When Vanity Publishing Turns Dangerous

Some excellent thoughts on lots of topics. I was very struck by the reminder that reading something in one source does not necessarily make it true, especially when that one source has fewer references than a Wikipedia article!

Lady Fancifull

I know that it seems progressively harder to get published, as more and more books seem to become yet another commodity, and fabulous advance bidding wars are fought over the rights of (sometimes mediocre) books which are snapped up for megas because someone sees FILM RIGHTS or MERCHANDISING.

Meanwhile, the role of the carefully crafting book editor, nurturing a talent, working with a writer over decades, seems to be in decline

Inevitably the ‘well I can publish this myself on digi’ beckons, and clearly some writers find this hits the sweet spot – 50 Shades the classic example.

Now I’m sure there are wonderfully written books out there which failed to get publication the normal route, and the authors of them are desperate to get reviewers to try their free downloads to see if genuine enthusiasm can get the work read, as it absolutely deserves to be.

But it is…

View original post 837 more words

What I’ve Been Up To…

…instead of reviewing books!  Check out the house blog, which may or may not ever be updated again, since this is the first night I’ve been home and showered before 21:00 since who knows when!

Life Update…

Oh my dear, dear book-blogging friends – how I miss you all! Tom and I purchased a house, and things have been absolute pandemonium ever since!  I’m actually working on a bit of blogging for that project (slow going, since I HAVE NO TIME), and will post the link when it’s ready for viewing in case anyone would like to read about our adventures with 15 cats, FLEAS, overgrown gardens, wall removal, FLEAS, carpet removal, painting, taking up 50-year-old linoleum, FLEAS, discovering snake wine in our closet (look it up), and oh, did I mention we have fleas?!?! We haven’t moved yet (because of fleas), and in fact, I’ve packed exactly 1/4 of a box so far.  However, today may be a little quieter (?!?!?!) so I am hoping to do a little blogging, catch up on some emails, and possibly even pack a bit.  I really miss blogging, and am super sad that I’m going to have to post a bunch of mini-reviews instead of real ones because it’s been so long since I read the books and they had to go back to the library.  Tragic!

For now, I’m going to try to get some housework done before it gets too hot, and then maybe I’ll be back for some blogging adventures! PS Oh and I started twittering* because that’s about the level of blogging I can handle now, so feel free to follow.  :-D

*Yes, I’ve been informed that the official word is “tweeting” but I really feel like I’m more of a twitterer so what can you do?