Book Covers and other things

Jessica Faust at Bookends wrote Networking through Submissions.

Kristin Nelson wrote advice on writing synopsis.

Orbit posted two articles on what goes into making a book cover: The Making of an Urban Fantasy Cover: Part I and The Making of an Urban Fantasy Cover: Part II

A number of agents have critiqued the first 250 words of completed but unpublished novels over at Miss Snark's First Victim.

Angela James wrote an article on the pros and cons of epublishing.

Editors Comments on Beginner Writing

I just saw this article (Agents and Editors: A Q&A With Four Young Editors by Jofie Ferrari-Adler) and wanted to post this excerpt:

On the flip side of that, give me some things that you find beginning writers doing wrong.

NASH: Not listening. Not listening to the world around them.

GARGAGLIANO: Trying to sell stories that aren't really a book. They're not a cohesive whole. There's no vision to the whole thing that makes me feel like this person has a reason for writing a story collection other than that they had twelve stories.

NASH: Assuming that having an attitude equals...anything.

CHINSKI: Or assuming that good writing is enough. I'm sure we all see a lot of stuff where the writing is really good. It's well crafted and you can tell that the writer has talent. But, again, you don't really feel like the writer necessarily believes in his or her ability to open it up into a novel. I know the old adage "write what you know." I'd kind of rather somebody write what they don't know. And figure out, beyond their own personal experience, why what they're doing should matter to the reader.

BOUDREAUX: I've always wanted to give people that advice too. "Do you have to write what you know? If you know it, I might know it. Which means I've already read it. Which means that your book is the nineteenth novel about a mother-daughter relationship. And I. Don't. Care." The crudest way to put it is the "Who cares?" factor. Why, why, why do I need to read four hundred pages about this? The necessary thing, and the authentic thing, and the voice thing are all much better ways of saying it than the "Who cares?" factor, but it's basically the same thing. "What is the necessity of reading this? What are you doing that is different?"

CHINSKI: I'd rather somebody be ambitious and fail a little bit than read a perfectly crafted, tame novel.

NASH: I have published novels, especially first novels, that I knew failed on some level because of what they were trying to do. I felt that that was okay.

CHINSKI: That's more exciting.

NASH: But what would be the version of that that actually answered your question?

CHINSKI: "Have courage"?

NASH: Don't try to be perfect. Don't be boring.

CHINSKI: That's really what it is 99.9 percent of the time—good writing, but boring. And it's the hardest thing to turn down because you think, "This is good. But it doesn't do anything for me."

BOUDREAUX: That's the thing. You're like, "There's nothing wrong with this. I've got nothing to tell you to do to fix it. It's just...there."

CHINSKI: And that's a hard rejection letter to write, too. Because it's not like you can point to this, that, and the other thing that are wrong with it. It just doesn't move you in any way. It doesn't feel necessary.

eBooks, Publishing, Promotion, and Writing

Kristin Nelson wrote about When An Imprint Goes Bye-Bye how it affects an author with that imprint. She also explains what Co-Op means and how it's done.

Jessica Faust wrote Rules of Writing and Post-Rejection Protocol and writing The Synopsis.

Nathan Bransford wrote about What Should (ebook) Content Cost.

Alan Rinzler wrote about How successful writers keep up their confidence.

Mike Elgan wrote Here Comes The Ebook Revolution which covers the history of and current motivating forces behind moving to ebooks.

grace_draven wrote about book covers and why their appearance matters.

CJ Lyons wrote about Building Your Brand.

Nice-Mommy-Evil-Editor wrote a post about the Epublishing Business Model.

Laurel Touby spoke about promoting your book through online avenues, which includes information on how to use Twitter to host a book party.

There's a discussion on Hatrack River Writer's Workshop on curse words in fantasy novels.

E-Books

Dear Author wrote Why ePublishing Needs to Grow Up.

GalleyCat wrote Why Are E-Books So Expensive? and Experts Explain Why E-Books Are So Expensive.

Jane Friedman at Writer's Digest wrote Do Writers' Futures Lie in Indie E-Publishing Platforms? and Should Writers Worry About the Pirating of E-Books?.

Aaron Ross Powell wrote My experience selling a draft novel on the Amazon Kindle.

A Bunch of Topics

Jessica Faust at Bookends wrote about What the Editors are Looking For, Sex and Fiction, Dissecting the Form Rejection Letter, and Trying to Get an Agent Just Sucks.

Nathan Bransford wrote about It's the End of Publishing As We Know It.

Shrinking Violet Promotions interviewed author Susan Wiggs about promotion and marketing from an author's viewpoint.

Evil Editor wrote about why you have to research the facts when you're writing fiction.