Posted by: Foster Winans in Untagged on
Dec 22, 2008
This is an excellent, short interview with Debra Englander, Executive Editor at John Wiley & Sons, the largest and most prestigious publisher of business books, in which she explains exactly what it takes to publish successfully with a trade publisher, and when it might be better to self-publish. A real must-listen.
Posted by: Foster Winans in Untagged on
Nov 16, 2008
Nov. 16, 2008--Will President-elect Barack Obama stimulate a renaissance in serious book writing and reading? After eight years with a president and a party-in-power that embraced anti-intellectualism, we have a president who is a best-selling, highly-praised writer, and is drawing inspiration and guidance from books he considers important. Two that he has mentioned recently are Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," and on the CBSNews program"60 Minutes," Obama revealed that he has also been reading a book about another president who came into office in the middle of a national crisis: "The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope," by Newsweek's top political columnist Jonathan Alter. For those who care about good writing and books, it's a nice change to have an advocate at the helm.
Posted by: Foster Winans in Untagged on
Sep 10, 2008
Sept. 10, 2008--Did Sarah Palin plan to run for higher office, or did she just get lucky? A hagiographic (worshipful) biography of her put out by a small Alaska publisher known for dog-sled racing books appeared in April, touting the governor as the "hockey mom" that "turned Alaska's political establishment upside down." Considering the scandals among Alaska's politicians, that doesn't sound like a hard task, but either way, the Palin book, clearly written either with her complete cooperation or maybe even at her direction, turns out to be a brilliant move to beat her critics to the punch by branding herself as a maverick.
A new Barack Obama biography has sparked a skirmish between Amazon and Barnes and Noble that opens a door into a war in which Amazon has been dubbed book publishing's Darth Vader. So reports Publishers Weekly in a column titled "The Audacity of Hype." The battle is over a sweetheart deal by a publisher that gave Amazon a two-week head start on the rest of the bookselling industry to promote Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency.
China bashing has been popular in the US since the Korean War broke out in 1950, and seems to be reaching another peak leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. What was to have been the grand re-opening under new management of the People’s Republic is turning into a pile-on of complaints ranging from currency manipulation to suppression of dissent.
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