Exploring Books, Life, and Writing
Many people seem to have a notion that publishers somehow are (or should be) a superior form of human being. It’s nice to be so highly thought of–until you find out what they mean. Like the question many of us have heard. “I thought you guys were smart. Why don’t you just publish bestsellers?”
So, true confessions, we’re not omniscient. And I’m here to dish. What don’t publishers know?
Continue reading “What Publishers Don’t Know”
Since I’ve been an editor all these years, many people assume I have a degree in English or journalism. They are wrong, of course. I have a degree in mathematics.
That may seem an odd thing, but studying mathematics has helped me tremendously as an editor in at least two ways. First, it trained me to think logically and rigorously. Second, it means I’m not totally lost when it comes to thinking about the numbers side of publishing. And there are a lot of numbers to think about: profit, loss, expenses, budgets, sales rates and projections, price calculations, spread sheets, and more.
Continue reading “Not an Exact Science”
I encourage reading. I’ve tried to do it here and there and elsewhere, noting a variety of excellent reasons to do so. I tend to think that reading in general and thoughtful reading in particular need all the support they can get. My suspicion is that if people are reading, books will get their fair share of attention.
But some people just really love books. And who am I to stand in their way? It’s delightful when someone exposes such passion in unfettered terms. That’s what James Emery White has done on his Serious Times website.
He even makes an ardent case for not just reading books but for buying them, marking them and keeping them.
May his tribe increase.
It’s tempting to roll our collective eyes when someone recognizes the obvious. Now we learn that sociologists have got religion. They have made the absolutely amazing discovery that religion is actually important.
Continue reading “To Sociologists: Duh!”
“Meetings don’t get work done. Meetings create work.”
I’ve said that so many times I’ve almost convinced myself that I originated the aphorism. But probably it came from my predecessor, Jim Sire. (Unless he stole it from someone else.)
Continue reading “Meetings Don’t Get Work Done”
No, it’s not an invasion of killer bees that you hear. It’s the buzz around the Apple tablet, which could bridge laptops and hand-held devices while offering a great book-reading experience.
Barnes & Noble shares have bumped up on rumors that it will have a role in the new device.
The web is alive with fake sneak peaks.
How scared is Amazon? Will Apple dislodge the Kindle from its place of primacy?
International Business Times says the market is out there for the tablet, and it’s big.
Will Apple, the ultimate purveyor of cool devices, hit another home run with an iTablet? T-Day is Wednesday.
I’m a very slow reader. Always have been. And yet when people hear of the books I’ve read over the course of a year, they tell me they wish they could read more. I’ve found several reading strategies to be very helpful. Even if you employ just one of the ideas below, you can read a half dozen or more books in a year:
Continue reading “How to Read More”
Fifty years ago today, Time magazine published an article on Francis Schaeffer, who with his wife founded “one of the most unusual missions in the Western world.” What made their ministry, nestled in the Swiss Alps, so different? They focused on intellectuals–artists, musicians, students, atheists, Jews, Catholics and Protestants–an eclectic mix of people that in 1960 the church tended to neglect.
Continue reading “Francis Schaeffer: Fifty Years after Time”
Last week I posted what I read in 2009. Here’s the best, the most, the worst and the biggest of what I read this past year:
Continue reading “The 2010 Andys”
I continue my annual tradition of listing the books I’ve read in the past year, in the order I read them. Reading is part of my job, but I enjoy the busman’s holiday of reading on my own time. Some of the books I borrowed, some I bought, some were given to me and some I got from the library. Several I listened to while riding around town on errands and commuting to work. In those cases, I’ve linked to the audio version.
So here are the books of 2009:
Continue reading “What I Read in 2009”