Friday, September 29, 2017
Cookbook author in Australia has book withdrawn over her conduct regarding charities
A blogger in Australia had a cookbook withdrawn after it was
revealed she had apparently lied about charitable donations she had made, and
apparently was fined. It isn’t
necessarily the case that American law would have treated her conduct the same
way. Here’s a typical news story. Amazon has a database entry for the book but says it is "unavailable".
But what was also interesting about the case that the
publisher, Penguin, had given her “media training” and then put her on notice
about questions concerning her charitable giving. That’s the first time I’ve heard of this
issue coming up between a trade publisher and an author.
However trade publishers are concerned about the “conduct”
of their authors. Simon and Schuster
withdrew publishing Milo Yiannopoulos in February (“Dangerous”) after a
supposed “scandal”, which I’ve discussed elsewhere (I think the matter was
greatly overblown by the media and not based on the real facts). Milo went on to self-publish the book.
When trust or estate money is invested in media projects
(especially independent film), concerns can arise over whether beneficiaries
have been properly notified.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
The legacy of slave essayist and poet George Moses Horton
A lost essay, in cursive penmanship,Jenn found in the New
York Public Library, called “Individual Influence”, by a former slave, George
Moses Horton, back in 1817, is said to predict today’s debate on free speech on
campus. The poet had worked on a plantation near Chapel Hill, NC. site of today’s
UNC.
Jennifer Schuessler presents the material in the New York
Times, although the manuscript handwriting is very hard to read.
The piece is said to be a 500-word sermon.
One of his most important poems is “Of Liberty and Slavery”.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Andrew Sullivan's booklet on tribalism: "America Wasn't Built for Humans"
Andrew Sullivan offers a booklet-length article in New York
Magazine Sept. 19, 2017, “America Wasn’t Built for Humans” with the byline “Tribalism
was an urge our Founding Fathers assumed we would overcome; And so it has
become out greatest vulnerability”.
The article roughly equates American tribalism with hyper
partisanship, but it also promotes intellectual reduction, especially the over
broad ideas of what comprises a “hate crime” or “white supremacy”. It seems intellectually lazy but also
reflects on what my own mother used to call “real life”. He points out how Chadwick Moore was
ostracized merely for giving Milo Yiannopoulos credibility in an otherwise
reasonably funny and critical piece in “Out”.
I certainly experienced the same sort of tribalism in many
episodes of my own life, as leftist leadership in much of the gay community demanded
loyalty to its own imposition of identity politics
Sullivan sees our historical denial of our “tribal nature”
as a flaw in the way the nation was set up after the Constitution was adopted.
Then later, this little snarky, timocratic gem: “One of the great attractions
of tribalism is that you actually don’t have to think very much.” You can watch your whole life’s output grow
less bad.
Sullivan refers to Sebastian Junger’s “Tribe” (WP review)
and Wades’s “A Troublesome Inheritance” (review), where civilization tried to gnaw away
at tribalism.
Thursday, September 07, 2017
"Real Fast Indie Marketing" for self-published books to wholesalers and independent bookstores presented in webinar
I got an email informing me of the “Real Fast IndieMarketing” service by Amy Collins (emailed by New Shelves Books).
Amy offers classes and webinars, and there is a 2-hour video
of some of the classes.
Amy stresses several important points. Independent and chain bookstores often do
well with physical books, even though the popular myth is that Amazon kindle
and BN Nook are destroying books. Her
course material (there are packages that range up to about $700) cover how to
design a marketing campaign, which should start before the self-publication of
a book, either by a print run or by POD.
She stresses the importance of finding a wholesaler. Ingram may not be willing to wholesale
self-published books and POD unless through its affiliated Ingram Sparks; but I know that other POD companies (Authors’
Solution) do offer packages that include wholesaling and independent bookstore
campaigns.
She says that there are reputable companies that do provide
third-party reviews.
She emphasizes that authors need to learn people skills and
awareness of the business needs of stores.
She suggests that authors spend 20-30 minutes on marketing
every weekday starting before publication.
Well written cover letters and marketing plans are essential.
She spends sometime on niche books, which can sometimes be
placed in specialty stores like gift shops. Hospitals, airports, supermarkets,
convenience stores, pet or sporting goods (depending on content).
She talks about cover design. If you have a science fiction novel set on
another planet, show what a community on this other planet would look
like.
She talks about categories of readers, including "avid" readers who usually will go to book stores, or to the public library, where, according to Reid Ewing in his little 2012 film, "It's Free".
She talks about categories of readers, including "avid" readers who usually will go to book stores, or to the public library, where, according to Reid Ewing in his little 2012 film, "It's Free".
Wednesday, September 06, 2017
Boy Scout arranges mechanism to donate books to homeless shelter in MD
WJLA7 (Sinclair) reports that a Boy Scout in Montgomery
County, MD has donated (probably by getting donations first) about 2000 books
to a homeless shelter (not sure if it is in DC or MD).
It looks very much like I will do a downsizing and household
move soon, and some older books could be donated. But many are policy books and of a nature not
likely to work well in a shelter. But it’s
a definitely a good idea to consider.
But I would definitely keep the 1950 set of World Book Encyclopedias, with their wonderful elevation maps of all the states and Canadian provinces. They've never reinstated them in later versions. I don't know why. These were a favorite in my high school days.
Friday, September 01, 2017
How authors self-publish fiction series and actually make them sell to "addicted" readers
There’s a site called Self-Publishing Advice and I found a
long blog post and interview on how fiction series authors can get started,
when the author intends a series, with a technique called “Perma free” (the
first book follows “it’s free” on a table) and then Kindle Unlimited (KDP).
There is a debate as to whether this is more effective than trying to use as
many retail outlets as possible.
Here is the blog posting by Jay Artale as Pippa Da Costa and
Susan Kaye carry on a discussion, link .
The article, dated today (Sept. 1) is quite long, but I was
surprised at the claim by many author that they can get readers hooked on their
series, especially in romance, fantasy, or sci-fi.
It’s true, I see people reading tablets and Kindles on the
DC Metro, but I don’t see a lot of hardcopy texts. OK, one day I saw a hunk reading a philosophy
textbook for college, rather like seeing a young math professor looking over a calculus
quiz he was going to give.
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