My Writing Week: Issue 41, year 4

Hi
from slightly agitated Graham,
Yahoo’s
brainless menu system
.
I
don’t have the patience for inane and illogical website navigation systems. I
never liked Yahoo’s busy look and cumbersome navigation system, and only use Yahoo
when I need to access an online writing group to download a file. I was trying
to access that group today, but Yahoo told me I had to create a profile first. WTF:
I already had a profile. I closed the box and tried again, but it repeated its
demand, so I clicked on create a new profile.
A
new box opened, telling me to add a new email address. Why, so Yahoo could spam
me twice? I added a new email address. It then wanted me to add a new alias for
using yahoo groups. When fuckyouyahoo was rejected, I tried grahamclements. It
said someone already used that, probably me, and I should choose another alias
between 2 and 16 letters. I typed gjc, but it said choose a longer alias, it
seems their system can’t count.  
I
eventually found an appropriate length alias. And then it asked me to choose
which profile I wanted to use. The reason it seems for wanting me to create a
new profile was so I could choose between them. Unbelievable.
Writer’s
Contract Terminated After She Self-Publishes.
Hawaiian
author Kiana Davenport had her contract for a novel with a traditional
publisher cancelled after they discovered she had recently self-published two short
story collections. The publisher also demanded she return her $20,000 advance.
Kiana
has written a well read
blog post
about what happened with lots of comments. Most of the comments
condemn the publisher. A lot complain about the Big 6 publishers treating
authors like serfs.
Even
though Kiana’s short story collections had been rejected by her publisher and
others, if I had been in Kiana’s situation I would have done the courteous
thing and told the publisher I was going to self-publish.
Why
couldn’t the publisher have just told Kiana they were upset and asked her not
to do it again? According to the author the publisher had a fear and loathing
of Amazon. Perhaps the discussion between the publisher and the author/agent was
too bitter for them to continue working together. Or perhaps the publisher really
was just use to treating authors like serfs.
I
couldn’t help thinking the publisher might have had other reasons, legitimate
or otherwise, for terminating the contract.
The
Big 6 US Publishers.
As
I don’t have a novel manuscript of publishable quality yet, I am have done
little research about publishers. I had not heard of the Big
6 publishers
before reading Kiana’s blog post. I have since done some
research and the Big 6 are:
Hachette
HarperCollins
Macmillan
Penguin
Random
House
Simon
& Schuster
Most
of the Big 6 have dozens of publishing imprints. Macmillan owns science fiction
publishers Tor and Orb. Penguin similarly owns Ace and Simon & Schuster
distribute for Baen. As far as I could tell, the evil overlord Rupert Murdoch only
owns HarperCollins.
At
the moment most of my interest and research in relation to publishing concerns
the ebook revolution and self-publishing versus traditional publishing. 
My
Writing.
Once
more, I wrote every day last week, but as in previous weeks, I did not write that
much. I have just about finished rewriting a short story, which I will
hopefully finish this week while starting research for my next couple of DiVine articles.

0 Responses

  1. Hi Graham,
    I read your Blog with interest, especially Kiana's horrific story.
    About the BIG 6 publishers, I'm sure that list is a world stat list. Allen & Unwin is one of Australia's biggest publishers.

  2. Hi Karen,

    They are the big 6 publishers in the US. Surprised the independent Allen and Unwin aren't owned by one of them though. I am sure the evil overlord must have tried.

    Graham.

  3. Cheers for the informative post Graham.

    That's terribly sad for that author. I agree she should have told them, but this is the reason why I have not self-published, despite my years of having been rejected. Many do frown upon it. Sounds like she was too eager, but I totally understand why she should we do it. you slave over your work, only to have it unread and in the 'drawer.' It's incredibly frustrating.

    Most big publishers don't even take submissions, unless through an agent.

    Hope you continue with your writing.

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