From The Globe and Mail:

Using a $35,000 line of credit to print the first 5,000 copies of I Am Hutterite two years ago, she has since sold more than 50,000. In its first year, hers was the fourth-bestselling title in the Saskatoon store of bookseller McNally Robinson, and won the prize for non-fiction at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. Today, major retailers are ordering copies by the pallet-load; Kirkby is negotiating the sale of worldwide rights for a new edition with a U.S. publisher.

It’s a nice story. But I’m weary of self-publishing, even in blog form. I think self-publication is fine for someone who has a particular story they want to tell. But for anyone trying to build a career, traditional avenues may be the best route for success…in the long run.

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They say a freelancer shouldn’t think in terms of dollars-per-word but rather dollars-per-hour.

Fifty bucks for a writing assignment can be either a lot of money or very little money depending on the circumstances. If it takes only an hour to complete said assignment…you’ve just made 50 bucks an hour. However, if it takes 10 hours to complete, you’re not even earning minimum wage. (And if it takes 50 hours to complete, you might as well be working for free.)

But how do you quantify the time spent tossing and turning in bed, late in the morning, trying to figure things out for that “big assignment”? (Sadly, this is the period when I get my best ideas.)

Aww who am I kidding. Writing pays like shit no matter how you look at you at it.

Allison Winn Scotch (author of Time of My Life, The One That I Want, and The Department of Lost & Found) is probably one of the most engaging and personable author-bloggers to have ever grace the New York Times bestsellers list. And she is currently providing constructive criticism of reader-submitted “query letters” intended for literary agents.

It’s a pretty good read for anyone interested in writing professionally.

Check out her blog.

My article that appeared in the Escapist last week completely veered away from what I had intended explore.

I wanted to write an article about the creepiness of creating truly photorealistic computer-generated imagery of people. I interviewed some artists and academics and we had philosophical/quasi-spiritual discussions about the unsettling technological advancements towards creating CGI people that are virtually indistinguishable from flesh and blood human beings.

But I was surprised to find that none of them really shared my concern. In fact, they seemed kind of baffled that I would even feel this way.

I suddenly had to come up with a whole new premise for an article that I had already sold. But I couldn’t figure out a compelling new angle. I bitter and frustrated…and it showed in my first draft.

I’m already pushing the boundaries of professionalism by talking about this. So let’s just say my first draft was complete and utter shit, (almost as if I was begging to be dropped from the assignment) whereas my final draft was relatively coherent once the Escapist editors went over it.

It was my first feature piece for a high-profile magazine and I almost blew it.

In retrospect, my mistake was writing an article that hinged on finding people to agree with my singular point of view (although at the time I didn’t realize how singular it was).

I’m working on some new projects and they’re moving along without incident. (Hopefully I will be able to say the same about all of my future endeavours.)

This week’s issue of The Escapist features an article I wrote on the dangers of photorealistic computer graphics.

The commercial was obviously computer-generated; there was something not quite right about the way Reeve moved and the look of his head during that close-up. And yet, after it aired, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association was inundated with calls from viewers who wanted to know how Reeve was cured. In spite of the “Uncanny Valley” effect of the computer animation, the television audience, fooled by the technology – or perhaps seeing what they wanted to see – believed Reeve had been cured.

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