Why do I teach GCT?

That’s what one of my students asked me a couple week ago. “It can’t make you much money,” she said. “Not for the amount of time and work you put in over the three months.” She’s right; it doesn’t. I spend three hours a week teaching each class–in the fall, that’s going to go up [...]

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Part 1 Steve Jobs thrilled some people and infuriated others when he announced that Apple’s new eBook app will use the agency model for pricing. Translation: publishers can set the price of their eBooks, and Apple will take a standard 35% discount, or commission. Amazon was up in arms, because it believes eBooks should be [...]

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I did not accomplish all those wonderful things I claimed I would do in 2009. I did not reduce my work day from anytime/any day to nine to five, Monday through Friday. I did not get my house impeccably clean and keep it that way. I did not replace my late mother-in-law’s tank for a [...]

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I saw it again–another discussion on another message board about the validity of self-publishing services v. subsidy press. Please. Signing up with a self-publishing service doth not make thee a self-publisher. Actual self-publishers get LCCNs and P-CIPs so their books can be sold to libraries. Actual self-publishers do, indeed, have imprints and business addresses and [...]

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After yet another round of discussions with yet another handful of authors and editors, and perusing yet another slew of ebooks about what agents want, what publishers want, and what the public wants, I feel I really must take a definitive stand. You may quote me. There are only two absolutes in the book industry: [...]

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Maryan Pelland just sent me Chip McGregor’s 10/29/09 blog about personal stories no longer being viable in today’s book business. He’s absolutely right–from an agent’s pov. Here’s my take: publishers aren’t willing to spend money on these books because the market for them is down since the Internet is indeed awash with such personal stories [...]

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Have you noticed that every new networking site almost immediately has a handful of “experts” and every new marketing idea comes complete with someone offering a free teleseminar or webinar that primarily offers just enough information to make you want to sign up for a costly series of seminars? I got three of them this [...]

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