Did you know that when stacked up the manuscript of Gone With the Wind was taller than its 4' 9 1/2" author Margaret Mitchell?or that Leo Tolstoy's wife copied the manuscript of War and Peace by hand not once, not twice but seven times!It is stories like these that make up Who the Hell is Pansy O'Hara?, a new book by the husband and wife team of Jenny Bond and Chris Sheedy."When you understand the book's history or something about the author or what influenced his or her work, you can't help but have a finer appreciation for the book,...
Sanctioned Forgery : Publisher Recruiting People to Sign Books For the Author
(click on image to enlarge and enjoy)Gawker is reporting that an unnamed publisher has placed an ad on Craigslist in Los Angeles recruiting individuals to ghost sign copies of a newly released book.They are looking for 14 forgers and will pay $25 per each 200 books signed. The applicant "will need to be able to copy the look and style of both author's signatures"As one comment on the Gawker post states "The fact this outfit was recruiting in West Hollywood suggests the ad was being pitched to junkies and pillheads proficient in forging prescriptions."and I was waiting to see how...
Dictionary Man
Ammon Shea recently spent a year of his life reading the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). For those unfamiliar with dictionary hierarchy, the OED is the king of dictionaries. It is the dictionary. It's a also a big dictionary. The second edition, which Shea consumed, was published in 1989 in 20 volumes. It weighs 137 pounds and is 21,730 pages long!Shea read the whole thing and recounts his experience in his book, Reading the OED One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, which was published by Perigee earlier this month.Shea will be blogging weekly for the next few months over at the...
The Evolution of Author Marketing : Readings Endangered, The Appearance Rising and Product Placement is Just Around the Corner
Author Ethan Canin, right, mingles with guests at a recent "Words & Wine" gathering in SeattleRemember the days when one of the few options an author had was to hit the road to promote their new book, crossing the country, reading at bookstores both big and small, connecting with readers in the hope that they will buy your book.Well, it's not that simple anymore. The changing publishing and bookselling landscape has forced everyone to revamp their marketing strategy to come up with new ways to sell books. Most major publishers now have an in house speakers-bureau and internet marketing department....
The Where of Reading : Field-Tested Books
Talk about books and technology. Is the book on life support? The reader? Is information going in? or coming out?This fantastic screenprint was designed by John Solimine of Spike Press in an edition of 400 for the recent publication of Coudal Partners' Field-Tested Books. It also serves as the cover art.For over six years now the folks at Coudal have been asking been asking people to send them 300-500 words about a book they read somewhere; a “certain book read in a certain place.”The Field-Tested Books book contains three years of reviews featuring 143 entries from more than 90 contributors....