Publishing is bifurcating.  Until recently, an author only had one option – the traditional and often prolonged publishing route, which involved getting an agent, and then doing a deal with a publisher.  But now, an alternative publishing model is emerging, pioneered by the likes of Scott Sigler and Joe Konrath, both of whom have featured on our shows recently.  But are such people exceptional outliers?   Leaving the hype aside from outfits such as Scribd, Lulu and other vanity / self-publishing houses, just how realistic is it for most authors to consider this route to market?  Tonight, our business guru Martyn Daniels (“The Martyn” as we like to call him) takes a beady-eyed view of this increasingly interesting option… and we end up trying to define what the heck is a book, in any case…

It’s Bilderberg Week, so it’s only right and proper that our own international woman of mystery Emma Shortt should be on the show – just don’t tell anyone else, or we’ll have to kill you.  And with Dave Bartram (who anagrams to “Am Adverb Art”) and our legal egret Donna Ballman - what else could you wish for?  Actually, you’d probably want Eve Harvey reporting from the chatroom – which is exactly what we’ve got!

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Other topics on tonight’s show include:

• Are Neanderthals amongst us?
• Average people lead average lives
• A Frenchman, three Russians and one Chinese lock themselves in a room
• London driver fined £2 a second for parking
• Homer Simpson is the greatest TV / film character
• When your books are held in the cloud, do God and the angels borrow them?
• Why are anthologies dying?  Why not?

This week’s titles for the Commissioning Meeting are:

DONNA
“I Was a Teen-Age Secret Weapon”
Richard Sabia

EMMA
“An Incident on Route 12″
James H. Schmitz, 1911-1981

MARTYN
“The Insect Folk”
Margaret Warner Morley, 1858-1923

DAVE
“I’m a Stranger Here Myself”
Mack Reynolds, 1917-1983

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Photo by jaci XIII

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