Author name: Booksquare

Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism.

Caffeine Flowing, Questions Rising

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Have we mentioned our esteem for the press? Good, then we can move on. Sara Nelson starts the day with a story that would almost work…if only she’d found a better example. She says that actors are sidling out of their glittery lives with novels (novels!) in hand, seeking yet another revenue stream. We will pause a for moment to reflect on their gall. Done? If not, you can catch up later — we’re busy people here. Alas, the slithery, slimy actor she chooses is, well, a writer. Not that his behavior should be excused, oh no. But Chris Elliott […]

Square Pegs

Mr. Adams, Avert Your Eyes

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It is with great sadness and regret that we come to yet another confession: four years of high school French, one year of college French, and all we got out of it was the ability to speak Spanish to our Paris taxi driver. So while we couldn’t puzzle out every word in The International Tribune’s article on the back-to-the-real-world book rush in France, we think we got the gist: lots of books in stores, too many to read, readers rely on awards to guide them, still far too many books, but that’s okay, it’s all about the glory. Your translation

Books/Mags/Blogs

Professional Standards

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You can’t practice medicine without a license. Or rather, you can, but it’s best not to get caught. Same for cutting hair. One must be board certified and reasonably trained in basic hygiene. Now, law, well, it’s all a matter of charming the jury. No need for formal schooling or that sort of thing. Truly, if one can represent oneself, why go to the bother of law school. So many tests, so many sleepless nights… We’ve noted the fact that anyone can declare themself a writer. The tools are easily purchased, the skills are taught in public schools, and there

Square Pegs

Our Innate Nosiness

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Sure, we could send a lengthy, private email to ask all of our questions, but that’s not our style. So here’s yet another question for the birthday girl (she’s so regretting offering to drop by for a visit, but she’ll be enjoying her long weekend before she knows it): Now that you’ve finished checking your Amazon rankings for the billionth time, talk to us about alpha males. What works for alpha and what doesn’t? Do you think alpha males have gotten a bad rap in recent years? It seems to us that with stronger female characters the trend is toward

Wrapped Up In Books

We Knew It!

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It is always a pleasure to have our suspicions confirmed. Not that we require such events to occur — we remain firm in our convictions that we’re always right. It makes life so much easier. But we knew there was something more to this “prolific” thing than hard work. It was simply too pat an answer, too obvious a solution. We’ve read enough to know that there is always more than what appears on the surface. Now, to be honest, we never considered pretzels as a performance enhancing drug, but we admit we’re not much into experimenting. Fear of addiction

Square Pegs

No Need to Rush, The Internet Will Be Around A Long Time

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We realize we shouldn’t make fun of journalists because freedom of the press is what makes this nation great and all that, but, honestly, hasn’t there been a rash of inane headlines lately? Yesterday, we saw one stating that Laura Bush was to praise her husband at the Republican National Convention. Unless there was a serious, nasty disagreement over the breakfast table, this was a given, no? And what accused criminal is going to hold a press conference to announce their guilt? It would be nice, but not likely to happen. So, of course, our first thought when we read

Publishers and Editors

Now That She’s Busy…

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We can traipse down the path of updates and such. We start with the latest from MediaBistro’s Pitching series. Have we recommended a subscription lately? Consider it done. Today, we focus on the Laura Dail Literary Agency. Agents Laura Dail and Talia Cohen like smart fiction, some YA stuff (also smart), and non-fiction. Lots of non-fiction. Dail focuses on practical non-fiction, while Cohen likes something a bit quirkier. We, as always, leave it to you to determine the difference between the two. Pitching an Agent: Laura Dail Literary Agency Laura Dail Literary Agency

Agents

Where No Mind Has Gone Before

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We think we’ve finally gotten accustomed to having a guest in our house. She rises early and posts while we’re snoozing. Sweet. If only we weren’t conditioned to hit the keyboard before our first drops of caffeine hit the bloodstream, life would be ideal. Besides, we’re sure someone would miss us if we disappeared completely. As the meeting gods are (temporarily) sated, we can return to our normal life of sloth and snark. Not necessarily in that order. We’re sure we have lots and lots of things to say, but first we have to toss out the question that kept

Wrapped Up In Books

Dealing With Agents

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It is said that to get published, you must have an agent. And to get an agent, you must be published. We’ve taken classes where instructors have implied that the only path to publication is through an agent — yet this always seems to be news to the editors we encounter. Yes, like everything else in this business, the rules are completely made up by people who take their individual situations and extrapolate them to the entire universe. And, yes, we do it all the time. That’s merely because we’re always right — it’s only appropriate that we share our

Wrapped Up In Books

Trends That Must Stop

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We cannot be any more plain: the fashion of taking historical figures and making them into gumshoes must end. It was cute and clever for about five minutes. Now it’s an eye roller. And not in a happy, good way. We cannot believe Aristotle dusting for fingerprints. We are skeptical that Elvis Presley possessed the requisite attention span. And, please, tell us Beatrix Potter is not out crime-solving with the help of Peter Rabbit. We beg you — promise us it isn’t so. We are willing to grant, on occasion, that an author might be interested in spinning a story

Books/Mags/Blogs
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