Bookish news and publishing tidbits 9 May 2012

RIASS stuff:

Hello, lovelies! Well, the Argentina adventure is over, and Im back in chilly, broody Melbourne, so regular programming will now resume. Just in case you missed them, some of our bookish Argentina posts included a visit to a bookshop in a theatre; a visit to the Buenos Aires book fair, and a visit to the oldest bookshop in Buenos Aires.

A huge thanks to the lovely authors and readers who contributed such thought-provoking material while I was awayyour support is much appreciated.

Other bookish stuff:

Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, has died at the age of 83.

Pop Cultures Undying Edgar Allan Poe Obsession: Edgar Allan Poe remains one of the few writers to have fully pervaded Americas pop-culture consciousness. His legacy can be seen everywhere, from'professional wrestling'to the'NFL, and references to his works have appeared in unlikely places that span from full-length concept albums byThe Alan Parsons Project'and'Lou Reed'to a series of'Batman'comic books.

Tricking people into reading science fiction & fantasy:'People who are normally averse to reading science fiction and fantasy drop their guard and suddenly find themselves reading'and more to the point, enjoying'science-fiction and fantasy books.

Zombies in the Library? Sexing up librarianship:'In an attempt to break down stereotypes, 38-year-old [Librarian Benjamin Wheel] channelled his artistic streak and came up with the'Zombies in the Library'calendar concept.'We wanted to demonstrate that, yes, were librarians but its not a boring hair in a bun, patches on the jacket kind of industry, Mr Wheal said.

Youre doing it wrong: thoughts on publicity:'The letter was hand written in all capital letters on lined paper and then Xeroxed. The writer of the letter mentions that he was really hoping to be able to add revenue to his retirement income with this book. My retired author friend was also hoping I could spread the word on the internet and 'through industry channels'. Apparently I'm supposed to do all this for him without ever having seen the book and to do it for free. He is on a fixed income after all. He would also like ideas on marketing. I have a return address, but no email address for him so it would mean writing and sending a letter.

Rare books find their place in digital age:'Its an interesting part of the digital age that while theres been some downward pressure on prices for modern works, the value of some rare books has increased, while others have declined by allowing more people to have access to the market, auction houses'say.

Genre Is A Moving Target:'Genre is a mirror. We see what we want to see. It's a moving target, too'genre's over here, then over there, then back to the middle, and new genres pop up, and old genres fade away. It's marketing. It's categorization. Bookstores online and off need to know where to shelve your book. Publishers want to help them. Agents want to show publishers the way. Writers want to tell agents and audiences what their book is. But the conventions of each genre needn't be carved out of stone.

Romance over 40:'The desire for more mature characters in erotic romance fiction is becoming more important to me as I become one of them. It gets a little tiring to always read about these beautiful young bodies having this amazing sex. I would love to hear about the amazing sex us softer oldies are having. Sure, I read to escape, but I also like to feel a part of a story, feel like I can fully relate to the character. Hopefully authors will realise the baby boomers are ready for mature erotica.

An interview with Amy Plum, author of Die for Me'(see our review): I was just so clueless when I got my book deal, so everything was surprising. I think that the bad surprise must have been the amount of editing I was expected to do. And the good surprise was discovering how rewarding it is to have readers respond positively to my book and to interact with them on a one-to-one basis.

10 buildings made'from books:

book building matej kren Bookish news and publishing tidbits 9 May 2012