Yellow Bike Press

10/07/2023

Dan Wood, of Draft2Digital, discussing audiobooks on a recent episode of the Self Publishing Show podcast:

“It’s interesting to me how many authors, once they got into audio, change the way they write, because they suddenly realize we just say things differently. Dialogue happens differently. Once you hear it out loud, you’re like, oh, I should really change that, that’s like a weird sentence structure. I think it makes the writing better in most cases. We are wired for hundreds of thousands of years for oral storytelling. I love that audio is becoming as widespread as it is.”

I love it, too. These days, although my reading list is spread across all formats, for accessibility reasons, audiobooks dominate. And a significant portion of my own writing process now involves listening to my laptop (c/o “Tessa,” the South African voice) read back what I wrote the day before and running over to the standing desk to revise it.

Even with that clunky technology, the results can be revealing. As a lifelong musician, I’ve got a good inner ear—but you never really know how a sentence sounds until you hear it in the air.

09/13/2023

Huge, heartfelt, and only slightly late congratulations to my friend Patty Lin for the publication of her fantastic and engaging debut, End Credits: How I Broke Up with Hollywood. It’s the story of her successful television writing career—you’ve probably seen something she’s created—which she eventually ended on her own terms. (I don’t think I’m giving away any spoilers when I say that television production can be toxic.)

Indeed, television production sounds not entirely different from writing genre fiction for a traditional publisher, at least in terms of the commercial pressures and the tendency toward “writing by committee.” So, this will be an instructive read for anyone with a manuscript on submission. But it’s much more than a behind-the-scenes memoir for those interested in a professional life in the arts. The compelling drama could make for its own TV series! I hope a reformed industry can coax Patty out of retirement if that ever happens.

Anyway, bravo!

A candid and revealing look at life in television, Hollywood, and work in the writer's room, from an insider who wrote for some of the most popular television shows in history: Friends, Desperate Housewives, and Breaking Bad.

04/03/2022

Interesting. (And frustrating.)

A petition launched on change.org has been made to tackle Amazon's policy of allowing users to return books no matter how much they've read.

03/22/2022

I recently discovered a new-to-me podcast:  Print Run , hosted by Minnesota-based literary agents Laura Zats and Erik Hane, founders of Headwater Literary Management . While the focus is mostly on trade publishing, the conversations are relevant to anyone interested in making good books