Author name: Booksquare

Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism.

Moonves Sees The Future In S&S Library

By •

Though we cannot imagine anyone out there biting their nails over Les Moonves’s thoughts on the future of Simon & Schuster, there is a sense of relief that Moonves has said that the publishing house will remain part of the CBS family. Sure, there could be more synergy, but, you know, there can always be more synergy. That’s the problem with synergy, once you get a little, you’re like an addict. He then shines a light on the future before asking and answering a rhetorical question: Although he acknowledged that the synergy between S&S and other CBS units could be […]

The Future of Publishing

Number One Booksquare Vice? Schadenfreude.

By •

Ha! You thought we’d say Chinese noodles, didn’t you? Noodles are, we have recently discovered, our third biggest vice. That is beside the current point. We have been accused of such heinous crimes as “being mean”, and to that, we can only say, well, yes, that’s true. Some people tap dance, we don’t. Neither, apparently, does James Frey (did you know he wrote about book about writing fiction? We didn’t, but the husband has provided almost-incontrovertible proof). At the risk of offending delicate sensibilities, word on the street is that Oprah Winfrey does not like being made to look foolish.

Square Pegs

More Gushing About O’Reilly

By •

The husband brought our attention to a new program from O’Reilly (home of the best geek book covers ever): Rough Cuts. What is a rough cut? So glad you asked. Sometimes you just can’t wait for the book. When you need to learn a new technology right now, turn to the Rough Cuts service from Safari Books Online. You’ll get early access to books on cutting-edge technologies-you can literally read them as they’re being written. O’Reilly’s online “Safari” service has been a real back-saver in the BS household. Hmm, that’s probably not true. While we have reduced the number of

Publishers and Editors, The Future of Publishing

For LA Writers With Nothing But Nothing To Do On A Saturday Morning

By •

If you happen to find yourself with very little to do this coming Saturday (apparently, January 28; time does fly), drop by the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (formerly, and fondly, the Temporary Contemporary, which you will note really rolls off the tongue) for a one-day writing workshop inspired by the current exhibition Ecstasy: In and About Altered States. Specifics: Instructor: Maria Hummel, novelist, former MOCA editor, Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. $55 MOCA members; $70 nonmembers INFO 213/621-1745 or e-mail education@moca.org And, hey, while you’re there, check out the art, too. Our official assessment: it ranges from extremely cool to

Square Pegs

Meet The New Memoir: Now With Free Warning Stickers

By •

Augusten Burroughs’ next book, uh, Possible Side Effects will come complete with a prominently displayed* warning sticker: “Author’s note: Some of the events described happened as related, others were expanded and changed. Some of the individuals portrayed are composites of more than one person and many names and identifying characteristics have been changed as well.” * – We made that up; we have no idea how big or how prominent the thing might be. Page Six says it’s a half page in the galleys. Our wildest imagination cannot absorb such a thing happening in real life; then again, we never

Books/Mags/Blogs

Musical Chairs: Publishing Style

By •

Publisher’s Lunch announces that Geoffrey Kloske has ankled Simon & Schuster for Riverhead. PL also hints that in addition to high quality books and a brilliant editing mind, Kloske might be augmenting his staff with a woman soon. We don’t know why that’s important, but are feeling particularly useful at the moment, figuring it matters to someone. In other publishing news, it seems like everyone is playing musical offices this week. A quick scan of headlines in our inbox reveals: Anjali Singh of Vintage moving up to senior editor. Tina Pohlman becoming editorial director at Houghton Mifflin. She’ll oversee the

Publishers and Editors

Playing With Numbers

By •

Here is what we want to know: why doesn’t anyone ever offer us money to do stuff like, oh, figure out the most popular settings for novels? Other than the fact that we’d probably take the money, do a little abracadabra, and poof! declare New York and London the winners…without actually putting out any effort. It takes very little reading experience to guess the answer to the question. Yes, the fine folks at Bowker have crunched lots of numbers, tested prices and formats, and tramped the misty heath of Scotland. Or something like that. The numbers aren’t surprising, unless the

The Business of Publishing

When Authors Blog

By •

Ander Monson is blogging up a storm about Other Electricities over at the Co-Op. In addition to talking about his vision of his book, he’s addressing the comments and questions raised in earlier discussions of the book. It’s pretty cool stuff, especially his thoughts on the unusual structure of the book and how the various ephemera fit into the overall picture. Tomorrow (or today, depending on your time zone), there will be more fun as Sarah Gorham (publisher of Sarabande Books) and Kirby Gann (whom you might remember from last quarter’s discussions) talk about the publishing and editing of this

Books/Mags/Blogs

From Bookseller To Agent In Two Easy Steps

By •

Julie Barer just celebrated her first anniversary as a solo agent after coming to the business the old-fashioned way: she discovered the power of hand-selling books while working in a bookstore. The principles translated to working with publishers. “At an independent bookstore, people still come in and ask booksellers for recommendations. I did a tremendous amount of hand selling. That’s what made me want to become an agent. I saw that you could really say, ‘I love this book and here’s why I’m passionate about it and go home and read it.’ If they loved it they’d come back and

Agents

One Week Later, Publisher’s Weekly Discovers The Truth

By •

Okay, we shouldn’t make fun. Much. But PW just got around (yesterday) to noting that Mad Max has been revealed. And we thought we were behind the curve because we were six hours late in discovering the news. You live, you learn. You now know it’s Dan Conaway. As he’s already proven himself to be a regular internet user, it makes sense, though we preferred thinking of Max as a mysterious, magical being. What doesn’t make sense, if we may, is this: “I’m stunned that anybody at a senior editorial level—let alone someone with [nine year-old] triplets—had the time to

Publishers and Editors
Scroll to Top