Jules Jones

Nail Gaiman's blog post with the letter from Teresa Nielsen Hayden listing lots of useful links about the writing business and how not to get scammed:
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2005/01/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about.asp

"Follow the Money" -- TNH's analysis of a new model of vanity press scam exploiting POD technology to conceal the sting:
http://www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/002692.html

In the middle of a discussion about a vanity press, a quick discussion of how bankruptcy law makes those bankruptcy clauses in publishing contracts effectively worthless if you're relying on them to get your rights back:
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/002703.html#22227
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/002703.html#22244
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/002703.html#22253
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/002703.html#22280

Scrivener's Error on the differences between commercial publishing, self-publishing and vanity publishing. The second link has a nice little table that shows you how to classify a publisher.
http://scrivenerserror.blogspot.com/2003/07/now-observer-has-gotten-into-whole.html
http://scrivenerserror.blogspot.com/2003/07/continuing-from-wee-hours-of-this.html

And that last one is the one I was looking for when I started collecting links to post in various places today if needed. Because if the books belong to the publisher as they come off the press, and the guaranteed capital outflow on publishing date is away from the author, then it's a vanity press. Doesn't matter what the publisher tries to tell you about only passing on fees from the printer, it's still a vanity operation if they own the books as they come off the press.

Incoming:
Received my contract from Vision for my review of "Elements of Arousal". Not sure when it'll appear, but looks like next issue.
Received my postcard from my Distant Horizons submission, showing that it reached Greg Herren's slushpile safely.
Received bits and pieces from Broad Universe, including form for those wanting to sell books off the BU table at Wiscon. I'm tempted to try sending a couple of copies of The Syndicate, but I think I'll pass--as they note, it's easier to sell books when you're actually at the con.

***

Word count: around 1000 words on the travel tale. It's going to need serious tidying up, but developing nicely. And 1000 on the erotic romance novella.

***

alg has been doing a series of posts on demystifying publishing. Today's is the first in a two-parter on how books make (or don't make) money, and how that relates to deciding what size advance to pay the author. Excellent insight into the economics of fiction publishing, and well worth reading if you're an aspiring writer.
http://alg.livejournal.com/84032.html

And I showed my biases by hitting the term "hc/mm" and parsing it as "hurt/comfort slash" for a second before realising that in this context it was "hardcover/mass market". That was an... interesting... experience. My only excuse is that Anna was using fanfic names to make it clear that she was running a fictional example rather than an actual real live book published by Tor.

***

Writer Beware's 20 Worst Agents list has been getting a lot of coverage online in the last few days, not least in a thread at Making Light.

One of the agents on that list took exception to Teresa posting the list and tried to cause trouble for her at work, as duly reported in a further thread at Making Light. Much amusement all round, and posting of links on many, many more blogs...

I am reminded that I must add a subpage to my links section for useful links like this.

***

Warning: swallow what's in your mouth and put the mug down before reading the following LJ post. (Yes, I know that given what sort of fiction I write, that last sentence could be taken in a manner I didn't intend when I started writing it. Either way, it's good advice.)
http://azurelunatic.livejournal.com/4817217.html

***

rasfc is feeling cranky this week courtesy of an outbreak of Endless September. Public service announcement for people who don't know the difference between "the Web" and "online": when you go into a new online forum, try to read a couple of week's worth of posts before posting. If you go bouncing into a group on the assumption that you can post what you like, you may be frostily reminded that you are doing the equivalent of walking into someone's living room in muddy boots that you have neglected to wipe on the doormat. And whatever Google and sundry other web-based interfaces may try to imply, usenet is not their personal property, it existed long before the web did, and lots and lots of people read and post to newsgroups through systems that go nowhere near such web-based interfaces. If you're posting to a usenet newsgroup through Google Groups, you may be annoying a lot more people than Google Groups says are members of that "forum". This may not be a good move if your aim is to win friends and influence people.