Review: Don't Be The Frog
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 27, 2011
Extraordinary!This is easily the best book on writing and publishing that I've read in a long time. Eisler and Konrath were both successful authors within the traditional publishing track when they each decided to pursue self-publishing instead. Barry Eisler made headlines earlier this year when he turned down a $500,000 contract with St. Martin's Press to pursue indie publishing. The rest is, to coin a cliche, history.The authors, in a standard friendly conversation format (not an interview), cover a lot of ground from what is legacy publishing to why monkeys like mouth raping frogs. And, trust me, everything in between. Except crazy ex-wives.It's important, though, to keep in mind that they don't whitewash self-publishing and they don't throw unearned stones at the major publishing houses. Both talk from experience, not theory. Their ideas are similar, but they disagree on a few minor points. The really interesting parts of the book are where they get prescient and talk about the future of e-books. Near the end it tends to sag as they spend a little bit too much time throwing darts at traditional publishers (within the context of trying to define Amazon's imprints).I highly recommend this book for every published author and every struggling published author as well as every agent and editor in the publishing industry.I'm going to read it again.