Andy Unedited
Exploring Books, Life, and Writing
It’s dangerous, of course, to impose any mode of thinking on Jesus. It is his mode of thinking that should be imposed on us.
I suppose it is doubly dangerous when talking about business models.
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Most supervisors (myself included) tend to lean on one style of leadership. You find what works for you, and you stick with it. Or, worse yet, even if it doesn’t work, you stick with it anyway. You’ve fallen into one pattern out of habit or because it makes you comfortable (even if it makes those who work for you uncomfortable).
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What do those in the upcoming generation think of Christians, and of evangelicals in particular?
In the book Unchristian, to be published by Baker in October 2007, David Kinnaman presents the results of his research on this question. (Is this industrial espionage? Nothing so sinister. I was at a conference where Baker handed out a sample chapter to all attendees.) Kinnaman found that over 85 percent of those aged sixteen to twenty-nine think we are antihomosexual, judgmental and hypocritical. As Kinnaman says, “We have become famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for.”
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Most people know the title of a book matters. It can make or break the success of a book. A wrong title can confuse readers about the content or mislead readers to think the book is not for them.
In publishing, everyone wants a piece of the title–editorial, marketing, sales, design and, oh yes, the author. So what makes a good title?
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It may surprise my coworkers (though not my wife) that I don’t like conflict. I like to make nice. Tension among people is very uncomfortable for me.
The hard lesson I have learned over the years is that dealing with conflict is like that old commercial about changing the oil in your car–pay now or pay later. It is much less painful regarding conflict and oil changes to pay now. If you let conflict simmer or fester (to mix metaphors), it can only get worse.
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Forget everything you learned about English in grade school. None of it is true. Want to find out why? Read what I’ve got to say in Behind the Books.
One of the most dangerous problems a publishing house (or any business, organization or church) can face is success.
For a publisher, that success could take the form of a massive bestseller. What’s wrong with selling one, two or ten million copies of a book? Isn’t that what every publisher wishes for? Money solves so many problems, doesn’t it?
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Just for fun, check out my May 6 blog Blowin’ in the Wind in Addenda & Errata, the IVP Academic blog.
Since I’m writing a blog, I suppose it is obvious that I think they have value. But how valuable are they for publishers and authors in particular?
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Reading history is a favorite hobby. And I have happily returned to David McCullough’s books time and again. His 1776 was not a disappointment. An informative, interesting read, as you would expect. One expectation I had that turned out not to be the case was that I thought it would have more on the Continental Congress and the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Instead it followed the less worn path of the military history of that year. Not a bad choice, I would say.
Perhaps the most surprising thing in the whole book however was the following statement:
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