tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2594045886586038963.post3875146271952901571..comments2023-09-03T05:52:27.906-06:00Comments on The Magical Witch: Some thoughts about occult publishingMorgan Drake Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09258538066497554895noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2594045886586038963.post-15878897105763729142012-02-14T00:41:52.306-07:002012-02-14T00:41:52.306-07:00The smaller presses are going to be where real occ...The smaller presses are going to be where real occult books are written. When I wrote for Llewellyn I had to write a Llewellyn book. This meant cutting out a lot of the hard stuff, it also had to remove a lot of the humour and was forbidden to say anything controversial. Writing for someone like Kerubim I can turn out books that say something and mean it. We are already seeing books coming out which might never have seen the light of day with bigger publishers who need to make a lot of money to cover their costs.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18397283594429773853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2594045886586038963.post-7430489345256033092012-02-09T16:53:58.181-07:002012-02-09T16:53:58.181-07:00Great post Morgan :)
You make some wonderful poin...Great post Morgan :)<br /><br />You make some wonderful points. I think though dealing with some smaller but good presses you'd be able to get new stuff, labelled as such, out there, if it was good quality. Certainly that is my experience.<br /><br />I looked once at the submission guidelines for the larger presses and the quality of the work produced and decided I'd rather self publish. :)<br /><br />Also, in my experience some smaller publishers do put a lot into a first work they believe in. <br /><br />I think the advent of new technology will mean a lot of new and exciting works will be coming out of the smaller presses, such as Dean and Nick's Kerubim. This is very good and I look forward to it.<br /><br />Keep living your really strange life :)Peregrinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09508191641503321789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2594045886586038963.post-9341188922472695552012-02-09T13:34:40.414-07:002012-02-09T13:34:40.414-07:00The deal about books only being valuable if they w...The deal about books only being valuable if they were written by some old dead Adept goes back so far that it must be a defining aspect of the human condition. Just look at the number of medieval grimoires attributed to Solomon or Enoch...Scott Stenwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12389664381513219613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2594045886586038963.post-43409699834769585192012-02-09T12:37:52.916-07:002012-02-09T12:37:52.916-07:00"If the material would have been written by s...<i>"If the material would have been written by some old dead Adept, then they would have gladly published it. But because it was a modern creation, they didn't think anyone would buy it. Hence, if you want to be published by an actual publisher, you have to publish secret material."</i><br /><br />You don't <i>have</i> to publish secret material, you could just lie and say it did come from an old dead Adept. Obviously I am referring to Carlos Castaneda, no-one currently alive would ever do such a thing. ;-)Alex Sumnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14149528662930811309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2594045886586038963.post-65592001147858905012012-02-09T10:59:21.531-07:002012-02-09T10:59:21.531-07:00Some thoughts on publishing 'secret' ritua...Some thoughts on publishing 'secret' rituals:<br /><br />1) The purpose isn't to hurt any organization by making it's rituals known. The purpose is to give people something they can use in their own work. While many times in GD rituals they can't be picked up or even adapted to a solo work, each bit of knowledge helps with the big picture.<br /><br />2) If a group stops using a ritual because it becomes known and replaces it with another ritual, what does that say about what they value? The purpose of a ritual is something that works. The purpose of a series of rituals and degrees is to carefully step someone into a hopefully more evolved state. The rituals work or they don't. If I have a set of rituals that work, I don't care that group x replaced those rituals because they became public knowledge. If I'm in group x and the rituals get replaced because they become public knowledge, I am going to feel that the group is more interested in selling something they keep secret than in doing the actual work. That would make me feel it is all about power, ego's and money.Deanna Bondshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16844358331859518015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2594045886586038963.post-1198426156244315442012-02-09T08:57:58.039-07:002012-02-09T08:57:58.039-07:00Well said.Well said.J.C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10026026594990409111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2594045886586038963.post-86264094605881903982012-02-09T07:32:01.952-07:002012-02-09T07:32:01.952-07:00Great points. Are you talking about me? :P
It see...Great points. Are you talking about me? :P<br /><br />It seems some people have a misguided view of the publishing business, and some criticise things and yet don't want to see those criticisms addressed by new publishers or authors who self-publish.<br /><br />People tend to think that authors are rich, but they don't see the payslips involved, which are usually miniscule compared to other work that could be done. I can certainly earn more from journalism than selling books at the moment, for example.<br /><br />Unless you're a big name, publishers generally don't bother to advertise or market your book. The author is expected to do a lot of that for him/herself. Therefore many people who go with a small press or self-publish are not necessarily any worse off in that regard.<br /><br />Ebooks won't replace paper books, but they are certainly taking up an increasing amount of the market. Occultists tend to be book nerds, with large physical book libraries, so I think there will always be sales in that regard, but I've noticed that more magicians want ebooks now than ever, if only because they've no space left. That market needs to be served.<br /><br />LVX,<br />Dean.Frater Yechidahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08630272924336872824noreply@blogger.com