Author name: Booksquare

Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism.

Niche: The Buzzword of The Year

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You can’t walk around Booksquare headquarters without hearing something about niches. For a change, we’re not talking about the places where dust collects — these are genuine niches where a need years to be filled. A recent study has shown that publishers are realizing these niches exist. Oh, not those publishers. The study has revealed that the great democratizer (sorry, it’s going to be one of those posts), the Internet, has allowed small publishers to do something they hadn’t done before: make money. It is easier to find bookstore space, to reach wider audiences, advertise. Even shipping seems to be […]

Publishers and Editors

Your Blog Is Your Business, A Rant On The Effective Use of Tools

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Or, as we like to think of it, an extremely long post on why you need to think about your blog and what can do for your career. We wrote this for our local RWA chapter after reading one too many posts that said (essentially) “I couldn’t resist the urge. I’ve started my own blog. Now what?” Needless to say, the original version was much longer and crankier. We have since calmed down. Yes, in other words, we could have gone on for days on this topic. For those with short attention spans, we have divided the article into three

Books/Mags/Blogs, Tools and Craft

Focusing On the Business Part of the Business of Writing

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We have a few posts this morning that deal with business issues, specifically the promotion side of running your writing job. Yes, we’re going to talk about websites and blogs. First up, a primer from Suzanne McMinn on things you should know about your own website. We are going to suggest that Suzanne had her nice hat on today. We, of course, do not own a nice hat (though we do own many nice hats). Not understanding technology is a lousy excuse for not running your website as a major promotional tool. The technology, frankly, is not that complex and

Tools and Craft

File Under: Concepts We Can’t Wrap Our Brain Around

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Perhaps it’s us. Maybe our view of a Dickensian world is unfairly bleak. Maybe the gray browns of orphanages and back alleys are our projection. Or maybe it’s this quote: The $113 million project will recreate the Victorian era when young children worked in sweatshops, Britain ruled over a vast empire and Dickens penned classic works like “Bleak House” and “The Pickwick Papers.” Yes. Nothing like spending the day buying overpriced beverages and standing in line to ride the sweatshop rollercoaster. Great Expectations for British Dickens Theme Park

Square Pegs

And The Beat Goes On

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We were dragged kicking and screaming to Don Quixote. Such is the power of cliche to affect perception. If we recall correctly, we were the only one in our Freshman English Literature (not real title) class to finish the book. Within a week. Though we never publicly admit to being wrong, we may have been, well, less than well informed coming into the whole experience. We cannot, however, write eloquently on the subject no matter how deep our love. Don’s 400 years old, and it takes one more masterful than we to capture the importance of the work: Now I’m

Books/Mags/Blogs

You’d Think The Publishers Would Be Screaming

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We recently read a theory on the placement of romance novels in bookstores. Briefly, because romance readers are voracious readers, bookstores place romances near the back so that plenty of shopping gets done before the final destination is reached. You’d think Barnes & Noble would have learned something from that. Somehow, we think not: Word that Barnes & Noble is planning to move its Discover New Writers display off the front racks of many stores at the end of May is setting off alarms across the industry. If the plan goes forward, many publishers believe it could be a blow

Books/Mags/Blogs

Last Wishes

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We cannot count the number of times we’ve said “just because Hunter S. Thompson does it, it doesn’t mean you have to do it, too” to the husband. Who generally replied, “Yes it does.” Needless to say, since he heard about the cannon, nothing less will make him happy. Gonzo king to go out with a bang

Square Pegs

Wasting Time, Friday Style

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We have a week’s worth of reading to tackle. We have a week’s worth of writing to tackle. We have emails that should have been acknowledged last year. As always, we choose to face challenges with style. Yes, that is indeed code for avoidance. Because avoidance is the new responsibility. Nonsense is the new sense

Square Pegs

On Writing Challenges

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“Every single time, it’s an impossible job,” Mr. Potts said of poems celebrating royal weddings. “One’s not entirely clear why anyone bothers to do it.” A Poet Laureate’s Royal Call: Dreamy Ode to Ridiculed Love

Quote of the Week

And Another Goodbye

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Look at the women of the comics pages: mothers, little girls, nurses, the chicks in Apartment 3G (and we’re sure we don’t know what’s going on in that hotbed of thrills). Intrepid, independent, illustrated women were hard to find. Luckily, we had Brenda Starr. We, too, could have adventures. Who cared about humdrum reality: “Brenda Starr, Reporter” was sometimes criticized by journalists for its outlandish depiction of their profession. In one strip, Brenda brings a typed story to The Flash late at night and hands it to a custodian, who somehow gets it into the next day’s paper. On another

Square Pegs
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