RIASS Stuff:
Book Review: The Glamour by Christopher Priest'Rating: 
'(look at all those stars!)
Book Review: One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf Rating: 
Guest Post and Excerpt: Heather Gudenkauf, author of One Breath Away
Giveaway: Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper'(open to all)
Other bookish stuff:
Do teens judge books by their covers?'Does pimping out'Emma'or'Jane Eyre'by dressing them up in contemporary attitudes and putting them out on the street to lure in new audiences diminish the stature of the books being sold?
My judgy thoughts:'Oh, this stuff again, eh. Lets just say that if people didnt judge books by their covers, well, we wouldnt have covers, would we?
To be honest, in spite of my Ranty McRant Rant post over here, Ive started to welcome cover trends such as the all-black mopey YA featuring a swoony girl and thuggish moron, because its a great way of steering me in another direction. Be warned! these books cry, I contain a love quadrangle, a heroine without a spine and a love interest who equates hiding in the bushes outside said heroines bedroom with love!
Um. Sorry about that. Ive only had half a cup of coffee so far today.
Anyway, of'course book covers sell books. Theyre designed not only to catch the readers eye, but to also to give an indication of what can be found within a given books pages. Theres a reason that all thriller covers contain a shadowy figure walking through an arch and some BIG BOLD TEXT. Theres a reason that all chick lit covers feature vector line drawings of girls with big smiles and enormous bags of shopping. Theres a reason that all urban fantasy novels feature a girl wearing leather pants low enough to show off her tramp stamp. (I dont know what the reasoning behind the tramp stamp is, but Im sure there is one. And Im sure its very subtle and philosophical and stuff.)
If this cover:
is going to sell Romeo and Juliet to kids, why not? Honestly, I think we should dress all classic literature up in 1980s'Saved by the Bell garb, slap a bit of Sweet Valley High styling on the top and see what happens.
James Dawson: why teens in books cant swear'The argument goes that the gatekeepers have to make very quick decisions about whether or not to stock a new release. Anything by a major author is guaranteed, but anything else has to be debated. In such discussions, sex, swearing and adult content can be an easily reached for reason to refuse to stock a novel. It can be the deciding factor.
My ****ing thoughts:'I attended an interesting panel on this issue just last year, and it was interesting to see just how much is edited out. The young adult authors on the panel noted that its particularly the US that has an issue with swearing, and that words that arent considered rude here in Aus may well be in the US. Australias a fairly non-religious country on the whole, so blasphemy doesnt register here in the same way it might in the US. But guess which of the two is the larger market? Yep.
Its not the publishers themselves that feel faint at the mention of a four letter wordits the market. And when youre writing for kids, its not your target audience whos buying the books. Its the parents and the librarians.
Having said that, I do think it depends on the publisher, genre, and age group whether swearing rules are enforced, and that some authors are able to get away with a ****load more than others, particularly if their key market isnt the US.
Indeed, I recently read a YA book by a UK author that had me blushing, and that forced me to have an old-person discussion with one of my friends (Back in our day, Ethyl, did we say stuff like that? And do stuff like that? I call shenanigans!)
A big to do about ARCs:'In the wake of the BEA/ALA meltdown about Teh Evil Bloggerz and their ARC-nabbing ways, theres been all sorts of ranting and raving about ARCs and what should be done with them. Author Elizabeth Fama wants the things burned after reading (okay, not quite, but it sounds more impressive that way), while The Reading Zone wishes ARCs could be re-used within the school library system. Mine get donated or passed along, although to be honest, most of the review copies I receive are final published versions. (I actually prefer this, as it means Im not under as much time pressure to review something.)
Print books will survive digital age, says Bloomsbury'Chief executive and founder Nigel Newton said there was still a future for print, adding: It will be a mixed market. Just as it has been for 40 years for hardback and paperback formats its just another new format.
My pithy thoughts:'It wouldnt surprise me to see print books moving more towards high-end collectible items, with e-readers being used for mass market volumes or books that require constant updating, such as textbooks.
'Kickstarter becomes fourth biggest publisher of graphic novels'From the million-plus dollars raised for a graphic novel about stick figures to an all-female anthology showcasing the works of women in comics, the crowdfunding website'Kickstarter'has become one of the biggest graphic novel publishers in the US.
My crowdfounded thoughts:'This flows on from my thoughts yesterday about changing business models for publishing. Its a great way to assess reader demand and lower riskcosts are paid for upfront rather than being recouped at a later stage. Better yet, Kickstarter projects can act as a marketing programme in and of themselves.
Changing notions of proper English, through the centuries:'One talked about how a street was'well-lighted:'lit'was considered vulgar, as was'have a look atrather than'look at. (In fact, it's the style of this newspaper to usewell-lighted.)
My changeable thoughts: I love you, language change.
Interview with Carlos Fuentes'Diplomacy in a sense is the opposite of writing. You have to disperse yourself so much: the lady who comes in crying because shes had a fight with the secretary; exports and imports; students in trouble; thumbtacks for the embassy. Writing requires the concentration of the writer, demands that nothing else be done except that.
On writing villains and committing crimes (on paper)
A sample of Carl Sagans diverse reading interests'(I hear his information diet also included mushrooms)
Every needs a Kindle case shaped like a book (totally doesnt defeat the purpose of a Kindle at all!)
Video from author Candy Gourlay in which she asks kids what they read and why:
Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy: Everyone Needs to Think Digital (via Digital Book World)
James Bennett has a position open for a bookish type.
Really good post; I enjoyed reading it.