Kicking, Screaming, and Careening into the Blogosphere

I love blogs.

Really, I do.

I spend so much time reading them each day (a must for someone in my line of work--any line of work, really) that the idea of creating and maintaining one seems compulsively obsessive.

As the managing editor of a growing independent publishing house (http://www.savasbeatie.com/), however, I can no longer avoid the necessity of maintaining a blog. My hope and intent is to comment on matters relating to everything from catching a publisher's eye when submitting a manuscript, to what Savas Beatie is seeking to publish, from our editorial direction to legal issues shaping today's publishing world. A majority of my posts will relate, in one way or another, to what is happening behind the scenes--inside Savas Beatie.

Unlike many managing directors or acquisition editors, I am also a widely published author/editor in my own right, a licensed attorney (I practiced in Silicon Valley for a dozen years), and I have worked for publishers and individuals on a host of matters as a free-lance consultant. (I also teach legal- and history-related classes at night at the college level.) These facts I relate as a way of establishing my bona fides on a rather wide playing field. I am completely confident readers will disagree with some of my opinions and observations, but each of them will rest solidly on a foundation of personal experience.

The publishing world is rapidly changing, and these changes directly affect everyone, including and especially authors (although many writers do not yet realize this).

I do not intend to often comment on comments. Please do not interpret my lack of response for indifference. Time is short, but know that I read every remark and email.

Hopefully, this blog will add something to the discussion.

tps