Who are they? What do they do? Should you hire one?

As anyone who’s courageously ventured into the arena of self-publishing knows—or soon will—there’s much more involved in the process than simply sending your manuscript off to a printer, dropping off review copies at a handful of bookstores, and kicking back and waiting for the revenues to roll in.

with Lynne Marie Zerance

LMZ: What I really like about your book on being a writer in the 21^st century, Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times, is that its overall theme is so optimistic. Lately, all I’ve been reading, hearing, and observing is that a new writer’s chance of getting published today is dismal at best, so your book has a refreshing message. Can you tell our readers why, in your opinion, aspiring authors should keep writing in the hopes of getting published—despite the odds?

with Lynne Marie Zerance

Insider’s Interview: Mark Levine, JD, author of The Fine Print: What Print-On-Demand and E-book Publishing Contracts Really Say

with Lynne Marie Zerance

LZ: You’re a groundbreaking and sometimes controversial novelist who broke the so-called rules to tell your stories the way you wanted to. Yet you’re also a respected teacher. In teaching, how do you address the balance between inspiration and technique, or native talent and acquired skill?

JR: The question I’m often asked is “Can you teach writing?” And the answer is yes, you can, but you can’t teach talent. You either have it or you don’t. What you can teach is technique. And the reason that writers, instead of academics, should teach writing is that we’ve been through the experience, we’ve developed our techniques, and we can provide shortcuts.

with Lynne Marie Zerance

LZ: Tell us a little about your background. How long have you been with Random House and did you work in the business before this?

AK: I’ve been with Random House, Inc. for about 3 ½ years. The last 2 ½ years have been spent at “little Random,” working on Random House and Villard books. I spent the first year at the Crown Publishing Group and was part of the Associate’s Program. As an Associate I was rotated through the different departments including editorial, marketing, sales, publicity, subsidiary rights, finance, promotions, and production—spending time in each one to get my feet wet. Before this, I worked for a medical publishing company.

by Lynne Marie Zerance

There’s no question about it: Writers, as a group, are among the most vulnerable. And let’s face it: we’re among the biggest dreamers, too. Perhaps that’s what makes us an easy target for those who make their living preying on people they perceive as naïve and gullible. After all, who better to tell (and sell) a tale to than a writer with a tale they’re trying to tell—and hopefully…someday…actually sell?

by Lynne Marie Zerance

LZ: What seems to be getting acquisitions editors excited on the fiction front? For example, is chick lit still hot?

MF: Chick lit is cooling down, and in general publishing has gone the way of Hollywood and is always looking for high concepts, or a hot idea. For example, a Da Vinci Code, as opposed to a smart suspense novel, or something with a gimmick or hook to it.

Generating Publicity for Your Nonfiction Book

If you’re a first-time published author (or about to be), it’s almost certain that these words have become your oft-repeated mantra: exposure, exposure, exposure…must get exposure. Whether you’ve chosen to go the traditional route, the self-publishing route, the POD route, or some variation thereof, all publishing roads lead authors to the same dilemma: “Now that I’ve published a book, how do I go about getting enough publicity to actually sell the thing?” 

The key to successfully publicizing and marketing your book, according to Joan Stewart (a.k.a. “The Publicity Hound” www.publicityhound.com), lies in great part in the quality of the homework you do before you write your book. “One of the problems that authors run into when they write a book is that they haven’t stopped to figure out who their market is,” says Stewart. “When they call and I ask them who their target market is, they often say ‘everybody.’” To which Stewart’s standard reply is, “Okay then, you have to launch a campaign to everybody.” This, of course, simply isn’t feasible. Instead, it’s best to have a crystal clear idea in your mind about who your book will serve. “Books that are written for niche markets are much easier to market, of course,” says Stewart. “Your PR campaign is much easier, since you only have to market it to people who are in your target market.”