Links for Writers Again

Actually this is just a fascinating story: A man in 1830s Massachusetts was assaulted, then jailed, because he wore a beard (Seriously. That was it). The kind of thing I’m not sure anyone would believe if we wrote it into a historical or historical fantasy novel.
•Kristine Kathryn Rusch looks at how readers break down: Avid genre readers, frequent genre readers, occasional genre readers, as well as different types of fans and priorities (the genre, the author, the price [I depended entirely on used book stores when I was in my twenties]). Even though I don’t have a book backlist to market (nothing but Philosophy and Fairytales at the moment), the analysis is fascinating.
•Great photographs of our past and the unsung woman who took them.
•Mari Ness wonders if the sea of criticism on the Internet is affecting her writing, making her second-guess herself. I agree with her, sometimes it is intimidating, especially given that no matter how brilliant we may be, someone’s going to hate our work and snark about it. But there’s no way out but through.
•Demand Media (yes, the ones who employ me) suggests that tight focus and specialization is the best way to survive in the digital age. I’m not sure the Internet has changed the level of specialization that much, actually: well before online magazines I wrote for trade journals such as Painting and Wallcovering and Gulf Coast Condo Owner.
And I’m not sure niche publications can really replace broader newspapers. I’ve worked for newspapers devoted to strictly local-government news and it’s hard to make the numbers crunch. The mix (schools, local profiles, government, crime) may still be more effective (this is a subjective opinion, not based on in-depth analysis).
•A look at whether Gannett is making paywall-controlled Internet access profitable. In general, it’s not doing as badly as it would be without the paywall …