Author name: Booksquare

Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism.

In Our Continuing Series of Electronic Publishing Rants, Episode IV

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If you were paying attention back in 1998 (and, given the general dreariness of that year, we do not blame you for snoozing), you would have learned that the future was now (leaving you to wonder what it would be in the future) and that ebooks would be the medium of choice for all readers. No question about it. But, said the voices, what about those of us who love books? The feel, the smell, the heft, the way they disintegrate in hot water. We will not abandon our books for technology. We will not read books on our computer […]

Tools and Craft

One Came By Train

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Figures — Harper Lee pops into Los Angeles and we learn about it after the fact. Not that we were likely be invited to the Los Angeles Public Library’s 10th Annual Awards (really, they’ve had nine others?), but that’s beside the point. Lee attended the event to accept the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award. Harper Lee raises her low profile for a friend

Square Pegs

Found: One Clueless Literary Agent

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Without reading a word, we can guarantee there’s at least one author out there who’s probably not going to be published. Unless he or she finds a real angent. For the record, if your agent is contacting bloggers (even really smart bloggers like Sarah Weinman) for advice, your agent doesn’t have the necessary contacts or, well, brains to do the job. Because we are mean, mean, mean, we truly wish Sarah hadn’t politely blocked out the agency name. Now I know how Lee Goldberg feels

Agents

“Case” Study

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Genre fiction lives or dies by its structure. No matter what happens in the plot — and there are no rules there, except for a rather loose one about killing cats — the conventions of the genre must be followed. In science fiction, that modern version of the Western, good must triumph over evil. In romance, two people must find each other despite the odds. In mysteries, the puzzle must be solved. Genre fiction, because of its conventions, is idealistic. Literary fiction, it could be argued, is realistic. Neither idealism nor realism is superior or inferior. It all depends on

Books/Mags/Blogs

She Looked, She Leaped

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Our good friend Karen Palmer has taken over the helm at The Elegant Variation. We are not going to suggest that she’s already making us look bad by posting like a madwoman, but, well, she’s hit all the news that’s fit to report while we’re still staring at the coffee maker, wondering why it can’t read minds. Go visit Karen — ask her some tough questions in the comments (as you page forward through the site, there’s plenty of material to work with. We are so jealous.). She’s read the manual* and is prepared for anything. * – There’s a

Books/Mags/Blogs

Rejection: An Editor’s View

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Unless you are one of the lucky ones, you will be rejected at least once in your writing career. Depending on your constitution, this might be a punch in the gut or a confirmation of what you suspected. Or something in the middle. They’ll tell you it isn’t personal, and it likely isn’t. We are cynical and suspect certain behavior affects even the slush pile. Karma is our guiding principle. Anna Genoese, by all accounts, is a nice person. She’s also an editor at Tor/Forge; as previously noted, editors are lovely people, too. Anna Genoese has a job to do,

Publishers and Editors

Because We Could Not Resist…

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We’re not saying anything about our neighbors, but they might have some weird friends. Not that we’ve ever indulged in a game called “Dead Jazz Musicians” or anything (Sun Ra: dead or alive). We are not the sort. The Miles Davis thing was purely coincidence; Mose Allison is doing just fine, thank you. Let us suggest that some things make us feel good about our particular level of crassness: Like taking those expired Percocet, it seemed to be a good idea at the time. On some blog or another I ran into a mention of celebritydeathbeeper.com. Interesting idea: they send

Square Pegs

Not Lost in Translation

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We believe that being a translator of fiction must be one of the hardest jobs ever. Oh sure, some would say brain surgeon, but they’ve never had to guide sarcasm from one language to the next. Fiction does not have the advantage of immediate and direct facial and vocal cues. It’s all in the words — and getting the words wrong changes everything. Yeah, everything. What if a certain story had been translated as “Killing An Eskimo”? Dan Wickett talks to David Karashima, a translator who began his noble career translating manga. As we suspected, we are not suited for

Books/Mags/Blogs, Square Pegs

An Idea Whose Time Maybe Hasn’t Quite Come

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We’re confused. In our defense, it’s been like, oh, a day since that last happened. So we’re catching up on Publisher’s Lunch (or, in our case today, Publisher’s Afternoon Break Because Our Eyes Are Crossed) and we stumble across an item that seems, on the surface to be too strange for words. And not just because it’s buried at the bottom of the “Blogwatch” column. See, normally, we expect a blog-related posting. Not this time. Our old friends at Penguin (see all previous) have come up with an idea that’s either brilliant or bizarre. It’s not a situation where you

Publishers and Editors

We Guessed What the “A” In Agent A Meant

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We recently had the distinct pleasure of meeting Martha O’Connor, and are very excited about her book The Bitch Posse. She was very gracious when she gently noted that we were a bit behind on our reading…she’d gone ahead and done a Backstory while we were slaving away at the Evil Empire. We’re going to coerce her to drop by to share her thoughts on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (also strange men on airplanes). In the meantime, we’ll start the story here: In February of 2003, I was one disheartened and frustrated girl. After three failed novel

Books/Mags/Blogs
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