Writing
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The Jacke Wilson One-Word Test: Are Your Themes What You Expected?
Years ago The New Yorker ran a cartoon after Ken Burns had just come out with his second major documentary, Baseball. (The first, of course, had been the masterpiece The Civil War.) The cartoon showed a man’s hand holding a piece of paper with “Ken Burns To-Do List” at the top. Underneath the title it said: WAR SPORTS… Continue reading
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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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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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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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Independent Publishing: What Would Marcel Proust Do?
This is an easy one: we know what Proust would do, because he did it: Still, for all the brouhaha, many modern readers still find themselves in agreement with the two French publishers who turned down Proust’s manuscript [Swann’s Way] in 1912. A third agreed to publish it, provided that Proust himself cover the expenses. I… Continue reading
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Self-Publishing: On the Respectability of Small Audiences
I was still feeling the afterglow of the Alice Munro announcement, so I headed over to Munro’s Paris Review interview. One of the things I was struck by was her description of the first fifteen years or so of her career: MUNRO I was about thirty-six [when my first book came out]. I’d been writing… Continue reading
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News from Lake Flyover
A technological accident added some unexpected profundity to Ian Stansel’s heartfelt piece “Finding the Essential in the Literary Midwest.” Here’s how the piece ended, at least when I read it (only the first paragraph was intentional): So to you folks flying over, I say this: go ahead. Go on to Colorado or New Mexico or… Continue reading
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Berlatsky the Hack: A Word of Encouragement
Cheer up, Noah Berlatsky! Your self-described life as a Hack puts you on Level 3 of our Ladder of Writerly Financial Success. Not a bad place to be! And it puts you in some esteemed company. Continue reading
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