101 Reasons to Stop Writing

(Delivered on time!)

DJ Bran-Unit gives you the 411 on how he rolls (he answers email queries quickly, leaving you to calculate the maximum number of seconds it took to reject).

Nathan also asks the question that no-one in publishing wants to hear the answer to.

Andrew Kiraly of Yankee Pot Roast reveals Mitch Albom’s secret to bestsellerdom: keyboard shortcuts. (Via Zooba.)

Victoria Strauss has more on the AuthorIdentity bookstore scam from last week. I’m sure there are a few bad writers already racing to turn this story into a dull, unpublishable thriller.

Agent Kristin gives one example of how publishers (and agents) have to think about more important issues than what picture to put on the cover.

JA Konrath explains, in a roundabout way, why your career is in the toilet.

Author Jan Burke has a few things to say about self publishing. (Via Lee Goldberg.) Hint: Are you dying?

If you’ve ever received a rejection, this news will make you want to suck the vitreous humor out of your eyes. (NY Times, requires registration. Via Zooba.)

Next time you’re whining about how no-one recognizes your genius, remember this story, then think about how many times you’ve passed the Classics section in a bookstore and gone straight for the genre-porn. (Via Miss Snark.)

Stop Writing if You Need This Advice award nominees:

• Nathan Bransford suggests you try coming up with a good, original idea. 90% don’t, as predicted.
• Agent Kristin says don’t go to an agent’s office to pitch in person. If you think rejection hurts, try a security guard’s foot in your ass. (Don’t bring your entire manuscript, for the same reason.)
• Miss Snark counsels an anxious writer on the most important aspect of meeting agents at a writers’ conference.
• Fiction Scribe says shut the fsck up already.
• Miss Snark points out that business cards are for people who have a business.
• And don’t start a website where you will pithily pronounce upon your collection of rejections. Oops, I mean rejection collection.