Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

Bit frazzled today - last night was the opening night of a play I'm acting in: Are You Being Served? (based on the old TV series). I'm playing Mr Humphries of all people! Here's the poster: No rest for the wicked , as I often say. Next I'm directing a musical set in a nightclub - a cross between That 70s Show and Glee . Should be lots of fun! This week, I was sent this amusing link by an esteemed subscriber - showing how writers should NOT react to a bad review! It's also an object lesson on the importance of doing a very good self edit on your material BEFORE you let ANYONE see it! Keep Writing. Rob@easywaytowrite.com Writers! Click here to get published free by Magellan Books. THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE: Surfing the Write Side Rob Parnell I was shocked to see the revenue generated by modern media products last year. Hollywood - as you'd expect - ge...

It's funny. Last week I was nervous about putting out a blog that was so down on the publishing industry. Little did I expect so many emails agreeing with me! And literally three days later, comes an article from the Wall Street Journal (no less) that basically said the same things. Fact is most insiders agree that the publishing industry is in trouble. Their inability to spot bestsellers - indeed to spot anything that may even become commercial - is now causing them problems. The heavy reliance on promoting TV and film related books means that ordinary authors suffer. Marketing budgets that might have gone to their 'list' authors is now being funneled into blockbusters - and little else. The main reason would seem to be that publishers' B list authors simply can't sell enough books to support these corporate giants. Far be it from me to suggest that perhaps publishers 'choose the wrong books' - I think it's more to do with the fundamentally unwieldy nat...