The odds are pretty slim, and not just because they're on the verge of going out of business: "I market books for a living, so I can tell you an unpleasant truth: the order for any book, from any account, starts at zero," [Andrew Wheeler, a marketing manager at Wiley] warns. "The publisher's sales rep … Continue reading Why Your Book Will Never Be in Borders
Category: Writing
My own Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, and occasional commentary on all of the above.
Thrillerfest 2008
Thrillerfest kicked off yesterday at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here in New York and I had the pleasure of attending the full day -- I'll be back tonight and most of Saturday -- meeting some great people, picking up some interesting books, and taking in some insightful information on the publishing game from the perspective … Continue reading Thrillerfest 2008
March Madness
No, it's not the basketball tournament...it's the one-week-late March edition of your favorite NYC-centric literary journal, Spindle Magazine! Log on now for new poetry by Roger Bonair-Agard, Gerard Sarnat, Jeanann Verlee and Beverly Wilkinson; short fiction by Tim Clancy; and creative non-fiction by Anne Germanacos. Plus, keep an eye out next week for our featured … Continue reading March Madness
Spindle: February ’08
In the midst of all the political blogging I've been doing lately, I had a Spindle update looming on the calendar for today and stole time here and there over the past two weeks to sift through the surprisingly steady stream of submissions that have come in since last month. I was worried in mid-January … Continue reading Spindle: February ’08
International Delete Your Myspace Account Day
[via Bloggasm, with a hat tip to Nick Mamatas] If you’re reading this and you’ve experienced any of the things on the list below, your account may be in need of deletion: 1. You rarely log in to Myspace except to delete spam friend requests from nude webcam girls. 2. You spend five minutes writing … Continue reading International Delete Your Myspace Account Day
On self-discipline and self-flagellation
The most difficult aspect of writing, for me, has always been the self-discipline required to write every day, no matter what. I simply don't have any. (Not just for writing, either, but that's a whole other post!) There are a number of legitimate reasons excuses I could put forward to explain why it's so difficult to … Continue reading On self-discipline and self-flagellation
Time Out!
Okay, once I start posting 2am rants about politics, it's clearly time to pause for a deep breath and talk about something else for awhile. ... Spindle? Chugging along quite nicely. We hit 15,000 page views on Sunday and today's update concludes the "official" launch. Now I have to start working on February's content, including a new Notable New … Continue reading Time Out!
On Comics, Pokémon and Storm Hawks
Other than the occasional review at Amazon -- or even less frequently, at PopCultureShock -- it's been a while since I've written about comics. After 2.5 years of being ankle-deep in the industry, writing reviews, interviews, commentary and the occasional news piece, I really don't miss it at all. While I'm still reading comics, my weekly trips to Midtown Comics … Continue reading On Comics, Pokémon and Storm Hawks
My Awesome God’s Full of Hope!
(an off-the-cuff villanelle, kind of by request) Because we live in a time of pure dread our future at the mercy of madmen I worship the awesome god in my head. Bush kisses his nukes each night before bed while Cheney cackles away in his den because we live in a time of pure dread. With Rudi's campaign … Continue reading My Awesome God’s Full of Hope!
Borders’ Open-Door Poetry
Borders -- partnering with The Student Publishing Program, one of the top high school writing programs in the country -- has launched an interesting new online program promoting poetry called Open-Door Poetry: "Open-Door Poetry" is for anyone who has ever wanted to communicate to others in some way while opening the door for viewers to … Continue reading Borders’ Open-Door Poetry