The Chicago Tribune placed The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George, #2 on their Chicagoland Best-Sellers list this week. I’ve had the book since last May, when I picked it up — free — at BookExpo America (BEA) in NYC. It was one of several free books I was able to get during book signings and giveaways at North America’s largest publishing event. This year, BEA is coming to Chicago’s McCormick Place May 11th-13th. Free books are the bonuses to an event filled with useful workshops, fabulous exhibitions, author appearances and countless networking opportunities for anyone involved with the book industry. Who knows – you may come home with next year’s best sellers.
April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. – William Shakespeare
Again the blackbirds sings; the streams / Wake, laughing, from their winter dreams, / And tremble in the April showers / The tassels of the maple flowers. — John Greenleaf Whittier
April comes like an idiot, babbling and stewing flowers. – Edna St. Vincent Millay
April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. – T.S. Elliot
Come on, admit it. You’ve imagined yourself portrayed in a movie. By a favorite actor. Lookin’ good. Inspirational even. Because in your mind, you are the writer, director and producer. But what happens if someone else writes, directs and produces your story?
Whether you’re famous or not, it’s more likely than ever that someone, somewhere will decide your life, or a piece of it, is worth writing about. Maybe in a non-fiction work with detailed footnotes. Maybe as the inspiration for a novel, from which you may or may not be recognized. Your story might be written by another family member, one who knows you or one yet to be born who decides to write the family history after you’re dead. You could end up being remembered for things you never said or did, simply because an author did sloppy research or took artistic license.
Three examples:
1. A world-famous actor died unexpectedly at a young age. Twenty-one years later, three books were published about him. One was purely about his career, thoroughly researched and handsomely produced. One was a very detailed and compassionate biography, told as honestly as the author could support with retrieved facts. The third was a salacious, unsubstantiated exposé that was largely debunked. But it’s the third book that sits on a shelf in my local library. Fortunately, the library bookshelf now has another book – one I edited and helped publish – that provides a more accurate recounting of the actor’s life.
2. A best-selling book that was made into an Oscar-winning film delicately unfolds a love story that was inspired by real people who lived a century ago. Artistic license was taken but the real names of the couple and the arc of their potent love story remains. I think the people who inspired the novel would be quite satisfied with its portrayal. But who knows? While the book and film have garnered excellent reviews, I’ve heard and read negative misrepresentations about the real people since they’ve gained a global audience. And they’re not alive to respond.
3. A former child star whose classic movies are still popular had a remarkable chiaroscuro life, pinging back and forth between rags and riches, joys and sorrows. A person of great achievement and a highly regarded inspirational speaker, he had rejected many requests to write his autobiography. I convinced him of the value publishing his story as a biography, autobiography or memoir. He decided only an autobiography would do. During the process, however, I learned some details few people know about the dark parts of his history. The untenable pain of retrieving certain memories made an autobiography impossible. Moreover, he couldn’t face the inevitable interviews that would rip through deep scars. We left the project with the idea of having the manuscript taken as far as possible, then safely stored where his wife could retrieve it if needed in the future after he was beyond its reach. In this way, he kept control of what was uniquely his.
If an accurate recounting of your life or character is important, you should write your own story. Make it an autobiography, complete and detailed. Or form it as a memoir in which you choose what to share. It doesn’t matter if your story is printed as a single text, if it is self-published in small quantities for a select audience, or it is released to a mass market. It is your story, told in your words. Let others say what they will, your voice will also be heard.
BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ launches its second season on April 25th from 6-8 p.m. at TASTE Food and Wine in Chicago. Back by popular demand is author Susanna Calkins with her hot-off-the-press A Death at the River Fleet, the latest in the Lucy Campion mystery series. Reflecting themes in the book, the wine tasting will feature a Spanish Verdelho, a French Riesling and a California Claret. Books will be available for purchase from the Book Bin. Bonus Buy tickets will also be available at the event for extra goodies. For a glimpse of what we’re about, check out the little BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ video announcement we did last year.
Note to Readers – Every now and then, I will re-post a blog entry that has withstood the test of time. Whether you missed it the first time ‘round or read it years ago, I feel it’s worth sharing again. When I learned that my friend Tina Schwartz would be the guest speaker at the March 24th Off Campus Writers Workshop, I took a look at my interview with her that I posted in February 2014. Today, “A” is for Agent is as relevant as ever.
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, the only route to getting a book into the hands of readers was through major publishing houses, book stores and libraries. Online booksellers, self-publishing and eReaders have turned that approach on its ear. With so many changes in the publishing industry, often discussed in previous Book●ed blogs, authors might be wondering what the role of an agent is today.
I sat down recently with agent Tina P. Schwartz, author and founder of The Purcell Agency, to talk about the role of agents in today’s literary marketplace. Prior to becoming a literary agent, specializing in Young Adult literature, Tina worked in advertising for many years. She negotiated and sold broadcast time, a skill that she found could transfer to publishing. Tina is a published author who sold 10 books of her own and who helped another eight friends get published before formally establishing her own agency in July 2012; since then she has sold 14 manuscripts. Here are excerpts from our conversation:
EED: What do literary agents do and why do authors need them?
TPS: Some of the things agents do for authors are research appropriate editors and publishers for the manuscripts, build relationships with editors and publishers, polish or rewrite queries and proposals, and help edit manuscripts with the authors before they are ready to be submitted. Agents negotiate contracts to be in the best interest of author (often a better advance and royalty agreement than an author might get on his or her own). Agents are often like coaches to authors, looking out for the author’s best interest.
EED: How do you and authors find each other?
TPS: I am listed on PublishersMarketplace.com, I have a company website, I’m a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and I and speak at various conferences and writing groups, which is how I find most of the talent that I represent.
EED: How has publishing changed since you started as a literary agent?
TPS: Self-publishing has become much more accepted, whereas in the past it was looked down upon Now, even some of the most successful authors have chosen to self-publish. Another thing is that many more publishing houses are closed to authors without agents.
EED: What is the biggest mistake made by new authors when trying to get their book published?
TPS: They don’t spend enough time on their query letters. The query letter deserves the proper time, given that it may be the only impression that an agent or editor gets of an author. Also, they may not research appropriate houses or agents to submit to.
EED: What are your three best tips for aspiring authors before they get published?
TPS: 1. READ! Read as much as you can in the genre you write. See what’s been published, what is popular, how the books that have been published so far are written. Notice pacing, characterization, story arc, etc. for fiction, and notice the Table of Contents and Index for non-fiction.
2. Spend enough time on your query letter and researching appropriate publishing houses or agents (go to conferences when you are able to and meet some of these people in person!).
3. Join a critique group!!! You need feedback on your manuscript more than just friends and family can supply. You need other authors’ opinions on what works and what doesn’t.
EED: What are your three best tips for aspiring authors after they get published?
TPS: 1. Celebrate! Not everyone can say they are in the Library of Congress, and as a published author, you are one of those people. It may have been a very long journey to publication, so take a moment to congratulate yourself.
2. If possible, create a “platform” for your book. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, what is the topic of your writing? Find the core of your story and promote it as your expertise. Why did you write the story you wrote, what were your experiences that you drew from when researching or writing the book?
3. Do as much as possible to get publicity for your book. Arrange signings whenever possible, promote your book to any and every group that may be appropriate, from your children’s schools, to local newspapers or cable channels, to all the public libraries within a 10-mile radius. Arrange to do author visits to promote your book’s “platform”.
For authors who want to go the traditional publishing route, a literary agent is more important than ever because many houses today want “Agented Authors Only”. For authors who choose the Self-Publishing route, an agent can offer valuable experience to maximize success. Don’t simply select an agent because of a pretty face or a pretty website. Find out who the agents were for books and authors you admire. Talk to your colleagues in the field for referrals. If your book is your brainchild, make sure that “child” has quality people helping to foster it.
Literary agent Tina P. Schwartz welcomes queries at The Purcell Agency. She will discuss Top Five Questions Writers Most Frequently Ask at the March 24th Off Campus Writers Workshop.
BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ launches its second season on April 25th from 6-8 p.m. at TASTE Food and Wine in Chicago. Back by popular demand is author Susanna Calkins with her hot-off-the-press A Death at the River Fleet, the latest in the Lucy Campion mystery series. Reflecting themes in the book, the wine tasting will feature a Spanish Verdelho, a French Riesling and a California Claret. Books will be available for purchase from the Book Bin. Bonus Buy tickets will also be available at the event for extra goodies.
April 26th is the deadline for an early bird discount registration to BookExpo America (BEA) — North America’s largest publishing event — coming to Chicago May 11th–13th (with BookCon on May 14th).
Mystery Writers of America will host its Edgar Symposium in New York City on April 27th.
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators — one of the largest organizations for writers and illustrators in the world — will hold its 2016 Wild, Wild Midwest Conference at the Chicago Marriott Naperville April 29th – May 1st.
In its 27th year, The Sewanee Writers’ Conference will convene its workshops in Poetry, Fiction and Paywriting from July 19th-31st at the University of the South in Sewanee Tennessee. Fellowships and scholarships are available.
Lots of excitement building for Season 2 of BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™, which begins April 25th. We’re returning to TASTE Food and Wine, named the best place for wine tastings in Chicago by Foursquare, moving the events to Monday nights from 6-8 p.m. as part of TASTE’s popular semi-weekly wine tastings. The more the merrier!
The always entertaining Phoebe Snowe, a certified wine expert, will be pouring great wines paired to the themes of the books we’ll be featuring. TASTE is known for its vast selection of excellent wines that you won’t find in big box stores or through discounters. You’ll be surprised and delighted how competitively priced the wines are.
This year, we’re pleased to partner with a great independent book store, The Book Bin to handle our on-site sales. The Book Bin is “Not a Superstore… Just a Super Store!”
We’ll continue to bring in best-selling and award-winning authors representing various genres but we’ll bring them in just as their books are being published or they are making their first book tour in the Midwest.
Back by popular demand are the BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ Bonus Buy tickets. While our wine tasting events are free, these optional tickets will offer all sorts of rewards that will vary from event to event.
Lots more surprises in store – including celebrity appearances, fundraisers, raffles and more — so keep following our weekly blog posts on the Book●ed (you can sign up to receive them automatically) and on Facebook (please Follow us).
Invitation to authors: If you have a book coming out this year or are planning a Midwest book tour, I’d love to hear from you to explore a possible BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ appearance. Contact us via our website or a personal message via Facebook.
We’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with quotes from Irish writers about the power of words:
If you have the words, there’s always a chance that you’ll find the way. – Seamus Heaney
It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it. – Oscar Wilde
Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. – James Joyce
We read to know we are not alone. – C.S. Lewis
All the words that I utter,
And all the words that I write,
Must spread out their wings untiring,
And never rest in their flight,
Till they come where your sad, sad heart is,
And sing to you in the night,
Beyond where the waters are moving,
Storm-darken’d or starry bright. – William Butler Yeats, Where My Books Go
Note to Readers – From time to time, I will re-post a past entry that has withstood the test of time. Whether you missed it the first time ‘round or read it years ago, I feel it’s worth sharing again. I chose Pardon My Gender from September 2015 because newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that female authors helped American bookstores increases sales for the first time since 2007. The top three U.S. bestselling authors were Harper Lee, E.L. James and Paula Hawkins. Listen up publishers!
Curran Bell, Acton Bell and Ellis Bell may not be names you recognize but what if I were to say Charlotte, Anne and Emily Brontë? In the 1800s, the famous Brontë sisters had to don male names in order to get their writing published after England’s poet laureate Robert Southey responded to 20-year-old Charlotte’s selection of poetry with, “Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life.” Other noted female authors of the same period who disguised their gender in order to get published include George Sand (Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin) and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans.)
A century later, Nell Harper Lee dropped her first name for the more androgynous Harper Lee. Nora Roberts, a bestselling author of romance novels under her real name, became a bestselling author of detective fiction using the pseudonym J.D. Robb.
Perhaps the best known contemporary female author to neuter her name is J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. Her UK publisher, Bloomsbury, felt that replacing her first name (Joanne) with initials would make her book more appealing to boys. Without a middle name of her own, she used her grandmother’s, Kathleen. “They could have called me Enid Snodgrass,” Rowling told The Telegraph in an interview. “I just wanted it [the book] published.”
As long as women have written, they have had to contend with bias in the publishing industry. While some are hopeful that the growing number of female authors with successful books will open doors for more women, statistics suggest that traditional publishers still view women primarily as writers and readers of romance novels.
Two 2011 studies prove the point. They showed that The New York Review of Books reviewed 71 female authors, compared to 293 male authors; The New York Times reviewed 273 women and 520 men. Only Crown published a similar number of male and female authors; the others clearly favored men.
Women authors are not the only ones battling discrimination in the publishing world. Minorities are also largely underserved, much to the loss of booklovers. But women are not a minority, which is why I highlight this sorry aspect of the publishing world.
The emergence of self-publishing is resulting in some hugely successful female writers (see Footnotes) but traditional publishers need to step up to the plate. It makes good business sense. Car dealers, real estate marketers and political parties have awakened to the potential women offer, not only as consumers but as producers. It’s time for the white male bastions of the publishing world to make way for diversity. Let it begin with women authors.
Thoughts about reading, writing and books from author Pat Conroy who died March 4, 2016 at age 70; his books include The Water is Wide, The Great Santini, Prince of Tides and Beach Music:
Books are living things and their task lies in their vows of silence. You touch them as they quiver with a divine pleasure. You read them and they fall asleep to happy dreams for the next 10 years. If you do them the favor of understanding them, of taking in their portions of grief and wisdom, then they settle down in contented residence in your heart.
It’s an article of faith that the novels I’ve loved will live inside me forever.
A novel is a great act of passion and intellect, carpentry and largess. From the very beginning, I wrote to explain my own life to myself, and I invited readers who chose to make the journey with me to join me on the high wire.
Writing is more about imagination than anything else. I fell in love with words. I fell in love with storytelling.
I would love to see young writers come out of college and know there is a possibility to be a novelist.
There’s a new TV commercial that makes me want to scream at the screen. You may have seen it. It’s from a company that claims it will publish your book and get it into book stores. Wham bam thank you ma’m. A little research into the company shows they are a scam, intent on hooking naïve writers with great dreams.
Until now, such misleading sleazy sales pitches to authors have been limited to the internet and some magazines. These shysters used to be referred to as Vanity Press but now hide under the growing umbrella of self-publishing services.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe in self-publishing. In fact, I helped a friend of mine self-publish a collector’s quality limited edition book in 2014 that was enthusiastically received. There are excellent self-publishing services from reputable companies. A growing number of established authors have moved from traditional publishers to self-publishing and found it lucrative. Conversely, some wildly successful self-published authors have gone on to impressive book deals with major publishing houses.
Here’s the issue: If you don’t know what you’re getting into with self-publishing, you can easily fall into one of the many sinkholes that dot the landscape. Unfortunately, you don’t know what you don’t know. That’s why I regularly write about the business of publishing, including self-publishing. As I always say, “There’s good news and bad news for authors and that news is the same: Today, anyone who wants to get published can get published.” Doesn’t mean your book is going anywhere… unless you get serious about the business side of writing.
Lines are blurring between what an author may get from a traditional publisher or a self-publishing company. Caveat emptor! Buyer beware! Whichever route you take, you need to understand the entire process. What was once dessert has become the appetizer. The end goal is no longer just getting your book produced. There are also distribution, marketing and public relations considerations, with side orders of copyrights, contracts, price points and profit margins.
Most authors prefer to spend their time writing rather than tending to business. There are people who would be happy to handle the business end for authors … for a price. Traditional publishers cover copyrights, distribution and some degree of marketing but the effort varies from contract to contract, which is where a good agent and literary attorney are your best allies. I have many author friends who have excellent relationships with the major houses that publish their books, no doubt established through a good contract.
With self-publishing, you have more of an a la carte menu of services, although you may be offered a prix fixe package. You don’t need an agent or a literary attorney to be self-published; you do have to understand what is required to succeed, decide who will handle those requirements, how to get reliable, reasonably priced services and what to expect.
Begin your education by going to trusted resources that have no financial interest in your book. I like Writer’s Digest and Poets & Writers to keep me current on changes and opportunities in self-publishing (they also do a great job on traditional publishing). Attend major conferences, workshops and retreats offered by trade such education and trade organizations as AWP and BEA (and specialized groups based on genre, geographical region, etc.). Books on the subject are helpful but may not be current in the ever-changing publishing world. The best source is a guide who is thoroughly familiar with the industry and understands your particular needs and wants; a source who will keep you based in reality as you make your choices.
A friend of mine, whose earlier books were traditionally published but decided to go the self-published route with her latest book, chose a well-known company that would get her books distributed nationally and internationally, through brick and mortar bookstores as well as through Amazon. Until she found that they couldn’t get into brick and mortar stores. They have posted her book on Amazon but have not created any publicity to draw people to her title. Thousands of dollars into her investment, it is now up to her to find every book store and other venue to carry her book or host a book signing, to seek her own promotions. I could have told her this would happen but she never asked. I wish she had.
Two events of interest to writers in the Chicago Metro area are coming this spring:
April 29th – May 1st: The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators will hold the 2016 Wild, Wild Midwest Conference at the Chicago Marriott Naperville. SCBWI is one of the largest organizations for writers and illustrators in the world. It is the only professional organization specifically for those individuals writing and illustrating for children and young adults in the fields of children’s literature, magazines, film, television, and multimedia.
May 11th – 13th: Book Expo America, North America’s largest publishing event, is moving from New York to Chicago this year. Organizers promise “access to what’s new, what’s next, and everything exciting in the world of books.” Discounted early bird registration is being accepted through April 26th.
Remembering author Umberto Eco, who we lost the same day we lost Harper Lee:
I love the smell of book ink in the morning.
Books are not meant to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn’t ask ourselves what it says but what it means….
To survive, you must tell stories.
All the stories I would like to write persecute me when I am in my chamber, it seems as if they are all around me, the little devils, and while one tugs at my ear, another tweaks my nose, and each says to me, ‘Sir, write me, I am beautiful’.
When the writer (or the artist in general) says he has worked without giving any thought to the rules of the process, he simply means he was working without realizing he knew the rules.
Loyal followers of my blog know I’m a fervent supporter of independent book stores. They provide opportunities and services to authors and booklovers that Amazon, big chains and discounters cannot.
On an even more personal level, book clubs also benefit authors and booklovers. At first glance, the benefits are obvious: readers share the reading experience and authors whose books are selected potentially see group sales (read more in my April 27, 2014 post, Ace of Clubs).
Imagine my surprise, then, to discover an ongoing controversy over the value of book clubs (which camp are you in?). Some people adhere to the belief that reading should always be a solitary experience. If you’re in that camp, you can stop reading here … but I hope you won’t.
There are many types of book clubs to choose from: Single title – every member reads the same book; Multi-title – every member is reading a different book at any given time but each book makes the rounds of the members; Library – usually librarian led with books made available by the library; Online – a variety of formats for how books are selected and information shared; Broadcast – example: Oprah’s Book Club; Book reading – using audio books or members taking turns reading aloud from the book; Author led – includes the author of the current book as part of the discussion; often concludes the discussion with a live conference call or webinar.
Some clubs center meetings around social activities while others focus on the book discussion. Like any club, a book club’s success depends on its leaders and structure. Camaraderie or discord among members, and each individual’s experience, will flow from that. Like choosing a new pair of shoes, you seek out a certain style but you have to try it on for fit. Choose well and you’ll meet interesting people (possibly creating enduring friendships beyond the club), read good books you might not otherwise have chosen, expand your view of books through other people’s insights, maybe even eat some great food. Most of all, you’ll have fun!
Author bonus: Starting or participating in a book club offers extra benefits to authors. Obviously, reaching out to existing “author led” club gives you a platform to explain your work and build a loyal following for your future work. Another benefit of joining a book club is the likelihood you will sometimes read outside your comfort zone; genres and styles that are different from what you usually read can inform what you write. Whether the group reads your books or others, discussion and analysis give you insights from readers that will improve your craft. Reading With Purpose: Four Reasons Why Every Writer Should Join a Book Club provides more thought on this subject.
Prolific readers know the power and enjoyment of being able to pick up a book and enter its world. For developmentally disabled adults – who are too often excluded in many aspects of social life – the joy of sharing book discussions in traditional book clubs has been out of reach, one more barrier to participating in the community.
The Next Chapter Book Club, created in 2002 under the auspices of the Ohio State University Nisonger Center and with 250 individual book clubs across America, Europe and in Israel, provides adults with developmental disabilities the opportunity maintain reading and literacy skills beyond high school while participating in a “coffee club culture” in a public meeting place.
Next Chapter Book Club members meet once a week for an hour in bookstores, cafes or libraries. Program manager Jillian Ober said, “We include people who don’t read at all or who need help with every single word on the page. The facilitators keep things moving and fun. It’s not meant to be a class.” The Next Chapter Book Club can help you join or start a club in your area.
Thoughts about reading and writing from Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird and Comes a Watchmen, who died February 19, 2016 at the age of 89:
Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.
The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think.
I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career, that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.
Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself…. It’s a self-exploratory operation that is endless. An exorcism of not necessarily his demon, but of his divine discontent.
An epistolary novel is one in which the story is told through a series of documents. While documents might be news clippings or diary entries — in modern times it could be broadcasts, internet correspondence and social media posts – they began and remain most often as love letters in some fashion. Cárcel de Amor (Prison of Love), c.1485 by Diego de Dan Pedro is the earliest reported epistolary novel. James Howell is credited with writing the first epistolary novel in English, Familiar Letters (1645-50), covering prison life, foreign adventure … and the love of women.
Over the next century, the epistolary novel form gained complexity as the narrative introduced varying viewpoints. This was most notably seen in Aphra Behn’s Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister (three volumes in 1684, 1685 and 1687), in which intrigue was created by false letters, and letters delayed or misused by people with bad intentions.
As a genre, the epistolary novel became popular throughout Europe in the 1700s. In England, Samuel Richardson’s Pamela; or Virtue Rewarded (1740) inspired the “Pamela Bonnet” fashion. The French Les Liaison Dangereuses (1782) by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (with original illustration by Jean-Honoré Fragonard) has been adapted to stage, ballet, opera, radio, film and television.
Other notable epistolary novels born in Europe include: Friedrich Hölderlin’s Hyperion (1797 and 1799), Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone (considered the first detective novel in the English language, 1868) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897).
Stateside, the first epistolary novel appeared in 1769: Frances Brooke’s The History of Emily Montague. Since then, our best-known epistolary novels include:
Address Unknown (1938, an early endictment of Nazism) – Katherine Kressman Taylor Flowers for Algernon (1958) – Daniel Keyes Carrie (1974) – Stephen King The Color Purple (1982) – Alice Walker The Princess Diaries (series, 2000-2015) – Meg Cabot World War Z (2006) – Max Brooks
Reliance on subjective points of view made the early novels a precursor of the modern psychological novel. The novels I listed are categorized under a variety of genres but they follow the same epistolary format. At the heart of these novels, be they epistolary or psychological, you are likely to find an aspect (or effect of) love (supportive or destructive). The epistolary form provides a special degree of intimacy. And that’s why we love them.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, here are quotes about love from some of our favorite authors:
I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun. – Jane Austen
If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don’t, they never were. – Kahlil Gibran
Never close your lips to those whom you have already opened your heart. – Charles Dickens
You don’t love because: you love despite; not for the virtues, but despite the faults. – William Faulkner
The very essence of romance is uncertainty. – Oscar Wilde
Love is the answer to everything. It’s the only reason to do anything. If you don’t write stories you love, you’ll never make it. If you don’t write stories that other people love, you’ll never make it. – Ray Bradbury
Have you been thinking about China lately? After all, February 8th marks the Chinese New Year – the Year of the Monkey (specifically, the Red Fire Monkey). China’s economy (second only to that of the U.S.) has the world rocking and rolling but not in a good way. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea threaten conflict with several nations with whom the U.S. is closely tied, including Brunei, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam. Lots of reasons to have China on one’s mind.
What has me thinking about China is a story that hasn’t gotten much play in the U.S. media but should resonate with anyone in the book industry: the mysterious disappearance of five Hong Kong book publishers since last October – publishers who had profitably produced and sold books on topics banned by Beijing: political corruption, religion and the intimate lives of Communist Party officials.
Chinese authorities confirmed that at least two of the missing publishers were being detained in mainland China. All of the disappearances are considered abductions, carried out to silence critics, part of a pattern against human rights lawyers, activists and bloggers. Before leaving Hong Kong to join family in the U.S., publisher Jin Zhong warned, “You don’t want to risk your life just to get a book published.”
Does this chilling series of human rights violations signal the demise of the banned book industry in Hong Kong? What does that mean for a Hong Kong fighting to maintain its personal freedoms? What might that mean for publishing in and outside of China?
Just last May, BookExpo America (BEA), North America’s largest annual book trade fair, welcomed China at its Global Market Forum. The China delegation was the largest international delegation that ever attended BEA, with more than 170 publishing companies represented and a 25,000-square-foot “Guest of Honor” display. According to a Publishers Weekly report, “The country’s publishers, who have imported an increasing number of U.S. titles, are hoping to build a market for some of their top authors overseas.”
Self-published authors requiring advanced (more expensive) production capabilities for their books have been increasingly turning to Chinese printing and publishing companies in order to produce books that would otherwise not be profitable.
Like so many other aspects of modern commerce, there is a symbiotic relationship between authors in the free world and publishing companies in government-controlled China. I suggest that much as we need them, they need us more, especially as their economy tries to calm its choppy seas. I hope authors and publishers who treasure their freedom of expression will join together and make sure China hears our voices speaking for those whose voices are being silenced.
For more about banned books, see my Book●ed Blog posts from 2013: “451 Degrees- Part 1” and “Part-2”. If you think banned books can’t happen here, check my “Recommended” post from March 31, 2013.
There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. – Ray Bradbury
Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight. – Stephen Chbosky
Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. – Laurie Halse Anderson
In this age of censorship, I mourn the loss of books that will never be written, I mourn the voices that will be silenced-writers’ voices, teachers’ voices, students’ voices-and all because of fear. – Judy Blume
… when books are run out of school classrooms and even out of school libraries as a result of this idea, I’m never much disturbed not as a citizen, not as a writer, not even as a schoolteacher . . . which I used to be. What I tell kids is, Don’t get mad, get even. Don’t spend time waving signs or carrying petitions around the neighborhood. Instead, run, don’t walk, to the nearest nonschool library or to the local bookstore and get whatever it was that they banned. Read whatever they’re trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that’s exactly what you need to know. – Stephen King
The Masque of a Murderer, the first book ever featured at a BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ event, is now in the running for three awards: the Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery (Lefty) Award, the Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award (Edgar), and the Agatha for Best Historical Novel. Congratulations to author Susanna Calkins!
Only two days into the Amazon Kindle promotion, In the Company of Legends has risen to the number 1 position in one category: #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Movies & Video > Video. For 29 days (this is a leap year) the electronic version of the book will be featured in the Kindle Store for only $1.99. Congratulations to my friends, authors Joan Kramer and David Heeley – who I hope to host at a BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ this year.
Depending on how one defines a blog year, starting the fourth year of the Book●ed blog makes me a Toddler, Teen or Senior. I’ve learned a lot about blogging since my first post on January 27th, 2013. For example, choosing “Getting to the Juicy Parts” (about the impact on books from changing habits in reading and writing) resulted in some internet images attached to my name that were (to put it mildly) smarmy, having nothing to do with me or Book●ed. I also received a flurry of unsolicited emails offering me X-rated toys and meds. Oops!
Over the past three years, I’ve become a keen observer of, and participant in, a dramatically changing book industry. I’ve seen many of my predictions about the connections between writers, readers, books and business come true. There have been some good changes, some not so good. It boils down to this: today more than ever, anyone who wants to get published can get published. Whether that statement is good news or not depends on how it affects you. I’ve spent many posts exploring all the angles.
I’ve aimed for a balance in my posts, as reflected in the categories that include: For Authors, For Booklovers, Facts & Statistics and Industry News. Often, I’ve included links to other websites for further information or examples. Covering every stage of conception, writing, design, production, marketing and selling books to promoting authors, books, booksellers, education and libraries, I’ve aimed to keep my posts enjoyable, enlightening and accessible.
The Book●ed blog began as a segment of a larger marketing effort that included video webcast interviews of authors. The posts continued as I shifted from webcasts to editing, publishing and marketing an updated and expanded English language edition of the bestselling Italian memoir, Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power. The posts continued as I developed and launched BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ — events pairing quality wine tastings with book signings.
In year four (as bloddler, teegler or segler), I will continue to report on changes in publishing, connect authors and their books with booklovers and aim to entertain. I invite authors to visit the Book.ed website to read past blog posts (in “Blog Here” click the categories that interest you), view the webcast interviews (in “Archives”) and learn more about BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™.
Bonus for any authors (and agents, publishers or publicists) who read this post to this point: I invite you to contact me if you have a book about to be published or recently published and will be in the Chicago area. Let’s explore the possibility of featuring you and your latest book at a BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ event!
The American Booksellers Association and Civic Economics issued a report stating that in 2014, Amazon avoided $625 million in state and local sales taxes nationwide. In addition, by avoiding using storefronts, Amazon cost state and local governments $420 million in potential property taxes. Some states have begun requiring out-of-state retailers such as Amazon to collect sales tax, to alleviate an increased tax burden on households required to fund sustenance of community services. A major segment of Amazon sales is built around books. Adding sales tax to their book sales creates a more even playing field with brick and mortar stores, including the independent book stores we love.
The Book Stall, an independent bookstore in Winnetka, IL, is offering self-published authors an opportunity to promote and sell their books at a “Self-Published Author Expo” on Saturday, February 20, from 2 – 4 pm. Participating authors can use this two-hour time slot to promote and sell their self-published books, and readings can also be arranged during this time. The fee to participate is $50. Contact Abigail Pickus at 847 446-8880 to reserve a spot or for more information.
We look back with an air of smugness at the rules of society that regulated manners in generations past. How quaint. How restrictive. How ridiculous, we opine. We are amused that people would invest time and money to maintain certain social “graces” that often complicated lives to no one’s benefit. So old fashioned. So un-American – at least that would appear to be our frame of mind, judging by what we see in traditional and social media.
Now I’m not against insulting people. I just abhor how mundane our insults are, especially in the political arena. The author of The Art of the Deal hasn’t mastered the art of the insult. There’s no originality. I’m frustrated that the most entertaining attempts at insults in recent political news arose from Sara Palin’s propensity for malapropisms (also referred to as Dogberryism, based on a Shakespearian character in Much Ado About Nothing). The insults hurled across such social media as Facebook also manage to be both intense and dull.
C’mon folks. We can do so much better than that! Let’s use our words, we have so many to choose from. Let’s lace them together to form the affable daggers that make their point as they get to the heart of the matter. To inspire you, consider these lovely literary lances:
“Thou art a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-liver’d, action-taking, whoreson, glass-gazing, superserviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mungril bitch.” – King Lear by Shakespeare
“You blithering idiot! … You festering gumboil! You fleabitten fungus! … You bursting blister! You moth-eaten maggot!” – Mathilda by Raold Dahl
“Well, Ben Rogers, if I was as ignorant as you I wouldn’t let on.” – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
“If your brains were dynamite there wouldn’t be enough to blow your hat off.” – Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut
“He is simply a hole in the air.” – The Lion and the Unicorn by George Orwell
“I misjudged you… You’re not a moron. You’re only a case of arrested development.” – The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
“He was one of the numerous and varied legion of dullards, of half-animated abortions, conceited, half-educated coxcombs, who attach themselves to the idea most in fashion only to vulgarize it and who caricature every cause they serve, however sincerely.” – Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoyevsky
“He’s not human; he’s an empty space disguised as a human” – The Collector by John Fowles
“Nothing has more retarded the advancement of learning than the disposition of vulgar minds to ridicule and vilify what they cannot comprehend.” – The Rambler by Samuel Johnson
Finally, though not in a book, Gore Vidal after being punched by Norman Mailer: “I see Norman, words have failed you again!”
Another BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ author from the 2015 season has been recognized for an outstanding literary achievement. Book●ed is proud to share the news that The Masque of a Murderer by Susanna Calkins has been short-listed for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Congratulations, Susanna!
Season 2 of BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ will begin in April. Program information will be available on the Book●ed website by clicking the BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™. We will also post on the Book●ed blog and Facebook page.
Book Expo America, North America’s largest publishing event, is moving from New York to Chicago this year. Organizers promise “access to what’s new, what’s next, and everything exciting in the world of books.” Discounted early bird registration is being accepted through April 26th.
Film awards season is gaining momentum in the run-up to the granddaddy of them all: the Academy Awards on February 28th. This year, as in the past, has seen many award candidates coming from acclaimed books. The list includes:
Bridge of Spies – Giles Whittell Brooklyn — Colm Tóibín Carol (book title The Price of Salt) – Patricia Highsmith Room – Emma Donoghue Spotlight (book title Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church) –The Boston Globe Staff The Big Short – Michael Lewis The Danish Girl – David Ebershoff The Martian – Andy Weir The Revenant – Michael Punke
Here’s what I said about movies adapted from books two years ago in my blog post, You Oughta Be in Pictures (in 2014, four of the nine Best Picture nominees were adapted from books; this year, all but one of the eight nominated films originated as books):
“Once upon a time, it seemed that great books rarely transformed into great movies. Times have changed as plot lines and descriptions in books are more valued by filmmakers. Possibly this change has also been as authors have grown up with movies, their appreciation for that art form inspires how they write.
Why spend many hours engaged in the active reading of books when you can get the entire story faster and easier by sitting in a theatre being passively entertained for a couple of hours? But let’s remember that these movie adaptations are made because of books that excited enough readers to come to the attention of filmmakers. Conversely, some movies lead people to the books that inspired them.”
In 2015, at least 40 books were adapted to movies. Not all of them received Oscar nominations but many are worth seeing and all are worth considering in book form.
There will always be room for various art forms to express a good story and we should celebrate all of them.
Book●ed fans living in or traveling to Miami have a great place to enjoy novels and noshes. Books & Books, which had its flagship Coral Gables store named Publishers Weekly Bookstore of 2015, has locations throughout the Sunshine State, on Long Island in New York and in the Cayman Islands. Already an innovator in the industry with a publishing arm and film production company, Books & Books added a gastronomic element to the Miami location where patrons can enjoy a full-service healthy menu created by a James Beard award-winning chef. The café features live music and offers cocktails with literary themes. Kudos to owner Mitchell Kaplan and an invitation to contact me when he’s ready to open a Chicagoland branch!
If you’re traveling to Tokyo, there’s a neat hostel waiting for you. It’s called Book and Bed and it’s a real bargain, starting at $28 a night. You’ll have to forego luxury as you’ll be sleeping in one of the 12 tiny “bed pods” with only a curtain for privacy and you’ll be sharing a bathroom – but the pods are built into bookshelves containing 1,700 Japanese and English books, all available to feed your need to read.
