Tag: indie publishing

Agents – who’d have ’em?

John Barlow
Author John Barlow

There’s been some interesting discussion about literary agents recently, not least following the letter from the AAR to the DoP, which got a good old fashioned mauling from Joe Konrath.

For a decade I had a New York literary agent. I recently switched to a London-based agency, although having decided to give indie publishing a try I have yet to produce anything that she might actually sell, and clearly this puts us both in an awkward position.

The question for indie writers, given the current state of the literary market, is how exactly an agent might fit into your plans. Do you need an agent at all? Let’s be clear: Joe Konrath has not sacked his agent, and Barry Eisler is married to his. The role of agents might be changing, but I don’t think they’re going away any time soon. Continue reading “Agents – who’d have ’em?”

My Journey to Self-Publishing by Cindy Keen Reynders

Author Cindy Keen Reynders

[This is a golden oldie—it ran on Indies Unlimited back in October 2011.]

After I sold my books, “The Saucy Lucy Murders” and “Paws-itively Guilty,” I wrote a third book in the lighthearted murder-mystery series titled, “A Killer Slice.” The publisher decided to pass on it, so I wound up with an unpublished manuscript and plenty of readers asking for more installments. For months I queried traditional publishers and agents to see if I could get anyone interested in working with me, but they all turned me down. Some politely; some not so politely, but that’s the way it goes. This is a time-worn scenario—there are lots of writers in the world who can tell the same story.

Sorry to say, I moped for a while. Friends and family put up with my awful moods. Shame on me for whining, but I couldn’t help myself. After much soul-searching, I decided to self-publish “A Killer Slice.” At some point in time, I think all writers consider self-publishing, and I’m no different. Since I already had an audience, I hoped that would increase my chances for success. I didn’t jump into it overnight, however. I took a couple of years to consider many different options including iUniverse and Lulu. I talked with people who’d done it already, read blogs about indie publishing and absorbed as much as I could. I wanted to make certain that before I plopped down hard-earned dollars, I’d found a legitimate publishing house. I wanted to feel confident they would produce the best book and provide the widest distribution. Continue reading “My Journey to Self-Publishing by Cindy Keen Reynders”

A Perfect Rejection

Author John BarlowThis post is about rejection. More specifically, it is about a rejection letter that I received from an editor at Mulholland Books, an imprint of Little, Brown (Hachette).

My noir mystery What Ever Happened to Jerry Picco? was submitted to Mulholland by my (then) agent because it seemed to fit the imprint’s profile for intelligent, inventive crime. The book involves the disappearance of a midget porn star. However, it is not an explicit book; it’s about a missing pornographer, a sort of noir-romp with a few references to Shakespeare and fairy stories. NOT sexually explicit. Bear that in mind. Here’s the letter:

Thanks so much for the chance to consider WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO JERRY PICO? I took this under very close consideration; there’s much to like here. The writing, throughout, is pitch-perfect; Flores* is clearly in command of a masterful, thorough knowledge of the genre, and it shows in both his prose and in the bizarre, fringe characters with which he populates this well-executed novel of investigation (Pico’s wounded, needy and binge-drinking bombshell of a lover is especially appealing). Continue reading “A Perfect Rejection”

Who’s got the power…!

Now that I stuck that neat little ear-worm in your mind…

I read a blog just recently that touched on that very subject, though. (Thanks Ashley Barron. http://bit.ly/HN4BzU )

It seems one of our failings as self/indie published authors is that people perceive us as not having any leadership or defined standards, and that’s why we’re not taken very seriously.  We’re sort of the Wild West of the publishing world.  I’m okay with that but I would both argue the point, and beg to differ.  True, there are a large number of Indie writers for whom proper English, spelling and grammar are somewhat alien. There is a valid argument to be made there in many cases. If there was any benefit to traditional publishing it was that – it filtered out the thousands of wannabe writers who simply didn’t want to do the work.  (Yes, it’s okay to break the rules. First know what the rules are.) Continue reading “Who’s got the power…!”