I have accepted a position at MonsterLibrarian.com as Zombie Review Editor. This means I’m the contact for authors, publishers and editors of zombie fiction.

I’m currently working on a database of zombie books, with particular attention paid to YA and Children’s books, but will soon be soliciting authors and publishers for review copies and interviews.

Before soliciting me for a review please check our current zombie review page to make sure we haven’t already reviewed the title in question.

I’ve created a new email address for reviews so all further requests should be sent to zombiemicheleATgmailDOTcom with spam guards removed. I strongly prefer pdfs, with the exception of books with illustrations or graphic novels, where the art is important to the story presentation.

As always we give honest reviews, not back patting ones, authors and editors are not given editorial insight over the content of our reviews and should not consider us unless they are satisfied with that.

Also, if you have a book you haven’t been involved with that you’d like to see us review please feel free to drop us a line as well.

• The Book Depository has a whole section for free ebooks.
• Babbling about Books is kicking off a week of discussing self publishing. This is a topic I find interesting (and I plan to blog about it tomorrow).
• Speaking of which, self published author Zoe Whitten posted this weekend about setting the bar too high in her boycott of amazon.com, an issue I’ve dealt with too. I want to have nothing to do with the antics of Amazon, from trying to force more money out of Hatchett UK, to forcing self publishers to use Createspace, to delisting GLBT titles. But the fact is last week I bought a writing research text for $4 (after shipping) and a book suggested to me by my behavoralist for $5 after shipping and handling. Strapped for finances as I am at the moment not having to wait a month or two to get these materials is very nice. I can imagine how it must be as one on the seller side of business with Amazon,when you can’t ignore the sales figures, even if you might want to.
• Punk Rock Advent Calendar– Free songs, lyrics and more.
• Lincoln U (which I blogged about before) has ended (reluctantly) their program which forced fat students to take phys ed classes. The director of the Phys Ed department still doesn’t seem to get it, though. I’m not against people being healthier, I’m against “healthy” being defined by a certain BMI or weight and “unhealthy” being defined as anything not at those numbers. In the article the head says that as educators it is their purpose to tell people when they’re wrong and teach them how to be right (I’m paraphrasing, but I’m not far off). A commenter points out, brilliantly, that as a college educator they aren’t supposed to be indoctrinating students to believe one way, but teaching them to be critical thinkers and come to their own conclusions. I agree.
• Awesome Agent Nathan Bransford has new digs, including a message board! Aspiring authors take note this is a good resource.
• AuthorSolutions fights back against the MWA, SFWA, HWA and RWA delisting of Harlequin books because of their self publishing branch. I think a lot of people are missing the point that it’s unethical for Harlequin to say they are a publisher, yet have their systems set up to make more money by rejecting people than by publishing them. I do think there is a point to saying if the awards offered by these writing groups were more truthful (that’s not the right term, but I’m not sure what a better term would be) then the best books period would win, not the best books published by approved publishers. Of course I also completely understand the level of quality commonly found in self publishing, not to mention the attitude of some self published writers, lends itself to being excluded from awards that are already overwhelmed with submissions and under manned by volunteers. I still support the against Harlequin side due to the insane prices, bait and switch and conflict of interest created by Harlequin’s DellArte Press AND Thomas Nelson’s West Bow Press.
• Another post about writers vs money. There can’t really be enough of these, can there?
• The IRS appears to be targeting poor people for lengthy audit/legal battles. Way to go being classy folks. There’s an injured puppy next door, would you like to come kick it a few times for good measure?
• “You do not need to publish in crappy venues in order to get a publication credit that will make the editors of better venues look at your work.”
• Best amazon.com review ever.
• Scalzi talks about paying your authors.

Gallycat posted a rather inflammatory opinion piece implying that in this brave new Kindle world authors no longer need agents. I’m sure they no longer need editors, cover artists or qualities stories either. Okay, so that’s going to an extreme (and extreme that can be seen in the self publishing world, where there are no gatekeepers and what could be a fantastic tool is seen as inferior trash.)

You can find lots of author and agent responses if you look. But here’s mine.

I know a man that I consider a friend who is what I consider a successful writer. He had plenty of work, makes a living off his writing and has a very loyal fan base. He doesn’t have an agent, and you can tell. I can tell. I know other authors who are also hard working, wonderful people and wonderful storytellers and they get down and frustrated by the industry, but they have someone they can talk to. They have someone to fight for them. They have someone with insider knowledge of how to get things done.

My friend with no agent gets burned out, which is terrible because he’s also a fantastic storyteller. He has people to talk to about he feelings. He has people who care for him and support him and people who buy everything he puts out. But he gets worn down by fighting to survive. It affects his writing because I NEVER see this man on vacation. I never see him with time to rest and rejuvenate between projects. (Not saying he doesn’t because I am not privy to his personal life. Just that he always seems to be working one something.) I just see him shaving off more of himself trying to keep his name and work out there.

It seems to me that if he had an a person whose job it was not to write, but just to see his writing published as well as it possibly could be, he might be doing better. Now, it’s true that he might not be doing as well. The method he’s taking does seem to be working for him and maybe I’m just projecting myself into his shoes.

And I don’t know if he doesn’t want an agent, or has been dismissed by agents because he seems to be doing well enough without them, or because he writes almost entirely horror and agents aren’t eager to play in that particular pond.

I’m seeking an agent because I don’t like the constant demoralizing submission process. I don’t want to have to fight for every crumb. And I know that the evidence heavily suggests that agented authors make double the advances.

And yeah, because I need a fan. I need someone who will and can fight for me and what’s best for me.