Frontlist stuff. I've given up on part numbers.

The problem with rambling is that it exposes the unwary to the clutter of my version of mental organization. But it's free, right?

So I'm going to go back to sales reps, and to buying from reps, as it relates to something sleigh said. The way it relates is circuitous, so bear with me. Okay, very circuitous, so please bear with me <wry g>.

The reps sell what's called frontlist. I know that many authors/writers are familiar with the term "mid-list" or midlist as it relates to an author's status, but midlist isn't a term that's used as frequently in the bookstore. Well, in ours, at any rate. Midlist in general is, as far as I can tell, a term that's used in a way that varies widely -- that can mean anything from "I earned 2,000 on a novel last year" to "I earned 50,000 on a novel last year". I think there was a Salon article in which the author earned a lot more than that, and was unhappy, which goes to show something.

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LJ question

andpuff or haniaw, can you tell me what the name of the LJ theme you're using is? I like the one I'm using as far as it goes, but I can't figure out how to get it to keep more than 10 friends entries on a page at a time, and it's driving me nuts. Granted, it's not a great distance to that destination, but still. Yours seems to keep 20. I keep losing people off the bottom of my list by the time I get to check it :/.

I want something clean that will compress the most text, and your themes seem to be it. So. (I'm using S2, if that's of any help).

Marginal books (no, not the distributor)

High advances are not the whole game. Promotion is not the whole game. And by now you've seen that promotion is a slippery word -- there are many elements of promotion that are invisible from the outside. Like, for instance, being Lead or Lead SF title. Placement dollars for position in bookstores is now no longer invisible -- to you. To most book buyers, it still is. In order to get the money and the positioning, there has to be a reasonable chance -- in the eyes of the editor or publisher -- that your book is enough like a bestseller that it has a damn good chance of being one. Money alone won't buy you that. And brilliant writing doesn't either.

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