NEW Book Prizes for Innovation and Graphics

By Linda | Published February 24, 2010

LOS ANGELES – (BUSINESS WIRE) – The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes steps into new territory as it enters its third decade, adding a new Innovator’s Award and a first-of-its-kind graphic novel category to the honors that will be presented April 23rd at an exclusive ceremony at The Times’ Chandler Auditorium. The event is the prologue to the 15th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the nation’s premier public literary festival, April 24-25 at UCLA.

The Book Prizes recognize 50 distinguished works in ten categories and the list of finalists in biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award), graphic novel, history, mystery/thriller, poetry, science and technology, and young adult literature can be found at http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/. The addition of the graphic novel category makes The Times the first major book prize in the United States to honor an art form that has indelibly expanded the literary landscape, both aesthetically and commercially.

The Innovator’s Award was created to recognize cutting-edge work, specifically endeavors that bring storytelling into the future via new business models, technology or applications of narrative art. The inaugural winner is writer and publishing impresario Dave Eggers, author of six books, including “What Is the What,” a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the bestselling Pulitzer Prize finalist “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” and 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Current Interest finalist “Zeitoun.” He also wrote the screenplay for “Where the Wild Things Are” and is the founder and editor of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house that produces a wide range of books and a quarterly journal, as well as “The Believer,” a monthly magazine, and “Wholphin,” a quarterly DVD of short films and documentaries. In 2002, he co-founded 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for inner-city youth in San Francisco’s Mission District. Local communities have since opened sister 826 centers in Ann Arbor, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle.

Evan S. Connell is the recipient of the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement. Over his more than 50-year career, Connell has written fiction, essays, biography and even two book-length poems. His novels “Mrs. Bridge” and “Mr. Bridge” remain among the most insightful portraits of 20th century middle-American suburban life ever written, and his biography of General George Armstrong Custer, “Son of the Morning Star,” re-imagines the story of the Old West as a complicated tragedy marked by narcissism and genocide. He has won numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History, the Pushcart Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship and an award in literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were established in 1980. Finalists and winners are selected by panels of three judges composed of published authors who specialize in each genre. Further information about the Book Prizes including past winners posted at http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/previous-winners/year-2009.

About the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books was created in 1996 to promote literacy, celebrate the written word, and bring together those who create books with the people who love to read them. Between 130,000 and 140,000 people attend the event annually.

General event information is available online at latimesfestivalofbooks.com or by calling 1-800-LA TIMES, ext. 7BOOK. Detailed speaker and event information will be provided in the official festival program, which will be published in the April 18th edition of the Los Angeles Times.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

JD SALINGER? NOOOOOOO!

By Linda | Published January 28, 2010

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1246881/Why-did-J-D-Salinger-spend-60-years-hiding-shed-writing-love-notes-teenage-girls.html

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Famous Writer’s Birthdays Today

By Linda | Published January 25, 2010

Straight from Garrison Keillor, a man who my children hate to hear drone in the car- they claim his voice induces car sickness…

From The Writer’s Almanac: January 25th

It’s the birthday of the novelist and essayist Virginia Woolf, (books by this author) born Virginia Stephen in London (1882). She never went to school, but her father chose books for her to read from his own library. She was only allowed to move out of her family home after her father’s death, when she was 22. She moved into a house with her brothers and sister, and instead of writing letters about what she’d been reading, she began to write literary criticism for the Times Literary Supplement, and she became one of the most accomplished literary critics of the era. Woolf believed that the problem with 19th-century literature was that novelists had focused entirely on the clothing people wore and the food they ate and the things they did. She believed that the most mysterious and essential aspects of human beings were not their possessions or their habits, but their interior emotions and thoughts. She considered her first few novels failures, but then in 1922, she began to read the work of Marcel Proust, who had just died that year. That moved her to write her first masterpiece: Mrs. Dalloway (1925), about all the thoughts that pass through the mind of a middle-aged woman on the day she gives a party. Woolf went on to write many more novels, including To the Lighthouse (1927) and The Waves (1931), but she was also one of the greatest essayists of her generation. In her long essay about women and literature, A Room of One’s Own (1929), she wrote: “So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say. But to sacrifice a hair of the head of your vision, a shade of its colour, in deference to some Headmaster with a silver pot in his hand or to some professor with a measuring-rod up his sleeve, is the most abject treachery.” It’s the birthday of the man who wrote, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley” and “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, / And never brought to mind?” and “O my luve’s like a red, red rose, / That’s newly sprung in June; O my luve’s like the melodie / That’s sweetly played in tune.” That’s the “Bard of Ayrshire,” the ploughman poet, Robert Burns, (books by this author) born 251 years ago today in Alloway, Scotland (1759). Today people in Scotland and groups all over the world are holding Burns suppers to celebrate his life and work. They read Burns’ poems, sing his songs, eat haggis, and drink lots of whiskey.

Posted in authors, celebrations, writers | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

What to Write Next. Borrowed From Colson Whitehead.

By Linda | Published January 12, 2010

What can I say? This is perfect without any interruptions from me.

From The New York Times

November 1, 2009
Essay

What to Write Next

By COLSON WHITEHEAD

I recently published a novel, and now it’s time to get back to work. If you’re anything like me, figuring out what to write next can be a real hassle. A flashy and experimental brain-bender, or a pointillist examination of the dissolution of a typical American family? ­Generation-spanning door-stopper or claustrophobic psychological sketch? Buncha novellas with a minor character in common? To make things easier, I modified my dartboard a few years ago. Now, when I’m overwhelmed by the untold stories out there, I head down to the basement, throw a dart and see where it lands. Try it for yourself!

Encyclopedic Have you ever thought, There is a system that rules our culture, and this system also determines interaction on the individual level, and I have come up with a metaphor that describes both manifestations, and can provide many examples? If so, you may be postmodern, or postmodern-curious. E. M. Foster said, “Only connect,” and Lauryn Hill seconded him, maintaining that “everything is everything.” They aren’t postmodernists, but that’s the beauty of the postmodern — it’s not what it is, it’s what you say it is.

Realism Take this test. When you read “These dishes have been sitting in the sink for days,” do you think (a) This is an indicator of my inner weather, or (b) Why don’t they do the dishes? Does the phrase “I’m going as far away from here as my broken transmission will get me, and then I’ll take it from there” make you think (a) Somebody understands me, or (b) Why don’t they stay and talk it out? What is more visually appealing, (a) a Pall Mall butt floating in a coffee mug, or (b) those new Pop Art place mats in the Crate & Barrel catalog? If you answered (a), do we have a genre for you.

Recommended for: The rumpled, drinky.

Ist Simply add -ist to any oddball or unlikely root word, and run with it. You’d be surprised.

Ethnic Bildungsroman Your parents packed their bags and took a chance on a dream called America. From Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, Bangladesh and Beijing. Then you came along, with all your surly second-­generation-ness, and you wondered, Why do they eat that food, their accent is so heavy, why can’t they leave me alone and let me play baseball? For you are not like them, you Old World-eschewing, Otherness-contemplating, bubble-gum-popping, shiksa-smooching, WASP bastion-­charging, bootstrapping young thing. You got moxie, kid, and just like Mary Tyler Moore, you’re gonna make it after all.

Sample titles: “From Here, but Also Not”; “Annette Lipshitz for President.”

About A Little Known Historical Fact Possession is nine-tenths of the law. Find a little-known atrocity and claim squatter’s rights. Get in there so no one can take your lynching, massacre or overlooked genocide away from you. People like to be educated about tragedies that they’ve never shaken their heads sadly over before. Getting them to say “I didn’t know about that” is a surprisingly effective marketing tool. Practice speaking mellifluously — you’re going to be doing a lot of NPR.

Sample titles: “The Gridleysville Account”; “Shout! The Forgotten People.”

Fabulism Ladies with wings and men without mouths. Dancing trees and talkative cows. If it’s for kids, it’s a fairy tale. If it’s for grown-ups, it’s magic realism! Whether you’re 8 or 80, everybody loves magic. This is the perfect genre for writers who may be tempted to throw out manuscript pages when they get stuck — with magic realism, you can just conjure up a flaming tornado and whisk troublesome characters away. “Where’s Jasper?” “Remember that legend I mentioned 25 pages ago, about the Flaming Tornado of Red Creek?”

Historical Novel Sweeping. . . . Meticulously researched. . . . Something about verandas. Welcome to the world of the historical novel. This is different from a book About a Little Known Historical Fact in that you’re taking a recognizable event or milieu, familiar from PBS documentaries and Oscar-winning movies, and putting your own spin on it. If you get sick of those tedious period details (gas-lamp, chamber-pot, chandler — oy!), consider cutting between the past and the present, where the narrator discovers information about some ancestor’s role in things. Throw in a real-life famous person — Jimmy Hoffa, Emma Goldman, the Lindbergh baby — and watch the sparks fly.

Allegory This book is about the Black Death . . . or is it?

Sample titles: “The Forest”; “The Mound”; “The Illness”; “The Cubby”; “The Lump.”

Domestic Why is Timmy spending so much time with his door closed? Did I hear Janet sneaking out last night? Bert’s always working late these days, it’s like I hardly see him. Jamie has started another affair — she’s one of my best friends but I don’t know what she’s thinking sometimes. I guess it all began that fateful night when my car broke down.

Recommended for: People who stumble upon their muse in Aisle 8 of Whole Foods.

Thriller Nothing wrong with putting a little food on the table, especially in these times of economic uncertainty.

Recommended for: Those who know only five adjectives, but know them really well.

Southern Novel of Black Misery Africans in America, cut your teeth on this literary staple. Slip on your sepia-tinted goggles and investigate the legacy of slavery that still reverberates to this day, the legacy of Reconstruction that still reverberates to this day, and crackers. Invent nutty transliterations of what you think slaves talked like. But hurry up — the hounds are a-­gittin’ closer!

Sample titles: “I’ll Love You Till the Gravy Runs Out and Then I’m Gonna Lick Out the Skillet”; “Sore Bunions on a Dusty Road.”

Southern Novel of White Misery, OR Southern Novel What race problem?

Sample titles: “The Birthing Stone”; “The Gettin’ Place.”

Social Realism You: A canny observer in a white suit and a fine cravat. The Culture: Just waiting for someone to explain it to itself. When these two krazy kidz get together, it’s zeitgeist! Dig in and tell people how they really live today. Convince the reader that your ear is attuned to the modern vernacular, that your nose sniffs the tang of changing mores, and that your fingers are on the pulse of our time, somewhere around the neck, to better choke the life out of it. Hold up a mirror to our society, or at least to the lives of book critics who will write that your book “holds up a mirror to our society.” You’re not done until you come up with at least one spot-on description that enters the national vocabulary. Here are some freebies to start you off: “cyber galoots,” “walking kabobs,” “electric ninnies.” But please, please, please — know when you’re too old to pull it off.

Sample titles: “Yonder Lies the Glittery City”; “Sotto Voce.”

Remember, this is only a partial list — there are literally dozens of kinds of books out there waiting for the right writer to come along. Step right up, and see what happens. It works for me.

Colson Whitehead’s novels include “The Intuitionist” (ist) and “John Henry Days” (encyclopedic). His most recent book is “Sag Harbor.”

Posted in authors, books | Leave a comment

Now I Know What Joe Knows

By Linda | Published January 7, 2010

Joe Konrath writes a blog called A Newbie’s Guild to Publishing.

I’d like to share a recent post of his which is both enlightening and inspiring. Enjoy.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

What I Know

I’ve been blogging for almost five years, and am closing in on 500 blog posts all about the publishing industry.

As a result, this blog gets a lot of hits from people who don’t know who I am. That’s the point. As I’ve said many times, anyone can find you on the net if they’re looking for you. The goal is to have people find you when they’re looking for something else.

That said, I often get emailed questions that are already answered in my blog. On one hand, a newbie author discovering me is anxious to get answers, and often enthusiastically fires off questions to me without reading all 500 of my posts. On the other hand, anyone who wants to succeed in publishing needs to be in it for the long haul. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Reading all of my entries does a lot more than simply familiarizing you with my writing. It’s an encapsulation of how this business works, and how one writer views it.

So it’s worth it to the read old posts.

But it’s almost 2010. We’re in a technological tsunami. Instant gratification isn’t fast enough for us.

So here’s a blog post that distills the essence of what I’ve learned in this biz.

Luck Is Important

I say this all the time. In fact, I think it’s the #1 factor in determining success in this business. But I’ve never specifically identified what luck is.

In essence: Getting someone within the industry with enough power and money to recognize they can make money from your work. That’s luck. It involves having the right book, in the right place, at the right time. Too soon, too late, wrong person, not good enough–these all can minimize your luck. But hard work, paying attention, and being willing to roll with the punches and accept criticism can maximize your luck.

Still, at the end of the day, it always comes down to a roll of the dice. No one said it would be fair, easy, or fun. But if this is your dream, it is worthwhile to pursue it.

Why do I pursue it?

First, because I love to tell stories. I think it’s a fundamental part of the human experience.

Second, because making a living doing something I love is the whole point of life.

Third, because I’m ensuring my little place in history. The most important thing I can do as a human being is be a good husband and father. And yet, who remembers husbands and fathers? How many can you name that you don’t personally know?

But writers–everyone can name a dozen writers. That I’m able to reach people, and at the same time become immortal through my work; that speaks to to the essence of what I believe humanity is.

As a species, we love to create things. I’m doing my part and making my mark, in a way that makes me thrilled to be alive.


Understand The Industry

The publishing industry is broken. No doubt about it. Any business that allows returns,
where a 50% sell-through is considered successful, where no one can figure out why things succeed or fail, is fundamentally flawed.

But the more you know about how things work, the better you can manipulate the system.

Good decision-making comes down to facts. The better informed you are, the likelier your decisions will be correct.

Listen. Ask questions. Follow examples. Experiment. Take chances. Stay alert.


The Harder You Try, The More Books You’ll Sell

You will not become a bestseller by doing all the things I tell you to do, no matter how logical or well-informed I appear.

You will not become a bestseller through your blog, your touring, your speaking efforts, your internet efforts, or you social networks.

The only way you will become a bestseller is to have your books available, at a discount, in as many places as possible. And that’s beyond your control.

That said, every little thing you do to sell your books can help your career.

Books sell one at a time. If you’re the one that sells them, one at a time, its one more that probably would not have sold without your efforts.

The Race Is With Yourself

You can’t ever compare yourself to any other writer. EVER. This isn’t like the business world, where certain positions have a salary range. You can make $100 a year, or $5,000,000 a year, with no discernible difference in your output or your quality.

If you want to compare yourself to someone, compare yourself to yourself. Monitor your successes. Learn from your failures (and if you aren’t failing, you aren’t trying hard enough.) Try different things, make mistakes, grow, adapt, evolve.

Your peers are a tool you can use to better yourself. But they are NEVER something to aspire to.

Your only aspirations should be within your control. Which brings us to:

Set Achievable Goals

Goals should be within your power. In other words, anything that involves a yes or no from another human being isn’t a goal, it’s a dream.

You can and should dream, and dream big. But “I want to be a bestseller” isn’t a goal. “I want to attend three writing conferences this year, polish my novel, and send queries to ten agents by November” is a goal.

Learn the difference. And don’t forget to reward yourself when you reach those goals.

Love It

The term “tortured artist” is an oxymoron. Art is not food, clothing, or shelter. Art is what we do to express and entertain ourselves. If you slave over your writing, I recommend finding something more enjoyable to do. Life is too short, and too many bad things happen, to waste time making yourself miserable.

No one ever gets farmer’s block. No one ever bitches about being too uninspired to wait tables.

If writing is so hard, perhaps you should find something easier.

This may seem to run contrary to:

Make Sacrifices

Nothing worthwhile in life is easy. Victory is sweetest when it’s hard-won.

You shouldn’t EVER believe you deserve anything, or that you’re entitled to success. But if you want to reach your writing goals, it often involves giving up other things in order to focus on writing.

You need to love writing. In fact, you need to love it so much you’re willing to give up other things that other people (perhaps even you) deem important.

How do you know if your love is strong enough and worth the sacrifice?

When you write THE END, if it isn’t the coolest feeling in the world, perhaps you should consider a different career.

But if writing THE END is so fulfilling that it was worth giving up TV, sleep, food, sex, and surfing the internet, then you’re in the right profession.

Get Used To Insecurity

As a writer, you’ll have the biggest ego in the world, and no ego at all, at the same time.

Money will sometimes be plentiful, and sometimes be scarce.

You’ll have major accomplishments, and major setbacks. Your mood will swing on a daily basis.

Some dreams will come true. Some will be murdered.

There are no guarantees.

This business is unstable, and being an artist, you’re probably a bit unstable to begin with. These things can feed on each other. Doubt, insecurity, and depression, are all part of the career.

There will be long periods of waiting. Lots of them.

There will be challenges (and by that, I mean you’ll get screwed.)

But you need to roll with the punches. Set-backs are opportunities to grow. Rejections are learning experiences. This is a business, and can’t be taken personally.

If you go into this understanding you’re in for an emotional roller coaster, you can handle the turns and dips much better.

Know When To Quit

The measure of a human being is what makes them finally give up. The stronger the person, the more they can take.

In my previous blog post, I said that you are the hero in the movie of your life. Act like it.

What do you want? Who do you want to be?

That dictates what you need to do.

Quitting, like admitting you’re wrong, is one of the noblest things you can do in life. It says that you understand, and accept. It allows you to grow.

But if you want to conquer, quitting isn’t an option. No one ever accomplished anything great by quitting.

Know your limitations. But also know your potential for greatness.

Be Cool

Gracious. Grateful. Easy going. Helpful. Fun. Giving. Thankful. Courteous. Honest.

In other words, be a nice person.

While “nice” doesn’t mean “successful”, it does mean you’ll sleep better at night.

I believe a successful life is one where people miss you when you die.

As a writer, you have the potential for a great many people to miss you.

But not if you’re a dick.

There. Now you don’t have to read 500 blog entries.

Happy New Year! See you in 2010!

I have a feeling it will be the best year ever…

Posted in luck, writers | Leave a comment

Taking Reading in Bed to a Whole New Level.

By Linda | Published November 4, 2009

I found and joined the Facebook group, Naked Girls Reading, without really knowing what it was, only that I was one of them. I admit. I read in bed. I’ll also admit, I don’t always wear pajamas.

But wait, read on.

This is a live reading series, where totally buck naked- not even a pasty- they claim. beautiful Burlesque dancing women read from banned books.

“Pinchbottom Burlesque debuted Naked Girls Reading Banned Books at Madame X on Friday, October 16. It was hosted by Nasty Canasta, with Gal Friday, GiGi La Femme, Jo Boobs, Legs Malone, Sapphire Jones and Naked Girls Reading creator, Michelle L’Amour. ”

I know. Great, isn’t it?

Now, I’d love to see some audience reaction photos.

Here, “Nasty Canasta reads And Tango Makes Three, the true story of Silo and Roy, a male penguin couple in the Central Park Zoo. The American Library Association deemed it the most banned book of 2009 and most challenged book of 2006 – 2008.”

Burlesque gets smart-assed.

Burlesque gets smart-assed.

God, I love New York.

Posted in books, secret | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

posted something sad and something odd

By Linda | Published October 29, 2009

over at Another Good Thing.

stop over and browse

Posted in celebrations, dog, news | Tagged | Leave a comment

Barnes and Noble? Wake up and smell the coffee

By Linda | Published October 26, 2009

I

I haven’t found the book I went looking for the last three trips to Barnes And Noble.

I barely found an intelligent clerk to help me not find the book that they didn’t carry but would be happy to order for me. WHAT?

I know, I know. I should be supporting my independent bookstore, and I do frequent the small used book store around the corner, have even ordered new books from them, but sometimes, you’re in the mall, thirsty for coffee and a plush green chair, and well… you succumb.

But after the coffee, the internet usage and the browsing of the free magazine, I’ll probably leave without a book and a new frown line on the forehead. I live outside a pretty major city, that, while it’s not on the big publisher book tour route, still gets its share of writers passing through. This is the south after all.

Although you wouldn’t know it from the poorly stocked shelves at the Mall of Georgia’s Barnes and Noble.

Thank goodness for my Kindle and the ever so ready at 5AM Amazon.com, where shopping in pajamas is encouraged.

From PUBLISHER’S LUNCH
Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble can’t catch a break from Wall Street analysts no matter what they do. On Friday Credit Suisse reduced their target price for the company to $16 per share (about two dollars below its current price), while Goldman Sachs downgraded their rating from neutral to sell. In contrast, Amazon’s shares rose 26 percent for the day following their better-than-expected earnings report.
BN’s stock has suffered a number of blows in the past months. First Wall Street looked down on the BN College acquisition as focused on the legacy print business, and in recent days the bestseller price war hasn’t helped. (The company is sitting this battle out–which protects margins, but may give up market share.)
Now with the announcement of nook, the company has been downgraded for what analysts see as a successful ebook strategy. Credit Suisse writes, “while we applaud management for these efforts and think it has the potential to be a major player in this business, the concern is whether being a player will ultimately sacrifice profitability. The risk, in our view, is that as the math currently works, each sale through a Nook is not just unprofitable but potentially replaces a higher margin sale at stores.” CS opines that “the eReader push will actually be incremental to sales in the near term,” but sees that success eroding in-store results over time.
It’s all a series of hypothetical extrapolations about the behavior of ebook readers in the coming years, and notably CS doesn’t make any projections for additive business for Barnes & Noble in selling to other devices (like iRex and Plastic Logic’s Que); taking a role as the leading vendor of EPUB books for multiple devices; driving ereading business in the college market; or sales of newspapers, magazines, blogs and other high-margin ereading materials. In other words, the numbers leave a lot of room for hypothesis–and interpretation.
But in a morning when the market is up broadly, BN shares started sliding again today–though not as much as Borders, which was down more than 5 percent.
On the same theme but from a different vantage point, Mike Shatzkin looks at financial and structural changes caused by the ereading transition as everyone adjusts to “a smaller print-book business”: “Publishers are going to have to rethink their operations. Sales staffs will probably contract; warehouse space will become redundant; investments in IT systems for the print operation will have to be more rigorously controlled. Publishers will likely combine, of course; the big houses now all gladly take competing publishers into their back office operations to help support them. But downward shifts in scale are not only inevitable, they will probably happen in more dramatic lurches than we’ve known in the past.
“Wholesalers and distributors will both win and lose in this shift, but the shape of their business will certainly change. On the one hand, they, like everybody else, will lose sales that they have today because accounts go under and publishers they distribute cease operating. On the other hand, they are in the business of converting fixed operating costs to variable ones, and the number of customers for that proposition will grow as the apparent costs of operations (as a percentage of sales) get out of control at many companies.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Free book from “Wicked” Author

By Linda | Published October 23, 2009

Now that’s marketing!

I read this in The New Yorker and think the charity contribution part is brilliant. I have attended many book launches where they request a donation to a charity that is linked to the book’s theme or a character in the book.

When I finished writing We’re Not Waving, We’re Drowning, I began thinking about marketing, about tie-ins about media… this is all part of the business. The part we’re not supposed to think about while writing, and yet…

I have begun searching for charities in Savannah, charities related to literacy, book provision, education, and even joined a few lighthouse restoration groups. This type of  donation, of awareness, acts as dual marketing, and maybe in the end is more proactive that merely tithing 10% to your church.

Here’s the article:

by Thom Geier

2762686-4265197-thumbnailAs giant retailers continue their price war over books (Target just joined Walmart and Amazon in offering pre-sales of top November titles for $9 or less), there’s one new book that seems to take the trend to its logical extreme. The Next Queen of Heaven, a new novel by Wicked author Gregory Maguire, is available starting today for the low, low price of $0.00. That’s not a typo. Queen is the third title from the year-old Concord Free Press, which is giving away 2,500 copies of the book (half through its website and half through select independent bookstores) to readers who agree to make a donation “to a local charity, someone who needs it, or a stranger on the street.” (Distribution of the book is strictly first come, first served.) As a box on the paperback’s back cover explains: “When you’re done, pass this novel on to someone else (for free, of course) so they can give. It adds up.” The press claims that its first two releases have generated more than $85,000 in charitable donations to various causes.

The Next Queen of Heaven is a farcical holiday yarn set in 1999 in a fictional upstate New York town where strange events occur after Leontina Scales gets clocked by a Catholic statuette and begins speaking in tongues. Why in the world would an author as prominent as Maguire publish for free? “I admire that the books as well as the publishing model raise questions about art’s inherent value and the commodification of content,” he said in a statement. “I like knowing that this book is out in the world, helping to generate donations for great causes.”

Neither the author (nor the book designer) is paid for their work; as Concord Free Press notes on its website: “Our unique agreement with our writers…is 100% lawyer-free.” That said, all authors who publish with the Concord, Mass.-based outfit retain the rights to their works and can republish them later with conventional publishers. The first book in the series, CFP founder Stona Fitch’s novel Give + Take, is due from St. Martin’s imprint Thomas Dunne Books next year. According to Fitch, “Authors donate (voluntarily) 20 percent of all earnings from the book’s life after CFP back to the press to support our subsequent books. So in this way, we’re semi-self-sustaining, with one writer helping the next.”

Fitch says the idea for the press came to him in the wake of his experience on Give + Take, which was orphaned when his editor left the publishing house that had acquired it. “The novel is about a jazz pianist who steals diamonds and BMWs, sells them, and gives the money away,” Fitch says via e-mail. “So it was thematically aligned with the idea of a press that publishes beautiful books for free and gives them away.” Instead of shopping his novel around when his first publisher dropped it, Fitch decided to make it the Concord Free Press’ inaugural title. He’s since recruited other writer friends, including fellow Concord, Mass., resident Gregory Maguire, to publish through CFP.

It’s an intriguing idea, the free book. But I suspect that there are more than 2,500 Maguire fans out there clamoring to read his newest novel — and willing to donate a pretty substantial sum to charity for the privilege. Given the paucity of the print run, though, some may be reluctant to pass the book along to others when they’re done. Perhaps I’m just being cynical. What do you think of free books to promote charitable causes?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Pretty sure I need to win the Nobel Literature Prize, just sayin’

By Linda | Published October 21, 2009
German Writer Wins 2009 Nobel Literature Prize
By Tom Rivers
London
08 October 2009

To a hushed throng of reporters, Peter Englund, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy made the announcement.

Romanian-born German writer, author Herta Mueller has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature (file photo
Romanian-born German writer, author Herta Mueller has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature (file photo)

“The Nobel Prize in literature for 2009 is awarded to the German author Herta Mueller, who with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose depicts the landscape of the dispossessed,” he said.

A member of Romania’s ethnic German minority, Mueller knew persecution under the rule of the Ceausescu regime. Her work, which was censored by the then communist government in Romania was smuggled into Germany where it received rave reviews.

Eventually in 1987, she emigrated to Germany with her husband.

Her writing of the harshness of life in a small, German-speaking Romanian village spoke of corruption and repression and her fight for free speech.

Peter Englund calls Mueller a truly phenomenal writer.

“All Nobel Prize laureates are of course special. I think it is a combination of a very, very distinct special language on one hand and then on the other, she has really a story to tell about growing up in a dictatorship but also growing up as a minority in another country and also growing up sort of a stranger for your own family. It is a very strong; very, very strong story to tell,” he said.

The 56-year-old writer is said to be overjoyed with winning the prize.

Some say the award this year also represents a nod to the 20th anniversary of communism’s collapse in Europe.

Mueller is the third European in a row to win the prize and the 10th German to take it. She is also the 12th woman to capture the top literature award.

The writer also collects a prize of $1.4 million from the Nobel committee.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

    big water The MSR 2008 Short Fiction Anthology BIG WATER, is now available featuring award winning shorts, including a beach-themed story from Linda.