Apr 22
20090
commentsDon’t buy it at half price, for God’s sake. ASDA will be giving it away as trolley ballast.
With Harry Potter now off shagging whoever it is he ended up with in the final book, the supermarkets will, I am pretty sure, jump on any ‘event’ title with glee and do their level best to sell as many copies as possible. And love him or loathe him, a new book from Dan Brown is definitely an event.
Apr 22
20090
commentsBeeb techie pundit chap Bill Thompson makes an interesting point about the two cultures — computer literate and computer illiterate — growing apart in the digital age.
Far too many people who use computers every day, and have them in their homes, aren’t even capable of applying the system updates that Microsoft and Apple automatically send out, leaving them with buggy and insecure systems vulnerable to all sorts of attack.
You can follow Bill on Twitter, naturally.
Apr 20
20090
commentsThe Bookseller has this to say about the Espresso, a new Print-On-Demand device that could see customers strolling into a bookshop and asking for a copy of any book — the cheeky bastards.
I’ll admit that I was originally sceptical about the quality of the books published by the Espresso, I assumed that they would all have that “self published” feel to them, with pages misaligned and smudged jackets. But, holding a freshly printed and deliciously warm copy of Jason Epstein’s’ Book Business, my qualms dissolved.
By the way, that icky, ‘self-published’ feel is usually the result of good quality paper.
Apr 20
20092
commentsSly Bailey, Trinity Mirror Chief Executive, on the death of newspapers.
“If the pressures of this recession put local newspapers out of business, think very hard about what we will be left with when we do emerge the other side. Super-dominant digital players like Google and the death of journalism as we know it.”
Absolutely not. The death of newspapers won’t mean the death of journalism. The advertising revenue that propped up newspapers during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is still there. Now, it’s going to specialist websites and blogs.
Most writers don’t write full time — i.e. the majority earn less than the minimum wage from their writing — but the activity is seen as a vocation. Isn’t journalism a vocation?
Apr 19
20092
commentsThe first paragraph of this article in yesterday’s Guardian Review made me smile.
Some injustices cry out to heaven for vengeance, and here’s one: Derek Robinson hasn’t found a publisher for his latest novel. (This is a man whose writing was admired by Saul Bellow, for heaven’s sake.) So he’s done it himself. Jolly good show.
Here, Nicholas Lezard is reviewing a self-published book by Derek Robinson. I haven’t read the book (and haven’t heard of Robinson, actually; it turns out his first novel was nominated for the Booker in 1971), but this paragraph brought to mind one of the myths of publishing: that you’re on the inside or the outside.
For the unpublished novelist, one of the greatest frustrations stems from your attempts to have your work read by a publisher. It can feel like the burly doorman of the Publishing Club won’t let you in. In the real world, how would gain admittance to such a club? You can bribe the doorman, sneak in the back way, or try to inveigle yourself into the life of a card-carrying member.
The strength of this ‘no admittance’ feeling is so strong the writer can begin to feel that, once she’s got in, she’s in. That for cynical or noble reasons, the management of the club will recognise her talents in perpetuity.
A few years back, a would-be writer (who is still a friend of mine) said, “It’s alright for you. You’re in the club.” This made my jaw drop. I had been published by a bleeding-edge outfit and told (I was happy to be told) to learn about self-promotion and go and do some. I did. But I was on my own the whole time. There was no sense that I was the member of the establishment. True, I was lucky enough for several prominent writers — Ken MacLeod, Ian Watson, and so on — to review my book in positive terms, but nobody sent me a badge.
There’s no establishment beyond the people that you bump into occasionally at book launches and other events; sometimes they’re doing well, sometimes not so well. Why not make your own club? You can put whatever music you like on the turntable. Feature a buffet. Go your own way. That’s what Derek Robinson has done, and more power to his quill.
► Review: Hullo Russia, Goodbye England by Derek Robinson | Books | The Guardian
Apr 19
20090
commentsCreative Review has been speaking to Gollancz about their new range of science fiction classics.
“Each cover was created using A4 paper, with all the typography printed and placed on the structure by hand,” Jones [says]. “We then photographed each paper structure and, upon seeing the original black and white images, we didn’t feel that any tweaking or further alterations were needed.”
A good example of striking design. These covers stand out and — not typically for science fiction — there is a clear sense that the cover reflects the identity of the book.
Apr 18
20090
commentsOn the strength of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I’d put Charlie Kaufman in the same box as Hemingway.
Reviews:
“I tend to not only read reviews, but also every little stupid thing online. It’s a very bad idea, and there’s a lot of angry people in the world. And it’s weird to absorb all that weirdness.”
Structure:
“There’s this inherent screenplay structure that everyone seems to be stuck on, this three-act thing. It doesn’t really interest me. To me, it’s kind of like saying, ‘Well, when you do a painting, you always need to have sky here, the person here and the ground here.’ Well, you don’t. In other art forms or other mediums, they accept that it’s just something available for you to work with. I actually think I’m probably more interested in structure than most people who write screenplays, because I think about it.”
Fame:
He insists the Oscar means little: “I like having the trophy, but only on a very surfacey level does it mean anything. It’s just kind of a… Kerouac has a line about fame being a newspaper. You know that line? When I read that when I was a teenager, I didn’t know what it meant, but now… Fame doesn’t really fill you up in any way.”
A few days ago, I heard that Robert McKee’s Story is available as an audiobook. I read it as a teenager, thinking I’d be learning the ropes, and in a sense I did, but rather more because the points at which I disagreed with McKee forced me to think about what we mean by an act, or a scene. I’m still not sure.
► Laura Barton meets film director Charlie Kaufman | Film | The Guardian
Apr 17
20090
commentsWell, types. The truth is, m’colleague Roger Morris has been interviewed by theviewfromhere. Parts 1 and 2 are now available.
[…] There was a launch party for the Macmillan New Writing imprint, and I met the reader who had pulled my book out of the slush pile. That was a great moment. She took the trouble to find me and congratulate me and say how much she had enjoyed the book. Needless to say, I was extremely grateful to her.
Back in the day, I reviewed Roger’s excellent Taking Comfort.
► The view from here: Interview with R N Morris — Part 1 of 2
Apr 16
20092
commentsAvast: there’s an online magazine dedicated to the publetariat — people who publish.
For far too long, indie authors and small imprints have fought an uphill battle against an industry and a community of writers determined to marginalize us and our efforts. Now, as indie authorship stands poised to become the ‘next big thing’ in publishing, our time has come at last.
Right on, comrade.
Apr 15
20090
commentsMichael Leddy, over at Orange Crate Art, has some great tips for students on how to approach a professor. Being US-based, there will be differences for UK students. Don’t call someone a professor unless they really are a professor — otherwise they’ll think you’re taking the piss.
Some of my best college memories are of talking with my professors in their offices. I was a shy kid (still am!), and I treasured the chance to ask questions and try out ideas during office hours. Sitting with my coat and books piled on the floor, I found my way into the possibilities of genuine intellectual dialogue. You can do that too.
 
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