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> On 1/3/94, John Hedtke (jhedtke -at- oz -dot- net) wrote:
> >Is there a newsgroup or listserv for authors to discuss publishers,
> writing, and so on? <snip>
Chris Benz replied:
> I don't know of one, but I'd sure be interesting in joining. Are there any
> truly Internet-savvy authors out there who'd like to help?
It seems to me that the vast majority of the discussion I would envision
happening within such a group would be of interest to techwhirlers.
Notice that no one (as of this minute) has torched the discussion of
health insurance, some of which (when it gets into Clinton vs. Gingrich)
roams fairly far afield from this list's stated purpose. Still the
subject of how to get insurance as a freelancer seems to be of such merit
that it brings with it a little slack in terms of what is taken to be
*on* or *off* topic. Wouldn't most discussions of relations between
authors and publishers (to use one example of what might come up in such
a new list) also be of at least enough, what, ?collateral? interest to be
carried on this list? I know that I've responded to a couple of queries
from would-be book authors on this list--about negotiations with
publishers, for example--and while my responses have been private (mostly
because I speak only from my own experience in such areas, not from
anything I want to have mistaken for absolute truth), I notice that no
one has flamed the people who placed the original queries. My guess is
that those people got some good information to help them solve their
problems as technical communicators--whether or not "technical" is being
stretched a little bit--and that this list thus served them well. Let me
say that another way--it would be a shame for such queries or discussions
to move *off* this list. I think they benefit us all. Maybe the
listowner has some thoughts on this?
