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NaNoWriMo: A Full-Throated Defense
This is national novel writing month (NaNoWriMo), which isn’t something I’ve ever participated in, mainly because I write fiction year round and don’t need any extra incentive. What has struck me this year is that there are such strong opinions AGAINST it. Even purported supporters often give NaNoWriMo participants the back of their hand – Continue reading
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The Spirit of Self-Publishing: William Shakespeare Edition
So you’re thinking about self-publishing. You take some consolation in the dignity of small audiences and the examples of Marcel Proust and others. You use examples like the great Joanna Penn to show you the way. She reminds you that you’re keeping 70% of your sales (and 100% of your control). David Gaughran explains how Continue reading
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Writing For Free: Must We Be Blockheads?
Blogs are free. Podcasts are free. Why not e-books? Umm…. Because I hope people think they shouldn’t be? Derek Thompson takes a thoughtful look at the arguments for and against writing for free: This discussion typically ping-pongs between two extremes: (1) It’s deeply unjust and insulting to ask people for free work, including free writing; and Continue reading
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What They Knew #12
“WAIT.” –Franz Kafka (from the sign he had posted above his writing desk) Continue reading
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Indie Publishing: What Would Ezra Pound Do?
We’ve seen some great examples of the indie publishing spirit, from Dr. Johnson to Stéphane Mallarmé, to Marcel Proust. Next up: poetry’s mad scientist, the original miglior fabbro (well, except for the real miglior fabbro), the Tireless Champion of the Arts who wound up living – literally – in a cage. An amazing, awful life story: Ezra Pound! Pound of Continue reading
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Inmates, Asylums, Etc.
Noreen Malone provides a fascinating look at Simon & Schuster’s Jeremie Ruby-Strauss, The King of Trash Publishing: He was the very picture of civilized, a quality less abundant in the books he acquires. Ruby-Strauss had just come from the set of the “Today” show, where he’d shepherded three new authors, the young women behind the Continue reading
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On Digitization, Democracy, and Dignity
Several times now we’ve referred to the dignity of small audiences in arguing for self-publishing as a worthy endeavor, which should be celebrated rather than stigmatized. I’m glad to see the great Jeremy Waldron (incidentally a former professor of mine, and one of my favorites) has come out with a new book on the subject. Continue reading
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Beta Readers: New Jacke Book Shipping Today!
Definition of a good day: A Halloween post on the indie-publishing spirit of nineteenth-century France (did you miss the Halloween connection? look again!) Shipping out copies of the next Jacke Wilson book to my fantastic early readers I’m trying a new tactic this time: hard copies, a comment sheet, and a return envelope, postage paid. Continue reading
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Independent Publishing: What Would Stéphane Mallarmé Do?
Steve Moyer provides a fascinating look at the intersection of technology and publishing in nineteenth-century France. As Moyer observes, Stéphane Mallarmé not only excelled in poetry, essays, and translations, but in reconceptualizing the nature of the book: He was given to imagining new possibilities for the book, and in the 1870s and 1880s, he worked to Continue reading
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Feelin’ Gaststättenneueröffnungsuntergangsgewissheit…
It’s become kind of a cliché to say “Oh, the Germans probably have a word for it.” But as Ian Crouch (reviewing Ben Schott’s new book, Schottenfreude: German Words for the Human Condition, among others) points out, more often than not, they do: Leertretung Stepping down heavily on a stair that isn’t there. Void-Stepping Tageslichtspielschock Continue reading
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Feelin’ Gaststättenneueröffnungsuntergangsgewissheit…
It’s become kind of a cliché to say “Oh, the Germans probably have a word for it.” But as Ian Crouch (reviewing Ben Schott’s new book, Schottenfreude: German Words for the Human Condition, among others) points out, more often than not, they do: Leertretung Stepping down heavily on a stair that isn’t there. Void-Stepping Tageslichtspielschock Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 