They said it couldn’t be done. A new novel that would challenge Dan Brown’s ultimate bestseller. A book of such startling plausibility that it must surely be true.

The Syntagma Code.

The publishing world is abuzz with rumour and counter-claim. Does The Syntagma Code throw real light on the greatest danger facing mankind today: the Algorithm?

Only time will tell.

There’s a lot of good writing being done on the network by Syntagma Media writers, so I’m starting to assemble some of the best into what I call our SynBin.

When we have enough posts I’m going to string them into a book called SynBin: The Best Writing from around Syntagma Media, and publish it under our Dial Publishing imprint.

We have some very good writers and writing here at the Towers. Just take a look at Adelle’s Fifty-Something Women, which has a New Yorkish edge and humor. And there’s a lot more too.

I’m trying not to include myself in this book, but I may have to make up some numbers at the end.

We’ve reorganized the distribution of book and publishing assets at Syntagma Media, so that what was “Publishing Corner” has now been moved over here.

The reason for this is that the three book blogs will not be active until just prior to their publication — people tire of hearing about a book for months before it’s published. Because these sites are not updated regularly, they lower the average traffic metrics of the whole of the network.

So, I’ve decided to separate them off to this quiet corner, where they can be themselves without jeopardizing the advertising revenues of the main network.

As an author and a publisher, I often find myself in an ambivalent position. I know the problems publishers face in a crowded marketplace. I also recognize the gripes of authors against their publishers.

So I’m posting this little cri de coeur I found on the web. It’s written by a publisher, obviously, who shall remain anonymous, largely because I’ve lost the reference. But it does provide some insight into the always tortuous relationship between author and publisher :

“Authors really don’t like publishers. They don’t like us because we change their work ~ or force them to. We reject their titles. We dress their books in jackets they hate. We take custody of their manuscripts and refuse visitation rights. We don’t let them see or comment on marketing plans. We spend very little money or time promoting their books. Our royalty statements might as well be Aramaic. We don’t return their voicemail or e-mail. We don’t communicate and we don’t care. Sure, that’s an over-generalization, but it’s too close to the truth for comfort. It should concern us that so many authors feel this way about their publishers. And it’s our fault, really, for not communicating better about exactly what we do, and why.”

Shouldn’t all publishers have these insights?