Postmodernism tells us there is no purely objective observer. We all have a bias when we come to a subject, no matter how well trained we might be in science or law or history. This would seem to be a rather difficult problem to overcome. How do we say something is true when it will inevitably be colored by our own perspectives?
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Murder, Apathy and Urban Legends
Kitty Genovese was murdered in Kew Gardens in Queens, New York, forty-eight years ago today. It rocked the nation. The New York Times article about the incident famously began, “For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.”
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What If You Wanted to Publish?
Would you join me in a thought experiment? What if you had to answer the following questions?
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Pastor Beware (and Writer Too)
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.
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My Conversation with Jeff Bezos
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.”
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What Publishers Can Learn from the Airlines
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:
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Reaching the World (or Not)
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.
Self Publish? You Bet.
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.
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The 2012 Andys
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.
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The Nominees for 2012
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:
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