Oct 30 2012
There has been a lot of debate about whether self-publishing is killing the book industry, whether bad books are driving out good books, and whether self-published books are diminishing respect for books overall. I can see why these issues generate so much heat and controversy, especially among authors and industry watchers. But I think these(…)
Oct 23 2012
A few weeks ago, Jon Stock made a definite name for himself as an author, but not for his books. Stock, erstwhile journalist for The Telegraph, emailed a reviewer who gave his spy thriller a one-star Amazon review, turning the experience into an article titled, “Spy Writer Jon Stock: How I Survived A Literary(…)
Oct 16 2012
On Friday, October 12, 2012, Adrien Chen of Gawker doxed a reddit user who went by the handle Violentacrez. Violentacrez was a moderator of many of the seedy underbelly of reddit’s sub forums (called subreddits and denoted by the letter r with a slash – r/). From his participation in the threads, one could characterize(…)
Oct 9 2012
Recently Publishers Weekly ran an article about a Bowker Market Research study, citing statistics that the majority of YA buyers (55%) are adults, and that most of the time, those buyers are purchasing the books for themselves. According to the study, the age 30-44 segment accounted for 28% of YA sales all by itself. “The(…)
Oct 2 2012
Introduction Except for those little moments relieved by the occasional huge moment, everyday life can be a drudgery. Whatever you are engaged in, be it work (no matter how glamorous or lucrative it is) or raising a family or fulfilling your calling at church or attaining some long-held goal (usually all of them at once),(…)
Sep 25 2012
My first post in this series on free speech issues focused on the line between fully protected critical speech and less protected commercial speech, specifically in regard to paid-for positive and sockpuppeted reviews. This post is on the economic concept of free riding and its substantial but often silent impact on intellectual property issues. If(…)
Sep 11 2012
The book cover as a marketing tool interests me. Whenever there is a good blog post or a talk, I stop and pay attention. But most of the available opinion, advice, and debate I’ve come across are centered around physical publishing, when a cover is meant to fetch you from across the store and get(…)
Sep 4 2012
Despite the regularity and ubiquity with which free speech is invoked in online discussions, it is rarely relevant in the way it is used, as either sword or shield. In the broadest possible sense, our online discussions (at least in the United States) are reflective of the “marketplace of ideas” theory of free speech, but(…)
Aug 28 2012
Beth Kery hit the NYTimes combined list, extended at no 32 for the first time in her writing career with the title Because You Are Mine. Kelly Favor (no website) appeared at No. 33 on the ebook NYTimes list with For His Trust. Sara Fawkes just sold Anything He Wants to St. Martin’s Press in a(…)
Aug 21 2012
So here’s the thing: I think we’ve oversold the virtues of subjectivity. When I first entered the online Romance community, I faced a steep learning curve when it came to calling out what I felt was poor writing and sub-par editing. Frustrated at being chided for “sounding like an English teacher” or being “too picky,”(…)
Aug 19 2012
Lauren Conrad, infamously of The Hills, had a Youtube video of her demonstrating how to hollow out books to make a small storage item. Home stores sell these fake hallowed out books by the crateful. Yet, there was a huge number of negative comments for Conrad’s video protesting the destruction of these books and the(…)
Aug 7 2012
Last week Rosario posted her DNF review of 50 Shades of Grey. It was the pick for her book club, comprised of men and women some of whom are primarily literary fiction readers. There were some who loved the book and some who hated it but it sparked a vigorous book club discussion: The one(…)
Jul 31 2012
I love the show Girls on HBO. Are you watching this? I’ll spare you the recap, you can read about it here. But the reason I love this show is the very same reason it’s getting criticised. Every character on the show is selfish in turns. Petty and self-absorbed as only twenty-something girls can(…)
Jul 29 2012
Introduction The blogosphere was a buzz these past two weeks over Roni Loren’s announcement that she had used a copyrighted image without permission and was asked to pay a fee for its use, even after she had taken it down. Bloggers have been going through their archives and taking down images out of concern for(…)
Jul 24 2012
The above is my own definition for the New Adult genre. In 2009 St. Martin’s Press announced it would be acquiring books for a “New Adult” line and held a submission contest but by 2011, SMP had not yet delivered on the promised new line despite interest expressed by readers online. Georgia McBride, author (Praefatio) and founder(…)
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