When I'm surrounded by large numbers of writers (usually at conferences), I've found it helpful to separate them into three distinct categories:

Careerists
Cathartics
Students

I can usually tell within a few minutes who I'm dealing with, and while quickly labeling people is not my favored or desired pastime, it greatly affects the kind of advice or feedback I give to a writer. Here are the qualities of each and how it affects my response.

CAREERISTS

• Want to author a book (more than "write" a book) to help take their career to the next level
• Usually are writing in a nonfiction category
• The information or the message is usually more important than aesthetics

These types of writers need to understand, first and foremost, that a publisher will not be interested in their project until they have a marketing platform and visibility with a targeted audience. As one of my authors (Christina Katz) says, publishers are not looking to make waves for you; they want to ride your wave. The No. 1 mistake careerists make is thinking that a publisher will somehow kick-start their career or help them spread their message. Instead, careerists need to ensure they can convince a publisher that their book will sell because they already have the right promotion machine in place.

A few of the best careerist authors are the ones who have decided that publishers profit too much from the authors' efforts, and eventually publish their own stuff (because they know how to sell, distribute, and market it on their own—that's how incredibly visible they are).

CATHARTICS

• Usually have one manuscript complete, often a memoir or story about a traumatic event (e.g., death of a loved one, tragic illness, longterm abuse)
• Have an insatiable desire to tell the world about this tragic story (e.g., to keep a loved one's memory alive, to help others who may be going through the same situation)
• Often have no interest in large-scale revision or otherwise making the work suitable for a publisher

These types of writers can be the most challenging to advise because their stories are so personal. Their focus is so much on getting their specific story out into the world that there's no room for compromise. I've found it's also not helpful to say, "Start a new project, set this aside for a while," because such writers are only interested in writing about this one event. Furthermore, these writers desperately want validation from editors/agents that their story has value and ought to be published.

I've found the best I can do for these people is to advise self-publishing, unless I see a sample of the writing and it knocks me out of my chair. (FYI, that has never happened.)

STUDENTS
So the last category?

• Have a continuous desire to improve their craft
• Revise, revise, revise, revise
• Read (no one emphasizes this enough)
• Know how to use editorial and market-based feedback to speed them to success

I think I'm showing my biases here (that is, I find students to be dedicated to the same things I'm dedicated to), but of course student qualities can be found in both careerists and cathartics.

The important point here is that people in publishing can tell when you're only seeking to use the industry for a specific type of gain. Ask yourself: where is your passion directed, and is it best directed at book publication? For some would-be authors, book publication is the most foolish and time-wasting means of spreading a message. (Not to mention unprofitable.)

The latest and greatest information from WD editors:

Three acts of bad blogging (Writer's Perspective)
The editor of Writer's Digest magazine offers excellent and simple tips that will improve your blog overnight. Be sure to check out helpful comments from readers, too.

How I met one of the 20 worst agents (Guide to Literary Agents blog)
An entertaining story about a bad agent.

Help them help you (Living With the M-Word)
Our senior marketing manager talks about the harsh reality of how a publisher will (or won't) be supporting your book.

How do people read and buy books? (Alice's CWIM blog)
A Market Books editor points to a recent article with interesting statistics about people's book-buying habits.

What should you charge to ghostwrite a book? (Questions & Quandaries)
If you're thinking about writing a book for someone else, what's a fair rate?

It's been a balmy 95 degrees here in Cincinnati. I'm loving every moment, but most everyone else is bitterly complaining. Those people need a cartoon to cheer up.

This cartoon comes from Kawaii Not by Meghan Murphy. When one of our editors discovered Meghan's wonderful Web site and artwork, we asked her if she'd be interested in turning the material into a book, which we released in March (from HOW Books). But it's not really a book in the traditional sense. It's like a spiralbound notebook with perforated pages; you can tear out any cartoon, like little greetings. (Plus there are stickers in the back!) I've posted various cartoons from Kawaii Not in my apartment (there are some great naughty ones for the bathroom and the kitchen in particular).

Visit the Amazon page.

(Warning: This post takes a while to get to the point. Scroll through quickly if so inclined.)

At my company, there has been an explosion of Web-based applications and tools for administrative tasks. It all started with an HR site that helps employees request/track our time off, benefits, and pay.

Now we have separate sites (and separate logins and passwords) for the following:

• IT helpdesk
• Salaried employee timesheets
• Hourly employee timesheets
• Expense reports and travel booking
• Back end for web site management
• Back end for blog management
• Remote e-mail access
• F+W intranet

… not to mention separate logins/processes for our desktop computers, internal servers/databases, and internal wireless network.

Eventually (one hopes), all of these separate little sites will become part of a larger F+W intranet. There will be a seamless, integrated, and efficient system, with one access point. I've seen such systems in action with much larger corporations (like hospitals and telecomms).

In my personal life (which is closely connected to my professional life, it must be said), I've been looking for ways to integrate-streamline all my media-notes-stuff in a way that makes it accessible to me wherever I am, no matter what device/platform I'm using, with the least amount of fuss, and least likelihood of catastrophic loss. For instance, I recently lost my cell phone, and with it, every single phone number I've recorded in the past couple years. (The phone was not synced with any of my other devices. Ouch.)

One thing that's helped me is Google; their services tend to be intuitive, free, and exactly what I need. Right now, I'm actively using iGoogle, Google News, Google Reader, Google Notebook, Google Docs, Google Maps, Google Alerts, Google Web History, and Google Calendar. (Note: If you use Google Reader, you can become my "friend" and start following all the articles that I like to read.)

I can envision one day storing all of my documents, e-mails, music, photos, notes, etc. right on Google servers, to create that seamless experience, one access point to my life. And of course that's exactly Google's goal for me too.


In the past month, I've read dozens (if not hundreds!) of articles and postings about e-books and the digitization of content. (I will be posting links/summaries in the next few days.)

Even for someone in the business, someone who's paying attention, it's impossible to keep it all straight …

… all the different formats
… all the different devices
… all the different models
… all the different services
… all the different strategies
… all the different technologies

Exhausting. I can hardly understand it myself, much less explain it to an outsider.

Who is going to simplify this?

Who is going to capture the view from 50,000 feet, understand what an ordinary person wants, then deliver it?

Whatever happens, I can guarantee this:

• a successful solution or product will make things easier, not harder
• a successful solution or product will take the experience to the next level (in terms of usefulness or entertainment)
• a successful solution or product will help people integrate reading/content/information/media into their lives, and streamline all that media, without extra expense and hassle

To bring this to a practical, here's-an-example level: Do I want a Kindle?

Yes.

Do I want another device to lose, lug around, or upgrade/update when a new version releases?

No.

Life needs to get simpler and more organized, not more complex. What can publishers (authors) (content providers) offer to readers that don't make them try extra hard? That fits seamlessly into everyday life? That actually makes reading or finding content easier or more pleasurable and entertaining than ever before? What would delight?

Today, e-books/digitization feels like work. Hard work. (Should it?) Can we envision, then create, solutions/products that make sense to readers—and create a good experience rather than a confusing or frustrating one?

Just initial ramblings; more to come soon.