"Keep the physical limitations that some readers have in mind. Not all readers live near a bookstore, or have the eyesight for the small print of most published books, and some have no eyesight at all. Ebooks have been a boon for older readers, both for the large print and the weight reduction. Audiobooks have opened up worlds for the visually impaired. Online shopping and home delivery are the only option for millions of readers."

"Getting a story published is almost as hard and merely a fraction as lucrative [as a novel] (if it pays anything at all), so pursue short stories only if you actually enjoy writing them."

"The time to start marketing is when you have lots of works to offer, or one of your works takes off, or you land a special deal somewhere with an agent or publisher or media outlet. Until then, the way to market is to be yourself and to put that self out there."

"In 1974, J.D. Salinger told the New York Times that while he was still writing, publication was no longer his concern.  'There's a marvelous peace in not publishing,' he said.  'Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy.'"

"I've been lucky in that my writing's been all over the place since the beginning, so the only pigeonhole I've had to deal with is that of being a literary writer.  While I sometimes wish publishers would recognize the genre elements in certain of my novels and market them accordingly—for their own gain, as well as mine—I'm just happy to get the books between the covers."

"Developing written material to suit sales strategies in order to maximize corporate profit and advertising revenue is not the same thing as responsible book publishing or authorship."

"You write because you need to.  Period.  But you publish because you want people to read your work."

"The problem is that America's record of translations is worse than any other western country.  Fewer than two percent of books published in America in a given year were written in a language other than English.  Fewer than two percent!  And some of those are textbooks.  If you come down to literature, it's a fraction of one percent.  And so it's very hard for American readers to even know about he work because that work is not translated or published in their language.  In England, it's not great either.  About five percent.  But in places in Western Europe, like in France, it's twenty-five percent and in Germany, it's more than thirty percent.  And so writers are able to be heard in those languages and readers are able to hear them."

"In practical terms, you'll have a better chance selling to the [sf genre] magazines if your story is (1) short and (2) science fiction rather than fantasy. My career followed that track; so did the careers of most other science fiction writers in the field."

"Perhaps you feel the urge to be your own boss, to promote your own works, and you'd rather not have someone else earn royalties on your hard-won promotional efforts.  So you self-publish.  And you are delighted with that decision."

"I know a lot of authors who are saying 'no' to offers because publishers want all the rights, and nobody wins in that scenario."

"Writing and publishing are two very different acts, and the two are not as connected as might be assumed."

"Untalented writers may feel cheated and lied-to if they can't get published, if they don't have good lives as writers.  Which is why you have to tell everybody at the outset that no creative writing program can guarantee a career, or publications, or anything except for some close readings and guidance."

"Most readers just plain don't care who publishes someone, whether it's you, a Random Penguin, or some magic coyote hobo."

"There are thousands of editors out there looking for work. The big publishers use a lot of freelance editors these days. I can hire the same people I might end up with if I were to go the traditional route, pay them once, and still retain ownership and control over my work."

"In the long run, then, whatever is published within the field of science fiction and fantasy is science fiction and fantasy, and if it doesn't resemble what science fiction and fantasy were twenty years ago or even five years ago, some readers and writers will howl, but others will hear the new voice and see the new vision with delight."

"The traditional [book publishing] market can be impossible, it can be icy, it can be illogical and downright cruel.  I have seen it knock down oodles of talented writers."

"I had an offer of a small advance and a traditional contract, which meant someone else paying for the publishing, providing editing, cover art, marketing, all of that. I was sure I'd never get another offer, and I loved the editor I was in contact with, so I took the deal. I learned a lot from that, but I also saw that all the tools for publishing were available to anyone, so I went on my own with the second book. I even went back and acquired the rights to my first novel. I've been self-publishing ever since. Even now, when I have publishers asking for the next thing I write, I choose to self-publish."

"All these [sf genre] magazines pride themselves on publishing stories from new writers. What doesn't get told quite as often is that they survive by discovering new writers."

"Life would be perfect if I had hours each day to read for fun.  In truth, most of the books I read are within my own genre.  I need to stay up-to-date on the books being published in children's fiction in order to be able to come up with books my publisher will buy.  That's my first priority.  When I read for fun, usually it's in audiobook format, and I'm almost exclusively listening to books written by those who are much more accomplished than I am." 

"To pretend self-publishing is never the right option, and that all writers who self-publish are talentless hacks who slap a book together and call it art?  Friends, that is dangerously close-minded thinking."

"Save up and invest in your work. Pay yourself a dollar for every 500 words you write. Set that aside, and you'll have enough to publish your book when you're done with it."

"Sometimes even still you get that look, as if the person listening is thinking, oh, you're one of THOSE. Here's a radical notion, then: get shut of the term 'self-published.' Forget 'indie.' Forget 'DIY.' Just be an author when you're being an author. Just be a publisher when you're being a publisher. (Or, go with a term I quite like, 'author-publisher.') People ask you what you do, you write books. People ask who you're published with, give them the name of your one-man publishing company. Or say, 'I did that shit myself.'"

"The biggest [advantage in self-publishing] for me is the freedom to write what I want when I want. I can jump genres and write several novels a year. Traditional publishing is much too restrictive. I don't want to pump out the same book over and over. I want to challenge myself and produce the work that I feel is missing from the marketplace."

"The act of writing a book-length manuscript is its own education, regardless of whether the manuscript is ultimately published."

"There's a huge difference between writing for yourself (aka journaling) and writing for an external human audience.  If your goal is to be published, there's no getting away from caring about—at least a little—what other people want from your writing.  So at some point in your process, you need to attend to the needs of those readers."

"I am so very tired of all this snobbery surrounding how one chooses to publish their work.  It is now possible to make a lucrative career as a self-published author—sometimes, in fact, more lucrative than being a traditionally published author, especially in genre or other niche markets."

"New writers are, if anything, even more welcome in the magazines."

"For me, having to produce a book a year would be a form of slavery."

"Self-publishing is not easier, as you will find yourself mucking about in covers and copyediting and distribution and marketing for more hours than you spend writing—and when you publish traditionally you find yourself losing a lot of control over your work timelines and visions for the book's marketing."

"The realization that writing is an art but publishing is a business can be demoralizing."

"In order to really hit a book out of the park, a writer/publisher needs to bring women to the party. The male writers who do count women as devoted readers write stories that often include a love Story within their overarching plot."

"I don't think in terms of 'success' so much anymore.  Because I know how things can happen: You can have success, and then it can be taken away from you.  Then you can have it again.  So I just really focus more on the work.  I love to write, and that's what I'm going to keep on doing, no matter if I'm published again (or not published again)."

"Our job in publishing is to keep creating many different kinds of books and then getting out of the way so that readers can pick their own."

"Writing fiction, or at least trying to make a living by writing fiction, creates new ways for the writer to experience failure.  At first I was simply writing stories no one liked.  Then, once I got better, I started sending out the good stories to literary journals and getting rejected.  Then, once I started getting acceptances, I began receiving queries from agents who would then tell me I was not 'there' yet.  Then, once I got an agent, a year passed before he told me I was not progressing the way he had hoped, and we agreed to end our relationship.  Once I started writing short stories that were pretty good, everyone told me I really needed to write a novel.  Once I started writing short stories that were pretty good, everyone told me I really needed to write a novel.  Once I wrote a novel, it was rejected by everyone who read it.  Once I got enough publications to start applying for grants and awards, I didn't even come close to receiving any of them.  It was a weird cycle in which, instead of feeling happy I was getting better as a writer, I kept realizing how little I had actually progressed in the ways I started to quantify as success."

"I got published when I was in my 20s, and my first novel was a sensation.  And I thought, 'Oh, my God! It's going to be like this all the time!'  Then books two through eight were failures.  I had five different publishers.  Three of them went out of business.  Two of them did nothing for the book and wouldn't take my calls."

"One of the big roles of an agency today is to look at the book as content and to see how it can be sold in all these different ways: book to film, book to television, book to product.  The people who are making money in the industry are taking the book's content and leveraging it in a 360-degree way."

"People want to read varied perspectives and a lot of publishers and agents who wouldn't take a chance before are finally responding."

"If there is a secret to getting published—it's tenacity!

"If you are a screenwriter, LITERARY AND COMMERCIAL translates to INDEPENDENT AND STUDIO. If you are a playwright, LITERARY AND COMMERCIAL translates to CHARACTER DRIVEN AND PLOT DRIVEN. If you are a nonfiction writer LITERARY AND COMMERCIAL translates to JOURNALISM AND NARRATIVE NONFICTION. No matter your intended Story career path, the divide remains… and always will."

"I had discovered the first kind of boundary that marks the twin genres of fantasy and science fiction: the publishing category."

"At this moment in my career, after publishing twenty-seven books and at least as many short stories, I still get rejected on a regular basis. Recently I wrote a story that every major magazine rejected. After going to the major presses, I went to the smaller ones. Nobody will publish it—nobody. So don't despair—accepting rejection is part of the job description."

"In 2008, Horace Engdahl, then-secretary of the Swedish Academy, criticized American writers. He said that 'the U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature.' I beg to differ. There are plenty of us American writers working very much in 'dialogue' with the world. But he was right about one thing—the publishing world still does not represent that. It's time the Big Five publishers catch on."

"There is a great demand for novels that can be positioned at the top of the commercial list—thrillers and/or dramas that women will want to read. All of the big publishers (with a contracting list of exceptions) are on the hunt for a female friendly literary/commercial commodity."

"Ultimately, the question 'Who's the target reader, and why?' must be answered by everyone in the publishing chain (writer, editor, marketer, publicist, publisher). Identifying the audience (the people who will buy your book) defines which of these two cultures 'Literary' or 'Commercial' you belong to."

"Writing is a subjective sport, I'm afraid.  Strap on your helmet and flash your skinned knees with pride.  After all, only those with the courage to submit can be rejected."

"Your work will be rejected.  Often, always, and forever.  Good work.  Quality work.  Publishable work.  Work you've born your soul into.  You will be turned down not only for logic and for reason, but for the silliest of subjectivities: The editor's cat has just died, and your work is too sad.  The agent is moving in a darker publishing direction; your work is too light.  Your poems are too short.  Your essays are too long.  We've seen this before.  We've never seen this before and wouldn't know how to market it.  It's good, but it won't sell.  It's good, but it's just not right for us.  You do understand, don't you?"

"Deny anybody who wants you to work for free. If you work for free, that's something you do, not something someone asks of you—doubly true where they're making money and you're not."

"There are two categories in book publishing, like yin and yang, light and dark, wet and dry. There is 'literary' and 'commercial.' The divide seems ridiculous of course, akin to the old chicken and egg debate. Obviously, what is literary must be commercial too and what is commercial is also literary."

"Literary and commercial: If you are a writer, an editor or a publisher in traditional trade book publishing, you have to decide which of these two cultures you want to align yourself with."

"The elusive quality of readability is the heart of everything we seek in publishing."

"Anderson says the best thing to do is cut the amount of time you spend on social media and reading blogs about writing and publication by 75%."

"Even my publisher will say they just want more thrillers.  That's what feeds my family.  But I feel like if I did that, I wouldn't be being true to myself."

"Keep writing.  Publishing new work keeps your brand fresh and gives you regular opportunities to connect with new readers.  Never get so wrapped up in trying to sell your work that you neglect the passion to keep writing."

"The motivation for my own authorial decision to turn my back on traditional publishers was both psychological and entrepreneurial ... My father was hard hit during the Depression, and it was difficult for him to get and hold a job.  He was always at the mercy of others, and I vowed early on never to be beholden to others to make my living.  Controlling my own destiny has always been one of my principal obsessions."

"I'm happiest and most productive when I shut out all the chatter about 'the business' and focus on what I do best: writing."

"To be persistent is way more important than talent—we all know talented writers who will never publish because they won't get in the chair and write the book."

"One always feels distance from a book, which I think is normal—by the time it's published and people start reading it and talking about it, it's all behind you."

"I think there's a problem in trying to know or demand when you should publish a book.  Let the book tell you.  And when it does, send only to places that put out the books you can't live without."

"The writer's goal should be to get published, but the writer's love should be of writing.  Too many writers are in love with the idea of writing-to-be-published and too few are in love with the act of writing."

"I think books should be cheaper.  I want books to be accessible.  If books are precious (and as a result, expensive), then publishers win, readers lose, and by proxy, writers lose, too."

"Worry about the writing and nothing else.  Don't worry about sales, agents, publishers, any of that. Get a dozen works under your belt of whatever length you feel comfortable writing, polish them within an inch of perfection, and get them out there. The rest can be a slow burn."

"Publishing should be secondary."

"Use that time for writing your novel and for reading great books.  That will make your chances of getting published much stronger than any Facebook post ever will."

"No one on earth is going to care more about your career than you.  Not your agent, not your publisher, not friends in the industry.  At the end of the day, you need to take responsibility for your career."

"There's no 'correct path' to becoming a real artist. You might think you'll gain legitimacy by going to art school, getting published, getting signed to a record label. But it's all bullshit, and it's all in your head. You're an artist when you say you are. And you're a good artist when you make somebody else experience or feel something deep or unexpected."

"Know that a poem is published when it's read."  (artist)

"To really succeed at self-publishing it seems right now that your best bet is to paint with a shotgun; you're not served by posting one book and walking away but posting a book or project (or product, if you can stand that word) every couple of months."

"I've always maintained that no publisher should make more money off of a book than the writer does.  They publish thousands of books a year—but this is the only one (or two) I'm going to do.  This also applies to the Amazons of the world.  We the writers should be king of the hill because we provide the content."

"I wish all writers realized that agents, publishers, book doctors, vanity presses, and how-to seminars, have a cost attached to them—sometimes a very high cost—with zero guarantees. You can be a writer, and have writer be a part of your identity, without any of them."

"Now I believe a writer is someone who writes. Maybe you get paid. Maybe you don't. Maybe people agree. Maybe they don't. You don't need anyone's approval or acceptance or imprimatur or validation to consider yourself a writer. But legacy pundits like agents and publishers don't want you to believe that. They want you to feel that the only way you can call yourself a writer is if they agree. And their approval comes at a high cost.  The legacy world doesn't want you to feel like you're a writer if all you do is self-publish. Because they need you to make money.  Your peers may not consider you a writer if all you do is self-publish. Because they need to protect their own identities, and that means dismissing yours.  You may not feel like a writer until you meet certain criteria. But consider this: who sets those criteria? You? Or an industry that wants to make money off of you?  Readers don't care. Readers just want a good book. Maybe we all should worry less about labeling, and more about writing. ...Writers write. Depending on your identity, that could empower you, or scare the crap out of you."

"The biggest for me [by self-publishing] is the freedom to write what I want when I want.  I can jump genres and write several novels a year. Traditional publishing is much too restrictive. I don't want to pump out the same book over and over. I want to challenge myself and produce the work that I feel is missing from the marketplace."

"Self-publishing is a marathon, not a sprint."

"People always look for excuses. .... When I got started in the book business, I received 900 rejection letters. So you don’t look at the end result—at the Richard Bransons and Maria Popovas—and say, 'Well they have that thing that I don't.' They got that thing by showing up. I am really focused on helping people understand that not showing up is a failure of will more than it is a failure of birth."

"It's just never been a better time to be a writer.  It's a world of opportunity.  You can do whatever you want.  You can do it however you want.  It's magical to [say], 'You know what?  I'm going to write a new adult series'—and then write it.  It's amazing.  I don't have to convince anyone, I don't have to sell anyone on it.  I don't have to run it by an agent or a publisher.  I'll just do it."

"While running your own publishing business can certainly take quite a bit of time and energy, never forget that writing your next book is the very best way to spend the bulk of your time.  Whether you are self-publishing or working with a traditional publisher, the best way you will ever connect with both your current—and future—readers is by writing and releasing your next book.  And then the next.  And then the next.  And then the next."

"I do believe that making one's book free remains an effective way to reach new readers who might not otherwise take a chance on your book.  I've had a number of positive reviews from readers who said they liked my book but would never have downloaded if it weren't free.  I do not agree with the argument that an author who makes his book free is inviting bad reviews from those readers who are trying a novel that is not in their preferred genre and may be less inclined to like it.  I believe a good book is a good book, and anything you can do to attract a new reader is worthwhile."

"The only reason writers publish is to stop rewriting."

"I don't think about publishing books, or even my "poetry" in general, when I'm working.  I think in terms of one poem at a time.  The poem I'm writing always requires more attention than the poems I've written."