Square Pegs

We discovered the truth about our profession from the news. This is not unusual when you work in Hollywood (the myth, not the location) — press releases are a fine way to discover your company has been sold and you’re about to be laid off. It says much about our powers of analysis that we were able read an article about creative accounting and realize, “Hey, they’re talking about us!” After ten long years, we left our glamorous (ha!) position in the entertainment industry to concentrate on writing. It’s hard to work up enthusiasm for anything when you spend two […]

Didn’t we read about the (next) biggest author since J.K. Rowling last month? How is it possible there’s another? Do they come off the assembly line or what? Shouldn’t the book, at the very least, be released worldwide before such pronouncements are made? Yes, that’s it — there should be some sort of standards before an author is declared the next Rowling. If only to level the playing field. After all, if everyone is the next big thing, what room is there for underachievers or authors of quiet little novels? The pressure is simply too great. We’ll add this to

Because if they don’t, we make things up. Like, oh, how it’s possible for an author to burn his original manuscripts. Like, what, the handwritten versions? The versions he did on the rickety old typewriter? The only print-outs in existence because not only does he burn things, but he deletes from his hard drive without backing up? See why we simply cannot be satisfied with this story? Author burns original manuscripts

We know, we know. We should be nicer. We should also get up earlier and eat better. It’s all so difficult. But, in a world where far too many books are published, you can’t expect each one to receive the careful, thoughtful, undivided attention it surely deserves. Even if the world of book reviewers magically increased ten-fold, the law of averages and volume and probably other laws we don’t know about would dictate that not every book would get critical attention. Yet, rather than accepting the industry for what it is (and we all complain about the industry in some

Inefficiences are inherent to entertainment industries like publishing. Business has to change, but it takes time. Consumer pressure is a start, but is it consumer pressure when the consumer is taken out of the decision chain? Writing about Wal-Mart and censorship is somewhat of a hobby for us (yes, we could take up knitting, but the cats…). We have argued that Wal-Mart’s business practices are a form of backdoor censorship. They’re the only game in town for many consumers, and they have sufficient purchasing power to dictate content and packaging. Wal-Mart imposes its vision of morality (no sex, but, boy,

The Walt Disney Company has done more to change this country’s copyright law in the past two decades than was done in the previous centuries. It is not a stretch to suggest that as a company, they understand and appreciate copyright and its value more than most. It is also not a stretch to say they have taken incredible advantage of the public domain to expand their empire. So, yes, we’re choking-back-laughter-amused when we read comments like this: Disney contends the copyright in the U.S. expired before the 1998 law and the book now resides in the public domain. Sick

The Literary Saloon gets appropriately snarky about the tangle of dates surrounding book releases (do not put out for customers to buy before the sun hits its peak the day of release under penalty of death and all that) and an attempt to clear up matters that will surely make things worse. Any time an industry needs an initiative to clear up the simple matter of A versus B, there will be more paperwork and confusion. Of this we can assure you. We have to agree that the concept of embargoing a title is antiquated. How often does a line

Sarah (and of course we’re not implying anything) has survived Bouchercon and reports on the various awards, well, awarded. For details on The Barry Awards, The Macavity Awards, Shamus Awards, Hammett Award, and Anthony Awards…seriously, how did she find time to report on all this…visit Idiosyncratic Mind. Awards, awards, awards

Or maybe a television series. We can see it now: the wacky adventures of a sane man at a book fair. Our hapless hero tries to fight the good fight (which will have be worked out in story meetings) while resisting the urge to bring literature down a notch: If The French Suite suggests that nothing works better than literary Sturm und Drang , plenty of Frankfurt’s habitues are happy to enthuse about slightly more ephemeral projects. In addition to the aforementioned vogue for books about war, pestilence and not eating crisps, for example, there is an alleged boom in