Andyross

LATEST ARTICLES ( 119 )

• Battle of the (Literary Fiction) Sexes

  

  Novelist Teddy Wayne wrote a great piece in  Salon   yesterday  talking about the issue of whether male or female writers have the advantage in the world of... Read more

  Posted on 19 January 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• I Was Mitt Romney’s Boss

  

  I’ve been experiencing some exquisite  schadenfreude over the accusations and counteraccusations of the Republican presidential hopefuls. Lately the long... Read more

  Posted on 10 January 2012 POLITICS, SELF EXPRESSION

• Linda Gray Sexton Talks About HALF IN LOVE, Her Memoir on Suicide

  

  It’s hard reading about suicide. It makes me uncomfortable. It makes me think about the frailty of life. It also makes me feel anger at the person who has... Read more

  Posted on 03 January 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Let Me See…What Should I Buy My Wife? Curious George Or a Biography of Heinrich...

  

  Today I went to work on the retail floor at Book Passage in Marin. I did it last year for several days during the Christmas season. And I’m excited about doing... Read more

  Posted on 17 December 2011 BOOKS

• Is Your Local Bookstore an Amazon Showroom?

  

  Today’s uproar de jour in book publishing is the news story that Amazon.com is giving a $5.00 discount on items that a customer scans using the Amazon “Price... Read more

  Posted on 08 December 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Amazon and Library E-book Lending

  The latest chapter in the ongoing saga of the uneasy relationship between book publishers and Amazon.com began to unfold last week. Read more

  Posted on 28 November 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Amazon’s Latest Indignity: Free Lending

  Last week I was in New York City for 3 days conferring with editors. 25 of them to be exact. I’m exhausted. I’ll write about this more in the next few days. Read more

  Posted on 14 November 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• An Interview with Alan Rinzler and Myself

  Author Meghan Ward has a fantastic blog about writing calledWriterland. Recently she did an interview with myself and my friend (and legendary editor) Alan... Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Occupy Literary Agencies

  Ok. Now I have your attention. If you decide to protest by camping out on my front lawn, I’m not sure it would make a compelling political statement. Read more

  Posted on 28 October 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• EBook Sales Are (no Surprise) Up. Internet Book Sales Are (no Surprise) Up.

  

  New Statistics have been released by Bowker Pubtrak showing shifts in book sales by Channel and by format. The report compares  the second quarter of 2011  to... Read more

  Posted on 27 October 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Amazon.com is Going into Book Publishing. Is the Sky Falling?

  There was a somewhat alarmist article in The New York Times today by David Streitfeld about how Amazon.com is going into commercial publishing, signing up... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Mary Mackey on Writing Poetry and Fiction

  

  Mary Mackey is a novelist, a poet, and a teacher. We interviewed her last year in this blog upon publication of her historical novel, The Widow’s War. Read more

  Posted on 10 October 2011 BOOKS

• Dogs Make Us Human

  

  Most of the books that I have worked on have been narrative non-fiction. I’m starting to do more work with fiction now and it is a lot of fun. One genre I... Read more

  Posted on 04 October 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Literary Agent Blogs

  I attend a lot of writers’ conferences. Most of the people I meet there, not surprisingly, are looking for agents. You can always find well-attended classes... Read more

  Posted on 22 September 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Amazon.com Agrees to Collect California Sales Tax

  Amazon.com has finally agreed to start collecting sales tax for California beginning 2012. Legislation enacting the agreement was passed overwhelmingly and... Read more

  Posted on 11 September 2011 BOOKS

• More Misconceptions About Literary Agents

  Last week we did a blog post on writers’ misconceptions about the literary agents. Here are a few more. 1) I went with the agent who promised me the six figure... Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Writers’ Misconceptions About Literary Agents

  Let’s face it. Most of you who have never worked with a literary agent probably think that the 15% agency commission is sort of …well…unfair. Read more

  Posted on 03 September 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Future is Now…No, Wait a Minute…Not Yet

  For the last 12 years, there has been so much buzz about internet bookselling in general and Amazon.com in specific that you would think community-based... Read more

  Posted on 21 August 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Forbes Lists the World’s Highest Paid Authors

  Forbes Magazine just released it’s newest list of the world’s highest paid authors. The estimate is for the period ending May 31, 2011.  I’m not sure if this... Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Mary Jo McConahay Talks About Maya Roads and the People of the Central American...

  

  Today I am going to interview Mary Jo McConahay, author of Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest. The book was published this... Read more

  Posted on 16 August 2011 BOOKS, CULTURE