Louise Marley's Blog
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Apr.26.2009
Writing is a slow and solitary business, as we all know. It's also an act of faith--faith that the work will be accomplished, faith that someone will read it, faith in its future. If, for example, a writer takes a year to complete a book, how does she sustain herself through the long days of a...
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Apr.22.2009
When I wrote my first trilogy, I thought I was writing science fiction. I thought Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series was sf, and since that was my inspiration, I assumed my series was also sf. It wasn't until it was published and began receiving reviews and analyses that I learned it was...
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Apr.17.2009
An author grieves when a book goes out of print. We know better, because it's business, after all, but still . . . we spend a year or more, sometimes much more, in the creation of a novel, and we have high hopes for it. When a book is published, it's a bit like sending a beloved child out into...
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Apr.16.2009
In response to the recent censorship scandal, the American Booksellers' Association has a response from their lawyers. (That was fast!) There are some nuggets of wisdom here. I hope all of us take every possible opportunity to support (what's left of) the independent booksellers:
ABA Says It...
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Apr.13.2009
From The Seattle Times:
Amazon.com released a statement this afternoon seeking to explain why thousands of books — including many gay- and lesbian-themed titles — were removed from its sales rankings over the weekend.
"This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that...
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Apr.13.2009
I have loved Amazon.com. It's been a fabulous resource for research, out-of-print books, my lovely new Kindle, and even occasionally things like yoga clothes or a hard-to-find hair product. But I pledge, as of today, not to buy anything from Amazon until all issues of censorship have been...
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Apr.13.2009
If you spend much time on the internet, you already know this, and from more knowledgeable sources than this one. But just in case, my dear writers and readers, here's a thumbnail:
Amazon.com, in a stunning failure of wisdom, enacted a policy of "deranking" books with "adult"...
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2 comments
Apr.10.2009
Mark Haverstock, writing in the Children's Writer Marketplace newsletter, lays out the facts about the Google copyright struggle. I've read lots of material on this, but I thought Mark's nuts-and-bolts explanation was helpful:
". . . Google has worked since 2004 with university and research...
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Apr.08.2009
I often joke that if you want to be a writer, you should first be an opera singer. I was most fortunate to learn character development, dramatic arc, tension and resolution from having sung so many opera roles, and from having been coached by some great artists and teachers. Now that I write...
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Apr.05.2009
I wonder if writers, as a group, are more vulnerable to scam artists than any others? The sheer number of schemes to separate aspiring authors from their money is stunning. From PublishAmerica (long-debunked, but still functional) to the Great American Poetry Contest to the phenomenon known as...
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Apr.02.2009
A book's title matters. It really does. It should catch the eye, be easily memorable, and intimate something about the contents of the book.
I learned this the hard way with my lovely title The Maquisarde, which was, as my editor pointed out, the perfect title for the book, but turned out to be...
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Apr.01.2009
I'm pleased and not a little flattered by the responses to my readers' query, both on RedRoom and on LiveJournal. I'm also surprised.
On a listserv where I mostly lurk, a couple of Big Name authors who I admire have said that neither of them does a lot of self-promotion. One in particular wrote...
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Mar.30.2009
In Wenatchee, Washington, there's a wonderful, rather small writer's workshop. It's affordable, if you can get there. I was a speaker two years ago, and the quality of the presentations was impressive:Write on the River ConferenceOn May 16, Write on the River will present workshops for writers at...
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Mar.30.2009
A number of us are having an ongoing discussion about the value of blogging as a promotional tool. I promised some of my colleagues I would do this, so I'm going to be very brave and ask this question. If no one answers, I'll tuck my tail between my legs and hide under the furniture.
Is there...
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Mar.26.2009
Here's a sample of Tom Christenson's glossary of terms for writers. If it doesn't make you grin, you haven't published yet!
A
ADVANCE: A secret code signalling to the marketing department whether or not to promote a title.
ADVANCE COPY: A bound book that...
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About Louise
Louise Marley is a former concert and opera singer who now writes fulltime. She is a two-time Endeavour Award winner, has had several ALA Best Books of the Year honors, and two Nebula nominations. Her bibliography includes science fiction, fantasy, and young...
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