Friday, June 4, 2010

Swimming in the literary sea

The world has convinced you that you'll never get picked up by the big houses. Who wants a new author, especially in these hard times? And years, it'll take years for your book to get on a shelf, that is if the stars have aligned enough for the right person to even see your manuscript in the first place. Such is the reality of traditional publishing, and so you choose a smaller house, or, even scarier, you choose to go it alone.

The fact of the matter is, try as we might, we can't deny that indie authors are minnows, swimming blind, staying in shallow waters close to home, trying to find a school big enough just to survive. I often feel like Nemo, hoping for acceptance in a strange, new world, and, like Nemo, I've met some great friends along the way, other indie authors who too share the dream of one day swimming in uncharted waters.

In order to get there we must find bigger fish who know the sea. I've met quite a few on twitter (of all places), and I find myself reading everything they post. In keeping with the Nemo theme, these are the vegetarian sharks who vow not to eat indie writers for lunch, choosing instead to guide them with words of wisdom.


So here's to my favorite Bruce, Anchor, and Chum's of the literary sea.

Victoria Mixon, absolutely one of my favorite people on the web. She tells it like it is. I'll admit sometimes she's just plain scary, but if you really want to know that editors think bookmark her site.

Todd Rutherford, aka the Publishing Guru, genuine and extremely informative. He's one of the few editors I've tweeted where I haven't been intimidated to the point of hyperventilating.

Deborah Halverson, aka Dear Editor. If you've got questions, she's got answers (and endless patience).  If Deborah ever tires of the publishing industry she'd make a great teacher.

Bubble Cow  This site is from the UK. Their motto is simply "inspiring writers to write and get published". I go there on days when I question my sanity.

It's not surprising that my favorite sharks are all editors. I really appreciate their knowledge, candor, and wit, but most of all I appreciate their advice. Who are the big fish that inspire you?


1 comment:

  1. Why, Elizabeth, what a charming thing to say! I read it out loud to my husband, and now he really likes you.

    Isn't it funny that the scary posts are the ones getting me notoriety. I wrote nice friendly little posts for ages before I tried this tactic. Please know they are all tongue-in-cheek. I'm actually quite sweet to my clients. :)

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