Congratulations to Molly Beer

First off, just a couple weeks ago Molly Beer defended her dissertation, Unstable Ground, a collection of essays (most of which have been published in some form somewhere) — and passed with honors.

Second, Singing Out: an Oral History of America’s Folk Music Revivals was released by Oxford University Press.

From the publisher:  ”Culled from  more than 150 interviews, this book and the story it tells spans seven decades and cuts across a wide swath of generations and perspectives, shedding light on the musical, political, and social aspects of the folk revival movement….”

Get the inside scoop on what it was like for Molly to work with UNM Professor David King Dunaway

The Future of Publishing according to Jennifer and Penguin

--Jennifer Simpson

For a long time I’ve been saying (actually re-saying what I heard Richard Rodriguez say at a writers conference back in 2005) that publishing is not dead, that there are readers out there, that it is our duty (as writers) to meet our audience where they are.  I say that publishing is undergoing a transformation.

That same writers conference included a panel of publishers, and I was shocked at how few of them even had the most basic  information online.  Five years later and I am still frustrated;  publishers are not fully embracing the new channels of communication and are only using a handful of tools out there…  an example I’ve seen online only literary journals that are nothing more than PDFs.  In other words, using the web only as a means of delivering the same paper-based version of the journal.   No audio, no video, no images, no interactivity.

When I saw this video, produced for an internal presentation at Penguin, I thought wow, Penguin gets it! (or they will)

What I like about this video is that it utilizes the technology to tell the message.  Be sure to watch all the way through.

(thanks to my friend, novelist Amy Wallen, for sharing this on Facebook!)

Has Everyone Flipped?

The latest issue of Tin House newsletter announced the Fall Issue:

VOLUME 11, NUMBER 1: Fall 2009—The Hope/Dread Issue

Hope and dread are two sides of the same coin, easily flippable like joy and pain, love and hate, pride and shame, a reversible jacket, or a Brillo pad. Seeing as one cannot exist without the other, our Fall issue comes two-sided, a literary Janus mask….

CHECK IT OUT ONLINE–>

But it got me to thinking….  did they see the Blue Mesa Review at AWP last year?  the famous flipped out issue?

The MFA and the Business of Books

posted by Jennifer

I realize most of us aren’t yet ready to talk about book tours and talk shows…  and realistically speaking, most of us are not writing those best seller kind of books anyway.  We’re writing Literature.  If we’re lucky we’ll sell a few thousand copies.  If we’re really lucky we won’t end up on the Bargain Book table.  If we’re really really lucky we’ll have a job.

I don’t mean to sound cynical, but face it, most MFA students don’t leave school with a two-book deal under their arm.  Or even a one-book deal.  And that is not to say that MFA programs aren’t producing some really excellent writers.  I sit next to a lot of them in my workshops.  I often feel humbled.

The reality is that even once you get that book deal, you will still have to work.  Maybe at a “straight” job.  Maybe at selling your book….

On Web, A Most Novel Approach

With Promotion Money Tight, Authors Take to Online Sites To Toot Their Own Horns

By Neely Tucker

Poor Kelly Corrigan, first-time author, didn’t get invited to this weekend’s National Book Festival on the Mall to plug her 2008 memoir, “The Middle Place.” She won’t be rubbing shoulders with heavyweight authors such as Sue Monk Kidd, John Grisham or Pulitzer winner Junot D?az. No major newspaper bothered to review the California mom’s tale about cancer and family and recovery when it was released. Her publisher didn’t send her on tour. All the old-school staples of book promotion — the book festival, the tour, the glowing newspaper review — Corrigan got none of them…. CONTINUE READING ONLINE–>

Do you have the skills to promote your book?  Would you even know where to begin?  Is the MFA program preparing you?

The Future of the Book

I have a lot of thougths about the future of publishing (most of which I will save for future posts).  I do want to emphasize that publishing is not dead. Readers are out there, and it is our job as writers and publishers to meet them where they are…  apparently Bradley Inman agrees.  ”Mr. Inman is among those reimagining the printed page.”

 Check out this story from the NY Times,  then vook.tv, and tell me what you think….

Is This the Future of the Digital Book? 

By BRAD STONE Published: April 4, 2009
NY Times

PLENTY of authors dream of writing the great American novel.
Bradley Inman wants to create great fiction, dramatic online video and compelling Twitter stream — and then roll them all into a multimedia hybrid that is tailored to the rapidly growing number of digital reading devices.

Mr. Inman, a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur, calls this digital amalgam a “Vook,” (vook.tv) and the fledgling company he has created with that name just might represent a possible future for the beleaguered book industry.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE–>