Features

FIRST lines are a book’s greeting to the reader and therefore a vital element in the whole. If it strikes the wrong note, a weak opening can nullify a great cover or an enticing jacket blurb. On the other hand, a good initial hook captures the reader from the start.

Yet does it signal a bestseller? Consider some of these.

One of my favourite openings is from 1984 by George Orwell, and reads thus: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

Now here’s another teaser, simple but grabbing, from The Invisible Man by […]

Some people fear the new era of indie publishing will lead to a tide of bad books, with readers swamped by millions of titles.

This fear is fed in part by fearful gatekeepers like Laura Miller of Salon, whose recent article warned of readers faced with unlimited choices and how terrible this is going to be (because Laura Miller will no longer have to tell them what they need to read from among the limited number of major titles of which she approves).

It took about 15 years for Amazon to reach five million paper titles. Last year, three-fourths of […]

Readers are no longer restricted to what business people with a payroll to meet consider marketable. The explosion of independent writing and publishing has broken the dam that publishing businesses erected to prevent most writers from seeking an audience.

The burgeoning quantity of titles in print or ebook formats is the result of authors producing their work independently. Some readers might rightly feel overwhelmed by the vast selection, but many are also delighted by the consumer-oriented benefits that independent writers are bringing to the marketplace.

Reader friendly pricing

In the ebook market especially, independent authors have been a major force […]

OK, not really. But in the tradition of Cheryl Anne Gardner’s What a Pod Peep Reads, here’s what I’ve been reading:

and

The trajectory of underground comics is somewhat similar to that of self-publishing – something that no one took seriously, and now is given art exhibitions. From an interview with Dan Clowes:

Early in your career, did you find that people had a difficult time labeling you? The type of work you produced wasn’t your typical style of comic.

They still have a difficult time. I’ve been called everything from a “graphic novelist” to a “comic-strip novelist”

Editor’s Note: This post is in response to the discussion in this post.

I can understand why you’d rather publish yourself. I can understand not wanting to wait to be noticed. I can understand why you might think traditional publishing is elitist or backwards–or even stupid.

I am personally hostile to a number of what have become standard practices in traditional publishing. I am even hostile toward individual traditional publishers and even individuals in traditional publishing. At least I have had the dubious pleasure of working within or somewhat within the system for decades, having come by my hostility […]

When this site started up in December 2008, self-publishing was still something you didn’t really talk about in polite company.  It was really big news in January 2009 when the New York Times published a piece called Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab.  There were detractors to the rosy picture of that article, but it seemed like a breakthrough.

Now, in 2010, self-publishing is everywhere, rightfully so.  It’s not always flattering – but even when it’s being criticized, it’s seen as inevitable, and that inevitability isn’t seen as a bad thing.  Recently, there was an epic post in […]