KunstlerCast 255 — The New Model of Book Publishing
#255 – JHK yaks with Lynn Vannucci of Water Street Press (www.Waterstreetpressbooks.com) about the new model of book publishing in the digital age. Lynn has published four short-form novellas by JHK the past several years. Aspiring writers may be interested to discover that there is more of a market out there for you than the old mainstream New York publishing houses — most of which are now owned by gigantic conglomerates. Writing remains a tough racket, but there are new ways to find an audience.
The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.
Please send questions and comments to letters@kunstler.com.
Coming in August
World Made By Hand 3
Pre-order
My local indie booksellers… Battenkill Books … or Northshire Books…
or Amazon…
Published as an E-book for the first time!
The 20th Anniversary edition
With an entertaining new introduction by the author
Bargain Price $3.99
Amazon Kindle …or … Barnes & Noble Nook …or… Kobo
the short story has always been the measurement of good, commercial writing (not all commercial writing is necessarily artistically pleasing or literary) because all good writing stems from journalism, a regular habit of communicating through writing. the blog is an online version of the magazine or journal because of how they are consumed. internet blogs are flexible, they can be personal memoir or a report of observations and fact. it can be one long scroll or individual pages, intensely graphic or classic text. its interesting how writing ties into everything else we experience and do, its like a meal or a conversation with someone in a car neither have a particular time limit.
considering the work that goes into editing and marketing a 200 page book, it is a requirement for a professional writer to get their product, the story, across in as a succinct and clear way as possible because of all the stuff out their vying for attention, time and subsequently your money. like the movie industry, people are looking for something they can relate to. movies come from books that have sat on the shelf for decades! so stories have no shelf life and your investments may never see an immediate return.
j.k. rowling used to be a hungry writer. she sees that same hunger in others and understands what creates an appetite for reading. she fed her hunger by writing something satisfying. she also got a big movie deal! that is a whole nother ball of complicated interweaving threads of finance, law, technology, editing, etc. most popular writers today are writing for the television or movie screen.
Commercial print publishers don’t want a 200-page book. 300-400 is more like it, and often larger, depending on the category.
Writing a long novel, for me, is like pulling teeth. I would much prefer to do short stories, but the paying print market for that has shrunk to where you could drown it in a bathtub. I hope digital can solve the problem, but so far the market has been chaotic and I especially hope it can resolve itself before I kick the bucket.
john grisham compiled short stories about a town in mississipi.
i paid a few bucks to read a compelling short story written by a nobody just because it was presented so well on the internet.
amazons new fire phone along with kindle cater to the internet consumer.
kunstler is right, if you maintain a regular internet presence no matter what you will have an audience.
more news at ten…
i just read jhk latest greenaway short…mooski…its cute and funny.
was nyc really that much fun for a prepubescent in the 60s?