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The trials and tribulations of a writer who has made it but not made it big. Musings on craft, the industry, and work, plus advice to beginners and interviews with other midlisters. Welcome to Literary Purgatory.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'publishing'
Free Writers Marketing Guide From Penguin
Penguin Publishing has recently made their author's online marketing guide available free on the web. It's pretty good, with lots of useful tips for getting your name out there. Some bits are a littl...
Readers Need The Small Press (And So Do Writers)
I'm in Missouri right now working on a book on Guerrilla and Partisan Ranger Tactics in the American Civil War for Osprey. Most of the time I'm buried in books, original documents, and photographs in ...
Book Review: The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About The Celts
There’s a plethora of how-to ebooks on writing these days, and one of the more interesting series is Writer’s Rescue. Each volume describes the “33 Worst Mistakes” made by writers on particula...
On The Shelves. . .Or Not???
As I mentioned in an earlier post, my book "Missouri: An Illustrated History" is finally coming out. A critique partner from Missouri just bought a copy at Barnes and Noble, but the B&N website sa...
"Missouri: An Illustrated History" Out Now!!!
My latest book, "Missouri: An Illustrated History" is coming out from Hippocrene Books. It's a full history of the state from the prehistoric mammoth hunters to the modern day. I just received the aut...
New Book, New Country
Yes, I'm back, after a one-week hiatus, which in the blogosphere is like going off the air permanently. My only excuse is that I wanted to spend the last few days in Oxford and London enjoying the cou...
Starting Book Number Seven
As I mentioned way back in May, I was in negotiation with a publisher to do book number seven. I can now announce I'm working on Guerrilla Tactics of the American Civil War for Osprey Publishing. I've...
Plagiarist Beats A Hasty Retreat
In a previous post, I talked about how some idiot on LiveJournal uploaded the latest issue of Newbie Writers onto his blog, thereby breaching copyright with the editor, me, and all the other contribut...
Getting Plagiarized
On my other blog, Grizzled Old Traveler, I talked about plagiarism at the White House press office, and wondered if I've ever been plagiarized. Well, not two hours after posting that entry I found out...
How to Read How to Write Books
I got the latest issue of the Writing World newsletter in my inbox today and was happy to see my latest article in there, titled "How to Read How to Write Books". With the deluge of books on the subje...
Writing Success Story: First Person Queer Wins the 20th Lambda Literary Award
Friend and fellow Madrileño writer Lawrence Schimel has edited dozens of anthologies and won numerous awards. A week ago an anthology he co-edited with Richard Labonté, First Person Queer, won the 2...
Writing Success Story: Angela Nickerson Combines Art and Guidebook Writing
The guidebook industry is changing. A lot of travelers carry a general guidebook and one that's more specialized in region or subject. This new niche for travel writing is being explored by Roaring Fo...
More on Amazon
Well, it's Monday after a very long weekend, of which you can read more here. Also, it appears the Amazon story just won't go away. Now it's revealed they are in the habit of trying to get better and ...
Reader's Eden Ezine Issue #1 Out Now!
Well, the fruits of my first efforts as an ezine editor are out now. Click here to see the first issue. The cover is by my publisher's 13 year-old daughter. I think she's got a promising future. If y...
Life on the Other Side of the Editor's Desk
Bless me bloggers for I have sinned. It has been almost a week since my last post. This is because I've been very busy. Not only am I working away on my novel and a couple of articles, but I have take...
Which Way for the Electronic Press?
Despite the optimistic hopes of many electronic publishers and authors, all economic indicators show that traditional publishing isn’t going to disappear, but ebooks are here to stay too. Ebook...
New Trends in Publishing Give Writers More Choices Than Ever
As I outlined in the previous post, the publishing industry is going through a lot of changes. Emerging writers now have more choices than ever. In larger houses, the midlist is shrinking, but there a...
Is The Publishing Industry In Trouble? Nope.
There's a common belief on writing newgroups that the traditional print industry is in freefall, soon to be tossed into the scrapheap of history and replaced by ebooks or no books at all. This is, not...