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Should Hate Speech Be Free?

I have always been of the mind that all speech should be free. One should always feel free to express the worst in us, out loud, in public, where the speech can be tested against community standards and either be excoriated or accepted.
There are two events, recently published in The New York Times, that force me to wonder if there is a reason why some expressions should never be made public.
The first example concerns the murder trial of Ronell Wilson — who allegedly shot two undercover detectives in the back of the head — when he was arrested, handwritten scraps of a Rap song were found in his pocket describing the killings before they happened.

Hate Speech

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Pitching a Book to Buyers

No book gets sold unless someone thinks it will sell. That first “someone” is your publishing house. That second “someone” is the chain buyer who places an order for your book. If you want to sell a book without writing the whole thing first, you need to help your publisher, and ultimately the buyers in the bookstore chain, understand why you, and your book, are worth purchasing.

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Do You Need an Agent?

Yes, you need an Agent if you plan to have a serious career as an author — especially as a book author — because an Agent has value in adding what you don’t know to the publishing equation. In my Writing Advice for Authors message, I dug into the process of writing and I also touched on the importance of having an Agent on your side no matter what sort of paid writing path you choose to pursue.

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SuperAgent Matt Wagner

There are few people in the world who have the ability to be successful while also being kind and friendly.
SuperAgent to the Stars Matt Wagner is one of those special people who manages to find common ground between the needs of business and aesthetic and then strikes a fair balance between writing and commerce.
Matt and I have known each other for over a decade and each year brings a new fondness and appreciation for the hard work he does for every author and publisher in the business.
Formerly a lead agent at Waterside, Matt Wagner just started the Fresh Books Literary Agency so if you are looking for a good man and a fair spot to lay down your weary pen after finishing your monograph, touch in with Matt first to see if he can help you and tell him David W. Boles sent you.

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Writing Advice for Authors

If you are an aspiring book author I want to give you some blunt author-to-author advice you will not likely get from your publisher or your agent. Agents and publishers generally do not want this sort of discussion to take place between authors because they don’t want us sharing this information.

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Slaughterhouse Publishing

Allow me a moment to discuss the business of computer book publishing with you. It’s a fascinating business, an extremely profitable business, and a business that is in desperate need of a re-alignment of purpose and thought because some computer book publishers are short-shafting their readers. If you’re thinking of writing a computer book, read on. If you’re thinking of buying a computer book, you definitely need to read on…

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