Anderson looks at outworn ideas of publishing’s black hat “villains,” through the decline and practices of bookstores. Read More
Writer Unboxed: I Know Nothing of Your Work
Porter Anderson, at Writer Unboxed, paraphrases the old Marshall McLuhan line to ask whether we’re more concerned with how we publish than what we write. Read More
Independents Day: Should Authors Stop Linking to Amazon?
In Writing on the Ether, Porter Anderson examines recent calls for authors to stop linking to Amazon and instead focus on selling through local bookshops. Read More
Ether: While You Were Bashing Amazon
On the Ether at JaneFriedman.com, Porter Anderson looks at Amazon Publishing’s latest strides — $110,000 in author awards and a new million-copy seller. Read More
Read: Are Publishing Firefights Hurting the Mission?
Porter Anderson, in his weekly (Tuesdays) Ether for Authors column at PublishingPerspectives.com, looks at the field’s bellicose pleasure in crises. Read More
How London Beat BEA's Pants Off
Authors at BEA seem welcome, but only in their place. They’re not expected to be doing business. BEA started in the era of publisher-controlled authors. Ether for Authors from Publishing Perspectives – with Porter Anderson. Read More
Test It: Are Your Books' Covers Sexist?
By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson From May 9, 2013 Part of my series of columns on publishing, Writing on the Ether, appearing Thursdays at the invitation of Jane Friedman at JaneFriedman.com Shirtless Men Kissing Beautiful Women. How long have I been going on about these romance covers that choke the ebook lists? The trend… Read More
BEA Cupcakes: 'Women's Work' About Books?
Writing on the Ether provides selected news and perspectives on publishing. It is written by journalist and critic Porter Anderson for Jane Friedman and it appears at JaneFriedman.com each Thursday. Sponsorship opportunities are available and offer generous promotion. Ether for Authors—another gas—runs on Mondays at Ed Nawotka’s and Frankfurt Book Fair’s Publishing Perspectives. London on the Ether, a new UK-related edition of the column, has recently had its debut at TheBookseller.com Read More