QueryTracker Blog

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Friday, August 24, 2012

Publishing Pulse August 24, 2012

Success Stories

Congratulations to two writers who shared their success stories with us: best wishes go out to Marcy Kate Connolly and Tracy Bilen.

Ready to write your own success story?

If you're a QueryTracker member (membership is free) you can view the database of more than 1200 agent and publisher profiles. Premium Members can be notified whenever an agent or publisher is added or updates their profile, in addition to receiving access to several other enviable features.

Publisher News

Random House Canada launches a new emag: Hazlitt, named after 19th century critic and journalist William Hazlitt. Hazlitt isn't a newspaper insert full of promotional ads; it's a "digital habitat" that is "absurdly eclectic" and "writer-centric." What does that actually mean? Two words: interesting content. Hazlitt is accompanied by an ebook line, Hazlitt Originals.

The Great Debate

People often compare traditionally-published bestsellers to unsuccessful self-published books when expressing anti-indie views…but what about the flip side: wildly successful indie books or manuscripts that never make it out of a big house's slush pile? This article takes an interesting look at the growing trend of indie books. 

Austen? Whitman? Hathorne? Dickinson? Yep. They all did it. A new exhibit in London highlights several iconic writers who published, or paid to publish, their own work.

Self-publishing or traditional publishing? How about…both? An author explains why doing both may be a better way to launch a successful career.

Thinking about skipping the whole traditional publishing gamut and getting your book out on your own? Self-publishing a book takes a lot more work than simply converting a document to an epub file: it takes expertise.

Blogospherically Speaking…

In a post about non-fiction platforms and comp titles, agent Janet Reid discusses Amazon rankings and how they can help you and your book.

One of the reasons for the growing self-published trend is time--publishing is a slow process. (It's probably why we QueryTracker users are addicted to response time stats!) Agent Rachelle Gardner has excellent advice for dealing with impatience.

Impatience isn't the only demon that torments writers--our self-confidence is always under attack. Here's a nice piece about regaining confidence in our writing.

Have a great weekend, everyone.





Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction writer who resides in the heart of the Pennsylvania coal region, where she keeps the book jacket for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" in a frame over her desk. Visit Ash's blog at www.ash-krafton.blogspot.com for news on her newly released urban fantasy "Bleeding Hearts: Book One of the Demimonde" (Pink Narcissus Press 2012).