Author name: Booksquare

Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism.

Not So Much Innovative As Obvious

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As was inevitable, we have reached the nexus of book and podcast (and we don’t mean LitPods). Of course the podcast technology is ideal for delivering audio books — it’s doing just great with other type of audio delivery (the video seems a bit stalled, but we’re sure that’s just a blip on the technology meter; and, yeah, we know). The real story is that we, the world, have yet another potentially copyright violating technology to wring our hands over. Whatever will we do? How can we stop the madness? Can innovation just take a nap until the traditional processes […]

Square Pegs

Ah, To Be 25 And Have A Plan. Or To Just Have A Plan.

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Before we begin, we must say something of rather major importance: ouch. Jason Pinter is 25. Is that even legal drinking age? Driving age? Shouldn’t he be off backpacking through mountains or finding himself or something? Or has that golden age passed? We feel so out of touch sometimes. That being said, he knows what he likes: But when I turned the first page, all of a sudden it was four hours later, I’d forgotten about lunch, finished the book, and was yelling to anyone within shouting distance that it was the best novel I’d ever read on submission. We

Publishers and Editors

Blood: The Other Donation

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We see that many bloggers and others are urging donations of time, money, and goods to various relief organizations. And we strongly encourage those who can give to do so. But there’s another great need in this nation — not just the Gulf Coast region — and that is for blood. Not only does the need for donated blood rise in disaster areas, but the need across the United States has not abated either, and there is less blood entering the system right now. And almost everyone can give blood. Giving blood is easy. Sure, it takes a little time

Square Pegs

Ian Fleming, Dead; Avarice, Just Fine

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It can be argued that death shouldn’t be an impediment, yet for so many of us, drawing that last breath heralds the end of our creativity. But should our greatest achievements suffer for our mortality. No, says Ian Fleming Publications, that’s just wrong. Long live Bond and all that. Oh sure, it’s not like 007 ever went away — he’s had a storied movie career and does quite well in the soundtrack department. But that’s not the same as a novel. Then again, one could suggest that the success of a character is a whole function of the author. Change

Books/Mags/Blogs

In Which We Display, Yet Again, Our Ignorance

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Here is a real-life problem: say you are cruising through your morning reading, coffee at the exact right temperature. Suddenly, you encounter a lead sentence that gives you pause. Not the good, thoughtful kind of pause. The kind of pause that makes you swallow said exactly right temperatured coffee the wrong way. The kind of pause that can only be caused by an intellectual lament of dubiously obscure value: Why, oh why, did Salman Rushdie, in his new novel, “Shalimar the Clown” (Random House; $25.95), call one of his major characters Maximilian Ophuls? Max Ophuls is a highly distinctive name,

Books/Mags/Blogs

Note To Authors Who Might Eventually Become Beloved Enough To Be Taught To High School Freshmen: Leave Detailed, Well-Annotated Paper Trail. Also Back-Ups on USB Drives.

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Don’t get us wrong — we understand obsession. There is something. . .time sucking about worrying a matter to death. It’s almost as if the entire human psyche was constructed to use obsession to avoid reality. It sure beats paying the bills. For absolute proof of our theory, one needs look no further than the annual “Who was Shakespeare. Really.” round of articles. Just in time for the back to school crowd, scholars worry their pretty little heads about the man behind the plays and sonnets and whatnot. After all, the person who they think did the work couldn’t have

Square Pegs

Next They’ll Be Telling Us The Sky Isn’t Falling

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We are off to an unconscionably early morning meeting and, while we’d prefer to hang out with our blog, have no time. Let us just say the husband has started wielding an iron and asking questions about how it works. Like we’d know. Thus we leave you with an article to ponder. There will be an essay test later. Curiously unsatisfied with the idea that being a successful novelist requires the ability to write books that a consistently large number of people are prepared to buy, jaded scribblers search instead for an explanation that will permit them to retreat with

Square Pegs
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