Just as I was starting to get back into writing again after my spring hiatus, what should happen but that I strain my back whilst gardening! Aargh! The worst thing was that I couldn't sit up and use a computer without suffering distracting levels of agony; even propping myself up to use a notepad and pen got uncomfortable very quickly. Hence the lack of blog activity...
Thankfully I'm on the mend and able to type again without too much pain. I've given some serious thought to the way the plot of "The Guiser" was developing, and have decided to start a new draft that will give me more room for character development, instead of trying to cram a series-worth of plot ideas into a single book!
I've also joined Authonomy, a writers' community set up by HarperCollins. It's a slightly awkward cross between a critique group and an online slushpile - I'm viewing as a place to get wider feedback on my work and do a bit of networking, and if my work happens to catch an agent's or editor's eye (unlikely, but probably better odds than winning the lottery), so much the better. You can join up without having a book of your own to tout, and should you be interested, you can read the opening chapters of "The Guiser" - all comments welcome!
The publishing industry is undergoing an uncomfortable transition between paper and ebook at the moment, and no-one really knows what's going to happen next. People still want paper books, and they still have very varied tastes, but the rise of Amazon means that bricks-and-mortar stores can't compete with the breadth of stock, so publishers are concentrating more and more on "safe" investments like celebrity memoirs and a few well-known chick-lit/crime/thriller authors.
Online self-publishing clearly isn't the answer, because there's no quality control, and who out there wants to wade through the slushpile on the publishers' behalf? What we need is the publishing-house equivalent of Amazon, a credible brand that's able to back numerous titles and provide editorial quality control, and make the resulting novels available as ebooks or POD. Oh yes, and the price of ebooks needs to come down. Paying almost as much for the electronic version as for a real paper copy that costs tangible resources to produce and ship just isn't going to wash with the Internet generation.
Maybe this is already happening and I'm just not casting my net widely enough. That's the trouble with the Internet - so many pages, so little time. Enough - I'm in danger of rambling!