Friday, March 11, 2005

News. For Writers. On Demand.

POD is all the rage. Sort of.

Couple of newsworthy items:


Check out Mad Max Perkins (everyone’s beloved mystery publishing exec) who throws up a discussion about POD (March 7th). The comments below the posting include all the predicted responses (POD stinks because nothing is edited—which is true, to POD is great because it will eventually eliminate returns—also true) plus a few surprises. Give it a once-over.

Also worthy of note: Michael Cader and the great wizards at Publishers Marketplace are putting together a book of all the book deals they recorded in 2004, along with analysis and listings of the respective agents and editors. Let me just say that if you are a writer trying get a grasp on the market and understanding who buys and sells what, this will be the most important book you can this year. Forget the Writer’s Digest guide and Jeff Herman’s book. Those books are completely generic:

“William Morris prefers well-written books that appeal to a large audience.”

Wow, seriously?

What you need to know is who sold what. Telling you that an agent at Writer’s House likes thrillers is useless; wouldn’t you much rather know the specific titles they sold? And to the specific editors they sold them to?

This book is where it’s at. Give it a once-over, too.


Oh, and the best part of the Deal Book? You guessed it: it’s being printed and sold via POD (Booksurge).


We'll unearth some more gems shortly.