Author name: Booksquare

Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism.

Do You Believe In Magic?

By •

Well, don’t read the New York Times article on the role of book packagers in creating those books that young girls read like candy. The packager in question, Alloy, also plays a central role in the Kaavya Viswanathan plagiarism scandal. So, yeah, a lot of books are the product of authorial imagination as gently sculpted by a kind-yet-ruthless editor before being polished by the sharp minds of marketing. Then there are the popular series such as “Gossip Girls” that come more from the corporate mind and are executed by a string of fairly anonymous authors. Think of it as the […]

The Business of Publishing

On Bookstore Employees

By •

Starting salaries at Ottaker’s are just over £10,000 and the policy is to pull in over-qualified eccentrics in the hope that some of them will so love working with books (they can borrow hardbacks free) that they’ll stay and transmit that passion to customers – at least until their careers as novelists or rock stars take off. Odd man out in a cut-throat world: James Heneage, founder of Ottakar’s, a much-loved and quirky chain of bookshops, tells Cassandra Jardine he fears for its future

Quote of the Week

In Which Jill Goes Out Of Her Way To Raise Our Blood Pressure, Or You Too Can Write A Book In Three Days

By •

You know how the ones you love will push your buttons with little or no effort? That describes Jill Monroe to a “T”. She can, with a single email, get us worked up. By, oh, forwarding us link to “The Magic Formula: How To Plan, Write, Sell, and Promote Your Romance Fiction Novel”. No joke. Just three days of writing and you’ll have a publishable novel. We’re not big on the swearing, but, honestly, bullshit.

The Business of Publishing

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About P and L Statements But Were Afraid To Ask

By •

Anna Genoese, she of Tor and Anna Louise’s blog, has written of those things that makes our black little heart race: an article on how books do (or don’t) make money. You know it’s a going to be good when the first thing you read about is P&L statements. All we can say is that we hope there’s a royalty calculation in there somewhere…just for fun! Seriously, she lays out the whole thing: all those little costs that people forget about (ah, freight, we know you well). The cover wars — a bad cover can cost you in pre-ordered copies.

The Business of Publishing

When Retirement Leaves You Lazy, Give Away Books

By •

You know us and our penchant for feel-good stories (hey, it happened once!). We all worry about what we’ll do with our post-retirement selves. A few friends have noted that “sitting around” is their number one goal, and while we salute sloth, we think it might get boring. Thus we have a solution: spend the last of your earthly sums on books and give them away. That’s what Irwin Herman is doing — and he’s happy. You want to be happy, don’t you? “I kicked back,” Herman said. “I swam. I got brown. Then a friend said that the guys

Square Pegs

About Writing Contests and Verb

By •

Laurel Snyder has asked us, in the most appropriate way possible, to post this exciting news about her upcoming writers’ contest. Because we are highly susceptible to flattery, we are more than happy to get the word about the First Annual Verb Fiction Contest out. Also, we do so love writing contests. Rules, submission information, and exclamation points after the break.

Square Pegs

Amazon Goes 2.0 Crazy

By •

Normally, we don’t do this*, but needs must and all that. We dutifully waited for the archived edition of yesterday’s Publisher’s Lunch to be posted because Michael Cader did a bang-up job of reviewing the cool (and sometimes perplexing) new features at Amazon.com. We appreciate this, given our natural laziness. Alas, the good stuff is on the members’ only side of the Publisher’s Marketplace divide, so you’ll have to be satisfied with us telling you how great the story is. Probably you’ve noticed them: the plogs, the wiki, the stats showing what percentage of people who viewed the book your

Square Pegs

Short, Easy-To-Read Personnel News

By •

We’re admittedly bad at tracking all the editorial movement going on — but who could keep up with all the comings and going? But since we have a nice slew of desk changes, we’ll share a few: Farrin Jacobs has moved to HarperCollins Children’s Books as executive editor. She was previously editor at Red Dress Ink. Ballantine associate editor Julia Cheiffetz was promoted to editor. Because Adams Media COO Scott Watrous will be leaving to head Globe Pequot Press, a bunch of people will be doing his job. Gary Krebs, Karen Cooper, and Jeanne Emanuel will share duties, though presumably

Publishers and Editors

ReganMedia Comes To LA; LA Shrugs

By •

In the interest of scientific inquiry, we did a quick poll of our peers to gauge interest in the impending arrival of Judith Regan. Angelenos are, quite obviously, fascinated by celebrity and when a high-profile editor arrives on our fair shore, well, giddy is not too strong a word. Except, and perhaps we can blame the news media, the general reaction to this news was, “Who?” Followed by, “Does this have a point?” Then the kicker, “Whatever.” We tried explaining the part where Regan is planning to bring culture to Los Angeles. That was met with, “On purpose?” Okay, Regan

Publishers and Editors

Anne Tyler Reveals All

By •

You know how it goes — you’re waiting for something to process, so you say, quite logically, “I think I’m going to check out the Anne Tyler interview at Failbetter.” Possibly you decide to do this in a public place. Be warned: those snort-like chuckles? They can be heard by the people around you. Naturally, we do not speak from personal experience. Our snort-like chuckles are of the most delicate variety. Tyler isn’t one for major publicity pushes. We imagine that if we saw her on the Today show, it would be by accident. Either hers or ours, doesn’t matter.

Square Pegs
Scroll to Top