From the Tales told by Grandfather Sammy we have The City of Gilgam.
Teaser
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Literary Agents vs Direct Submissions
In the quest to become a published author, I have developed a list of publishers interested in the genre I write and are willing to online submissions directly from authors.
But instead of sending my first novel to all of those publishers, it's going to make the round of literary agents. Why?
But instead of sending my first novel to all of those publishers, it's going to make the round of literary agents. Why?
- Agents have access to publishers that a new novelist does not.
- If an agent accepts your novel, you know that they are going to work at getting it published because their fees depend on it.
(Subnote: do not ever submit to an agent who charges reading fees. Reputable agents will not charge a reading fee.) - The agent should be able to advise on contract offerings from a publisher.
- As one agency site pointed out, you don't want to submit your novel to many publishers and use an agent as a last resort. Publishers are NOT going to want to see the work twice, so you are hampering the efforts of the agent.
The first two agents I have in mind will be seeing the manuscript exclusively. After that, it's time for the shotgun approach, find 5 or 6 agents will to look at manuscripts of the right genre from new authors and submit. Repeat as required.
Friday, February 03, 2017
Too Many Options
In a way, I think there are too many options for self-publishing these days.
What brought that thought on was my first visit to Patreon.com. Interesting platform and if you have the social media in place to build a following, it could be a great option. I even found two traditionally published fantasy writers who are now using Patreon to generate a steady income.
The main Patreon site isn't particularly friendly toward discovering writers though. It took a couple of tries to start finding fantasy writers - which is why I believe that you need good social media contacts. It covers all sorts of creative endeavours, and is far better than kickstarter for regular revenue streams.
Other platforms include Smashwords, Amazon has kindle direct and CreateSpace, and many more options. Of course, there are still vanity/scam publishers out there so you must be careful.
What brought that thought on was my first visit to Patreon.com. Interesting platform and if you have the social media in place to build a following, it could be a great option. I even found two traditionally published fantasy writers who are now using Patreon to generate a steady income.
The main Patreon site isn't particularly friendly toward discovering writers though. It took a couple of tries to start finding fantasy writers - which is why I believe that you need good social media contacts. It covers all sorts of creative endeavours, and is far better than kickstarter for regular revenue streams.
Other platforms include Smashwords, Amazon has kindle direct and CreateSpace, and many more options. Of course, there are still vanity/scam publishers out there so you must be careful.
Thursday, February 02, 2017
Celebrating David Bowie
My husband and I just came back from a mini-holiday in Sydney, the main purpose was to see this show.
Three hours of Bowie music, with a large number of performers many of whom had worked with David during his long career. This includes Mike Garson, Earl Slick, Adrian Belew, Mark Plati, Sterling Campbell, and Holly Palmer plus Angelo Moore from Fishbone, Bernard Fowler from The Rolling Stones, Gaby Moreno and Scrote. Several Australian artists (Bernard Fanning, Sarah Blasko, Paul Dempsey and Chris Cheney) came out and sang. (List taken from the official Sydney opera house list)
I had two criticisms of the show. The balance between the band and the vocalists changed over the course of the evening and by the end of the night, it was really hard to hear the singers. If they weren't singing at full volume, they were overwhelmed by the musicians. The second is that they didn't play much from David's more recent work. There was one song from "The Next Day" and nothing at all from "Blackstar" or other later albums.
Those to the side, it was a wonderful show and I was glad that we managed to catch it. Several times the singers told the audience to get up and dance because this was a celebration. Some did, some didn't but a good time was had by all.
Three hours of Bowie music, with a large number of performers many of whom had worked with David during his long career. This includes Mike Garson, Earl Slick, Adrian Belew, Mark Plati, Sterling Campbell, and Holly Palmer plus Angelo Moore from Fishbone, Bernard Fowler from The Rolling Stones, Gaby Moreno and Scrote. Several Australian artists (Bernard Fanning, Sarah Blasko, Paul Dempsey and Chris Cheney) came out and sang. (List taken from the official Sydney opera house list)
I had two criticisms of the show. The balance between the band and the vocalists changed over the course of the evening and by the end of the night, it was really hard to hear the singers. If they weren't singing at full volume, they were overwhelmed by the musicians. The second is that they didn't play much from David's more recent work. There was one song from "The Next Day" and nothing at all from "Blackstar" or other later albums.
Those to the side, it was a wonderful show and I was glad that we managed to catch it. Several times the singers told the audience to get up and dance because this was a celebration. Some did, some didn't but a good time was had by all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)