Dan Brown Update: Authors Rely On Sources

We have reached a new level of bemused. And are feeling the slightest bit of pity for Dan Brown. Which, given all of the other stuff we’ve been reading, writing, and hearing for the past week, leads us to worry about the state of research and fair use in this world. Setting aside the notion that Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh are making more than they should off of an old book that previously dwelt only in the libraries of conspiracy theorists, it’s bothersome that this trial is proceeding. According to the authors, Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a non-fiction […]

The Business of Publishing

The Good Karma Post

Sometimes we do have nice things to say about other people. Like the inimitable Jayne Ann Krentz. For those who think we spent our evenings in Texas hanging out at bars, uh uh, not us — we were working hard with the lovely HelenKay Dimon on a Krentz appreciation. Then we hit the bars. Perfect Partners by Jayne Ann Krentz

Square Pegs

Leaving Austin In The Dim Morning Light

Our Austin journey, as all Austin journeys must, has come to an end. Only one more night of drinking and carousing (we, of course, always watch from sidelines or something like that) and then it’s back to the Center of the Universe and real life. We’re still writing up our thoughts on various sessions — most of the remaining items are more relevant to Medialoper, so look for them there. Remember: all you have to do is substitute the word “publishing” for any of the other media types listed. We were very excited to meet the Pinky behind Pinky’s Paperhaus

Square Pegs

You, Life, and Digital Preservation

It is the year 2006, and librarians, historians, and archivists have a serious question: are they too late when it comes to archiving blogs. Oh sure, you might ask if blogs are worthy of such weighty thought, but unlike a diary written in the 1800s, today’s world moves too fast to wait to discover what, if anything, is the long-term impact of today’s blog and/or web environment. At the SXSWi panel “Digital Preservation and Blogs”, not only was the question of time addressed, but also the question of what should be archived for the future. As much as preserving the

Square Pegs

The Curse of Handwriting

Our nascent educational career nearly ground to a halt when we first encountered “handwriting”. Prior to this, we’d kept the mother on staff as a sort of stenographer (“Please excuse Booksquare early today as she has to explain to the dentist why she refuses to floss”). As it turns out, making all those letters and dots and whatnot is hard word and our early teachers did not appreciate that we were making art — and sometimes that means illegible. Later, we encountered “typing”. There used to be this machine called a typewriter. It came in manual and electric. You put

Square Pegs

File Under: Authors Gone Wild

Kate Braverman has been getting a lot of press lately, including a pretty nice interview in the Los Angeles Times (which thanks to the paper’s lame search engine can’t be found, though a letter to the editor about the article is [almost] easily located). Now comes the kind of press no author wants, even one who believes that there is no such thing as negative publicity. Apparently, Braverman broke up with her publisher, Graywolf, in a messy, public, take-no-prisoners sort of way. Based on available evidence, Braverman doesn’t look good. Braverman’s list of grievances appear to be myriad, centering around

Square Pegs

Google Book Search: Industry-Friendly, Consumer Not-So-Friendly

It is so hard to keep up with Google Book Search news these days. Honestly, we’re sitting in a room with the dude from Google — does he mention the new revenue sharing model? That would be a big, fat “No!” Of course, as you’ll recall from our previous posts, it was a busy conversation. So Google is adding a paid component to their searches, allowing publishers to set the price and sharing the revenue between the two entities (assuming a book has only one publisher, and in this modern world, one can never make such bold assertions). Being lazy,

Non-Traditional Publishing

On Lack of Definition

If the word “inspiration” is to have any meaning,’ TS Eliot wrote, ‘it must mean just this, that the speaker or writer is uttering something that he does not wholly understand – or which he may even misinterpret when the inspiration has departed from him.’ Divine inspiration

Quote of the Week

Why We Ran Through The Austin Convention Center

Let us assure you that there was no way we were going to miss a panel discussion called “Revenge of the Librarians” during our week at SXSW. It was so worth running through a massively huge convention center in high heels. Of course, we’re super-lazy and only wrote one post on the topic. It’s over at Medialoper. So many blogs to feed, you know…. Librarians Versus The Search Giants

Square Pegs

Our Life Of Crime

We have a small confession to make: yesterday, we did something unethical. Willingly and deliberately, we snuck into a workshop at someone else’s conference. Yes, we walked down the hall from our own conference to another conference and brazenly walked in, sat down, and listened to a panel discussion. We will let you pause for a moment to reflect upon our crime (though we believe we have sufficient positive karma banked to protect our soul) as we reflect upon the irony of walking out of a session on blogging and writing to sneak into a session on writing and blogging*.

The Future of Publishing
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