Episode 32 – Sorting Out The Civil War in Publishing

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Alan talks about his Movember fund-raising effort - http://mobro.co/AlanBaxter

Alan talks about the “sagging middle” and the always difficult midway point of writing a novel.

Dave talks about his new Dane Maddock “short” story.

Promo- Dead Robots' Society Podcast

We then go on to refer back to past week’s podcast about pissing people off and this week we talk about the subject itself that was raised – the evangelists for self-publishing versus the evangelists for the traditional route.

Dave and Alan agree that we’ve got sick and tired of hearing from all the evangelists who try to convince everyone that there’s only one way to succeed.

We discuss the differences in traditional contracts and what to look out for. “Gotcha clauses”.

We discuss the pros and cons of agents and agent motivation.

We cover the question of whether publishers and bookstores are dying out.

Thrillercast Episode 31 – Ticking People Off

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We talk about our current writing projects.

Dave talks about all the Gryphonwood books that have had audio rights sold. Dave’s latest one, Quest, is available as an audiobook here: http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_2?asin=B0062CWYJU&qid=1320766920&sr=1-2

Dave then talks about stupid author tricks, such as joining an online forum and pretending to be a member purely to promote the author’s own books.

We talk about manners and politeness when it comes to being an author. Alan compares newbie authors to newbie martial artists.

We then talk about the recent controversy surrounding Michael Stackpole and his articles comparing in-house authors to slaves:

Stackpole's articles:

http://www.michaelastackpole.com/?p=2510
http://www.michaelastackpole.com/?p=2887

We discuss what Stackpole was trying to say with regards to paying attention to publishing contracts, and the danger of using such emotional language when it can obscure your point.

However, in talking about one part of the language, we don’t really address in great detail what Stackpole was saying. Dave and Alan don't necessarily agree with everything Mr. Stackpole says. The topic continues to garner attention, including this recent rebuttal by Tobias Buckell:

http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2011/11/08/self-publishing-doesnt-mean-you-have-to-be-a-raging-fuck-wad/

We then go on to talk about the furore Alan generated with his post denigrating NaNoWriMo.

Alan’s post is here: http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/2011/11/01/nanowrimo.html

Dave’s less controversial blog post on NaNoWriMo is here: http://davidwoodonline.blogspot.com/2011/10/morning-wood-nanowrimo-whats-use.html

We chat about all the pros and cons of NaNo, as we see them.

What to do when you find yourself in the midst of a controversy.