Two interviews:
I had the wrong link for my interview with Jenny Han in my "Beyond the Book: CLARA LEE AND APPLE PIE DREAM" post last week. I've now fixed it; find the interview here.
Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee was recently named an "Essential Book for Children" by Amazon.com, and Jerry recorded a special introduction for the occasion. I also did a short Q&A with Jerry. (Now, I'm usually pretty comfortable recording these kinds of things, but for whatever reason, I felt really awkward during the interview. I sound like a robot. But Jerry is wonderful, of course!) Listen to both on the Amazon book page here. (under "check out related media.")
Self-publishing vs Traditional publishing:
So, have you all been following the news going on with the author Amanda Hocking? She's an author who writes paranormal romance for teens, and has thus far achieved amazing success self-publishing her books as eBooks. This is a good introductory blog post for you to read to find out who she is and why everyone started talking about her.
And here's a NY Times article about the breaking news last week. Basically:
Amanda Hocking, the 26-year-old author who shot to fame by selling more than a million copies of her self-published books, has signed up with a traditional publisher for her next series.
The traditional publisher was Macmillan. This news broke just days after we found out that bestselling thriller writer Barry Eisler chose to leave Macmillan and turn down a half a million dollar deal to self-publish. Read a fascinating interview with Barry Eisler here. He also addressed the Amanda Hocking news:
A lot of the Twitter conversation I've seen regarding the news has been of the "Which one is right?" variety. And at the risk of sounding a little harsh, I have to say, it's a pretty stupid question. Publishing, legacy or indie, is a vehicle, and you can't opine about whether someone has chosen the right vehicle if you don't know where she intends to drive it.
Very true. I was thinking that the decision to self-publish or go the traditional publisher route can be compared to the "agent or no agent" debate. For some people, I think it makes sense to not have an agent. For others, having an agent is absolutely necessary. Some people enjoy the business side of publishing more than others. Some enjoy the marketing side more than others. Some are better at it. Everyone will have their own priorities and goals. Amanda discussed her reasoning for accepting a deal with a traditional publisher here.
