by Tosh McIntosh

During my portion of the presentations for our alternate-agenda format meeting, I mentioned the names of four writers who in my opinion are some of the most enthusiastic and blog-prolific proponents of indie publishing: J.A. Konrath, Barry Eisler. Kris Rusch, and Dean Wesley Smith.

Each of them is a favorite for different reasons, and taken together, they offer those of us down here a unique view of what it’s like to be up there, but without any of the snobbish attitude so prevalent among the legacy titans who think the indie revolution threatens their status as residents of the top floor publishing penthouse.

Of the four, Eisler is probably the most impressive to me because of his professional background, and if you want to start anywhere in becoming more knowledgeable about the challenges of thinking like a publisher (to borrow the term from Dean Wesley Smith), here are some links to try (text in blue has the link):

Home: http://www.barryeisler.com/index.php

Blog: http://barryeisler.blogspot.com/

For Writers: http://www.barryeisler.com/writers.php

Marketing — How to package a book: http://www.barryeisler.com/writers_marketing.php

How not to pick a cover: http://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/lets-give-them-something-to-talk-about/

Automatic and acquired resonance in titles:

• Part 1: http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/buzz_balls_hype/2007/03/titles_the_reso.html
• Part 2: http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/buzz_balls_hype/2007/03/titles_part_2_a.html

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Tosh