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Well, you know what’s on my mind this morning, and aren’t those baby dragons gorgeous? I’ve been waiting all season for this. I guarantee that last night’s season ender led to a big jump in sales of Book Two of the series. I know I grabbed my Kindle and bought it (only had Book One). There’s no way I’m waiting until April, 2012 to find out what happens next!<\/p>\n
Setting aside my Game of Thrones<\/i> obsession, I have a ton of links to get through today. So let’s get to it.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Let’s start with some numbers. Techcrunch reports that a Citigroup analyst predicts that Kindles and Kindle ebooks will account for 10% of Amazon’s sales<\/a> next year. And Amazon sells a lot of stuff, so that number is impressive. It’s also very encouraging for those of us dipping into ebook publishing, as the market for our work continues to grow. <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 It does seem that ebook publishing is better for some kinds of books than others. Sourcebooks<\/i> crunches some numbers and finds that while adult non-fiction makes up 42% of physical books, for ebooks it’s a different market<\/a>, at least so far. The 42% figure comes from Bookscan data. Using the best info they can find, which is imperfect at this point, Sourcebooks<\/i> estimates adult non-fiction only accounts for 20% of ebook sales, while adult fiction titles are by far the majority of ebooks sold. So the growing ebook market may be better for some writers than for others.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Speaking of markets, most writers know the internal dance we have to do between being introspective artists while also marketing ourselves and crafting a public persona. No one writes better about these issues than Thaisa Frank, and in her blog post Of Voyeurism, Exhibitionism–and Websites for Writers<\/a>, she weaves practical advice for getting your site online with a deep understanding of how artists wrestle with their public\/private selves.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 More on marketing from Victoria Strauss at Writers Beware<\/i>, as she points out the types of marketing that don’t work<\/a>, and that could waste your money as well as your time. Another timely reminder of the scams that surround the publishing world.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 A couple of useful short pieces on the craft of writing: Dave Farland at the Daily Kick<\/i> gives some pointers about how to write male characters<\/a>. (Hint: they don’t necessarily think or act like women). As someone who writes almost exclusively female protagonists, this is the kind of information I need to think about. I don’t find it easy to get inside the minds of my male characters.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Nothing is more important to a finished book than editing. Publetariat<\/i> reprints Virginia Ripple’s Eleven Resources to Make Editing Your Book Easier<\/a>, a list of blogs, books, and videos to help you ensure that your work is the best it can be.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Does all intellectual property want to be free? Seth Godin muses on issues of free work, paid addons, and discoverability<\/a>. How do artists make a living in a digital world, where most artistic goods are easily pirated? As someone whose only self-published work is, at the moment, being downloaded for free regularly but not selling many paying copies, I am still pondering this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"