One colleague said I seemed to be pretty negative about coauthoring when I wrote about that here recently. Since I have coauthored five books myself, I suppose one could suppose a certain autobiographical slant to my comments. That has not been the case. I coauthored three Bible study guides with my wife, another with my wife and a friend, and Heart. Soul. Mind. Strength. with my former coworker at IVP, Linda Doll. Each was a very enjoyable experience with minimal problems.
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Author: Andy Le Peau
I've been an editor and writer for over forty years. I am passionate about ideas and how we can express them clearly, beautifully, and persuasively. I love reading good books, talking about them, and recommending them. I thoroughly enjoy my family who help me continue on the path of a lifelong learner.
Unedited at 100
Just over a year ago I posted my first blog on Andy Unedited, stating that “to write a blog, you need to have an interesting personality or provocative opinions. I have neither.” I’m still not sure I have either, but in this, my one hundredth posting, I do know I’m having fun.
Here are some highlights from the first 100:
Mistiest Watercolored Memory: Vice President of Looking Out of the Window. It brought back lots of found recollections about my dad.
Most Controversial: The Serial Comma and the Plagues of Egypt. Who would have thought the lowly comma could arouse such passions?
Most Whimsical: Dear Santa. Old St. Nick brings out the wish list in us all.
Title with the Cleverest Rhyme: Do You Itch for a Niche or Are You on the Leash of Your Niche? Actually, it was the only title with a rhyme.
Truest Confession: Trashing a Book. Guilt still hangs over me for this.
Most Opinionated: Grammar Was Made for People, Not People for Grammar. I guess I do have some opinions after all.
Biggest Grammatical Error: Publishing that Lasts. I’m afraid that first sentence was not a case of breaking the rules on purpose, as my loving wife gleefully pointed out.
Post That Made My Staff the Most Nervous: “I Love to Fire People.” There was really no need to worry. I haven’t fired anyone . . . yet!
The Myths of Coauthoring
It’s a myth that coauthoring is easier than single authoring.
What every editor knows and few authors know is the myth of coauthoring. The myth stated simply is: Coauthoring is better, easier, quicker and less work than single authoring a book. The myth is false on almost all counts. Yet it persists. Why?
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Whither Christian Bookstores?
I suspect that many readers of this blog have already run into the excellent article in the latest issue of Christianity Today on the state of Christian bookstores. (Full disclosure: The article is written by Cindy Crosby, wife of IVP Associate Publisher for Sales and Marketing, Jeff Crosby.)
Obviously there have been big changes in the world of Christian retailing in the last ten years. As Crosby writes, “The CBA (formerly the Christian Booksellers Association), a Colorado Springs-based trade association for retailers, says that as recently as the mid-’80s it had 3,000 members of an estimated 4,000 Christian retail stores. Today CBA has 1,813 members of an estimated 2,800 stores.”
Competition from big box stores and the Internet have forced many out of business. But not all is doom and gloom. Many are thriving with creative strategies and programs. Check it out.
Putting Out a Contract
At the core of every publishing project is the author contract. Here are some more tips from Tom Woll, author of Publishing for Profit, a book I’ve been reviewing serially over the past few months.
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After a Hundred and Fifty Years, It Just Might Work Again
Everyone is hailing it as a great innovation in publishing. Actually, it’s just an excellent example of bringing back a very old idea in a new context.
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Why You Should Leave Work
Several years ago I loved reading The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes.
For my reading tastes it was the perfect combination of science, history, politics and World War II.
One thing that struck me, however, was how time and again during the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries brilliant physicists like Niels Bohr would get stuck on a problem for months or even years. After working tirelessly they finally were compelled to take a vacation and—boom (metaphorically)—the solution would come. Remarkably, the author never pointed out the pattern.
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Evil/Genius
Those who are biblically literate know that Genesis doesn’t say what kind of fruit Adam and Eve ate. No matter. Centuries of artists have known it was an apple. An apple with a bite out of it. Thus evil entered the world.
So the recent Wired Magazine article by Leander Kahney should come as no surprise.
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A Gentle Madness
I met a pastor recently who introduced himself this way: “Hi, I’m John.” (Not his real name.)
“Hi, John,” I said.
“I buy books,” he replied. It was the beginning of a sad tale that sounds like fiction, except that it is true. John confessed that he didn’t just buy books. He was addicted to book buying. In fact, he had already bought over 850 of IVP’s 1200 books in print and was closing in on the rest. That doesn’t include Bible study guides or booklets, though he’s sorely tempted to pick those up as well. “Just to complete the set, you know,” he said. “Like Pokemon. Gotta catch ’em all.”
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Is There No Accounting for Editors?
Perhaps the least number-oriented species of human being is that of editors.* Figures, subtotals, net present value, gross margin are as nothing in their sight. So should we just consign editors to the outer darkness of a numberless eternity? Is there to be no accounting for editors?
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