-
What the ‘Y.M.C.A.’ Decision Means for Publishing
Lloyd Jassin is an intellectual property attorney who writes on contract, copyright, and trademark issues affecting the book publishing industry.
-
Writing for Hi-Lo Readers
Stephanie Perry Moore has written more than 50 inspirational novels, including Saddleback Educational Publishing’s new Lockwood Lions flip-book series, which was coauthored with Moore’s husband, former NFL football player Derrick Moore.
-
Disintermediating Amazon
More readers than ever are reading more books than ever. Yet for more than two decades now, for at least as long as I’ve been in publishing––and certainly preceding the rise of Amazon––the lamentations of publishers and storeowners have filled the land. There have been little blips along the way when things seemed to be looking up—a Harry Potter series here, an Oprah Winfrey selection there—but overall it’s been a long, sad decline. We’ve been an industry of enablers: giving huge discounts to mollify ailing stores; overstocking books to mollify ailing publishers. The outcome, more often than not, has been and continues to be shelf space stuffed with unsold product and massive returns. A very few benefit while almost everyone else involved, be they retailer, author, or publisher, suffers.
-
Evolving with the Industry
When I first entered the publishing industry back in 2006 as an author, there was still a giant chasm separating print and digital authors. The “digital books aren’t real books” mindset was still firmly in place, and even today, that lingers.
-
A Man of Vision
Brian Gibson, CEO of the supplier of the ubiquitous supply chain system commonly referred to as Vista, died on April 22 after a 14-month fight against cancer. Most people in publishing will probably not know of Brian, but his impact on the industry over the past 30 years, in both the U.K. and the U.S., was profound.
-
Looking for a Ghost
I’ve ghosted books on nearly every conceivable subject. The first question every new ghostwriting client asks is, “Are you an expert or do you know anything about [fill in the blank]?” My answer is almost always the same: “No.”
-
The Upside of the DoJ Lawsuit
Sometimes we need to be pushed to do what is best for us. That certainly appears to be the case with the publishers’ business model for e-books and its competitive strategy with Amazon.
-
The Sophomore Novel
This summer, I’m learning to ride a motorcycle. I plan to jump it through a flaming hoop at my book party.
-
People to People = Sales
A fascinating experiment in bookselling was recently launched in Tokyo: Daikanyama T-Site, created by Tsutaya, one of Japan’s leading bookstore chains. Unlike most of its stores, which are pulsating, neon-lit urban hubs where you can buy books, magazines, coffee, and DVDs till late at night, Daikanyama is more sedate, with glass walls, weathered wood floors and shelves, with a target audience of the over-50s, or what the Japanese call the “silver market.”
-
‘Could You Personalize That?’
At a book fair I once signed two books to “Tom.” Tom turned out to be “Rod.” Rod refused my offer to sign new books for him. With a malicious grin, Rod said he planned to show my bloopers to his friends as evidence of our close personal friendship.
-
Finding a Gateway to Audio
Maris Kreizman is audiobooks editor at eMusic, a music and audiobooks digital retailer.
-
Finding the Truth in Fiction
In a recent New York Times T magazine article, Holly Brubach, a writer I admire and a friend of Tanaquil Le Clercq, took umbrage at my audacity for depicting the life of the late great ballerina and fifth wife of George Balanchine in my forthcoming novel, The Master’s Muse. Brubach contends that fiction which imagines the lives of “real, usually famous people” aren’t novels at all, but a sort of lesser form, “custom-made for a culture fixated on celebrity.” Examples she cites are Curtis Sittenfeld’s American Wife: A Novel and Ann Beattie’s Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life. I assume she would include Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife and Nancy Horan’s Loving Frank, two recent books in the category that have captivated many readers.
-
Bookstores Rock
If I were in charge of the world of publishing, my first edict would be Honor Thy Booksellers. Forget those pie charts showing bookstore sales on the wane, those bloggers or twitterers with adoring followers, the number of books Amazon can sell in a single click of its mighty mouse. Independent booksellers are the single most powerful cog in the publishing continuum and should be celebrated as such. Publishers’ reps, librarians, legitimate book reviewers, and literary critics are not far behind.
-
Rural Longings
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 48,841,966 people live in rural areas. An “urban” area has a population of 50,000 or more. An “urban cluster” covers towns with 2,500 to 50,000 people. Below that is “rural.” Sixteen percent of the American population lives in rural areas, and I’m one of them. I choose not to live in an urban area for a variety of reasons and, for the most part, it doesn’t affect my quality of life. I’m a midlist author, and my agent and editor couldn’t care less where I live. E-mail and telephones keep me connected, and FedEx keeps the paperwork flowing (when real paper is required.)
-
Egypt Revisited
Growing up, I always knew I would have something to do with books. I even dared to hope that I might write one. Books were my initiation into worlds far removed from my quiet nursery life in a majestic home on the banks of the Nile. They exerted an irresistible pull on my childhood, a magnetic component of adventure, companionship, exotica, and escape. I was a voracious reader, often to my mother’s despair.
-
Listening to the Grass Grow
Fifteen years ago I moved off the power grid—away from the cultural electricity of New York City and urban life in general. It was a vocational leap of faith, but very similar to the leaps that all writers coming to work at a remote colony must make.
-
The Value Of a Book
How much money is a book really worth? Is it the $25 to $30 publishers typically ask for the hardcover edition? Is it the discounted price plus shipping that an online retailer charges? What if there’s only a Kindle edition you can buy, for 99 cents? Is that same book worth nothing on days when it’s given away free? Is it even correct to call such a digital entity “a book”? The easy answer is that a book is whatever readers decide is a book, and it’s worth whatever they’re willing to pay for it.
-
Shoptalk
Publishers Weekly arrives in my mailbox each week, as its name says, which seems too often sometimes. I’m apt to groan when I see it because I know it will likely contain some depressing news about the publishing world, and because I also know that I must read it, for it is my link to what’s going on in this world. But I subscribe because I consider it one of the tools of my trade: writing. And after settling down with a new issue of PW, I am always enlightened.
-
Ghosts of a Memoir
I wanted to write my own memoir, but I’d get stuck with every try. If I dug up my childhood demons, my parents would be devastated. Besides, what if my story was boring? I preferred the safety of reporting on other people’s lives for magazines and Web sites. I also write young adult novels (I’ve written seven), gleefully stepping out of reality instead of diving into it.
-
The Power Of the Pen
I have always loved making stories, and by that I mean the process of making them, taking the words in my head and giving them physical form. A gift of a blank notebook for my eighth birthday inspired my first attempt at a novel. I only got six pages into it, but I took great joy in ruling pencil lines for my sentences. At 10, I spent a year’s worth of pocket money on a typewriter. I still remember the satisfaction its smart click against the page gave me. But in the end I did not love my typewriter. My inability to achieve perfection with it often made me cry. I was too stern for erasing fluid, and I didn’t like processions of errors across a page. At 15, a computer seemed the answer. My parents made me take a typing course, which taught me a great deal about the dating situations of the other students (mainly young women in their 20s) and also how to type fast.
Browse archive by date:
