Author Archives: Laine Cunningham

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About Laine Cunningham

Laine Cunningham is an award-winning author, ghostwriter, and publishing consultant who has been quoted on CNN Money, MSNBC.com, FoxNews.com, and other national and international media. Her work has won multiple national awards, including the Hackney Literary Award and the James Jones Literary Society fellowship. She has received dozens of fellowships and residency slots from programs like the Jerome Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, the New York Mills Cultural Center, Wildacres Center for the Humanities, Arte Studio Ginestrelle in Assisi, Italy, the TAKT Kunstprojektraum in Berlin, Germany, Fusion Art in Turin, Italy and The Hambidge Center. She is also the author of the travel memoir "Woman Alone: A Six-Month Journey Through the Australian Outback" and a series of Zen and Wisdom books combining unique inspirational text with beautiful photos.

Job at Quarto #authorlife #author #editing

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Fair Winds Press (a division of Quarto Publishing Group US, Inc.), a leading publisher of illustrated reference in the areas of health, cooking, beauty, fitness and new age, is seeking an Editorial Director to drive acquisitions strategy and editorial direction. Responsibilities include P&L management, editorial team management, contract negotiations, market and trend analysis, and collaboration with design, production, marketing and sales for coordinating the lives of Fair Winds books through all stages of production, publication, and beyond. Successful candidates will be entrepreneurial, creative, energetic, and able to think strategically about building a program through strong acquisitions, concept development and product execution. Excellent management skills, and a strong knowledge of competition and the global book market are required.
Click here for more info.

Agency Pricing: Good for Indie Publishers and Heritage Authors

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The Bookseller and Publisher’s Lunch reported recently that HarperCollins is returning to agency pricing on ebooks.
Agency pricing means that the publisher has the right to set the price for its ebooks. This means no deep discounts on Amazon…or anywhere else. It’s likely that ebook prices will remain high generally, with publishers experimenting with sales and promotions either through their own channels (the direct-to-buyers channels they’ve been opening up over the past year or so) and through third-party distributors.
This is good for them because it allows them to experiment with different release windows, different pricing structures, and even bundling to find out what works best. That’s great news for heritage-published authors. The stronger publishers grow, the more likely it is that advances will rise.
The same approach means that indie authors can continue to reach readers directly through pricing that is lower than the average price point of the big publishers. And because it’s expected that traditional publishers will keep prices high (at or above $9.99), this means that indie authors will be able to boost their own prices to as much as $8.99 and still be viewed as a bargain.
So, hurray for agency pricing!

Job at Rowman & Littlefield #author #authorlife #editing

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Rowman & Littlefield is looking for an associate marketing manager to join the dynamic and sophisticated marketing team of 30+ professionals (including those working in publicity, creative services, convention services, analytics, rights & permissions, and sales & advertising capacities). This position offers significant growth opportunity. This position will report to the Vice President of Marketing.
Click here for more info.

Book Review: Under the Dome #review #novel

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By Stephen King.
I picked this up because a friend was reading it and was enjoying the multiple points of views. Right away I remembered why I stopped reading King so many years ago.
The characters are too folksy-jokey for me, the plot points often seem to be included only for laughs, and while the level of writing is common for genre works, the lack of any other driver made me put it down. I really wanted to read this book because I thought that as a writer who works with multiple viewpoints, it might have something to offer. But I just couldn’t get through more than 30 pages. Pure torture all the way.
One star.

What Children’s Books Can Teach Adult Fiction Authors

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The AWP held their annual conference earlier this month. Among their other great offerings was a panel focused on children’s publishing.
One author stated that characters are paramount in children’s and YA stories. The plot comes from the characters. Who each person is in the story creates the story. Each is presented with challenges or obstacles they must overcome. From that comes the different plot points and thus the entire story.
Another point was that there are no pointless characters. If one shows up but never plays an important role, that character should be struck.
A different author noted that “rumination” is part of the story. That is, the characters have to have backstories, histories that detail where they come from and why they’re motivated to act certain ways.
Finally, in response to a question about how to write for the market, one author said to write what inspires you. From there, you can determine how best to pitch and place the work in the existing market.
All of these points apply equally to adult fiction. Characters do create the plot and impact the story. They should have backstories. No character should ever be pointless, and the author should always write what interests them rather than what they think will sell.
The only difference is that in children’s and YA publishing, the author utilizes different language, changes sentence layouts, uses less complex storytelling structures, and of course mostly will write shorter manuscripts.
Everything else is just quality fiction.

Job at Chronicle Books #authorlife #author #editing

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Chronicle Books seeks an Account Manager to join our Domestic Sales team. Successful candidates are highly motivated self-starters with resilient entrepreneurial spirits and proven sales experience. A proven track record of strategically growing business in established accounts as well as seeking new business opportunities is essential. Excellent analytical, communication and presentation skills are a must!
Click here for more.

Why “Editor of New York Times Bestseller” Doesn’t Mean What You Think #editing #amwriting #indieauthor

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So often I see ads from book editors that proclaim “Editor of (fill in a number) New York Times bestsellers!” Here’s why most of the time, that’s just hype.
Book editors at publishing houses are mostly in acquisitions. That means they acquire books by finding stuff in the slush pile then bringing it forward for consideration among other acquisitions editors, the marketing department, etc. etc. They’re good at finding quality.
Note that: finding quality. Not making quality.
If a project is too rough or just isn’t to their taste, they pass. And they pass a lot.
What they do select out of the submissions pile tend to be already fairly strong. The editing they might do usually is pretty nominal…tweak a personality trait here, change the order of events there.
They don’t do a lot because they don’t have time to do a lot. It’s fairly rare these days for publisher’s editors, who are skilled in acquisition, to do much actual editing.
There are exceptions, of course, but that also isn’t common.
So, “editor of X NYT bestsellers” might mean they said, “Hey, author, chapter one drags too much. Please rewrite it.”
Or, “Hey, author, so-and-so’s dialogue is stilted. Please adjust.”
Or, “Hey, author, I’m (or more likely, my freelance copyeditor is) going to do a little polishing on your project to make everything pretty.”
So beware too much of that NYT bestseller hype. Most of the time, it doesn’t mean what you think it means.

Job at HarperCollins #author #authorlife #editing

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HarperCollins needs a Sales Support Associate to provide support to the Children’s Sales Division, specifically focusing on assisting the Barnes and Noble National Accounts rep as well as working with the field sales team and the Independent channel.
Click here for more.

Book Review: Quiet Chaos #review #novel

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By Sandro Veronesi
I abandoned this one after about 100 pages. That’s pretty unusual; normally if I get past page 30 or so, I like something about the work enough to read the entire thing. But here, the narrative was too annoying. The author was replicating the chaos and emotional turmoil through the craft on the page. After a time, it was simply wearing. It kept me too distanced from the characters, oddly enough, because it was meant to take me deeper into that world.
Two stars.

How to Net More Than $0.35 on Your Promo Ebooks #epubchat #ebooks #epub #indieauthor

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Look, let’s be honest. Earning $0.35 per unit sold through Amazon’s restrictive royalty rate sucks. You should be earning closer to the full $0.99. Your book is worth it, and you need to make some money to offset advertising costs.
You could sign up as an Amazon affiliate and earn 4% more on each sale…but you have to refer those sales yourself, which means you can’t net that additional amount on advertisers’ promos. And 4% is pennies, still, so why bother?
Gumroad.com has the answer. They’re a sales site that allows authors, artist and others to sell their digital prices easily and for very little costs per unit. You’re looking at about $0.35 plus a percentage (under 3%) cost per unit sold. That means you net $0.61 per sale. That’s nearly twice as much!
Sell 100 copies on Amazon, net $35.
Sell 100 copies on Gumroad, net $61.
Sell 1,000 copies on Amazon, net $3,500.
Sell 1,000 copies on Gumroad, net $6,100.
Now you’re talking!

How to Outwit the Kindle Unlimited Krash #amwriting #selfpublishing #epubchat

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Kindle Unlimited isn’t doing anything new. Subscription services originated outside of Amazon, leading the way for readers and authors to find a new way to interact. But KU did tap into the largest market of ebook readers.
That has caused some difficulty for indie authors…and likely for traditionally published authors, as well. Generally payments are down, even if reading rates are the same or stronger.
What this means is that it is time once again to shift the way you produce and market your books. Consider having only some of them available through Kindle and sell the rest of your ebooks on a different site. This could work especially well if you allow print versions of all your books to remain on Amazon.
Also try moving the price points for ebooks you leave on Amazon to a higher point. This could change the borrow rate by broadcasting to readers that your work is worth more. Higher valuation results in greater respect, and more consumer demand.
Finally, always have a direct pathway for sales. Use Gumroad to sell ebooks directly to readers at a discounted price. You’ll receive more money per sale even at $0.99 than Amazon’s standard 35% royalty at that price and you’ll potentially reach more readers.

Job at Midwest Library #authorlife #author #editing

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Midwest Library Service, a major academic and public library bookseller, seeks a self-motivated Sales Representative for an established territory. The successful candidate has current library sales experience, lives in or will relocate to Denver, CO, has excellent computer skills, expertise with Microsoft Office and CRM. The position requires extensive travel within the territory.
Click here to apply.

Fantasy is Flying High! #fantasy #getpublished #pubtip

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After for so long being a small, very small, market, fantasy has come into its own.
Thank the likes of Neil Gaiman and George R. Martin (and, of course, Game of Thrones’ show) for boosting this deserving category into the limelight.
And now that Britian’s leading literary author, Kazuo Ishiguro, has released what some call fantasy (and others, who aren’t willing to release their notions about how far literary is from fantasy call a fable, a folktale, or etc…anything but fantasy…), we’re seeing a new world of opportunity for authors.
Now is the time to take advantage of this movement. I’ve been looking at agents quite closely over the last several months and have found so many more that now represent fantasy. It’s a leader in publishing, and everyone involved is hoping to find the next huge hit.
And remember that there are many subcategories of fantasy. If you’re working with soft fantasy (as am I) or alternate history fantasy, throw your work in the ring! You’ll be able to stand out from the epic high fantasies that are getting so much attention right now, and you’ll offer the market something unique. That’s always a plus.

Job at American Academy of Arts and Science #authors #editing #authorlife

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The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, headquartered in Cambridge, MA, needs a Senior Editorial Assistant in the Office of Publications.
The Academy produces two quarterly publications: Daedalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the Bulletin, as well as books, research papers, and monographs.
We would like to fill this position no later than May 15, 2015.
Click here for more info.

Free Publisher’s Weekly Reviews for Indie Authors #amwriting #bookmarketing #howto

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For a long time, Publisher’s Weekly, the nation’s leading industry publication, didn’t touch self-published books.
Then, as the dynamics shifted, they began reviewing indie books in separate listings.
Finally they stopped separating indie reviews from traditional publishing house reviews and let everything flow together. But to get a review, indie authors still had to pay for the service.
Now they are offering a way for indie authors to get a free review. Here’s the review they published in their print magazine for my novel, He Drinks Poison:

Cunningham offers an unusual variation on the serial killer thriller, but the explicit sex and violence may be too much for some readers. Veteran FBI agent Priya Conlin-Kumar, who has just been reassigned to Wheeling, W.Va., expects her new posting to be dull, with its focus on suspected money laundering, but she soon finds herself on the trail of a serial killer. In the first major plot twist, two very different men are busy slaughtering women in the area. Quinn Lawrence, a successful businessman, is organized, hand-crafting the tools of his sadism. Blue-collar worker Cole Bennett, who was brutalized by his mother, takes a less methodical approach. Though some unnecessary hype lessens credibility (“Not since 9/11 had so many people suspended their lives to follow one event”), making Priya a Kali worshipper adds depth to the lead. Priya has a nicely developed tragic back story, and her characterization is the book’s strongest element.

He Drinks Poison on Amazon, B&N, Kobo.
Very nice!
This option is now available through Publisher’s Weekly’s latest effort. Recently they launched BookLife.com, a resource website for publishers of all types. All authors can list their books there after creating a profile. Best of all, you can submit your book for a review.
About a week ago they began doing promotional work on the site itself to help authors reach readers. Give them a try! It’s free to sign up and free to submit your books. Even if they turn down the free submission, you can always fall back on the paid option. The magazine has a great reach with bookstores and libraries, so it’s worth the effort.