Publishing in the Digital Age

Over diversification. There is no law that says in order to do social well you have to be on EVERY SINGLE PLATFORM. Time to focus. Once you really understand what you want out of your social experience and you really understand how each platform performs…align those and go long.

Companies and individuals need to share great stuff from others at least 80% of the time so they can EARN the right to talk about themselves without turning their audience off.

Dealing with clients on a business-to-business basis seems to make honoring my invoice terms happen with significantly greater regularity than when I was seen — and treated – as merely an individual freelancer

If I do need additional editors, then I hire them, not the client.

I receive inquiries for work that goes beyond copyediting and into other aspects of the editorial/production process

the news platforms a person is using can play a bigger role in making them feel overwhelmed than the sheer number of news sources being consumed

Its survey took place in 2010, which was like another world when it comes to news consumption platforms.

The more contained, or even constrained, a platform feels, the more it can contribute to people feeling less overwhelmed

Nobody is interested in sequels if they’re not already in love with book #1.

The passive voice is weak, vague, and wordy. "New York publishers are being attacked by self-publishers" is not as powerful as "Self-publishers are attacking New York publishers." I search for every instance of "be" and "being" to eliminate as many instances of the passive voice as I can.

hyphenate two or more words used as an adjective—"social-media sites"

bulleted lists should maintain a parallel structure

There’s a final dilemma. Publishers are now paying lower advances, releasing fewer titles and selling digital content at lower prices than print content (which in turn affects royalty payments to both agent and author). Assuming this is the new reality, there will be less money to go around for the number of agents now in business. Plus, will it be worth an agent’s time and energy to sell a project that doesn’t pay more than $1,500 upfront? Probably not. One agency has quietly come out with a new model that requires authors to pay a minimum commission—i.e., the agent must earn a minimum amount on a sale no matter what advance the publisher pays, which means authors would “share” a larger part of the advance upfront (or even pay out of pocket in the case of very low advances). Undoubtedly, there’s no shortage of aspiring writers who would be ecstatic to pay more to an agent if it meant securing a publishing deal. But such a model is sure to raise ethical concerns. Agents may take projects knowing they will ultimately be paid by authors rather than by publishers. Is the industry (that includes the author!) ready to accept such a shift in how agents profit?

most observers expect that this is just the beginning of a series of mergers — like those in the music business — that will take the Big Six publishers down to the Big Three and perhaps one day even the Big One.