How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

I just read on Writer Beware that Amazon UK has been using pressure tactics with book publishers to get better terms. And, of course, everyone's already heard about Amazon's tactics in the US related to POD and the Kindle. (If you haven't, check out Maya Reynold 's blog--she does the best industry breakdowns I've read.) This is the danger of Amazon that is just now starting to become apparent--Amazon is thisclose to obtaining monopoly power. In antitrust terms, a monopoly is what happens when one company has so much market power that it can control access, both to consumers and to manufacturers. Of course, Amazon would quibble with me about that--physical bookstores still exist, and Barnes & Noble and Borders both now have websites, and blah blah blah. But any decent antitrust lawyer will tell you that "market power" is determined by your definition of the market. And in the online bookseller market, Amazon has very little competition. And any ...

In my Real Job, I spend a lot of time making sure things are perfect. I draft contracts, and review deals, and negotiate terms, and my mistakes can end up costing my company money. (That doesn't mean I don't make mistakes, by the way. I'm not a god . Unless I work with you, in which case, I've never made a mistake in my life, and no, you still cannot do whatever it is that you wanted to do that I already told you not to do.) Naturally, this precision seeps into the rest of my life and, of course, my writing and querying process. I have #9 envelopes so that my SASE fits neatly into my #10 envelopes. My drafts are labeled and numbered and saved to CD. My pens are sorted by color, type (felt, ball, fountain), and line width. (No, I'm not kidding.) Anyway, the other day, I got a request for a full from an agent who's already seen a partial. YAY! I print the whole thing out, put it in a folder, and take it to work (we have a post office in the building), w...