The company that used to own Reader’s Digest has been losing money since 2005 and is now restructuring.
Category Archives: Publishing
Publisher Plans to Rent Textbooks to Students
A publisher of college textbooks will rent books to students for 40-70% of retail, with a digital chapter available immediately.
“Banned Books Week,” episode 743
I hesitate to call Dennis Ingolfsland, of The Recliner Commentaries, a “fellow librarian,” since he’s the real thing and I’m an on-the-job-trained poseur. But I know enough to recommend this piece about the American Library Association’s “Banned Books Week.”
The fact is that there are no banned books in America. Maybe I missed it but I don’t recall seeing any articles in the Library Journal or American Libraries protesting that other religion and those other countries which really do ban books.
(Picture credit: Jupiter Images)
The secret history of Times Roman?
Do typeface fonts fascinate you the way they do me? Then you’ll enjoy this story from the Financial Times about a HUGE controversy raging now in the typesetting world. Typography expert Mike Parker is promoting a theory that the venerable Times New Roman font was not invented by the man traditional given credit for it. Instead, he contends, it was stolen from the forgotten work of an American naval and aeronautical designer.
…After a lifetime spent in typography, Parker was well aware of the controversy he was getting involved in: typography may present a genteel exterior, but it’s an art form punctuated by bitter rivalries and rampant plagiarism.
The case that Parker makes about the real origins of Times New Roman stands on narrow foundations. The sole piece of surviving evidence for his version of history is a brass pattern plate bearing a large capital letter B. He holds the plate up to show the familiar form of the letter, its characteristic curves and serifs. The point, he says, is that such pattern plates represent a technology that was not used after 1915. The creation of Times New Roman was announced in 1932.
I myself have strong feelings about fonts. In general, I don’t like sans serif fonts (the ones without little tails). My favorite fonts are those in which the capital “J” extends below the baseline.
Tip: Mirabilis.
Selling books
Today, like so many days, was about West Oversea (pictured above, in case you’ve forgotten what the cover looks like).
Our friend Dale Nelson (who is a gentleman and a scholar) posted the first reader review at Amazon.com today. With typical understatement, he compares my work favorably to that of Robert E. Howard and John Buchan. (My publisher tells me, by the way, that the book will soon be available directly on Amazon through their Advantage program. And Christianbook.com says they’ll have it in stock beginning mid-September).
I ordered a dozen copies for our campus bookstore a little while back, and today I sold out the last of them (I then ordered more). I’d already sold a few, but we’re running our annual Summer Institute of Theology just now, and Dr. John Eidsmoe, who wrote a blurb for me, is one of the instructors. He recommended the book to his class, with immediate retail results.
The fellow I talked to at Nordskog, when I called to re-order, told me they’ve been pleased by the “buzz” we’ve gotten on the blogs, and that they’ve had several orders as a result of them. So thanks particularly to our blogging friends.
Are there ghost-writers in the sky?
Alisa Harris, at the World Magazine blog, writes about the ethical question of pastors cribbing sermon outlines—sometimes whole homilies—from online sermon caches.
As an aside, she links to an article from bnet, about the use of ghostwriters in Christian publishing.
Such things are common in the industry. When my first novel, Erling’s Word (fair warning—you don’t need to buy that book if you have The Year of the Warrior. TYOTW incorporates it entirely in a double volume) was published by Baen, it came out the same month as the “first novel” by an actor who’d worked in a very famous science fiction TV series. Everybody knew, I think, that this actor hadn’t really written the book. Probably hadn’t even contributed much. A fledgeling author was listed as co-author, but it was understood that she’d done the real work, while the actor had contributed the considerable market value of his name. Continue reading Are there ghost-writers in the sky?
Radio: Trends in Christian Fiction
From Crossway Books blog: “Justin Taylor, Crossway’s Editorial Director, will be on the Albert Mohler Radio Program this afternoon [5:00 p.m. eastern]. Russell Moore will be guest hosting a discussion on Christian-fiction publishing trends and what they reveal about Christian culture.”
New Books by Dead Authors
Slate’s Juliet Lapidos reports she has read the unauthorized sequel to Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and that we needn’t bother with it. “California’s allusions contain little charm, but his original material is far worse,” she says.
That isn’t really a book from a dead author. In fact, Salinger isn’t dead and doesn’t like the book. But a real dead author has a new book coming. An unfinished work by Graham Greene, newly discovered at the author’s archive in the University of Texas, will be released in The Strand as a serial, and someone is to be commissioned to write the ending. The Strand has published other lost works previously. (via ArtsJournal)
Must-hear web radio
My interview this morning with Stacy Harp of Active Christian Media can be downloaded here.
Going the dissonance
Mowed the lawn tonight. The length was right, and it’ll probably rain tonight and tomorrow.
One thing about mowing lawn—it makes me feel really smart. Whatever my other failures and shortcomings, I am undoubtedly a real estate genius.
When I bought this house, the lot was small. I remember describing it to people as, “Tiny. I’m thinking of getting a push lawnmower.”
But the longer I mow the thing, the larger my property gets.
Our promotional people have a couple internet radio interviews set up for me. On the evening of Thursday, June 25, I’m scheduled to be interviewed by David K. Ewen at Blogtalk Radio.
And on the morning of Tuesday, June 30, I’ll be interviewed by Stacy Harp at Active Christian Media.
I don’t believe it’s necessary to tune in to hear either one live. In fact, I’m not sure they’ll be broadcast live. Both can be accessed at your convenience after they’re recorded.
West Oversea is now searchable at Amazon.com (although it’s still cheaper to order it directly through my publisher).
It’s gratifying—and a little alarming—to see the book generating what they call “buzz” (as you’ve noticed if you’ve been following my posts lately). The strangest thing is that I’m getting high praise from a number of people whose opinions are impossible to dismiss. One or two endorsements from people I admire could be written off as charity, or the result of a traumatic head injury. But when they start adding up, the result is serious cognitive dissonance.
Update & correction: Apparently the David Ewen interview is now uncertain. It may happen as scheduled, or it may happen at a different date. I’ll keep you posted.