Final Thought (for Today Anyway) On Publishing...

I swear I'll stop now, but after you read David Nygren's post about e-publishing, take a look at this from the other side of the fence: the one where the "traditional" publishers live. And keep in mind: David's post contemplated SELF-publishing: how to bypass the current guardians at the publishing-gate.

The blog referenced in this post looks at those guardians. (And yes, ignore the pink text and those icky polka-dots. Ugh.) I sympathize with the traditional gatekeepers. All of my books have been published "traditionally," and I know editors, agents, publicists, copyeditors, etc. They're good, hard-working people who love their work and who KNOW that the business is changing.

But change either comes in one big WHOOOSH: painful but fast. (Kind of like jumping right into that cold swimming pool.) Or it's slow and painful. (Putting first one foot, then another into that cold water, and then sloooowly easing the rest of your body in.) American publishing is, I fear, suffering the woes of the latter rather than the former.