K. Marvin Bruce

It’s unfair, really.  I live in a world with so many good books but in a society that gives me no time to read.  Of course I can read on the bus, but is that quality time with my literary children?  Hardly. A number of websites have recently taken to suggesting books you should’ve read but may never have heard of.  That’s the way the publishing industry works these days—those that are bound to become classics will not be published by the Big Five.  You’ll need to ferret them out from smaller houses.  Then try to find some time. Civilization, which gave us the writer, is also what is taking her away.  More and more time is demanded by work.  They get away with it because they can.  When’s the last time I really took a lunch break?  Sat on a park bench and read? I found a list, on GQ of all places, citing forgotten books that should be read.  Despite it being GQ, I don’t doubt it for one second.  Here are authors wh...

Both in my position as erstwhile professor and in my true vocation as a writer, I have come to realize that understanding the publishing world is essential to becoming a published writer.  Those of us write because we “can do no other,” but if we want to be read we have to play the game. There are hundreds of publishers out there.  The internet has led to a proliferation of presses, mostly small and of limited distribution.  They can easily get your book on Amazon, but with millions of books already there, getting it noticed is difficult. Once upon a time there were a couple dozen major publishers.  They have been bought out by one another until now there are only the “Big Five,” until recently the “Big Six”: Random House (which recently acquired Penguin, one of the six), Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Simon and Schuster.  You cannot get published by any of the big five without an agent. Smaller, independent publishing houses (Indies) will ...