Arts
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How to Review Books: My Manifesto
Sometimes changes make tired old arguments look even more creaky. This is how I felt when I encountered yet another back-and-forth about whether book reviewers should strive to be positive and avoid snark, or whether they should be hard-minded critics, willing to blame as well as praise in their criticism. Maria Bustillos has a rundown. Continue reading
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Small Press Shout-Out: Tiny TOE Press
I’ve written before about the role for small presses in the brave new publishing world. And in my dream bookstore. Today’s small-press shout out goes to Tiny TOE Press, an Austin-based “kitchen-table press” that publishes handpressed books. Check out their definition of DIY publishing and their catalog. And dream bookstore entrepreneurs, remember: I’d like a nice table Continue reading
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Failure and Penelope Fitzgerald
Oh, good lord. No wonder I love Penelope Fitzgerald so much. Here I thought it was the short length of her novels. Instead it’s the life experience: By that time, in her early sixties, Penelope Fitzgerald was long accustomed to humiliation and, far worse, to catastrophe. Indeed, her late flowering as a novelist of extraordinary Continue reading
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A Self-Interview with the Author, Jacke Wilson
Today’s self-interview is with the author and sole proprietor of this blog, Jacke Wilson. Jacke’s novella The Race is available now at Amazon.com. Q: Thank you for sitting down with me today. A: It was no trouble at all. Q: How long have you been writing fiction? A: As a serious endeavor, approximately 18 years. Q: Continue reading
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Advice from Saint Stephen: Don’t Punch Down
Longtime readers will recall my struggles with tone. I honestly am trying to keep this blog positive, forward-looking, and helpful. A beacon of fairness and integrity. And yet… one of my most popular posts refers to a famous novelist as a Horse’s Ass. And then there’s the series of posts referring to a prominent reviewer 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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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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Embrace Your Inner Homer (and Publish Your Book!)
Okay, before we begin, please watch this video. It’s by far the best use of 24 seconds you’ll spend today: What does this have to do with self-publishing? Well, I could point to the dignity of the little robot with his little tennis racket arm, and the moving way he pulls himself down the road Continue reading
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Self-Publishing Literary Fiction – A Ray of Hope
Oh, it’s hard times for literary fiction in general, I know. (People don’t read it any more!) And for indie publishers, there is the stigma. (Who do you think you are? You need to have someone else decide whether your book should be available to readers…) But there’s hope! As David Gaughran, guru of marketing Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 