Yikes! Prompted to realise it was nearly a whole week since I had actually posted here by the fact that my first blog over at www.islpr.com referenced it, but now I feel totally under pressure to come up with something hilarious for any first time visitors from the U.S. - forgive me if I refrain from doing so however - there's nothing less funny than somebody trying to be so. So instead, I shall be serious for one whole paragraph:
I know nothing about politics, let alone American politics, but I have to say, Obama gives off that aura that Clinton had - the one that makes you feel like everything is OK (even if it's not). Sometimes that's good enough y'know. On that note - Obama for President! McCain I'm not so sure about. Isn't he George Bush with a mask on?
Enough. Back to reality. Yesterday, I read two unconnected articles about the same thing. Stupidly, one of them I had written myself and failed to see the association even though I had written into the article something along the lines of "for those smart enough to read between the lines..."
Yeah, I know, go figure.
It was all about self publishing - something I am a big fan of but also very wary of. Anyway, I thought I might construct some kind of online survey for publishers to fill in anonymously when they're bored. So I came up with a few questions that I find myself chewing over every now and then:
a) If I self publish two or three novels, a collection of short stories and a series of comic books, am I more likely or less likely to endear myself to a publisher on those grounds alone. (My guess here is it probably depends if (i) you have done it professionally and (ii) how many you sold. In which case (iii) comes into play - why do you need a publisher?
b) If you got a £20,000 advance on a novel and it bombed, am you unlikely to ever be in that position again - no matter how good the next book may be?
I think these are good questions - and it's probably not great as an editor of a magazine that I feel the need to ask them, but maybe my professional approach is different from a publishing editor. It seems to be expected practice to put quite a lot of material out yourself in music and film, but when it comes to books it's a whole different ballgame is it not?
I will expand my survey and we'll see what becomes of it (and whether anybody will respond) over the next few weeks.
Now, I believe I am four whole days late on my own deadline of finishing and releasing the second issue of Too Hot For Dogs. Then again, like Jim Morrison said, "How can you be late for your own show?"
