Comments on: Advice from the top

By: Stacey

Stacey — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:35:58 +0000

Thanks to all of you for your great comments here, which I’m just catching up on after a long weekend, and lots more rain (thankfully, no more flooding). And great to hear from John at byliner.com about their plans for the product and making it more widely available. Thanks, John!

By: Linda McLaren

Linda McLaren — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:40:37 +0000

I love Ann Patchett, so I did download. I found nothing surprising, no advice not already realized, however I loved the personal moments – especially the relationship between her and her crit partner.
That was lovely. It’s always interesting to hear about the journey of a writer, and at $2.99, you can’t lose!
In regards to length, it was just right.

By: Tamara

Tamara — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:29:59 +0000

Oh, oh! Thank you, John!!

By: John

John — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:19:27 +0000

Hi Tamara,

I’m happy that (and the others on this blog) enjoyed Ann’s Byliner Original. We will be making it available in other digital forms — at B&N and Apple and Google — and also as POD. Generally, all of our Originals will be widely available in all digital storefronts. In this instance we gave Amazon an early exclusive, but once that exclusivity ends it will go to the other stores.

By the way, if you join Byliner you can earn a free copy of one of our Originals. Just sign-up here:

http://byliner.com/register

Cheers,

John

Founder & CEO
Byliner.com

By: Tamara

Tamara — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:38:32 +0000

I read it and loved it! Like you, I love Ann Patchett, and I would have read it just for that, but I also love what she has to say. Very practical advice, but she also lets us in on her writing life. I love how she is charitable but honest. Because I’m such a big fan, I would have paid more, but I think $2.99 was about right. This is the perfect format for this because of its unusual size, though I wished she would have written a book-length piece about it (a la King’s On Writing). As everyone’s been saying for a long time, the flexibility of electronic format lets people publish more creatively – and also promote more creatively. My only (very small) wish is that these types of things are always available in all electronic formats, not just one, and there is the option to POD as well. (Kindle is what Apple was. It might be a smart business model, but it can suck for consumers.)

By: Dave Sosnowski

Dave Sosnowski — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:44:15 +0000

I second the condolences re: your basement. Back in 2000, my city was working on the storm drains and had half shut down during a torrential storm, with the result that half the homes downriver had sewers backing up into their basements, mine included. The city said their insurance would cover everything; the city’s insurance company begged to differ, after the city arranged a special trash pick-up to destroy the evidence, um, I mean, “to help its citizens.” A few years and a class action suit later, I got a few hundred bucks. Woo-hoo!

Re: the Patchett, I bought it last night after reading this post. I haven’t read her before, but she’s on my list. I’m reading her now and enjoying it quite a bit. Of course, I’m a sucker for writers writing about writing.

Re: Kindle singles — I love the idea. Having written at least one novella I’m especially fond of (although it still needs work) this strikes me as the perfect opportunity for these orphans of publishing (that is, too long for the lit mags, too short to warrant stand-alone publication). Cheers, Amazon. PS: Anything that costs less than your average magazine counts as an impulse buy.

By: Maril Hazlett

Maril Hazlett — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 03:07:19 +0000

(sorry about your basement!)

Just read it last night – really liked it. It’s part of the kindle singles, and actually I liked it at just the length it was. Of course I would have read more, but it felt right.

Definitely good advice for writers in there. And some very funny parts as well. It reminded me a bit of flannery oconnors mystery and manners.

Sorry abt typos, commenting via phone.

By: D. A. Hosek

D. A. Hosek — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 02:10:41 +0000

I wonder how it compares with her (also brief), What Now?, which was adapted from a graduation speech and was also a bit of a memoir about a writers’ life. Since I’m a bit Ann Patchett-obsessed reader, I imagine I’ll go ahead and buy it.

-dh