Author Blogs

Telemachus Press, LLC is pleased to offer a venue for its author’s blog postings and other writings. This portion of our website is automatically fed with material provided by our authors who are third parties and are not employed by Telemachus Press, LLC. This externally provided commentary and any opinions contained therein are solely those of the author and not necessarily supported by Telemachus Press, LLC or any of its employees or subcontractors.

Entries for October 2012

26
Indie and self-published authors matter yet are often ignored as viable players in the publishing industry. We matter to the big publishers and retailers because we are groundbreakers, innovators, creators and consumers. From our ranks you will find the next Hugh Howey and Amanda Hocking.  We matter to readers because from our books they will find their next favorite author and can’t-put-down series. Yet, it is nearly impossible as an independent or self-published author to get our books into a Barnes & Noble store, even if we offer the maximum discount and the books are returnable. Some independent bookstores even refuse to stock our books. We seem to be given no thought in the current battle of the Goliaths, Amazon vs. Hachette Book Group, and in the mergers of the big six (now down to five, soon to be four?). But we matter because we are the backbone of the publishing industry. We are old and young, workers and retirees, rich and poor, and we are readers. We write i......

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16
(*This blog post was updated on June 29, 2014 to reflect modified number of e-books sold and given away during free Amazon promotions.) My name is Joanne Lewis. I am a writer but I am not Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Michael Connelly or Stephen Colbert. I’ve had two agents and am now unagented. I had a publisher but now self-publish. I am of the majority of serious writers who write at 3am, when the baby is down for a nap and when not at our paying jobs. I have five published novels and, as of May 31, 2014, I have sold approximately 21,500 and have given away about 27,750 e-books. That’s at least 49,250 of my books that are out there for people to enjoy. This is beyond my expectations. I am thrilled. This would never have happened without Amazon. As I understand it, Amazon wants a bigger cut from the Hatchette Book Group’s e-book sales. Hatchette is a French conglomerate, which includes U.S. imprints Little, Brown & Company, Grand Central and Hyperion. When ......

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10
I am coaching a colleague as he begins his foray into the field of writing. Having been wildly successful in his career and reaching the top of his profession, he thought—like many others—that writing would be easy. He finished his first short story and submitted it to a contest, expecting to receive the accolades that have followed him his entire adult life. When he got the rejection, he wrote the following to me: “If I don't have the ability to write 1000 words, then I am in the wrong field.” I thought long and hard as to how I wanted to respond. Should I be encouraging to a fault, telling him how the judges of that contest were probably illiterate? Or should I respond by saying he was right, he is in the wrong field? Of course, none of those were options since neither was true. Instead, this is what I wrote to him upon his declaration that he was “in the wrong field”: “DON'T BE RIDICULOUS!!!! Rejection is part of writing. It's subjective......

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