Booksquare

Like a guest who leaves nearly before he arrives, Lad Lit has left the building. For those who haven’t been paying attention, Lad Lit is (was?) like Chicklit, only for and by men. But we think maybe women were part of the target audience, too, and they weren’t too thrilled with stories of men acting […]

Please don’t get us wrong — we’re not married to the truth (which is why we exist in what is lovingly — or not — called “our fantasy world”). What we understand, of course, is you’re not supposed to lie when you might get caught. Or something like that. Which is why we were amused […]

As we’re well satisfied with our own bookclub, we don’t follow those of television personalities very closely (also, we prefer books with uplifting, positive, makes-us-want-to-get-out-of-bed-the-next-morning endings, but that’s another issue entirely). Happiness with our lot in life doesn’t stop us from a peculiar fascination with Richard and Judy. Partially because we don’t know who they […]

When we’re hungry, all stories about food catch our attention. When we’re not, we sometimes find ourselves playing catch-up. So we nearly missed this one. We won’t bore you with all the facts (that’s why we post links to things — someone else does the work for us), but it seems there’s a book on […]

We know there are far too many awards out there. Where we live, what used to be known as Winter and Spring now go by the name “Awards Season” (where we live, there isn’t much in the way of weather, so we didn’t really need the other two seasons). So we shouldn’t be surprised to […]

Dan Brown has been hard at work on his next novel (something or other about Freemasons and architecture and Washington — we’re sure it will be appropriately hyped at the right moment), but The DaVinci Code remains a strong seller. We still don’t understand this: doesn’t everyone in the world own at least one copy? […]

It is our belief that only the author can decide whether or not a manuscript is ready to be submitted to his or her publisher. We’re also quite convinced that dead authors don’t make those decisions. As it turns out, Patrick O’Brian’s final work, unfinished, will be published soon — much to the dismay of […]

We’ve also received a few tips recently regarding a handy little manual to guide authors through the treacherous process of selling a book (no, not writing a book — there are many other publications to help there). What’s Next focuses on contractual terms, promotion, and the ever-popular “do I need an agent” question. Information is […]

Every six months or so, our lists buzz with excitement about the AlphaSmart line of products. For some reason, authors get misty eyed and positively cheerleaderish about the tiny machines and their influence on productivity. For the uninitiated, the AlphaSmart is your basic keyboard with memory. You type frantically and upload your work to your […]

Since Hawaii’s not a possibility, we turn our attention to New Mexico. Mystery authors Aimee and David Thurlo are raffling off a chance for one lucky winner to a) have his or her name in two books (you read that right: two!); b) travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico; and, c) dine with the Thurlos. There […]