Booksquare

A few months back, HarperCollins launched its “Author Assistant” project (example here. In a nutshell (meaning, yes, I’m going to get into more detail in a few paragraphs), the service allows HC authors to easily build dynamic web presences with a smattering of Web 2.0 features that allow for community building. Authors must be active […]

As you’ve noticed, I am greatly preoccupied by the Writers Guild of America strike. Not only is the gleaming BS headquarters based in Southern California, but I know people on the picket line. I’ve grown accustomed to seeing some of them hard at work while I’m pretending to do the same. I also know people […]

As the world settles into a potentially long winter of reruns and very bad reality television, the role of the writer in Hollywood is gaining new attention. We all know that someone writes those words that Angelina Jolie speaks on the big screen. We are newly aware that David Letterman’s “Top Ten List” isn’t created […]

Today, as those of you feverishly attacking your keyboards know all too well, marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month. Every year, during the month of November, thousands of people band together for a common cause: to write a novel over the course of what is surely the second-hardest month of the year. That […]

As you know, the potential for a writers’ strike in Hollywood has been occupying more than a fair share of my brain power these past few months. Since I’m just an interested but casual observer, I can well imagine the tensions it’s creating for the real players. Especially since it appears the two sides are […]

As I read my morning edition of Publisher’s Lunch (for me, it’s really more of a breakfast thing), I noted this line from Michael Cader: “It’s interesting that as online contest fever for unpublished works continues to grow, press attention is diminishing.” He then goes on to detail the latest social networkesque publishing contest to […]

I was reading comments on a blog and paused over one that said that libraries are “free options” in the book world. Over time, that idea roiled around in my little brain. Are libraries really free? ‘Cause if they are, then, wow, finally there’s something in this world without a catch. It is time that […]

So here’s the deal: depending on how you interpret the numbers, one in four Americans didn’t read a single book last year* or three out of four Americans read at least one book last year. If you stick with the latter statistic, that’s a whole lot of reading going on. Remember, this is a really […]

Today’s theme is “What I Did On My Summer Vacation”, though the fact that summer revelries have been condensed into 2 1/2 days should tell you something. Mostly that the child-free of the world are able to schedule their vacations for less crowded times of the year. Even though the trip is short, I, naturally, […]

Okay, I admit it. I was looking forward to a more contentious summer. A summer filled with knock-down, drag-out fights. You know, the stuff in movies. By the ones who make the movies. To date, the negotiations between the Writers’ Guild and the studios have been remarkably, boringly civil. Which is to say, they’ve been […]