Ode to The August Author

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The distribution issues at the Penguin warehouse in Rugby, UK have received surprisingly little press outside a few blogs and Publisher’s Lunch. This surprises us to no end — for an entire quarter, shipments of books were pretty much not happening. For authors whose books were released during that period (or in the months just prior), countless sales were lost. If you know anything about publishing (and we know you do), you know that once the initial release period passes, you’re not exactly on your publisher’s radar. After careful thought and analysis (we linked to the story about the start […]

Publishers and Editors

On The Joy of Knowing The Guy Who Said That

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Or are the solipsists who once looked upon the internet as a fad, believing it would suffer the same fate as CB radios, and who once thought online news would never equal print. Alas, he’s still waiting to see if this email thing is going to stick as well. Like It or Not, Blogs Have Legs

Quote of the Week

We Like the Idea of Powerful Agents, We Do

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What with one thing and the other (mostly the other), we have about fifteen tabs open in Firefox, each representing something we meant to post on over the past week or so. If we were to stop and dwell on how pathetic this makes us, well, we’d never get around to posting anything. Our goal, today, is to make a concerted effort to close about half these tabs. For those who are unfamiliar with this tactic, our sudden desire to clean up our virtual desktop is a classic sign of avoidance. Also, we were thinking of rebooting the laptop sometime

Agents

We’re Always Behind The Times, But Somerset Maugham Is Our Fantasy Man

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Granted, the beauty of fantasy men is that they’re not real, but we never let that distract us. Probably every blog and its brother has linked to this story about Bookslut and its human, but we wouldn’t be us if we didn’t march really slowly because of days of email to slog through. Did anyone catch that blogs are over (see previous posts)? Really a shame, because, what with being easy to publish and all, blogs are the next big thing. Publishers are getting it: hey, these people read our stuff and like it. Maybe we can do some business.

Books/Mags/Blogs

We Idolize Few

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Being the child of a librarian is rough — you get to be a guinea pig, of sorts. The drawback is that your mother works in your school and things get dicey when you’re in the principal’s office. The upside is that you get your greedy little fingers on new books before the other kids. If we didn’t count it as one of our life’s major accomplishments, we’d have to admit we are so nerdy, it’s embarrassing. It’s amazing how clearly our childhood reading stands out in our mind. We can see the school library. Pinpoint the location of the

Square Pegs

Oh, Hello, Thank You for Making It Official

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We’re not big on predicting the future (seriously, keeping a crystal ball all shiny and stuff requires a lot of effort, and we don’t have much in the way of staff), but we were so waiting for the blogger backlash, like, almost a year ago. Mostly because we enjoy irony, and it’s hard to top the rising number of blogs versus the, uh, downfall of blogs. Because, see, it’s not like one size fits all. Oops, sorry, lapse into cynicism. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re not entirely sure of the point being made in the article below (heck, we’re still trying

Square Pegs

It’s Remembering To Return The Little Form That Causes Us Problems

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We admit it: we’re lame. You send us a form that says “return this or else we’ll send you books” and we don’t return the form. And then we get books. But not always the books we want. Yeah, the Internet has helped, but we still, uh, accidentally forget to follow through and end up with way too many books on low-carb cooking, and not enough books we want to read (the former being books we probably should read). And while new members will still get to choose five books for $1, with an obligation to buy four more, the

Square Pegs

Just Call Us Zaphod Beeblebrox

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We are of two minds on the concept of anonymous reviews. One mind thinks that anonymity allows a reviewer to be more honest (and we’re bothered by the fact that we have to include “more” before honest). The other mind thinks there is a bond between reviewer and reader, and, in reviews, voice is not always discernible. Mind #1 reminds us that it is virtually impossible to write without bias (computers notwithstanding, and we have our doubts there). Mind #2 asks what’s wrong with stand by your opinion. Is it any wonder that we can’t decide on a restaurant? In

Square Pegs

On Articles Leaving The Best For Last, Or Is This What They Call Burying The Lead

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But these are not just warmed-up seconds. What continues to distinguish [A] Alvarez is his passion for writing and his eloquence about it. For Alvarez – no surprise here – the crucial quality is tone: ‘For a writer,’ he says, ‘voice is a problem that never lets you go… a writer doesn’t properly begin until he has a voice of his own.’ Writing a book is one thing … signing it is another matter says Robert McCrum

Quote of the Week

We’re Going to Find The Eleventh, Just Give Us Time

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We’re intrigued by the mixed focus at Sarah Lazin Books — narrative non-fiction and womens’ fiction? Sure, it makes sense in a way, but in another way? Well, that’s diversity for you. Besides, we’re focusing all of our energy on the fact that there are only ten stories in the world. Surely there must be more, or is this like the seven basic plots? Really need more coffee. Sarah Lazin and Paula Balzer like a wide range of non-fiction, all with strong platforms. Balzer also …represents an equal amount of fiction, and Lazin notes that she is “very good at

Agents
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