2006 Occult Authors Market is Ready!

After a great deal work, some wonderful feedback and more than a few re-writes, the 2006 Occult Authors Market is finally done.

It's available for download at Lulu.com for $9.95. The feedback I've gotten so far has been great, so I'm very pleased with the end result of several months worth of work.

Starhawk and the Occult Authors Market

I'm thrilled to announce that best-selling author and pagan activist Starhawk made time in her busy schedule to have a telephone interview with me today, the transcription of which will be published in this year's Occult Authors Market. We covered a lot of ground, and she has some very interesting things to say about our industry, her hopes for it, and advice for aspiring and established authors.

You can bring yourself up to speed with her activist schedule, as well as her writings, at her web site. She has also collaborated with Canadian film maker Donna Read on the documentary Signs out of Time - about the life of Marija Gimbutas.

March 1st Target Date

Due to additional work in making this edition as beneficial to users as possible, I've pushed the release date back to March 1, 2006. Sorry for the delay, but I think you'll be very happy with the finished product.

Thank You, Elizabeth Barrett!

Elizabeth Barrett, managing editor of PanGaia and contributing editor to Sage Woman, was kind enough to review the first draft yesterday and I just received her feedback. She had some excellent suggestions, many of which I'll be implementing for the 2006 edition and a few very major changes for the 2007 edition. One of the biggest of which will be a more comprehensive directory for 2007 - including periodicals, paying blogs, calendars, and more.

Elizabeth was also thorough enough to point out a number of things that need fixing; some of which I completely missed! It's a prime example of why extra eyes are so critical in preparing a manuscript. Suffice to say it's now in the hands of a copy editor! Thanks, again, Elizabeth.

We've Got a Cover!

I've always said the adage "don't judge a book by it's cover" was nonsense. Covers make a huge difference when a potential buyer is browsing the shelves (virtual or real). In fact, a recent study at the University of Carelton showed that people make decisions about the quality of a website in as little as 50 milli-seconds.

Imagine how thrilled I was to see artist Terry Bassett's interpretation of how our cover should look. You can see it for yourself here, and you can see more of Terry's work at Hounds Art, listed in my Recommended section.

Happy Chinese New Year

At midnight on January 29th, it becomes the Year of the Dog. According to Chinese astrologer Shelly Wu, Tigers and Horses (me) will have a "great" year. Wu predicts a February packed with work (always good), and in March I'll benefit from a "triangle of compatibility" which will lead Horses to the "top of our power".

Ivory, on the other hand, has a "mixed" year ahead. She's an "artistic Goat" and, while January and February will be challenging, March brings radiance and new energies to bear. Well, since we're married, we'll share in the challenges and the rewards - as usual!

The 2006 Occult Authors Market, to be launched next month, will be an Observant Dog. "Steps taken this year will set the stage for the next two years" for Dogs, according to Wu. That makes sense, since I'll probably be looking for a publisher for either the 2007 or 2008 editions during the Summer.

As my Chinese friends say, Gong Xi Fa Cai !

James Frey, Non-Fiction and the New Age

I received multiple Publishers Weekly announcements in my e-mail today, describing the debacle that was taking place live on Oprah. James Frey with his publisher, Nan Talese, was being confronted for fictionalizing parts of his non-fiction "memoir" by Oprah and a few invited journalists, including one of my favorites - Maureen Dowd.

Let's face it - no one likes being fooled. Oprah, who can turn a book into an instant best seller, was incensed, and rightfully so. I'm sure that publishers around the country, if not the world, are taking notice. The due diligence of fact-checking that should be exacted by every publisher when it comes to a non-fiction work is a non-negotiable requirement.

So what does this mean for New Age publishers and authors? We write non-fiction books. Some write spell books for those who want to find their heart's desire. Others detail the magical traditions of secret societies. A few authors claim to have ancient lineages or other esoteric credentials. Don't each of us have a responsibility to those who read our work, to represent ourselves in truth? Yet so many authors write without regard to that most basic premise. This, to me, is one of occult publishing's dirty little secrets. As an industry, and as individual writers, we should re-commit ourselves to ensuring that our non-fiction work is genuinely non-fiction.