Author name: Booksquare

Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism.

The Mysterious Voice

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In other Time Warner Books news (yes, we know, we didn’t mention the sale, but not because we don’t care; we are engaged in a new process for such news), MediaBistro interviews Kristen Weber editor at Mysterious Press and Warner Books. We’re going to end the suspense now: Mysterious Press, for those who aren’t reading closely, is dedicated to genre fiction. You may figure out the correct genre on your own. The key to a good mystery is a good mystery, but behind the clues and red herrings and series-building lies the one thing that separates an author from the […]

Publishers and Editors

Thinking Hard About The New HarperCollins Venture? Excellent, Excellent

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For our thoughts on HarperCollins’ recent decision to try an advertiser-supported program, look no further. Or rather look no further after you click the link. Yes, we heard you, one person who thinks our obsession with the future of publishing is bizarre. We have attempted to address your concerns, but strongly suspect it’s not going to take. We are lazy. HarperCollins Tries Online Publishing On For Size

Non-Traditional Publishing, The Future of Publishing

On The American Vernacular

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In his prime, a century after the Declaration of Independence, Twain was a Yankee original who rendered the vocabulary and tone of the American vernacular, previously despised, in a way that was neither parody, nor caricature, but literature. The voice of America: Through his novels – and heroes – Mark Twain was indisputably the United States’s first literary superstar. Ron Powers examines his life and work in an exhilarating new biography, says Robert McCrum

Quote of the Week

The World of Publishing, February Begins Edition

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And here is publishing world round-up for this week: James Freyed by agent who sez ‘trust broken’ – Kassie Evashevski of Brillstein-Grey dumped James Frey. Turns out he lied to her, too. Kate Rogers moves to Mountaineers Books as editor-in-chief. National Lampoon Plans to Yuk it Up in Print – National Lampoon, not satisfied with the highly-lucrative direct-to-video market opens an publishing division. Ten to twelve titles annuallly, distribution by Holtzbrinck, presumably funny. Juliet Ulman was named senior editor at Bantam Dell. Per Publisher’s Lunch: “At Harcourt, editor-in-chief Becky Saletan has been promoted, given the additional title of associate publisher.”

Agents, Publishers and Editors

When Booksellers Go, uh, Unexpurgated

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We’re going to say straight up that we don’t believe a new mission statement makes for a new mission, but we are always pleased when the publishing industry looks forward. The New England Booksellers Association has set forth an ambitious plan and created some interesting goals to achieve them: The committee also calls on NEBA to increase member competitiveness through better communication, including unexpurgated blogs, and a program for in-store peer review. We will spend the rest of our day wondering how “unexpurgated” blogs will fit into the mix. We have unfortunate visions at the moment, and surely do not

The Business of Publishing

On Opportunity

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. . .an email seen by L.A. Weekly suggests that Barrus is already attempting to parlay his newfound notoriety into a tell-all memoir. In an ironic twist, he calls the new work a novel. Nasdijj Shops Tell-All – And signs his real name to blog

Quote of the Week

Clever Author Tricks, Or How Booksellers Feel About Turning Titles Face-Out

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Bookseller Chick, who is somewhere on the West Coast, but probably not Pasadena as she never speaks of her home in terms that imply sheer perfection, answered reader questions this week. She deigned to address the issue of authors who turn their books cover out (or their friends who help do this), drive-by signings, and chocolate as bribery. We are pleased to see her stance on bookmarks and other important issues. And we are pleased to note that rudeness still doesn’t pay (at least not well): What appears to happen (and what has happened in my store) is that friends

Marketing For Introverts

Public Service Announcement #24

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We are totally behind tilting at windmills, so bring you the story of one man’s attempt to accomplish the impossible*. Since the fine folks at the OED are more diligent than those at the U.S. Patent Office, they do a pretty thorough search for prior examples of word usage. We suspect this internet thing helps. In one case, a man’s attempt to get his made-up word (Jill, you are not alone) into the dictionary of record was deemed “amusing”. We have been called amusing more than once in our life, and it’s rarely the compliment it seems. For example, when

Square Pegs

Fulfilling the Scene Mission

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Far be it for us to express disappointment when a television network embraces fans, or, in this case, fan-fic, but, you know us. Too little caffeine. The L Word is inviting fans to play along by writing scenes based on a “mission”. You know, the scene recons the territory, comes up with a strategy, executes a battle, does mop-up, and is home in time to vote itself better than all the other scenes. So why our disappointment? Well, FishBowlLA notes this: The episode won’t be produced (thank god, although it could be pretty hilarious), but various prizes will be offered.

Square Pegs

Amazon Introduces Plog, We Are Intrigued

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Okay, we were more than a little surprised to see that Phillip Jennings was prominently featured on our Amazon homepage. Also purses, iPod cases, and books (the books were at the bottom, which is rather sad, but maybe it’s one of those things that moves around whenever we reload). But let’s back up — we had messages from Phillip Jennings waiting for us when we went to Amazon to make a random purchase or do research*. You may remember him as the author of the brilliant Nam-A-Rama; we just thought it was odd that he was on the Amazon homepage.

Marketing For Introverts
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