Month: July 2010

Major Career Milestone

It’s been a busy week here (hence, the lack of posts) but a good one. On Tuesday, I received a box full of copies of my first book from the publisher. It’s a major milestone and feels fantastic. Check out this photo… It’s proof that you can survive the rejection letters, the aloof agents and…

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Dzanc to Publish Stephen Graham Jones

Earlier this week, news broke that one of Slushpile’s favorite indie publishers Dzanc Books signed on to release two new books by one of our favorite writers, Stephen Graham Jones. You might recall Jones from one of our two interviews with him. After the news broke, I asked Jones for a little more detail about…

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Mitchell Points Out the Limits of a Writing Cliche

Novelist David Mitchell was featured on the San Francisco Chronicle’s webpage and he pointed out the limitations inherent in one of writing’s most beloved sayings: “‘Write what you know’ will only get you so far,” Mitchell says. “You need to write what you can imagine, write what you can research about, write what you can…

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Industry Encouraged Self-Esteem Problems

On Thursday, I ranted a bit about snobby, ivory tower writers who think their colleagues should shun all appearances of commercial enterprise. That’s one factor in a complicated mix of issues that causes authors to limit themselves in their money making ventures. Another factor is how the industry encourages low self-esteem amongst writers. As aspiring…

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Outdated, Stodgy, Ivory Tower Attitudes that Cripple Writers

Writers (including me) love to bemoan the current state of publishing, the small advances, the dwindling to non-existent marketing budgets, the lack of readers, the short attention spans of American readers, the influence of text messaging on language, and the dearth of suitably hip coffee shops to hang out in. In short, we complain about…

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