The Food Network and other outlets churn out insufferable amounts of coverage devoted to barbecue in Texas, North Carolina, and Kansas City. With good reason, admittedly. Like anything, there are
Round Up of Hard Rock Books
Yesterday, we discussed the deluge of books related to hard rock and heavy metal. Whereas the prevailing attitude used to be that rockers don’t read, it now appears that anyone
Learn the History of the Jump Shot
These cultural history books can sometimes get a bit old. It seems like every conceivable gadget, trend, style, and food item has been written about. But every once in a while, a title comes along that catches my eye. So I was actually excited to see this bit of news in Publishers Marketplace:
Shawn Fury’s RISE & FIRE: A Biography of the Jump Shot, exploring the play that revolutionized basketball and provided the greatest moments in the sport’s history — from Michael Jordan’s legacy-defining jumpers to Ray Allen’s mastery — and is a technical, personal, historical and even spiritual examination of the shot, to Bob Miller at Flatiron Books, in a nice deal, by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency (World)
Looks like it could be a very cool, very interesting book.
Zane Facing Significant IRS Troubles
According to the Washington Post, best-selling author Zane has “sold millions of steamy novels, has been chased by creditors, including the IRS and the state of Maryland, according to court records and staff officials.”
Kristina Laferne Roberts writes with the pseudonym of Zane.
She’s facing a $541,000 claim from the IRS and a tax lien on her $1 million home in Upper Marlboro. The Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot announded that the $341,000 the author owes the state makes her Marylands top individual tax cheat.
Super Bowl Book Predictions
The day after the Super Bowl is full of Monday morning quarterbacking. And yes, the sports networks will even begin their predictions for next year. For the bookish among us, it’s amusing to start speculating on which players will sign book deals in the coming weeks. Usually, it’s the winning quarterback or maybe a more obscure player that is propelled into the pop culture consciousness by an amazing play, a la David Tyree.
Read more
Crowdfunding So Far, According to Biggs
Slushpile founder John Biggs surpassed the initial goal for crowdfunding his debut young adult novel, Mytro. Now, Biggs and his fanbase are working on making their stretch goals over at Indiegogo. Here is a quick Q&A on what he’s seen with crowdfunding so far.
Slushpile: What surprised you about the crowdfunding process so far?
Biggs: That it took so long to ramp up. I have a fairly big platform but even with that it was a strange, scary feeling. I’m glad it worked, but it was frightening. I’m also happy that my friends and family really supported me.
Slushpile: You surpassed your initial goal. As a result, how did you increase or change the scope of the project?
Biggs: I offered improved goals. It’s a book so there’s very little I can change but still it was something to offer signed books.
Slushpile: What is one thing you learned, or wished you had done differently?
Biggs: Nothing yet. I wish I had budgeted a bit more but it’s hard to do before figuring out how many books you need to print.
Slushpile: What is the next step in bringing Mytro to readers?
Biggs: A thorough cleaning by a hired copy editor, layout, and printing. After this it should only take a few weeks to really get rolling.
Then I have to write two more books…
Slushpile Founder Nears Goal of YA Novel Crowdfunding Campaign
John Biggs, the patron saint of Slushpile.net, has launched a crowdfunding campaign in support of his young adult novel, Mytro. He is closing in on his goal, and offering some cool rewards, so contribute to the effort here. I’ve read the vast majority of this novel and it’s a great read, so I can definitely attest to the quality of the work.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting…
I’m a bit more of an old fogey in certain ways and I have my hesitations about crowdfunding and new mechanisms of getting literature out there. I’m no luddite by any means, but the jury is still a little more out for me.
John, on the other hand, spends his day job hours writing about the technology sector and he’s more accustomed to new fangled ways of thinking. Crowdfunding, as a way to raise capital as well as to serve as a test market for the viability of a concept or product, is almost second nature to him. He watches, and comments on, creators doing this on a massive scale all the time.
John has agreed to share all his experiences, good and bad, with us on this journey. Mytro is a real book, a real story, and one that people will enjoy. But it is also serving as an experiment for John to try out crowdfunding and releasing the book. So we will benefit from the lessons-learned.
You can read John’s explanation of why he chose the crowdfunding route to get caught up on the story so far. He’ll provide regular updates as things move forward.
LA Times Obit for Louis D. Rubin
The great Louis D. Rubin passed away recently. Perhaps most well-known for co-founding Algonquin Books, Rubin was also a fine and frequent writer.
The Los Angeles Times has a great overview of Rubin’s life. Check here to read the obit.
National Books Awards Held Tonight
The 2013 National Book Awards will be held tonight in New York City. All the finalists are great, but around here, we’re pulling for George Saunders, who has had a special place in our heart ever since hearing him read “Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz” from CivilWarLand in Bad Decline.
Fiction Finalists
–Rachel Kushner, The Flamethrowers
–Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland
–James McBride, The Good Lord Bird
–Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge
–George Saunders, Tenth of December
Nonfiction Finalists
–Jill Lepore, Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin
–Wendy Lower, Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields
–George Packer, The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America
–Alan Taylor, The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832
–Lawrence Wright, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief
Young Adult Literature Finalists
–Kathi Appelt, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
–Cynthia Kadohata, The Thing About Luck
–Tom McNeal, Far Far Away
–Meg Rosoff, Picture Me Gone
–Gene Luen Yang, Boxers & Saints
Poetry Finalists
–Frank Bidart, Metaphysical Dog
–Lucie Brock-Broido, Stay, Illusion
–Adrian Matejka, The Big Smoke
–Matt Rasmussen, Black Aperture
–Mary Szybist, Incarnadine: Poems
McKenzie to Appear at KY Book Fair
Slushpile’s Scott McKenzie will be at the Kentucky Book Fair on Saturday, November 16 in Frankfort, Kentucky. The event is being held at the Frankfort Convention Center. Stop by and say hello!
Almost 400k Self-Published Books in 2012
Galleycat points to the latest data that states more than 391,000 books were self-published last year. That’s an astounding 59% increase from the previous year.
Amazing.
Ferriss to Publish Audiobooks
Over at TechCrunch, Anthony Ha has a pretty lengthy look at bestseller and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss’ new audiobook venture.
Ferriss always seems to be trying something new, and this “book club” as he describes it proves to be an interesting enterprise. One thing’s for sure… He’ll certainly document every success and every setback with incredible rigor so it should make for an educational exercise.
