Exploring Books, Life, and Writing
I call them preacher stories–those tales that pass from church to church, book to book, blog to blog. Sometimes corny, sometimes profound, they can inspire, accuse, challenge, amuse, surprise or inform.
I recently came across the same story three times, and it made me wonder.
Continue reading “Pastor Beware (and Writer Too)”
It was over a dozen years ago that I spoke with Jeff Bezos at a conference in Washington, D.C. In the early years of Amazon, the company was losing money hand over fist (losing $125 million in 1998 alone) in its all-out effort to gain market share. I told him I understood the strategy, but realistically, how long could they keep it up? With his famous Jeff Bezos smile he told me, “I appreciate your concern. But there’s no need to worry about Amazon.”
Continue reading “My Conversation with Jeff Bezos”
Book publishers are desperate for new business models. While standing in line at the airport recently, I thought maybe we could look to the airline industry for inspiration. If we did, here are some things you might see from publishers:
Continue reading “What Publishers Can Learn from the Airlines”
With all the options and advantages for self-publishing print and ebooks, authors are weighing their options these days, wondering what traditional publishers really have to offer. One consideration is selling rights.
Do I, as the editorial director for a traditional print publisher, encourage and support self-publishing–even self-ebook publishing? Yes. I do. Here’s why.
Continue reading “Self Publish? You Bet.”
What are the winning books from the list of titles I finished this year? Yes, you will get the answer to that pressing question here. In addition you’ll find my über-creative categories and the wit-soaked comment of the judge. More than that (yes, it is hard to believe), you also find below what the people demanded– short summaries of each. So included for the first time is a Synop-Tweet (a tweet-like synopsis) of the winning books. Here they are.
Continue reading “The 2012 Andys”
The nominees are in for 2012. No, I’m not talking about Iowa. I’m talking about nominees for the 2012 Andys, of course. The list of books I read last year seems to have a pretty good variety to me. (What’s your opinion?) But certain trends may be discernible. Below you’ll find:
Continue reading “The Nominees for 2012”
Gift giving at Christmas is a wonderful tradition which comes to us from the wise men. They visited Jesus, and gave him gifts that honored and recognized him as king. When we give gifts to show our love and respect for each other, we follow their path.
Yet gift giving can be difficult–and not necessarily because we lack generosity. Sometimes it’s simply hard to know what to give. When so many of us are awash in material goods, it is a challenge because it seems everyone has everything.
Continue reading “Following the Wise Men”
Publishing faces unprecedented challenges these days, with the decline of bookstores and the rise of the Internet and ebooks. The ultimate difficulty may, in fact, be the digital dilemma.
Music, videos and news have been digitized, and which has sent those industries into chaos. And all sorts of other information have been digitized and liberated on the Internet for the greater good of the planet–at the ability of content providers to make a living, which ultimately has a negative effect on new content produced and so a negative effect on the planet. But I digress.
What is a publisher to do?
Continue reading “The Obvious Solution for Publishers”
Okay, listen up, people. And I don’t just mean you twenty-something-Generation X-Y types either. I’m talking heavy-duty, born in the ’40s and ’50s Boomer Bambinos too.
You’re at a meal with others. Enjoying good food and good conversation. Your cell phone, smart phone, pad, pod or doodad rings, beeps, chimes, vibrates, intones or otherwise comes to life. What do you do?
A. Answer the phone and chat it up while your friends keep eating and talking.
B. Don’t answer the phone and let it ring out.
C. Get up from the table, withdraw to a secure location, and answer the phone.
The correct answer is not ever A. I’m talking (well, actually you are the one talking) mega-rudeness, galactic vulgarity, whacked-out boorish behavior.
Answers B and C are completely acceptable. A? Never!
All right. I’m done now with my very polite rant.