For a good time, call a 1832 edition of Pride & Prejudice

Yes, of course Christopher's right. I'm anti-fun, while he's a good-time-aholic, rockin' the antiquarian book fair.* Check out this binding, bitches!

Anyhow, I'm here to tell you about something that's more suited for those with a pulse. My apologies it's so last minute - I only found out about this today.

Bookbuilders of Boston is hosting a talk entitled Beyond the Pitch Letter: A Roundtable with Authors, Agents, and Editors. I'm planning on attending so I have more to tell folks about this process, even if I ain't working with them. (I did this a lot at an academic conference this weekend, but more on that in another post.) (Except I will say that I loved DC as much as I thought I might.) The participants on the roundtable are:

• Ann Collette of the Helen Rees Literary Agency
• Self-promoting author extraordinaire Stephen Puleo (and I mean that in a good way - his book Dark Tide is worth all that promotion!)
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt editor Deanne Urmy
• Joanne Wyckoff, literary agent at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth
  

It should be a good time, but don't let me stop you from blowing dust off jackets and debating the best quality backstrips from 17th century editions. 

* For the record, I've actually attended and enjoyed this fair and my comments above are only here to irritate Christopher. If others get offended, it's merely friendly fire. My apologies.

The 33rd Annual International Antiquarian Bookfair

Hi all,

This coming weekend the Boston Book Fair is returning to the Hynes Convention Center. It is a great place to eat, sleep, breathe, buy, smell books. You can go to their website for all the details but I will just say here that it costs:

• Friday night preview (includes Saturday and Sunday) $15.00
• Saturday only: $8.00
• Sunday only: $8.00

to get in so plan accordingly.

See you there!

CV (but not Brian cuz he is anti-fun these days)

Love to Local

I'm excited to be attending the Massachusetts Center for the Book's MA Book Awards ceremony at the State House here in Boston tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov 4). Little did I know, there was some excitement happening before the awards!

At 11 am, there will be a rally we should all consider attending. The Massachusetts Library Association is holding a “Don’t Close the Books on Libraries” Rally at the State House. If you love books, you should love libraries, and if you love libraries, you should fight against the severe budget cuts they face.

Before learning of this rally this evening, I stopped by the Harvard Bookstore and found, much to my delight, two novels by Charles Willeford, who was written about in Sean McCann's Gumshoe America, which I got out of a library btw, alongside Jim Thompson, thereby making me interested. (They both reflect the tragic loss of New Deal ideology in the face of liberalism, obviously.) What's amazing is that these two novels - High Priest of California and Pick Up - are together in one, reversible volume from the 1980s. Yes, folks, you read through one and come to 2 gray pages. Close the book, flip it over, and read the second. Just incredible. I sometimes love Harvard Bookstore's used section.

Now go rally for books, already! 

Oh, Mark Danner, just take it like a man for goodness sake.

Over at the pop culture festival that is The Awl, every once in a while they have something that is worth passing on to the six of you who check in on a regular basis. The something, in this case, is the very mean spirited, very public cat fight that author Mark Danner is about to have with his reviewer and (depending on which man you ask) friend George Packer. What fight? Well, in a nutshell Mark Danner wrote a book, George Packer didn't like it, wrote as such in the New York Times Book Review, and now Mark Danner is having a hissy fit. What was Mr. Packer's tone? Here is a small snippet of his review of Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, War:

Untethering his essayistic ambitions from ground-level journalism does not serve Danner well. A tendency toward inflated writing and overstatement starts to appear: there are too many self-­dramatizing turns of phrase, like “The first time I was killed, or nearly so”; too many moments when the writer, confronted with a destroyed city or a bloody mess of dismembered bodies, finds George F. Kennan or Henry James coming to mind.

Ok, not too nice but so the-hell-what?!? So George Packer didn't like your book? Boo hoo...if it is worth reading it will be read, but if, as I suspect, you are so stung by one person's opinion that you need to write a full page letter in response to the New York Times (to be published this coming Sunday), then Mr. Packer's criticisms might just be on the mark, eh? How angry is Mark Danner? Well, they only have a short extract of next week's letter but here it is (click on the image to see a larger, readable jpg):


If you want the overall tone of his letter, you can get it from the final sentence which reads:

"The corrosive tendentiousness at work here warps much of what Packer writes and accounts for his near superhuman ability to ignore what is on the page. Plus, everyone knows George Packer is a big, fat, yucky head." (Ok, that last sentence was mine alone. Funny, though, right?)

It is in such bad taste to respond to a review with a temper tantrum that Mark Danner gets a special commendation for being the biggest baby around right now. Good work, Mr. Danner! My advice? Just ignore the whole thing? If you had, a smart ass like myself wouldn't have even been aware of the bad review and I probably would've read your book as I was profoundly moved by your book on the Massacre at El Mozote. But now? Um, probably not...and not because George Packer said not to (though he really didn't), but because rewarding such stupid behavior might just encourage others to do what you've done.

Sheesh! Grow up! Even Rick Moody, when called "the worst novelist of his generation," simply brushed off the criticism and continued on with his successful career. I mean who the hell remembers B.R. Myers the author of that snarky comment anymore anyway?

*** UPDATE***

The full letter from Mark Danner was published on Sunday in the New York Times. You can find it here and George Packer's response here.

Packer's response is a marvel of "I don't know why he's so upset" writing. I am not picking sides here but the feud sure is fun to watch from the sidelines.

Put our money where our mouths are, no?

I am not really sure why this hasn't received more press but Suffolk University is commemorating the 35th anniversary of Graywolf Press tomorrow. Hosted by Catherine Parnell of Salamander, the celebration also features a conversation earlier in the day with Graywolf Press director Fiona McCrae before the readings in the evening . Details follow below:

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Graywolf publishes nearly thirty books a year. Many of their titles have included some of literature’s highest honors, including the National Book Critics Circles Award, the Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award, the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and have been named best books of the year by the New York Times, Time Magazine, and Publisher’s Weekly.

Please join Graywolf Press and Suffolk University for a reading in honor of Graywolf’s 35th anniversary. Featured readers are Stephen Burt, Close Calls with Nonsense; Linda Gregg, All of It Singing: New and Selected Poems; Fred Marchant, The Looking House; Askold Melnyczuk, The House of Widows; Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Picking Bones from Ash; Salvatore Scibona, The End; and Jeffrey Yang, An Aquarium.

The reading will be held at Suffolk University’s C. Walsh Theatre, 55 Temple Street, Boston, MA on Tuesday, November 3, 2999 from 7:00 – 8:30 pm.

Suffolk University also invites you to join us for a discussion (moderated by Catherine Parnell) with Fiona McCrae, Director of Graywolf Press. The discussion--held in Fenton 134, at Suffolk University-- will take place on Tuesday, November 3rd, at 1 p.m. The Fenton Building is at the corner of Derne and Hancock Streets.

Me? I'll be attending this as man can't live by words alone. Hey-yo!

Late Age of Print by Ted Striphas

Perhaps I should start by saying outright that Columbia University Press' publicity department sent me a copy of this book. There, is everyone happy?

The book in question is The Late Age of Print: Everyday Book Culture from Consumerism to Control, by Ted Striphas, who is Assistant Prof in the Dept of Communication and Culture and adjunct prof in American Studies at Indiana University. He also blogs about the issue he raises in the book here. (Points to Striphas for linking from his faculty page to his publisher's page rather than Amazon...) The book got a nice bump in attention when it was reviewed by publishing gadfly Richard Nash in The Critical Flame (an online literary journal started by Daniel Pritchard of publisher David Godine, blogger of The Wooden Spoon (where he's been posting a lot lately, and good stuff, too), and others). Okay, I think credit and links where such things are due are done.

The book is a pretty great read for all of us publishing / book nerds. Striphas takes us on quite a rollicking ride, from faux books to decorate shelves in the 1930s, as having books became a symbol of middle class identity, to very public controversies around Oprah's book club - James Frey, Jonathan Franzen, et al - to Amazon warehouses to the creation of the ISBN... it's all here, and it generally comes together. I applaud him being thorough even if it left the book not as much a page-turner in certain sections, but I don't go far enough to agree with Nash when he suggests frustration in referring to this book being "very much a university press book in structure." (God forbid anything be academic...)

Striphas uses all these episodes to illustrate where we are right now, in the "late age of print." This does not mean a final stage in print culture, before we pass into a digital one. The printed book and digital versions, generally captured under the umbrella term "e-book," complement one another, in Striphas' mind, and I can see his point. This book is not heavy on the kind of on-the-ground argument we're used to hearing, on blogs and in industry publications, but instead is slightly more philosophical in argument with very on-the-ground examples - making for a useful book as we weigh changes that are happening everyday.

I appreciated how often Striphas knocks down notions many of us cling to, or rather complicates them. He problematizes our general demonization of big box stores. He makes a point to capture the past failures of e-books in many variations to take off. He won't let us just take a stand and run with it, but as any good scholar, he instead teases out the finer points. Perhaps some readers will find this frustrating, as if he's holding them back from strong feelings that will make change. I don't feel held back, however, just better informed. I see his point about big boxes, but I also find myself looking for hope when I hear about B&N closing stores in the future. Maybe indies will spring up in their place, and I can't help but think that will be better for communities. The reality is, smaller communities may not be able to support an independent bookstore, and without a B&N, people may just move online for book purchases.

So read the book, get educated, but stay angry - that's my short and sweet review of The Late Age of Print.

Why I'm Hopeful

I have a bit of optimism today due to the incredible turn-out at the Boston Book Festival in Copley Square. Despite some rain and intense wind, even the tents outside were crowded - and not just for the free coffee and ice cream hand-outs. There was a huge line for Ken Burns, who was signing books, and crowded booths for Symposium Books, the New York Review of Books, writers' meeting and training org Grub Street, and Brattle Bookshop (which has a nice Twitter feed on their site!). The events themselves, held in multiple venues in very close proximity throughout the day, were completely swamped. I tried to get into a talk moderated by novelist Jennifer Haigh and I was turned away because it was full. I ran into a former colleague who was standing in a huge line to see Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop per Child, and she reported that an earlier event she attended had an overflow crowd in a second, standing-room-only room.

It was incredibly gratifying. People in Boston care a lot about books, reading, and writing. 

It was particularly gratifying following the scene on CNN I witnessed while working out just before heading to Copley Square. Ivanka Trump was being interviewed in support of her new book, The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life, proudly published by Touchstone. She's 27 years old and sees this book as a peer-to-peer book to young people, especially (but hardly limited to) young women, just entering the workforce and going through all those early experiences - interviewing, entering an older workforce as a young person, etc... 

To put it mildly, this is not a book worth publishing. This is a privileged child who has followed in her offensive father's footsteps. There is something a little weird about a kid who doesn't rebel, but that weirdness becomes dangerous when the parent is Donald Trump and the kid is explaining that real estate investments a few years ago were a bad idea, but now as the economy is in the crapper, it's time to "shore up your resources and take advantage" of the low market. 

CNN mentioned that she's getting married this weekend to "millionaire publisher Jared Kushner." I'm always amazed to see words like "millionaire" or "wealthy" or "not mired in debt" next to words like "publisher" or "editor." Turns out, Kushner is publisher of the New York Observer, based of course on his family. These people live in an alternate reality. (The Wikipedia snarkily mentions that his family gave ample sums of money to Harvard and NYU, where Kushner "earned" his undergrad and law/business degrees, respectively.)

Later, I got home from the Book Fest only to have my partner emerge from the bathroom with a copy of the Oct. 19th issue of the New Yorker. (For the record, I do not condone reading in the bathroom.) He hands me the issue featuring an article titled "The Gossip Mill" by Rebecca Mead, all about Alloy Entertainment. It's quite a fascinating look into a seriously successful book packaging firm, which actually packages concepts for YA audiences, for books, tv, film, whatever. The guys running it and their female staff - a nice posited fact that is not pursued, as it needn't be - are portrayed as a bit vapid, which is probably fair. The meetings come across like a bad joke - pick something in the paper or randomly from pop culture and think about how it can be translated for kids, in the dumbest way possible. 

I don't know how worthwhile it is to complain about Alloy in particular, but the article does demonstrate the kind of short term thinking that passes for editorial process in some NY houses. These are not books built to last, they are books built to become trendy and sell. Let the idea run its course and, hundreds of Sweet Valley High books later, move on. But as the publishing industry reels from changes in the economy and the culture of reading, these kinds of products - Gossip Girl, Ivanka Trump's trash - seem unnecessary, clogging up the pipeline and making the books the rest of us low paid suckers are trying to publish that much more obscure.

But really, I'm optimistic! I promise.

Publishing overload

Not only am I overwhelmed at work, but I'm also overwhelmed by publishing news. I can't follow it all! There is...


- the endless chatter about the Amazon vs Walmart vs Target vs Sears - SEARS?! - price gouging with bestsellers. It's kind of turning back on itself as indie booksellers go from frustration to a kind of Zen-like attitude. From Shelf Awareness:

Arsen Kashkashian, inventory manager at the Boulder Book Store, Boulder, Colo., writes:
Perhaps the price wars are really a positive thing for independent bookstores. We are looking at canceling our orders from the publishers on these books and ordering them from Amazon, Wal-Mart or Target. We will save almost $10 per book on some of the titles. I figure we can cut our billing by close to $1,000 and offer our customers significant savings while still maintaining a healthy margin. If these companies want to become wholesalers at a loss why should we discourage it?

Deb Sullivan, co-owner of the Book Oasis, Stoneham, Mass., writes:
As a very small retailer of new hardcover releases, I'm embarrassed to say I might consider buying them from a big box at these prices. Why would I want to be forced into buying case quantities of hot titles when I only want three? With free shipping, I can still sell them at 30%-40% off cover and make a profit while getting customers into my store that will hopefully buy other full price items or more profitable second-hand titles.

Fair enough!

- Cory Doctorow is now an author trying to give books away for free. Actually, this article does a fine job of making sense of how giving stuff away for free can still allow for revenue, even if Doctorow's case is a bit funky.

- I would say MobyLives has the best write-up of B&N's new e-reader, the Nook. Melville House's Dennis Johnson is right - "worst product name in recorded history."


- I haven't even processed Marion Maneker's article with the cheaply provocative headline: It's the End of the Book World as we Know It. I don't think I disagree with it whole hog, but who has time to know for sure?!


- I still haven't read Richard Nash's presentation from Frankfurt, or had a chance to check in with his new creation, Cursor. (Points for the name, though.)


- I really want to go to the Whitney to see Steve Wolfe's exhibit, but I also wouldn't mind someone building me a book tree.




Okay, egads... back to editing!

AIDS is over

It's been a crazy last week, but I wanted to post after attending an incredible conference in pieces on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week.

The conference was held in conjunction with an exhibition at Harvard's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts titled ACT UP NEW YORK: ACTIVISM, ART, AND THE AIDS CRISIS, 1987–1993. This exhibition and conference seemed to generate very little media, but I don't know if that is despite efforts from the organizers or due to their focus being on within Harvard. If it's the latter, it's a damn shame. I would highly recommend a visit to the Carpenter Center to see this exhibition, which includes plenty of great posters and pamphlets from ACT UP New York, produced in conjunction with the group's groundbreaking and often effective AIDS activism. Also set up as part of the exhibition is a sea of monitors playing the interviews Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard have conducted about this work, as part of the oral history they are still producing. (For those unable to make it to the Carpenter Center, click through the link to see the interviews online and find out more about this great - and important - project.)

How does this relate to publishing though?

If you read some of Schulman's writing, you will see her constant fight to get published as a queer woman writing about queer people. And at the conference, you could hear underlying much of this struggle the way in which the media, including book publishers, ran hot and cold on AIDS. ACT UP was a grassroots movement that became hip and got the attention of the mainstream media, and helped launch some incredible and important people and books into the national spotlight. But at some point, the publishers had to look for the Next Big Thing, the demographic of choice for the typical book buyer who was willing to shell out money.

Many minorities can tell this tell - black women have had their day, as have Indian writers. Publishers chase non-fiction in the form of memoir, typically, as well as fiction. But they move on. This isn't political publishing, this isn't commitment to a group or cause. This is chasing a buck.

The AIDS publishing fad, which produced such books as Paul Monette's heartbreaking Borrowed Time, was dangerous, because it was playing with lives. Bringing attention to this disease and the devastation it was causing, particularly among gay men in urban centers, was vital for survival, and when corporate publishing decided it wasn't earning out and left it, many were left in the wake of this fad. Some might argue that once the face of AIDS realistically was not as much artistic young gay white men but in fact people of color, increasingly women of color, people who were poor... it just did not sell as well.

This is where independent publishing becomes more than just hip or funky. It becomes integral for keeping voices in the world of books in the form of memoirs, fiction, poetry, and informational books. At the same time, university presses have done an incredible job saving the history of AIDS activism during the early onset of the disease. This is why universities need to support their publishers and step aside to allow independence on their part, so editors can pursue projects left aside by corporate publishers chasing a buck and overlooking issues with serious impacts on the lives of many of us.

And now I have to chase some projects to see if I can contribute to salvaging some history!