Archive | February, 2009

Advertising and The New York Times Book Review

9 Feb

As many of you know, lack of advertising recently killed The Washington Post Book World. As this Times article on the demise of Book World notes:

The New York Times Book Review is now the largest remaining Sunday tabloid section, publishing at least 24 and as many as 30 or more pages a week with a staff of 15 and contributions from dozens of freelance reviewers. In addition to being included in the Sunday paper, the Book Review is sold as a separate section to 23,500 subscribers. An additional 4,200 copies of the section are sold in bookstores across the country.

And so, in the spirit of the popular The First Ten Books in Little, Brown’s Spring ’09 Catalog, I present to you, without comment or judgment, a rundown of the ads in the February 8, 2009 edition of The New York Times Book Review. (With the exception of the full-page ads, page sizes are approximate.)

  • Full-page ad for T.C Boyle’s THE WOMEN (Viking – Penguin Group)
  • Half-page ad shared by Marcianne Blévis’ JEALOUSY and Phillip Lopate’s TWO MARRIAGES (Other Press)
  • Half-page ad for THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn/Putnam – Penguin Group)
  • Full-page ad for One Day University
  • Half-page ad for IN LINCOLN’S HAND edited by Harold Holzer and Joshua Wolf Shenk (Bantam – Random House)
  • Quarter-page ad for DAKOTA by Martha Grimes (NAL – Penguin Group)
  • Quarter-page ad for Ariana Franklin’s THE SERPENT’S TALE (Berkley – Penguin Group)
  • Third-page ad for MARSHMALLOW’S FOR BREAKFAST by Dorothy Koomson (Delta – Random House)
  • Quarter-page ad for ANNE PACKARD: INTROSPECTIVE by various contributors (Skylark Press)
  • Two small ads for THE JAZZ EAR by Ben Ratliff (Times Books – Henry Holt)
  • Full-page ad for OBAMA: The Historic Journey with introduction by Bill Keller (The New York Times/Callway; distributed by Riverhead Books – Penguin Group)

Note:

THE JAZZ EAR and the Obama book also carry the imprimatur of the Times‘ online store.

Finally, there are four classified ads (editor for hire, rare books wanted, etc.) and a very small ad for NationsCourts.com, which promises “court documents in interesting new cases . . . [f]or attorneys, journalists, writers and bloggers.”

I Call Dibs on Politics & Socks

7 Feb

Question: What the @#$%! Am I Doing with My Life?

5 Feb

A reader writes:

Here is my major malfunction. I’ve been vacillating between (item A) I have a good job and two good freelance gigs and should be okay focusing on it right now & not having much time to write, because we’re in a recession, DAMMIT, and (item B) I’ve got all of these ideas right NOW, while I’m young, hip & alive! What if someone takes them before I get them out there! What if I’m old news by then? What’s the use of a straight job when there’s ARTUCATION to make??

I’ve been thinking that for some time now and am somewhat hot and bothered that I’m sitting here with good ideas while time ticks by while I try to make ends meet. Like some sort of career version of a biological clock, except instead of menopause, I’m trying to beat . . . I don’t know, exactly . . . my youth? Someone else who does the amazing things I want to do before me?

How does one reconcile this? Should I pitch a project? Should I get an agent? Or just REALLY focus on taking the two or three hours I have at the end of everyday to work up the smaller articles/stories (and never really see my boyfriend again, even though we live in the same house)?

First, thanks for having the guts to lay it bare. I don’t have an answer as to whether or not you should quit your day job, but I do have this insight for you:

That feeling that it has to happen right now, and that it has to be big, and if it isn’t NOW and BIG, then someone else is going to get the NOWNESS and the BIGNESS?

That feeling never goes away.

We are in the business of self-doubt, dissatisfaction and delayed gratification. Right now, if she’s awake, Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison is on tour for A MERCY and thinking, “I’m doing pretty well . . . but I’m doing Shakespeare well.”

So if you’re going to do this, you’re going to have to live with that feeling.

Point two:

When we think of our careers we tend to focus on getting the big break. But an equally important part of getting the big break is being truly ready for the big break.

Ever since I was a teenager I’ve wanted to make a movie. I even have what I think are some excellent ideas for a movie. And if Universal Pictures called today and offered me a movie deal, I would be completely f*cked, because there is no way in hell I know how to make a movie.

Nervous energy can dangerous. My advice for you is to give yourself the week off. After your mind settles, focus on how you can use your desire to steadily and surely develop your talent so you can actually execute those ideas.

Be cool, my friend. It will happen. The break will come. And if you’re ready, then you will absolutely crush.

Awesome Writing Prompt #5

3 Feb

Write a scene based on the following series of diagrams:

sally-ann-task1

Why You Don’t Need to Query

1 Feb

Back in December I posted a parable about getting published without querying. Since then people have been asking me to continue to develop that idea. Here goes:

First, while you don’t have to watch the whole thing, please spend a second or two with author Jason Bradbury and his model robot.

As the video implies, Mr. Bradbury made both his robot and the video to support the book. That said, there is no reason he could not have made this video while he was writing the book. Or even before he committed a single word to the page.

The old media model was based on seasons, previews, street dates, limited/wide release, etc. The assumption was the art stuffs had a specific life cycle (preview article, hardcover, paperback, etc.). The time line was scripted and controlled.

The old model still exists, but we’re not so picky about how an idea moves through the snake. In Mr. Bradbury’s case, I’m glad that he has a book coming out, but for the purposes of enjoying his robot and his vid I really don’t care. His passion, his zest for life, and the coolness of the model robot itself are enough for me. Even if he were unpublished, I would still send this video around simply because it’s interesting.

Now imagine you’re an agent. You see this video from a would-be author. The subject matter piques your interest (like I said: cool robot). Plus, you’re encouraged by the fact that you’ve found someone who’s embracing new technologies, who has spirit and energy, and, most of all, who is willing to do something extra.

When I was an agent, we used to discourage aspiring writers to pull stunts like this. “The only thing that matters is what’s on the page,” we would say to them.

Not so now. The page still matters. The page will always matter. But the ability to generate and hold attention matters just as much.

This is why you don’t need to query. Because instead of sitting on your ass waiting for someone to notice you, you can go out there and get noticed all by yourself.

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