Never Listen To Me
I'm pretty clear in my occasional writing advice that "nobody knows nothing and the people you should avoid the most are those who claim they know something. Or everything." And you should change your mind frequently. I often hear people make absolutist statements, given as fixed, eternal truths, that are the exact opposite of what they said last week. Sure, politics is the most obvious example, but it's true in art as well.
Someone asked me about some advice I'd given on my Website in an article still up from four years ago (I REALLY need to clean that thing out). Basically, this person asked if I thought it was still a bad idea to participate in a print-on-demand anthology. Back then, the answer was "Yes, it's bad," because the books would cost $30 and not even the writers' mothers would buy a copy, and you'd make three cents while losing your first rights (assuming the publisher ever bothered paying you, that is).
Today, of course, the answer is "Maybe." If it's a reprint, and the publisher is doing an e-book version, it's silly to neglect yet another revenue stream, and the challenges of getting into bookstores are fast becoming moot, just as bookstores are becoming moot. My point here is not to warn you from POD or get you to try it. The point is I have no idea what I'm talking about.
I'm sure somewhere on my Website I say "Never self-publish." Yet today I'd ask why you'd even WANT to contribute to a POD project when you can do it yourself with a lot less hassle and more profit. Some people like community and partnerships. I mostly prefer to work alone, because it's peaceful and I can usually determine the outcome.
So don't take any of my advice. It's take me 15 years to realize I'm stupider than I was the day the started.
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Someone asked me about some advice I'd given on my Website in an article still up from four years ago (I REALLY need to clean that thing out). Basically, this person asked if I thought it was still a bad idea to participate in a print-on-demand anthology. Back then, the answer was "Yes, it's bad," because the books would cost $30 and not even the writers' mothers would buy a copy, and you'd make three cents while losing your first rights (assuming the publisher ever bothered paying you, that is).
Today, of course, the answer is "Maybe." If it's a reprint, and the publisher is doing an e-book version, it's silly to neglect yet another revenue stream, and the challenges of getting into bookstores are fast becoming moot, just as bookstores are becoming moot. My point here is not to warn you from POD or get you to try it. The point is I have no idea what I'm talking about.
I'm sure somewhere on my Website I say "Never self-publish." Yet today I'd ask why you'd even WANT to contribute to a POD project when you can do it yourself with a lot less hassle and more profit. Some people like community and partnerships. I mostly prefer to work alone, because it's peaceful and I can usually determine the outcome.
So don't take any of my advice. It's take me 15 years to realize I'm stupider than I was the day the started.
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