Authors

Why Don't More Authors and Publishers 'Get' Libraries?

If you're on twitter and you're a book person, you probably follow @glecharles, aka Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, the LoudPoet. If not, you should.

Here's a bit from a recent post from his blog:

Beyond all of the philosophical reasons to support libraries, there are three very concrete reasons I can think of: -- Read More

  • Discoverability: With the volume of books being published each year growing exponentially, it’s increasingly difficult for any book to rise above the noise and connect with its audience. While “curation” is the buzzword du jour, librarians have been curating books forever, and there are far more libraries than bookstores in this country. Most library websites are better than your average independent booksellers’, too, and as ebooks become increasingly popular, being visible on more than Amazon, B&N and Goodreads will be a critical advantage. As ebook business models evolve, direct partnerships with libraries become an option, too, like the recent innovative deal between the Colorado Independent Publishers Association and Douglas County Libraries.
  • Authors@Google: Sherry Turkle

    Consider Facebook—it's human contact, only easier to engage with and
    easier to avoid. Developing technology promises closeness. Sometimes
    it delivers, but much of our modern life leaves us less connected with
    people and more connected to simulations of them.

    In "Alone Together", MIT technology and society professor Sherry
    Turkle explores the power of our new tools and toys to dramatically
    alter our social lives. It's a nuanced exploration of what we are
    looking for—and sacrificing—in a world of electronic companions and
    social networking tools, and an argument that, despite the hand-waving
    of today's self-described prophets of the future, it will be the next
    generation who will chart the path between isolation and
    connectivity.

    At Google, the Book Tour Becomes Big Business

    When Tina Fey visited the Bay Area in April on her book tour for “Bossypants,” she made just two stops. She gave an interview before a sold-out crowd at the Orpheum Theater, as part of the City Arts & Lectures series. And she dropped by the Mountain View headquarters of Google.

    Full article at NYT

    J. Patrick Lewis Named Children's Poet Laureate

    J. Patrick Lewis's wordplay, humor, and technical facility—as well as his love of writing for children—have earned him an important place in history: today the Poetry Foundation named him the nation's third Children's Poet Laureate.

    Full article at School Library Journal

    John McPhee The Art of Nonfiction No 3

    John McPhee, The Art of Nonfiction No. 3
    I think we can all agree John McPhee is the greatest nonfiction writer of all time. The Paris Review has a great interview.

    "And if somebody says to me, You’re a prolific writer—it seems so odd. It’s like the difference between geological time and human time. On a certain scale, it does look like I do a lot. But that’s my day, all day long, sitting there wondering when I’m going to be able to get started. And the routine of doing this six days a week puts a little drop in a bucket each day, and that’s the key. Because if you put a drop in a bucket every day, after three hundred and sixty-five days, the bucket’s going to have some water in it."

    A Book Store. That’s Right. Book, Singular.

    A Book Store. That’s Right. Book, Singular.
    The book is Mr. Kessler’s account of NASA’s 2008 Phoenix Mars Lander mission, reported during 90 days inside mission control, in Tucson, alongside 130 leading scientists and engineers. Publishers Weekly calls the book a “slightly offbeat firsthand account of scientific determination and stubborn intellect” that “delivers a fascinating journey of discovery peppered with humor.”

    The store is part marketing ploy, to be sure (Mr. Kessler is a creative director at an advertising agency), but also part meditation on the meaning of the book in an age of e-readers and a bankrupt Borders.

    In Elite Library Archives, a Dispute Over a Trove

    In Elite Library Archives, a Dispute Over a Trove
    In a move that has turned scholarly heads, Paul Brodeur, a former investigative reporter for The New Yorker, who donated thousands of pages of his work to the library, is demanding that the papers be returned. He claims that an institution renowned for its careful stewardship of historical documents has badly mishandled his.

    The charges are roiling the genteel world of research archivists, who usually toil in dust-jacket obscurity, and inciting a lively debate about which pieces of the past are worth preserving.

    Three Cups of BS




    Author of the book "Three Cups of Tea" on 60 Minutes.

    Dean Koontz's dog days

    Author Dean Koontz has written more than 100 books - including thirteen number one bestsellers.

    "You're incredibly prolific," says CBS' Anthony Mason. "Where does that come from?"

    "The imagination's a muscle partly. And the more you use it the easier it becomes," says Koontz.

    His success - he ranks number six among the world's best-paid writers - has built him a stunning California home he calls "Amazing Grace," with carved book cases in his library.

    Interview transcript and video available at CBS News' Sunday Morning

    George R. R. Martin Profiled in New Yorker

    This week the New Yorker published a profile of fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin–exploring his relationship with his online fans (and detractors).

    Story at Galleycat

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