Yesterday while the kid was napping I read through more of the Passive Voice, which eventually got me to the Business Rusch. That's an interesting read if only because she started it a year ago, and things have shifted even in that amount of time. But I felt heartened because it turns out that she and her husband, Dean Wesley Smith, don't really market either. I mean, granted, they also have frickin' 200 titles available, which I don't. (But I'm OK with that!)

But it made me happy to read that other indie authors do weird things, too. For example, this author has decided against doing her books in paper, not because (as some other decide) paper takes a long time to lay out and doesn't sell as much as cheaper e-books, but rather to save trees. My own particular quixotic endeavor is doing a large-print edition: No one has bought it (yet!), but I'm still going to do large-print editions because (cue pretentious music) ACCESSIBILITY! IS!! IMPORTANT!!! Also, it really doesn't take long to lay out.

Although I do feel a need to object when people prattle on about publishing houses having "fancy Manhattan offices." Oh, my. Clearly, they have never, ever been inside those offices. Yes, the rent is more expensive than other places, but people in Manhattan pay five times the rent you do to live in a tiny shithole with the tub in the kitchen--the fact that a space is expensive doesn't mean that it is fancy. Publishing houses don't locate in Manhattan to be fancy; they locate there because the industry and therefore the skilled workers are there.