Consider Us Flattered

Bride - 2005

Groom - 2008

Year End Favorites

These aren't the best of the year. Just some of the best of what I took in.

Books
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
The Raw Shark Texts by Stephen Hall
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo - No, it wasn't his best, but I always love losing myself in his worlds.


Movies
Once
The Bourne Ultimatum
Ratatouille
The only other movie we saw in the theater was Stardust and the book was just so much better.


TV
The Wire - I'm not actually recommending this because it's a pretty hard "R" HBO series...but it's insanely good. Writers on various episodes include folks like Richard Price, Dennis Lehane, George Pelacanos...basically a murderer's row of modern crime writers. I'm through Seasons 1-3 and rumor has it that Season 4 is even better.
Friday Night Lights
Blue Planet and Life in the Undergrowth - Extraordinary BBC documentaries on the ocean and bugs. My kids dig it. And without sounding deviant, the scene of slugs mating was one of the most wonderfully bizarre things I've ever seen.
So You Think You Can Dance


Music
Springsteen's Magic is decent. And he's still incredible live.
Arcade Fire's Neon Bible came close to Funeral. And they're one of the few bands that can even be mentioned in the same breath as the E Street folks for performance. They pull off a crazy hipster-Amish thing and just can blow out a place live.
Fountains of Wayne get a Richard Russo-esque nod for Traffic and Weather. Not their best, but still better than most.
And finally one I missed from 2006 - The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America.

Viral Marketing of Books - Cost/Benefit Questions

I came across these videos at The Book Design Review. They're for Douglas Coupland's new book The Gum Thief. They're each the first in a series of ad trilogies. You can visit YouTube to see all the rest.








A. In execution, I think they're excellent. Professional, creative, eye-catching, etc.

B. In terms of SELLING the product...which is the necessary outcome of any successful ad...I just am less sure. In purely pitching the story, I thought the third ad caught my attention the most. The first was humorous, but I'm not sure it presents a book I want to read. The second was fascinating but again...I wasn't blown away by what I assume is text from the novel.

C. These trailers are becoming more and more popular for books...for any variety of reasons. As the popularity grows, what we'll see is that the bar is raised for the quality of the ads. And as the bar is raised...you can pretty much bet that the dollars/time/ingenuity required are going to grow as well.

Here's the rub. Are these things selling books? Are they selling enough books to warrant dollars/time/ingenuity? Are you going to buy The Gum Thief? And if not you, then who?

The Editor Who Altered the Literary Landscape

I don't know that these days exist anymore within publishing, but there was a time that one man's vision could alter (for good and/or bad) an entire literary landscape.

Here's a primer on Gordon Lish.

What I See a Lot of In Proposals (and Novels)

I am well into my fourth year as an acquisitions editor and after all this time I feel compelled to mention that the amount of coffee mentioned in proposals (particularly in contemporary fiction) and CBA novels I've seen is crazy.

And often not just mentions, but eloquent raptures on the drink. Or, quite often, heroes and heroines who can't function without the stuff. Ah caffeine--the evangelical crack.

Don't know why I'm mentioning other than I've just looked at three proposals in a row that should be underwritten by Starbucks. And perhaps to warn you that making coffee-addiction/devotion a character-trait is perhaps not as original as you might think.

In the holy name of Juan Valdez, go in peace.

One of the World's Great Authors...Now at Bethany House

See more here.

Somewhere Between Hiatus and Sabbatical

The blog has been silent. It'll probably stay silent a little while longer while I figure out a few things related to how to remain online in a productive fashion. Productive for me, for you, and for the industry.

In the meanwhile, I want to alert you to a cover survey we're currently running. It's for a book called Danny Gospel set to be released in April 2008. It's a book that blew my socks off when it came in-house and I'm excited for it to hit shelves. If you're interested in weighing in with your opinion, head here.

::

In other news, BHP recently picked up three awards at the latest Christy ceremony.

Deeanne Gist won for The Measure of a Lady (Romance)
Jamie Turner won for Winter Birds (Contemporary)
Beverly Lewis won for The Brethren (Contemporary Series)

Other winners included:

Madman by Tracy Groot (Historical)
Sisterchicks in Gondolas by Robin Jones Gunn (Lits)
Plague Maker by Tim Downs (Suspense)
Where Mercy Flows by Karen Harter (First Novel)
William Henry Is a Fine Name by Cathy Gohlke (Young Adult)

After a few years of controversial keynote addresses, Lauren Winner offered a healthy dose of rah-rah inspiration for those gathered. It was a valuable and authentic message, but I do hope the night doesn't automatically become an evening of self-congratulatory backpatting. We need to be challenged, too.

What else?

Tammy Alexander won a RITA award for Inspirational Novel for Revealed.

At ICRS I picked up what turned out to be a remarkable novel called Feeling for Bones by Bethany Pierce. Some startling and wonderful writing. Check it out.

Finished The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. Deeply original and surprisingly poignant. I can't really even begin to describe it other than to say it's about devastating grief, and what makes us who we are, and, well, a conceptual shark who feeds on your identity. I wish I'd written it.

Mike Snyder seems to have a book coming out next year. Claudia Mair Burney has a tremendous cover for her newest book (it looks even better in person).

All for now.