WRITING WITHOUT A NET

Pages written since last post : 28 Books uploaded to Kindle: CAST ADRIFT   She was a marine biologist on a quest to find a dolphin; he was a sailor with no time for sentiment.  But two weeks alone at sea could change everything... When last we met, I was trying to think of all the advantages to being published by a major New York publishing house.  Here they are: 1) The advance.  I think we all can agree that a  $25,000 advance from a publisher is appreciably better than $25 a month for uploading your self-published book to Kindle.  At least, it sounds better.  No, it is better, really--- at least, it would be better, if only publishers would actually pay it in advance.  Here’s the way it breaks down:        1/3 on signing of the contract.  This means approximately 3-4 months after the deal is struck.  If you are writing the book on spec, you’ve probably completed it by now.        1/3 on delivery and acceptance.  If you submitted a complete manuscript, one would assume that th

pages written since last post: 11 and 1/2 Books uploaded to Amazon Kindle:  For Keeps -- This was my first book featuring a dog as a major character.  It had to be completely rewritten to reflect modern dog-training techniques. Only $1.99 on Kindle! So I ran into my friend the other day-- I'll call him Dave to avoid embarrassment (mine, not his)-- and congratulated him on his recently self-published memoir.  I couldn't help knowing about his recently self-published memoir because everytime I opened an e-mail, visited a shop downtown, or glanced at a newspaper, I saw an announcement.  He was very pleased with the way it was going and reported he had already sold 600 copies.  "That's great!" I told him sincerely because it was great-- for a self-published memoir that had been out less than three months.  Feeling smug, I didn't bother to  mention that, had I failed to sell less than six thousand  copies in the first quarter of my book's release, my fan

pages written since last post : 150 But no... getting a start on a new book is not all I've been doing since February. Like so many of my colleagues of late, I've been re-evaluating the publishing business and my place in it. (I've also been trying to get off sugar and processed foods,lower my resting heart rate and plant an organic garden, but that's another post altogether).  I've also been giving a lot of thought to books in general and the way we read them, and, frankly, how much all of these things have changed.  When I first started buying books, a paperback could be had for 2.99.  When I first started writing books, the average price of a paperback book was 4.99.  When the cost of a paperback book jumped to 7.99, and a hardcover to $20.00, some of the most dedicated readers I know swore they would never buy another book.  Well, now they're paying $35.00 for some titles, but guess what?  They're not doing it very often.  So here's the thing.  I