Inspired Links – April 4, 2011

This edition of "Inspired Links" is a goodie – some thought-provoking articles are included.  I've tried to include just enough description to help you figure out which links to check out and which to pass by without boring you to tears.  Let me know if I succeeded

I'm a big believer in editors.  So many posts and articles about self-publishing that I've seen lately have spent a lot of time imploring writers to hire editors.  This short article from the Huffington Post is pretty persuasive.


I've got several nonfiction books in my queue right now, but one that I hope to add in the not-too-distant future is Donald Maass's "Breakout Novelist." Check out this review of the book by George Angus.  Donald Maass has also been tweeting a month's worth of writing prompts – essentially probing questions to inspire you to dig deeper into your characters and plotlines.  Check them out in his tweet stream.


One thing that is becoming archaic in the era of e-books is the idea of an author's signature on a book.  Some new software makers are hoping to change that.  I thought this article on one example of software that allows authors to sign e-books was interesting and may be a sign of things to come.


I've been reading "Hamlet's Blackberry" by William Powers and this article discusses the book, among other things.  If you have concerns about how our constant connectedness is affecting our psyche, check out the article, for starters, and also the book.  It discusses the need for unplugging.


The world of publishing is changing quickly and nobody is quite sure what the future of book publishing will look like.  One change that seems fairly certain to stick around is that authors – whether self published or traditionally published – are now required to take a lot of ownership for the marketing of their books. This phenomenon is discussed in this terrific article by Laura Miller at Salon in which she discusses the juxtaposition of Amanda Hocking's move into the traditional publishing world and Barry Eisler's move into self publishing and wonders whether notoriously reclusive authors of the past would survive in this new environment.


I originally discovered the Laura Miller article from a reference in this article by Dan Blank in which he puts forward a devil's advocate argument for all those writers seeking to find the right balance in their lives between family, writing and marketing. He asserts that finding "balance" isn't really possible in the publishing world today and that those who choose balance are essentially limiting their own success.  Its an eye-opening position, to be sure, essentially for yours truly who has been striving for months to find balance after straying too far over the line into burnout mode.


And of course you'll want to check out the latest Tuesday Serial and Friday Flash reports if you missed them – lots of great fiction reads included.

If you're wondering about my methodology for choosing links for inclusion in this post, rest assured there isn't one.  It's just a collection of things that I found interesting and I thought you might too.  Please let me know what you think!