1. Is there anything more depressing than the pushing and shoving and punches thrown every Black Friday? And doesn’t Black Friday feel especially apt this year? Isn’t 2016 a kind of Black Friday bildungsroman for all of us? No? I kind of think it is. Because don’t you kind of enjoy it? You shake your […]
Tagged: books (15)
The Photo Booth
So. If you have ordered the book (and thank you for ordering it!) I’d like to see it. I’d like you to take a photo of it and post it somewhere. And then I’m going to post it here. Randomly. But still. I’m even introducing a hashtag: #waitingfortheman. You don’t have to use it, but […]
On Vacation
You go away with the stated intention of getting “recharged” and that’s just what you do. You get recharged. Recharging involves UNcharging in many ways, unplugging and finding a place off the grid so that all you do is read (and read and read – a bunch of my reviews of stuff I read is […]
The New Book Business
Here’s the thing. Yes, every writer should be pleased to be free of the shackles of the publishing industry. If you consider the industry to be like a bunch of evil plantation owners enslaving the poor writers of the world. It’s not, of course, but it is an industry and as in any industry it’s […]
Posted in Blog
Also tagged book industry, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, JK Rowling, Publishing, vampires, writers, zombies
1 Response
How Much is That Book Review in the Window?
A big kerfuffle after the New York Times published a story about a guy doing what every one in the world had to suspect at some point that every one was actually doing all along: he was paid to write reviews for books on Amazon. And some very big writers at Amazon were part of […]
Posted in Blog
Also tagged Amazon, book reviews, Logrolling, New York Times, Spy magazine
3 Responses
Books Need to Get Bookier
Look at these things. They are gorgeous. I would never have read….no, that’s not true. I would have read them in any form imaginable. A Joseph Conrad novella (that I’d never read, from a series from Melville House that I’d never heard of) and F. Scott on booze! I found them at my neighbourhood bookstore, […]
Posted in Blog
Also tagged Amazon, bookstore, Drawn & Quarterly, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph Conrad, Melville House, printing
2 Responses
Think Before You Press Send
A lot has been written about the state of writing. Or, more specifically, about the state of the business of writing. Meaning the publishing industry. I’m not going to write about that here. I’ve been posting interesting stats and reports and blogs on my Facebook page (which you are free to visit and “like” in […]
Posted in Blog
Also tagged Books in Print, Facebook, Fifty Shades of Gray, noise, Publishing, Self-publishing, Speedo
2 Responses
More Random Thoughts (said with seriousness, and reverb)
1. I’m tired of people telling others what to do. Professionally. There are so many how-to experts. And then you achieve some kind of fame doing something (and that fame is usually completely deserved) and so you translate that success into telling others how to do what you just did. Because it was so easy? […]
Posted in Blog
Also tagged Adam Carolla, bath salts, debt crisis, dim sum, Euro, funny, humidity, life coach, mosquito
1 Response
The Algorithms of Amazon
It sounds like either a play by Oscar Wilde or a Greek tragedy – and in light of what it means we (and by “we” I mean “all of us”) must do these days in order to sell products, perhaps it is a bit tragic. And since we’re all doing it, there is no “comedy […]