http://adamspressblog.com Commentary about publishing, self-publishing, and books in general Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:11:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Next time you're cruising down the road in air conditioned comfort or sleeping soundly on a hot, humid night, take a moment to give thanks for the publishing industry. Willis Carrier invented air conditioning in 1902 to combat inking problems for his employer, the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing & Publishing Company in ... http://adamspressblog.com/?p=71 In order to gain market for its Kindle e-book reader, Amazon has been buying books from publishers for $13 each and selling the Kindle-formatted version for $9.99 each. At a loss of three bucks a book, how long can this continue? Donald B. Marron, visiting professor at the Georgetown Public ... http://adamspressblog.com/?p=70 Writing in the New York Times,  Verlyn Klinkenborg sings the praises both of electronic and traditionally produced ink-on-paper books. Of printed books, he appreciates that  "[t]hey do nothing. . .what I really love is their inertness. . .The book is the book, whereas, in electronic formats, the book often ... http://adamspressblog.com/?p=69 Here’s a note I received from someone who, for the sake of courtesy and his / her protection from the language police, shall remain nameless. I have made no editorial changes or corrections. The message’s nearly 300 words boil down to Wanted: Purchasing manager for educational publisher. Computer skills required. “I hope ... http://adamspressblog.com/?p=68 As predicted, author Susan Hassett's copyright infringement / plagiarism lawsuit against Elisabeth Hasselbeck, one of the panelists on ABC-TV's "The View," has been thrown out of court. [See "Author Beware!" below.] According to the Boston Herald, "It’s unclear why Hassett didn’t pursue the case. Her lawyer, Richard Cunha of Swansea, ... http://adamspressblog.com/?p=67 Once again it's Banned Books Week. Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Karin Perry cautions, "It takes only one---one parent, one family, one community member---to deprive [a child's] right to read." Your child. My child. All children. Perry points out 85 books---most are commonly known to all of us---that have ... http://adamspressblog.com/?p=65 Hey, I've got a great idea. Why don't we all write our books for, and sell them to, college students? Students read a lot of books, right? And they've got money to burn. All we have to do is get our work adopted as required textbooks, and we'll be rich. Students ... http://adamspressblog.com/?p=64 July Meeting Reprise There wasn't an empty seat in the room as two-time IWOC past president Jim Kepler told a rapt audience how we could take material we might have already written, put it together in book form, publish it, and then use the book to promote ourselves for other jobs. ... http://adamspressblog.com/?p=63 Here's an article from the celebrity gossip blog www.tmz.com that every author who chooses to self-publish should read. Click here. It concerns a book written by Susan Hassett and produced by xLibris. (xLibris is associated with Random House but Random claims to have no oversight of its operations. Strange in itself.) ... http://adamspressblog.com/?p=61 If you're a writer waiting for inspiration to strike, follow the advice of Huffington Post's Gretchen Rubin: Don't. Rubin's 13 Tips for Actually Getting Some Writing Done are among the best I've seen. One I especially like is "[T]ry going for a walk and reading a really good book." Hard to do ... http://adamspressblog.com/?p=60