Three Things Make A Post
Since I finished proof pages last night and the third YA is burning a hole in my head (as in, MUST GET BOOK OUT OF BRAIN WRITE WRITE MORE WRITE NOW DAMMIT), you get three random things that make a blog post.
* Are Bookscan numbers inaccurate, or worse, just plain wrong? (Hat tip to Diana Peterfreund for the link.) On the one hand, lowball Bookscan numbers do provide a publisher with more leverage against author and agent demands for more money–natural and normal on both sides. But wrong by 100%? I don’t know if this is widespread or just with this one particular author. Industry peeps, what say you?
* I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: authors overwhelmingly have no control over cover copy or cover design. (In some cases this is a good thing.) Please, please, don’t blame us when the cover doesn’t match the book. We’re probably more mortified about differences between the cover and the content than you can ever imagine. We’re sorry about it, but that’s the way it is.
* I can tell I’m about to begin another creative burst. The symptoms are all there–sleeplessness, restlessness, weird reactions to emotional upheaval (my irrational relief at getting some furniture moved is a prime example) and an itching to get one project done so I can begin to work on another. The Sekrit Projekts are beckoning like mermaids. Part of it is avoidance–two-thirds of the way through a book is where I start having all sorts of Bright Shiny New Ideas, and I have to really buckle down so I don’t get distracted. That’s one thing I had to learn–the Shiny Idea when I’m trying to finish the Contracted Idea is a Bad Idea. A lot of writers get seduced by the shiny in the mid-novel slump and have difficulty finishing. There’s no cure for it that I can see other than discipline, which is why I call discipline the #1 quality a writer should cultivate. (Habit being the best of slaves and the worst of masters, and all.) It is a quality that can be learned, and is therefore within a writer’s control. When so much isn’t.
There. Three things, the timer’s rung, and I’m back to work. See you on the other side, chickadees.
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Tags: not worth chewing through the leather straps, novel madness, pennyworth advice
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
On a plus, I LOVE the covers of your books. I think they are gorgeous and really stand out on the shelves, otherwise i’d never have discovered them!
Umm, while you are feeling creative…I still want to know what happens to Dante and Japh in the end, especially since my beloved laptop is named Japhrimel in his honour.
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
I sure sympathize with you on that awful cover for Demon’s Librarian.
I know that authors have little to no say in cover choice, but I always comment on particularly bad cover art in amazon and other places where I give my opinion in the hopes that the publisher might take notice. Poor authors with bad covers lose sales if the cover is off-putting enough.