Writing
Eric San Juan
February 9, 2011
Yesterday I posted about self-publishing a local history book. Niche works like that are ideal candidates for self-publishing. An author with the will and skill can more effectively reach his or her target audience than a publisher, even a specialty publisher, and be more financially successful with it in the process. Yet that’s not what prompted me to start yesterday’s post, so let me pick up where I left off: I’m thinking of self-publishing some fiction. A short story collection or three. Digitally. My thought is, why not? These days print outlets for short fiction are few and far between. Most are already digital, and many are fly-by-night. Short story collections are generally only viable for established authors. While I’ll have a second book out…
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Eric San Juan
January 27, 2011
The world of self-publishing, especially in the digital realm, is an exciting one. Not for what it currently is, but for what it could be. There are some established authors who are doing well in self-publishing. So good, in fact, they hope to get the publishing rights back to some of their traditionally published books because they can make more money doing it on their own. Other established authors are getting together to do the same. In theory there is a very exciting future ahead for self-publishing, ebooks in particular. I say “in theory” because I also have some strong reservations about the self-publishing boom, but that’s a discussion for another time. Right now I just want to talk about my own foray into that…
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Eric San Juan
January 21, 2011
So it’s been a little while. Hell, it’s been a long while, really. No, not THAT. I mean since I last wrote. The folks who know me know that in recent years I’ve tackled project after project after project. From the time I took on editor duties at the now defunct DVDinmypants.com to this holiday season it’s been a relentless stream of projects. Four years of Books both published and pending. Anthologies. Articles. Freelance stuff. Music. And lots more. All while holding down a full-time job, trying to be a good family man, and attempting to have something resembling a social life. Shortly into the holidays, I finally hit the wall. Hard. I realized I had to take some time off. Since the completion of…
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Eric San Juan
November 15, 2010
I’ve mentioned before that good editors will almost always improve your work. Writers (myself included) are often too close to their own work to be completely objective about it. It’s difficult to get outside your own head and read your work the way a reader would — and that’s a vital part of the polishing process. After all, if you’re not writing with readers in mind, you may well be writing crap. Another blogger recently made an excellent post about working with editors, specifically newspaper editors. That’s what I happen to be Monday through Friday, so I was especially delighted to see that this guy got it. He stood there, reading the draft, occasionally eying me over the top of the page, then pulled out…
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Eric San Juan
November 12, 2010
Sometimes writers (and in this case editors) just don’t get it. This guy is a perfect example. He rages and rages and rages about people slamming his/his publication’s work, proclaiming, “You don’t get to call me unprofessional!” And then proves his critics right by acting exactly that. Unprofessional. What this guy doesn’t seem to get is that yes, people do get to call him unprofessional. It’s part of the unwritten contract you agree to you put your work in front of the public — especially when you’re putting material out in the form of a magazine, newspaper, or website offering strong opinions. In that context, dealing with criticism, even irrational and mean-spirited criticism, IS PART OF THE JOB. That doesn’t mean you don’t get to…
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