Why digital publishing didn't catch on 10 years ago--and why it might now.

Ten years ago, publishers and agents thought digital publishing was going to take over the industry. It didn’t, but the advent of inexpensive book readers means that the digital format stands a better chance of succeeding this time [...]

The Tangled Web We Weave

Creating the second draft of a novel can involve delictately altering the original story or it may require radical [...]

Lost in Translation

Bev Vincent discusses the work of a translator with Tullio Dobner, who has been translating novels into Italian for over four [...]

The Agent Panel

A number of years ago, I was sitting on the deck of the local Irish pub on a Friday evening after work. This isn’t something I do often–my wife was out of town at a conference. The ambient noise was high from the combination of raucous drinkers and traffic on the nearby interstate.

My cell phone [...]

The Death Of Books: Deja Vu All Over Again

What could this ancient ad possibly have to do with publishing in 2010? Oh, it's a reach, but…

I’ve been hearing the death knell ringing for the book again a lot lately. Not any particular book. All of them. The book as an object, as something you can carry out of a store or, as [...]

The Book Launch

Have you ever held a launch to celebrate the release of a new book? Was it anything like the ones they show on TV? Share your [...]

The real writing life: still not very much like Castle.

Ways in which real writing life is not like Castle: until just now, I had actually forgotten that I had a book debut today. No glitzy launch parties, nobody offering me a bosom (throbbing or otherwise) to sign, no staking out Barnes & Noble to see if anybody is buying my book.

Definitely no huge standup [...]

Going for the Gold

It’s award season…what do awards and nominations [...]

Revision, and How it Changes a Fella…

I started a novel back at the beginning of November.  I wrote well beyond the required fifty thousand words required for Nanowrimo and the annual challenge, and sometime in January, I finished.  The book came in between 80,000 and 90,000 words.  I immediately set it aside.  I don’t know how many know or remember, but [...]

Alternate reality

I’m not a 13-year-old boy from Western Maine, but I pretended to be one on the internet.

That sounds a lot worse than it really is. It wasn’t an undercover sting to flush out predators. It was part of an alternate reality game (ARG) run by Scribner to promote Under the [...]