(First thing first: It never ceases to amaze me how much generosity the writing community online shows each other. Thanks all for the advice on beta reading.)
A few weeks ago, I spent hours reading an industry (not a writer) blog post regarding one of those hypothetical publishing questions along the lines of agents charging reading fees, or something of that matter. After I finished reading the post and the comments, I was infuriated. Why you ask? It wasn’t because I disagreed with the ideas presented (which I did in fact), but it was because reading the post and comments ended up being a big time suck and I left the website with a headache.
What I learned from the experience is that I needed to better discern publishing news versus publishing gossip.
With that being said, a lot of publishing news is rehashed, regurgitated, regenerated and just about any other “re” word I can’t think of as I write this entry, which is why at the beginning of the year, I cut back on a lot of industry blogs in favor of focusing on my writing. Still, I enjoy those roundup posts linking all the news in one place, that way I don’t have to search for news. More and more though, after awhile, whatever the latest buzz is, I’ve stopped devoting more than a minute or two on it, unless said buzz was of particular interest to me, but 7 out of 10 times, it usually isn’t.
Questions of the day: What industry-related news or gossip do you never get enough of reading about? Which topics are you sick to death of reading about? How often are you reading industry blogs and publishing articles?
18 comments:
Well, I don't read much, if any, industry news because I hate all of it. I don't want my writing to be affected by a headline, so I avoid them generally :o)
I have a very small list of industry blogs I read because as you say, they all regurgitate the same news anyway. Out of the ten or eleven on my blogroll, I read only one specific agent every day and perhaps two more during the week if the title of the post merits perusing.
I try to avoid industry news because I think it's BS or depressing. It's tough enough trying to work through actually finishing a novel without stats and gossip reminding me of how "tough" this industry is to break into. That being said, I skim a few industry blogs for anything useful and spend time on writer blogs.
I never read the industry blogs anymore. They did get very repetitive. I think each wave of new writers will probably get some benefit from hanging out in those places for a short while, but then they should "graduate" and move on.
My ratio of writers' to industry blogs is also about 1:10.
I think it depends on my perception of why any blog has been written.
I don't read any of that shit. Nathan Bransfords Friday post "This Week in Publishing" is usually about all I need.
I get much more from simply connecting with other writers. People like you and Jessica and Anne.
I used to read more, but now I hardly read any. I get any news from my fellow bloggers, and then, it's usually because it's pretty important enough to trickle down to us little people.
I'll look at the headlines on Pimp My Novel, and read Laura's Friday roundups. I look at Publisher's Weekly, usually on Monday and mostly I read the reviews and the deals. I belong to a professional writing forum and read insider author gossip there. I live with someone who's worked in nonfiction publishing for 25 years. Almost all the news is baffling or annoying, so I tend to ignore most of it.
Blogging in general is a time suck. So I don't bother reading posts and commenting if I'm not enjoying myself. Adventures in Children's Publishing posts a great round up on fridays that I usually check out but aside from that, I just like supporting and getting to know fellow writers. And if something huge does go down in the publishing industry- we'll hear about it.
I'm tired reading about e-books. They are here lets all deal. I love hearing about first time writers being scooped up by agents and publishing houses! Dreams so come true and I get to witness it all the time!!!
I don't keep up on that stuff at all. I probably should, but there just aren't enough hours in the day.
I'm glad you're concentrating more on your writing than on reading publishing stuff that is wasting your eyesight!
I only read a few blogs that deal w/ the industry. Too busy reading nice writers' blogs & doing my own stuff!
I'm getting sick of "What inspires you to write" questions and blogs. Boring. Quite honestly, most of us don't care what inspires you to write. Nothing personal. Just don't care.
Stephen Tremp
I don't read many industry blogs anymore, but I can tell you that I am SICK TO DEATH of reading posts about paper books dying and ebooks taking over.
There are a few bloggers I follow who get the scoop hot off the presses and share. I don't always care though.
What am I sick of? Well, I quit reading agent blogs - except the rare occasion - because I'm tired of hearing how many queries a day agents have to get through, and about how small a chance I have of ever obtaining an agent.
That's not to say agents should quit talking about the subject of querying; I just think I need to put a little distance between my query and all that discouragement.
I've been hanging out on the blogs long enough to know the same subjects recycle over and over. If I miss a new topic, it'll come back.
........dhole
I'm going to go ahead and agree with most of what's been said already.
I have two blogs I read on a somewhat regular basis, but lately is seems like the same thing being regurgitated...just like you said.
At least I know I'm not alone in thinking that everything in publishing news and gossip is recycled.
Donna,
I second you. I'm especially tired of hearing about how little our chances are of making it out of the query pile. Blah.
Saying it again, I heart writers!
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