Friday extras

Here are a few more bits and pieces which didn't make it into yesterday's post.

L. Lee Lowe has written the start of a Christmas story and invites others to finish it: young people especially welcome.

About eighteen months ago, I ran a short piece about Susanne McDadd's Publishing Services, and one of the books which she now handles is by Stephen D. Smith, aka the Rumpole of Rotherham. Lots of info about his Boozers Ballcocks and Bail is available on his web site, including sample chapters. It occurs to me that young Albert, who appears in chapter one, really ought to have been et by a lion.

UK-based readers who are interested in self-publishing or the technology of printing should have a look at RPM. This is a firm based in West Sussex with a keen eye on how modern digital printing can save money and assist those interested in short runs as well as long. Reams of stuff about self-publishing too.

Should you live in New York City, you can get free entertainment every third Wednesday night. Rachel Kramer Bussell, Village Voice columnist and erotic short-story writer, tells you all about it on her web site. She has published several collections of her own work, and appears in more anthologies than you can easily count. The young are so energetic!

Abebooks, which has sold 100 million books, has a blog.

Unsolicited says that book publicists suck. What can this possibly mean? Half the time I don't understand what young people are talking about. And where is East Buttfuck? (Link from Publishers Lunch.)

James Herbert is one of those down-market, low-profile writers who is never mentioned in the Times Literary Supplement but whose books sell in vast numbers. Currently he is at number 17 on the Times top 50 list, with The Secret of Crickley Hall. Herbert writes in the horror/thriller genre. I tried one of his early successes, years ago, and found it revolting so I haven't been back since, but he is, shall we say, not ignored by those who like that kind of thing.

If you are interested in the Long Tail phenomenon, discussed here more than once, the Sunday Times has some valuable reflections on the fracturing of the mass market. Closely related to that first article is another one on 'big earnings from small sales'.

Also quite amusing, from a certain point of view, is the Sunday Times's 'Geek breaks the iPod code', which describes how yet another teenager took a dim view of digital rights management. And he seems to be making a living out of it.

Cantara Christopher is one of those highly energetic and positive people who take it upon themselves to set up new publishing companies (Cantarabooks), new literary magazines (Cantaraville), and all like that. For my part, I stand in awe of such people. Cantara has an amazingly complex and detailed entry on My Space, which gives masses of stuff for free. But what you should really read is her piece entitled Can a publisher be sued for a bad review? If you ever wondered how much fun it can be to run a small publishing company and work on literary magazines, this makes it all abundantly clear. Today's required reading.