Publishing Pulse for September 16, 2011

New At QueryTracker:

Seven agent profiles were updated this week, including agents changing genres, changing agencies, and one agency that may have closed. Please check for the most recent information (both from QT and from the agent's website) before you hit send.

Publishing News:

Goodbye, Borders. We hardly knew ye.

image via Galleycat

The Authors Guild has filed another suit against Google over their library scanning. 

Amazon.com announce their plan to offer an ebook lending service for Amazon Prime members.

Goodreads now has a recommendation engine, leveraging the data from its six million members. Based on a reader's previous ratings, the engine will try to recommend other books the reader will enjoy.

Around the Blogosphere:

Several blogging agents had an online tussle over the hated-by-writers no-response-means-no policy. Weighing in with their opinions are Rachelle Gardner, Janet Reid, Kristin Nelson, Jessica Faust, and Jill Corcoran.

Dean Wesley Smith discusses how to make money as an indie author: quantity matters.

Jessica Faust of BookEnds talks about a writer who sent a series of virulent emails to her auto-responder.

Janet Reid of FinePrint discusses why she's not opting into one author's serialized novel.

Literary Quote of the Week:

"Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity." -GK Chesterton

Thanks for reading, and until next week, keep those queries flying!

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Jane Lebak is the author of The Guardian (Thomas Nelson, 1994), Seven Archangels: Annihilation (Double-Edged Publishing, 2008) and The Boys Upstairs (MuseItUp, 2010). At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four children. She is represented by the riveting Roseanne Wells of the Marianne Strong Literary Agency.

Publishing Pulse for June 3rd, 2011

New At QueryTracker:


Congratulations to QT success storyMichael Hagan!

Seven agent profiles have been updated in the last week with changes such as new email addresses, two agents closing to queries and one opening up to queries. Always check for the most recent information (both from QT and from the agent's website) before you query.

Publishing News:

Liberty Media is interested in purchasing Barnes And Noble. The LA-based Gores Group has expressed interest in buying half the remaining Borders Book stores. Meanwhile Amazon.com initiates "sunshine deals" to allow publishers to experiment with ebook pricing.

The Google Book Settlement appears to be dragging on longer than Jarndyce versus Jarndyce. The next hearing to discuss a draft of a settlement will take place on July 19th.

BEA's attendance figures were flat as compared to last year (although numbers rose with the inclusion of BlogWorld.)

Around the Blogosphere:

Author Jill Hathaway talks about self-doubt.

At The Passive Voice, a section you may want to include in your next publishing contract to prevent legal "Gotchas."

Via Janet Reid, seven tough questions for nonfiction writers (which you should ask yourself before writing your nonfiction proposal)

Also via Janet Reid, who gave a hat tip to Molly O'Neill:

http://www.demotivation.us/books-1247061.html

Literary Quote of the Week:

I know that journalism largely consists in saying "Lord Jones Dead" to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive. -GK Chesterton

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Jane Lebak is the author of The Guardian (Thomas Nelson, 1994), Seven Archangels: Annihilation (Double-Edged Publishing, 2008) and The Boys Upstairs (MuseItUp, 2010). At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four children. She is represented by the unsurpassed Roseanne Wells of the Marianne Strong Literary Agency.

Publishing Pulse, February 18, 2011

At QueryTracker.net this week:
Congratulations to our two newest success stories!
A.G. Howard  http://querytracker.net/ag_howard.php
Erin Bowman http://querytracker.net/erin_bowman.php

Our listings this week include a new agent, Wendy Schermer of Mortimer Literary, and updates to thirteen other agents' profiles. Always double-check before you query.


A huge congratulations:
Happy publication day to longtime QueryTracker maven Leah Clifford! Her novel A Touch Mortal will be released this coming Wednesday, February 22nd. 


To celebrate her book release, she has agreed to participate in a live Q&A session on the blog on February 23rd. Anyone will be able to ask her questions in the comments section. She will also provide a signed copy of her book and a 10 page critique as prizes for a raffle. 


Big news:
Borders Books files bankruptcy, listing a total debt of $1.29 billion. Learn more about the causes, other causes, the effects, and whether their location near you is on the list of ones that will be closing. (Your Kobo ebooks, by the way, are perfectly safe.)


Industry news:

AAP reported that electronic books registered $441.3 million for the year among the reporting companies, compared to $166.9 million a year ago. Ebooks made just under 8% of book sales for the year.

Macmillan has launched a romance community site at www.heroesandheartbreakers.com where you can read short stories, get news, writing tips, and a lot more.

With Texas seeking $270 million in taxes from Amazon.com because they have a distribution center in Austin, Amazon has decided to close its warehouse there. 

Around the web:
It's a dangerous world. Find out how to spot a bogus literary agent. (Keep in mind that QueryTracker's very own Patrick is selective about which agents he puts into the database in order to reduce this risk; you can also check at Preditors And Editors if you aren't sure whether an agency is legit.)


Jessica Faust of BookEnds will be highlighting one query per week on her weblog. It could be yours!


Literary Quote of the Week:

"Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking." -William Butler Yeats

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Jane Lebak is the author of The Guardian (Thomas Nelson, 1994), Seven Archangels: Annihilation (Double-Edged Publishing, 2008) and The Boys Upstairs (MuseItUp, 2010). At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four children. She is represented by the perceptive Roseanne Wells of the Marianne Strong Literary Agency.