The New Year

Ah, the New Year! I remember from my readings in anthropology
that ancient peoples used to ritually destroy the previous year and all its stupidity, tragedy, hopelessness in a kind of drunken orgy of mass hypnotism. They would literally kill off the old memories and re-initiate themselves back into the pristine state by calling on the gods to teach them, once more, how to do even the simplest things.

One thing that will continue is the Q and A
portion of Sunoasis.com.

Over the past three years we've received thousands of questions and tried to answer them as completely as possible.

Some of the more memorable questions came from an editor in NY City, hired to a new magazine, and wondering if she was being low-balled in her salary negotiations. She was. Or the weatherman on a TV news program who wanted to be a freelance writer. Or the woman from India whose son had written
"the next Harry Potter," and "what should I do next?" Or the Dutch woman relocating to New York and wondering if she would be able to find a job comparable to the job she was leaving.

Recently, we've received some questions about self-publishing. This is a favorite subject of ours and there are excellent spirits dedicated to explain these things.
The best are the Ross's, Tom and Marilyn, whose Complete Guide to Self-Publishing is the "bible," in my opinion. It's a good read, even if you don't plan on self-publishing,
to get inside knowledge of what happens in book publishing.

It's interesting to speculate what will happen when anyone who wants to publish will be able to. Will it cheapen the idea of publishing? Will there be fiercer barriers to the upper reaches of publishing to keep the masses out?

My view has been that the Web will become the publisher of first order and the vast majority of written material will jet along new channels of distribution in the digital system.

And like most phenonmena today, writing will be consumed and perish quickly. However, gems will appear that have long-lasting value and those will be converted into hard
bound books. So, in the front end of the system will be digital publishing but at the back-end, the value-laden end, will be print publishing. And the book, then, will regain its place as a cultural icon, a rare thing, a significant thing.

Most writers, including myself, are introverts. We avoid messes. We avoid the necessary tasks. This is a prime habit in the life of writers. In too many cases self-publishing is seen as an end around all the drudgery of finding a publisher or agent and dealing with people who know more about the system than oneself.

But, self-publishing is much more arduous a prospect than trying to connect with a publisher or agent. Not only must the writer deal with many different people and do things she normally doesn't do, but they can not sit on their hands hoping the book promotes itself.

Every month on Sunoasis we do try and provide links to stories of those who are self-publishing labors of love. Go ahead and subscribe.

It's free.