Swet Columns
August 19, 2009
Swimming with the Flow
by Jiho Sargent
Jiho Sargent was a technical writer and editor, proofreader, programming expert, and a SWET stalwart for more than two decades. She was also a Buddhist priest who served for a time at Taisoji near Sugamo station. Her health took a turn for the worse in 2006, however, and she decided to return to the United States to live... more
July 21, 2009
Self-Publishing a Self-Initiated Translation
A professional non-fiction translator for over 40 years, Fred Uleman, in September 2009, self-published Rethinking the Constitution: An Anthology of Japanese Opinion, a translation of Kodansha’s 2004 Nihon no kenpo: Kokumin shuken no ronten. SWET asked Uleman how he came to translate and publish a book he was not paid to do, and what it involved.
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July 8, 2009
Kurodahan: Selling to a Niche
by Ginny Tapley
Based in Fukuoka, Kyushu, far from the usual centers of publishing, Edward Lipsett, Stephen Carter and Chris Ryal have established Kurodahan Press, a new type of publisher now entering its fifth year. Having started with Mayumura Taku’s Administrator in 2003, Kurodahan specializes in translated Japanese literature, particularly genre fiction such as science fiction, horror, fantasy, and mystery. Ultimately, however, they aim... more
June 10, 2009
SWET Newsletter, No. 122
SWET Newsletter, No. 122 May 2009
In this issue:
Features Young Adult Fantasy in Translation (Interview with Cathy Hirano) • Misa Dikengil Some Notes on Anthologies • by Suzanne Kamata SWET Events Writing about Culture and Travel in Japan (panel discussion by Amy Katoh, Stephen Mansfield, Kim Schuefftan, Eugene Tarshis) Academic Editing in the Humanities • Kate Wildman Nakai SWET Tribute Remembering Becky Davis... more
April 2, 2009
More thoughts on self-publishing
by Hugh Ashton
I’m not attempting to monopolize this blog, but my last post seemed to generate quite a lot of interest, including some from people who had interesting things to say, but haven’t yet bothered to write them here as comments.
One point that was made in conversation to me was the question of self-publishing fiction rather than non-fiction. To summarize... more
March 27, 2009
Is this the future of fiction publishing?
by Hugh Ashton
About two and a half years ago, I finished a novel with which I was quite pleased - Beneath Gray Skies - it’s an alternative history novel, set in the Confederacy of the 1920s. Actually, I was very pleased with it indeed. I’d done things in my writing I’d never done before: multiple points of view,... more