Pseudonyms in a Time of Social Media: It Ain’t the Old Days

In 1987, Joyce Carol Oates was revealed to be Rosamond Smith, the author of Lives of the Twins, a mystery novel slated for publication the same year as You Must Remember This, a “real” Oates novel. Oates was disappointed to have been discovered–”I wanted to

From Self-Pub to Small Press: Pretty Much True…

I have the nagging suspicion I should probably be concerned about publishing & book-selling anti-trust suits, monoliths, and monopolies. But I’m already worried about enough things of my own, such as

Self-Publishing “Lacks the Cool Factor”? But, Hasn’t Independence Always Been Cool?

A few weeks ago, in “Kill the First Novel? Are You Insane?” I responded to Edan Lepucki’s decision to semi-permanently put away her first novel after it received a series of rejections. In her piece, Lepucki touches on self-publishing as a possibility and then quickly dismisses it as an option (for her). This week, in … Read more

Kill the First Novel? Are You Insane?

“Magic 8 Ball,” I asked, “will my first novel be published?” Yes. Definitely. Hm. “Magic 8 Ball, am I a man?” Yes. Definitely. Dammit. ___________ Edan Lepucki, in her recent article in The Millions, briefly plays with the idea of a) showing her cleavage in her author photo

From The Daily Show audience to The Colbert Report guest (?) in 1.5 days

Two days after being an audience member at The Daily Show (read about it here), I received an email telling me to contact guest booking at The Colbert Report. (!) You see, my publisher is an independent (and small) press, so – like many authors – I’ve been doing a lot of my own self-promotion. … Read more