The Daily Square – Changes Edition
Daily links from booksquare: booksquare
On Mastery Of Language
What Twain did was to stop policing the boundaries between book language and the kind used by regular folks in day-to-day life. It was a decision that opened the door to the vigorous life and invention of vernacular and oral English. It has given American novels a cocky swagger that survives still: the energy of Philip Roth’s prose, the sweet spin that George Saunders gives to his tales of McWorld, the tragic passions of Toni Morrison. And so on – and on and on. English literary language is a pitifully genteel thing by contrast. It’s not like there aren’t great
How To Behave In The Blogosphere, The Easy Way
We know that publishers are huddled in meetings, devising strategies for going forth and embracing the blogosphere. There may be task forces or committees or, shudder, ad hoc committees. Now that they have religion, publishers and more than a few authors are trying to figure out how to make the most of the opportunities provided by online communities As publishers and authors join communities, they need to remember the rules of engagement. One important thing to note is that you and your product are already being discussed. You have lost control of the conversation. In many ways, you lost control
The Daily Square – The Well and The Lighthouse Edition
Daily links from booksquare: booksquare
On Dedicating Your Opus
To whom, then? And how do you say it? It’s an almost impossible choice for, aside from the chosen one, every person you hold dear is going to be disappointed. Put it another way: writing a dedication to a novel is a bit like composing an email to your closest friends and family, explaining that you don’t like them as much as you have been pretending, hitting “send all” and cc-ing the rest of the world. Where to start? To whom it may concern
Stealing vs. Search – The Difference
Now don’t get us wrong, we think that Richard Charkin is a bright, savvy man. We would have, at one point, even suggested that he understood the difference between search and anonymity. Sigh. Let us try this one more time. Search is not about Google — search is about making sure your customers find you. Publishers are sitting on loads of content, more content than they realize (we do not believe that all publishers have put forth the necessary effort to inventory and catalogue all that they own). Several houses are embarking on what we like to consider brilliant moves