This article appeared in modified form in the Maven Game newsletter. Sign up here [http://mavengame.com]. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today, I’m sad to announce that I’m leaving the book business for good. Just kidding, suckers. I’m not sad. I’m excited! Last year, I sold my first screenplay.

> Discard your thirst for books, so that you won’t die in bitterness. —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations A former colleague of mine recently called me “a member of the anti-publishing brigade.” I resent this assertion. If I’m in any brigade related to the publishing industry, it’s the one

After the last Maven Game¸ on dark publishing [http://mavengame.com/2016/07/23/power-of-dark-publishing/], went out, I received an email from my foil/nemesis/mentor/guiding light, Matthew Butterick [http://practicaltypography.com/]: > It’s interesting that there are so many businesses / services / consultants that want to help self-published

> Due attention to the inside of books, and due contempt for the outside, is the proper relation between a man of sense and his books. > —Lord Chesterfield, Letters to his Son Every time I talk to a prospective client, I ask them the same question: Why a book?

This article appeared in modified form in the Maven Game newsletter. Sign up here [http://mavengame.com]. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I’m in the middle of writing a book. According to Scrivener, I’ve got 27,000 words out of a projected 36,000 on draft numero uno. Tentatively entitled The Gist,

You ever get one of those spam calls for credit card consolidation where the recorded voice says “Hello…” followed by a long pause so, just for a moment, you think it might be a real person? Similarly, newsletters incorporate some elements of personal letters like using the recipient’s first

Sorry, but this isn’t the article I was going to write. Originally, I’d planned to start by quoting William Goldman’s famous Hollywood adage from Adventures in the Screen Trade: “Nobody knows anything.” Maybe as a caption over a cat executive at a desk, like so: In coining

When I was a teenager, I bought Juggling for the Complete Klutz. It came with three red beanbags. A couple of days later, I could juggle them. To this day, that stands as my greatest learning experience (sorry, Amherst!). In fact, my goal as a writer and editor is to

Authors are angry. Really angry. Now that I’m no longer ensconced within the ivy-draped, sunlight-dappled walls of the traditional publishing industry, I’ve been hearing about so much of this anger directly. (Authors get honest with editors when they discover you can’t acquire their next book.) “My publisher

I’m back from an extended hiatus working on an intense book-writing project. The experience reminded me of a fact we editors cheerfully ignore as we exhort our authors to persevere: while writing can be moderately challenging, along the lines of bridge-playing or hula-hooping, book completion is an absurdly improbable