Comments on: >Excuse our dust

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:46:30 +0000

>*grudgingly*

The Horn Book ad is not so bad.

hmph

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 14:23:22 +0000

>Somebody make a hashtag.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 02:46:42 +0000

>Make it stop.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 21:54:17 +0000

>I'm wondering if anyone here has any knowledge or experience involving one of the companies that has an ad here, PACT Premium Organic Cotton Underwear. They look great, but should I order a size up? Do they shrink? I've had bad experience in the past with cotton in the dryer, even at low heat settings.

By: Melinda

Melinda — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 20:43:26 +0000

>Ursula K. LeGuin had some good advice on the publishing score. "Write a book and send it out. Then write another book and send it out. Then write another book and send *it* out...."

Also, a very helpful rule of thumb among children's writers is to read at least 100 books in the genre you want to write for. These 100 books should be recent books, published within the last five years. That gives you a good eye for what works, what doesn't work, what trends are shopworn, etc.

Also, Hamline University has a very nice MFA program for writing for children, hint hint.

Good luck!

By: Lyle Blake Smythers

Lyle Blake Smythers — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:40:45 +0000

>Anon 1:01,

Many thanks for pointing me to those posts. They make for VERY enlightening reading. This company is coming off my list with blinding speed.
Lyle

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:01:22 +0000

>Lyle,

This is the blog Writer Beware. I'd encourage you to type "publish america" in quotes into the search box and read what they have to say.

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/

Or read John Scalzi's post. Just the title in the link should tip you off.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/02/17/publishamerica-douses-self-in-kerosene-lights-match/

best wishes.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:38:18 +0000

>Lyle –

I have no personal experience with PublishAmerica, but something I have noticed when running into their books on Amazon is very unusually high pricing. For instance: a retail price of $25 dollars for a 20 page paperback picture book. Do an amazon search for PublishAmerica in books and see some of their titles & pricing.

By: Lyle Blake Smythers

Lyle Blake Smythers — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:48:49 +0000

>I'm wondering if anyone here has any knowledge or experience involving one of the companies that has an ad here, PublishAmerica. Unlike the others, they do not appear to be a self-publishing company and claim that you don't pay them anything, they pay you royalties. Sounds like a POD (print on demand) thing.

I have been trying for ten years to get an agent or a publisher for a somewhat quirky fantasy novel (adult, not children's/YA) and am reluctantly beginning to suspect that my stuff is just too weird for mainstream.

Yes, I have also queried and shown sample chapters to specialty publishers outside the mainstream (I'm talking gay SF/fantasy) and there has been no interest.

Then again, maybe I'm just not good enough. But I have gotten several comments along the lines of "The writing is vivid and effective, the story is original. It's just not ..." You fill in the blank.

Self-publish or not? That's why this PublishAmerica caught my attention because you don't pay them. They pay you -- but only if the book sells.

Comments? Information?

Lyle Blake Smythers
just too weird to publish

By: mb

mb — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:19:45 +0000

>I actually find it comforting that Google is obviously not reading things that closely.