I’ve been to the puppet show and I’ve seen the strings

Isn’t that a great phrase? I recently spotted it in a comments box at the bottom of a blog post. The blog topic, naturally, was about self-publishing. The phrase immediately resonated with me. For I too, like the commenter at the bottom of that indie writer’s web post, have been to the puppet show and I’ve seen those goddamn strings (there are a few). Thus, happily, I know which strings I want to pull – to emulate the best bits of the traditional publishing process – and which strings to avoi...