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10 Ebook/Publishing blogs
By popular demand (I said "I should make a list" and four people said "I'd read that list"), I put together a list of 10 great publishing blogs, with recent sample posts. These are not "the 10 best publishing blogs on the net," or at least, not necessarily so. They're not necessarily the most accurate, and they're certainly not unbiased. But they're all active and cover many aspects of publishing and ebooks, and perhaps the most important message they push is "find out what's really going on, so you can make the decisions that work best for you."
I worry about giving these too much weight; I'm sure that I've left off some excellent wonderful blogs. These aren't "the ultimate list of ebook publishing blogs;" they're "blogs Elf watches and thinks about."
Elf's 10 Recommended Ebook/Publishing Blogs
J.A. Konrath: A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. Start here. (At this blog, I mean, not necessarily this one post.) Konrath is the undisputed king of the ebook self-publishing revolution (do revolutions have kings?); he's got solid business advice from decades working in the industry and is always encouraging to authors, telling them to take control of their future. Tech Talk and the Active Ebook
Michael Stackpole: Stormwolf.com (which it isn't); I've only recently started reading this blog and am not sure whether to kick myself for not noticing it earlier, or just bask in the joy of having hundreds of back-posts to read all at once. Solid commentary on the publishing industry, and fun to read.House Slaves vs. Spartacus
Kristine Kathryn Rusch The Business Rusch; mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer now turned business advisor. (And writer. Yummy weekly short story & novel excerpts.) Her "Freelancer's Survival Guide" is entirely available through the blog, and her book, "the Copyright Handbook" looks terrific, although I haven't bought it. Advocates, Addendums, and Sneaks, oh my!
Dean Wesley Smith, The Writings and Opinions of . Husband to previous blogger. Author and publisher; posts weekly free short stories in addition to publishing advice & commentary. His "Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing" and "How To Think Like A Publisher" collections are excellent starting points for would-be authors. Writers Are Losing the Fight Again
David Gaughran: Let's Get Digital, Digital . I added this blog to my Googlereader feed the third time I saw it linked from somewhere else. Lighter posts, more personal commentary than industry reporting, but well-thought-out, with the bonus of a not-US-based view on digital publishing. Why Traditional Publishers Will Go The Way Of Travel Agents
An American Editor. I thought I remembered a name attached to this, but apparently not. (Maybe I read a blog post with bio-info.) Doesn't matter; it's a terrific blog from an editor's perspective rather than an author's. In the Era of eBooks, What Is a Book Worth? (III)
Agent Kristin: Pub Rants, a literary agent's side of the business. *Very* different perspective. Even if you think Rusch & Wesley are right, and the agent is going to vanish from the publishing scene, this is worth reading. She mentions scams to watch out for and stupid author tricks, and comments about trends in book content rather than just the publishing side of the industry. In The Spring An Agent’s Fancy Turns To…
Mike Shatkzin: The Shatzkin Files makes the kind of posts that we'd call "heavy meta" in fandom. Dense, informative, strongly opinionated; also encourages discussions in the comment sections. eBook sales comparisons to print aren’t always what they seem
TeleRead is a multi-person blog that covers all aspects of ebook and mobile reading. It's what you read to keep up on news and find other blogs to read. Not so much for heavy thinking, but excellent for "and here's one more thing to keep in mind…" You can't tell an e-book by its cover
eBookNewser gets what Teleread misses, or maybe just has a slightly different focus. Another very active, keep-up-with-everything blog. Heavy on the tech news side. Five Questions to Ask Yourself When Shopping for an eReader
I worry about giving these too much weight; I'm sure that I've left off some excellent wonderful blogs. These aren't "the ultimate list of ebook publishing blogs;" they're "blogs Elf watches and thinks about."
Elf's 10 Recommended Ebook/Publishing Blogs
J.A. Konrath: A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. Start here. (At this blog, I mean, not necessarily this one post.) Konrath is the undisputed king of the ebook self-publishing revolution (do revolutions have kings?); he's got solid business advice from decades working in the industry and is always encouraging to authors, telling them to take control of their future. Tech Talk and the Active Ebook
Michael Stackpole: Stormwolf.com (which it isn't); I've only recently started reading this blog and am not sure whether to kick myself for not noticing it earlier, or just bask in the joy of having hundreds of back-posts to read all at once. Solid commentary on the publishing industry, and fun to read.House Slaves vs. Spartacus
Kristine Kathryn Rusch The Business Rusch; mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer now turned business advisor. (And writer. Yummy weekly short story & novel excerpts.) Her "Freelancer's Survival Guide" is entirely available through the blog, and her book, "the Copyright Handbook" looks terrific, although I haven't bought it. Advocates, Addendums, and Sneaks, oh my!
Dean Wesley Smith, The Writings and Opinions of . Husband to previous blogger. Author and publisher; posts weekly free short stories in addition to publishing advice & commentary. His "Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing" and "How To Think Like A Publisher" collections are excellent starting points for would-be authors. Writers Are Losing the Fight Again
David Gaughran: Let's Get Digital, Digital . I added this blog to my Googlereader feed the third time I saw it linked from somewhere else. Lighter posts, more personal commentary than industry reporting, but well-thought-out, with the bonus of a not-US-based view on digital publishing. Why Traditional Publishers Will Go The Way Of Travel Agents
An American Editor. I thought I remembered a name attached to this, but apparently not. (Maybe I read a blog post with bio-info.) Doesn't matter; it's a terrific blog from an editor's perspective rather than an author's. In the Era of eBooks, What Is a Book Worth? (III)
Agent Kristin: Pub Rants, a literary agent's side of the business. *Very* different perspective. Even if you think Rusch & Wesley are right, and the agent is going to vanish from the publishing scene, this is worth reading. She mentions scams to watch out for and stupid author tricks, and comments about trends in book content rather than just the publishing side of the industry. In The Spring An Agent’s Fancy Turns To…
Mike Shatkzin: The Shatzkin Files makes the kind of posts that we'd call "heavy meta" in fandom. Dense, informative, strongly opinionated; also encourages discussions in the comment sections. eBook sales comparisons to print aren’t always what they seem
TeleRead is a multi-person blog that covers all aspects of ebook and mobile reading. It's what you read to keep up on news and find other blogs to read. Not so much for heavy thinking, but excellent for "and here's one more thing to keep in mind…" You can't tell an e-book by its cover
eBookNewser gets what Teleread misses, or maybe just has a slightly different focus. Another very active, keep-up-with-everything blog. Heavy on the tech news side. Five Questions to Ask Yourself When Shopping for an eReader