More Blog Bytes
Today's blog is a roundup of happenings in the publishing industry, garnered from Blogs around the Internet.
In a tidbit I picked up on Beatrice.com, the independent bookstore Chapters, in Washington, D.C., a veritable institution, might not make it to their 21st year. In an effort to avoid this, they are selling the bookstore to a non-profit they formed to promote Wordfest, a poetry festival, and are looking for investors.... about 1600 of them.
Chapters owner Steve Moyers said:
Author Tess Gerritsen talks about how there's always a reader who wants to point out snafus you might make in your book (I sometimes wonder if people read books just LOOKING for them) on her blog. Below that, the divine Miss G. chats about the M word... you know, money, and how much authors really make.
P.J. Parrish (a sister writing team) talks about sex in books, or the lack of well written sex, in a very good post on their blog.
Hmmm. A book I won't be reading....
I also gleaned, from reading Tod Goldberg's blog, that he managed to piss off Dean Koontz. That's almost sorta like making Stephen King mad, isn't it? Tod cracks me up, especially since just about every post he writes denounces another F&@$tard or two (his word, not mine, but it's a glorious one).
Apparently, Tod took exception to Koontz calling someone Mr. Teriyaki, and after he was quoted by the LA Times, Koontz took exception to Tod calling him a f$#@tard, although not in so many words.
And that's a roundabout from the bookblog world!
In a tidbit I picked up on Beatrice.com, the independent bookstore Chapters, in Washington, D.C., a veritable institution, might not make it to their 21st year. In an effort to avoid this, they are selling the bookstore to a non-profit they formed to promote Wordfest, a poetry festival, and are looking for investors.... about 1600 of them.
Chapters owner Steve Moyers said:
In the short run it would enable Chapters to get an infusion of capital and we would be back on firm financial footing. Once that happens it completes the circle. Wordfest can continue doing the events it does and Chapters can continue selling books at these events. When, and if, Chapters has a profit it would go back to Wordfest and support its work.
Author Tess Gerritsen talks about how there's always a reader who wants to point out snafus you might make in your book (I sometimes wonder if people read books just LOOKING for them) on her blog. Below that, the divine Miss G. chats about the M word... you know, money, and how much authors really make.
P.J. Parrish (a sister writing team) talks about sex in books, or the lack of well written sex, in a very good post on their blog.
"But the hand was what she tried to concentrate on, the hand, since it has the entire terrain of her torso to explore and not just the otorhinolaryngological caverns -- oh God, it was not just at the border where the flesh of the breast joins the pectoral sheath of the chest -- no, the hand was cupping her entire right -- Now!"
Okay, this is cheating because the above quote was NOT written by a crime writer. I could name names in the crime world here, but I have to bend elbows with my fellow writers at conventions. And according to one drunken broad at Bouchercon, I already have the reputation for being "offensive." So forgive me for chickening out and not quoting directly from some of the books on my shelf. But you people know who you are....
As for the lyrical passage above, it was upchucked onto the page by none other than Tom Wolfe in his latest, "I am Charlotte Simmons."
Hmmm. A book I won't be reading....
I also gleaned, from reading Tod Goldberg's blog, that he managed to piss off Dean Koontz. That's almost sorta like making Stephen King mad, isn't it? Tod cracks me up, especially since just about every post he writes denounces another F&@$tard or two (his word, not mine, but it's a glorious one).
Apparently, Tod took exception to Koontz calling someone Mr. Teriyaki, and after he was quoted by the LA Times, Koontz took exception to Tod calling him a f$#@tard, although not in so many words.
He doesn't see how people might find him calling someone else Mr. Teriyaki anything but the height of humor because, I suspect, no one has told him otherwise, maybe because he's Dean Koontz and maybe because he doesn't put himself up for the same kind of hilarity as his subjects. Whatever the case may be, I suspect saying, "Sorry if I offended anyone, it certainly wasn't my intention" would have been a far better response than, "You're all out to get me!"
And that's a roundabout from the bookblog world!