*sizzle* John (rdsp) has really been burning up the livejournal lately. He’s been adding people left and right and posting to his own journal plus commenting on other people’s. LJ is a pretty huge community but I’ve never been good at stirring things up the way he is. I read a lot of people’s journals but never have anything interesting to say on them.
Got through 50 pages of ES! last night before my mouse hand started twitching. At this rate it will be 3 or 4 more days before I’m done cleaning the line breaks.
I’ve been thinking a lot on what some of the editors on the panel at HWA said about the way they do things. For instance the editor for Tor was saying how they can’t afford to send authors out on book tours but will match funds if the authors arrange and things for themselves. It’s interesting to know that even big publishers don’t have a lot of money for promotions. We never want to resemble a vanity press in any way where the author pays for their book to be published. But I see there is a middle ground where an author can put money into promotions if they are willing.
We have actually done this on several occasions like when Mike Arnzen arranged for an ad at a special price and could upgrade to a larger size for $25 we were glad to pitch in. And whenever an author makes the effort to get to an event we also try to be there to support them. I hope to expand on this type of support as much as possible. From what I’ve seen so far the more resources an author puts in, the more likely their book is to be a success.