Industry Encouraged Self-Esteem Problems
On Thursday, I ranted a bit about snobby, ivory tower writers who think their colleagues should shun all appearances of commercial enterprise. That’s one factor in a complicated mix of issues that causes authors to limit themselves in their money making ventures. Another factor is how the industry encourages low self-esteem amongst writers. As aspiring…
continue readingOutdated, Stodgy, Ivory Tower Attitudes that Cripple Writers
Writers (including me) love to bemoan the current state of publishing, the small advances, the dwindling to non-existent marketing budgets, the lack of readers, the short attention spans of American readers, the influence of text messaging on language, and the dearth of suitably hip coffee shops to hang out in. In short, we complain about…
continue readingAnother Ho Hum: Surprise! The New York Times Hates Bret Easton Ellis
It seems like every other day, someone in our bookish blogging world offers a theory for why major media book coverage is shrinking. Generally, these concepts involve the economy, the proliferation of blogs, the short attention spans of today’s consumers, and a few little green martians. But today, I’m going to offer another, admittedly outlandish,…
continue readingHo Hum, Another Sports Coach Book
I love sports. And I love books. And I’m fascinated by coaches. So I should love sports books by coaches, right? But I just don’t. Today’s yawner came with the news that New York Jets head football coach Rex Ryan is set to write a “nontraditional autobiography” that will be published by Doubleday next year.…
continue readingComma Overload
Aspiring authors are frequently advised to read their target markets, try to discern editorial tastes, and learn from published writers. As useful as those tips can be, it is also infuriating when you read an article that defies belief. I was in doctor’s office recently and picked up the February 2009 issue of Conde Nast…
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