Finding a Tenuous Connection in the News

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First we start with a story about a hapless tourist lost in the wilds of Bavaria (having never been to Bavaria, we can only imagine, though we now know there is mud). His mistake: using a guide book that was slightly out of date. This makes us a feel a little guilty as we just pressed our favorite, but out-of-date, guide book on a friend. Here’s hoping for the best. Do we blame the tourist? Of course not, we blame Americans who apparently don’t read. Truly, we can’t think of anything sadder. We blame the educational system — it’s all […]

Square Pegs

It’s Like Flossing

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We admit it — the thought of marketing makes us uncomfortable. It seems so…much like sellilng ourselves. Which, unfortunately, is part of the game. Authors cannot rely upon publishers to provide support, like, oh, advertising or prominent mentions in interviews. Forget the publisher-financed book tour. So often it’s up to the author to create buzz, sustain buzz, and reignite buzz when it becomes apparent numbers need bolstering. We keep thinking we’re going to write an article or two on marketing for the marketing averse, but we get sweaty and tense just thinking about it. Surely there is a magical way

Tools and Craft

A Writer Walks Into A Van

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The Great American Writing Road Trip Adventure, sponsored by Writer’s Digest Books, is coming to a bookstore near you (unless your us and somehow missed it in all the excitement that is our life). The Road Trip is encouraging writers of all stripes (from “I’ve been thinking” to “I’ve succeeded”) in their craft and networking. A website has been created to help writers connect with other writers — possible much better than our approach (serendipity, for those who are interested). It seems the database could use a little populating, so if you’re lookign for like-minded souls, contribute your information. Cross

Square Pegs, Tools and Craft

Industry Wags Dog

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If you were to have the misfortune of coming for dinner (or if you’re the poor souls who bought the house behind us…so close to our patio), you would notice a pattern in our evening discussions with the husband. Sure, we talk baseball (he has quite a bit to say on the subject of Ken Macha, and no other subject can be introduced until he’s worn down the rant), but then we often veer into one of our favorite subjects: how the music industry sucks. In fact, that is the name of our ongoing discussion. We have spent years (this

Square Pegs

The Secret History of Agents

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It has been said that we’re obsessed with our blog. This is not true. Contrary to popular belief, our first actions of the morning have nothing to do with Booksquare. And that will continue to be the case every April through October. It is during those months that we rise and lament the inability of our fantasy baseball team to rise from its below average position (this year, we’re certain it has everything to do with the league leader being collusion with the devil or something equally nefarious). Then we read our email. Sometimes we see interesting tidbits for commenting,

Agents

Birds Do It, Girls Do It

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Something tells us that The Elegant Variation doesn’t hang on our every word. Luckily, we have a very strong ego, and can forgive him for missing the tip of the iceberg on this story: mere weeks ago, we broke the news that Harlequin is moving into straight erotica (the Spice imprint is ramping up). For the uninitiated, Harlequin is a very marketing driven publisher; when it invests in an imprint, there’s a good, solid financial basis for it. Apparently sex is the next big thing in Britain (makes us wonder if perhaps the author of the article is unaware of

Books/Mags/Blogs

Requests an AlphaSmart for Christmas

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Maud Newton points us to a lighthearted (but accurate) Fran Leibowitz story — how to tell if your child is a writer. We thought for a second we’d share one or two of our favorites. Then we realized we’d be reproducing the entire story. It’s easy enough to follow the link for a good giggle. Unless you’re afraid to see the truth about yourself in print… How to tell if your child is a writer

Square Pegs

Los Angeles: Our Literary World

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There we were in the triangle pose, celebrating the work of art that is us (which was unfortunate as we were positioned in such a way that the mirror reflected said work of art right back), when it all became clear: the author of today’s story on Los Angeles authors is either from another state (like Manhattan) or country (like Texas). Or maybe even another planet, though we’re not sure which currently has life evolved enough to write newspaper columns. First, for those of you who aren’t familiar with our home, Los Angeles is a big place. Bigger than you

Square Pegs

Humans: The Evolved Creature

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This Independent story isn’t particularly timely or revelatory, but what the heck? To nobody’s surprise, index-reading remains a hobby…and woe to those who aren’t name dropped. If we were to somehow acquire a scandalous existence (or even find ourselves on the fringe of such a thing), and then found the time and energy to name names, we think we’d take the “no index” approach. If you want to know what we say about you, read the damn book! Dishonourable mentions: Sometimes the most waspish writing is at the back of a book. And often it leaves little need to read

Books/Mags/Blogs

Market Declared Dead; New Products Express Surprise

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You may find yourself wondering why we get so excited by ebook readers. It’s very simple: we see so much potential in them. College students could cut book budgets to the bone (yes, that’s our fantasy world slipping out again). We see potential in business situation, for commuters, for vacationers, and…for authors. Many authors are turning to epublishers, for a variety of reasons; many readers don’t like sitting at the computer or scrolling through pages on their PDAs. So, yeah, we’re excited as heck about the potential here. Now if we could only convince Sony (see previous stories on the

Square Pegs
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