Category Archives: reading

May 26, 2010   DG&B   BEA, bestsellers, fun, galleys, marketing/publicity, Miriam, reading  
4

Galley tales

by Miriam

It’s BEA week (check this out for an overview of the conference if you’re not familiar with it) which means that some of us are at the Javitz Center checking out publishers’ exhibits, schmoozing with authors who are in from out of town, and loading up free tote bags with galleys of books that are already generating buzz.

For me, the point of BEA has always been collecting those galleys. Invariably, I find myself walking the huge expanse of the Javitz arena ridiculously bogged down by the weight of too many of these advanced readers copies only to realize when I leave the building that getting from 11th Avenue to civilization requires a very long walk to the nearest subway or an endless wait for a cab. No matter. It’s still a thrill to read something in this vulnerable, unfinished format (complete with typos and mostly exaggerated promotional information on the back cover) and then watch the published book race up the bestseller lists, win a huge prize, or both.

I just came across this old piece from New York magazine and was delighted to see how many of those galleys I’d picked up at the 2007 BEA went on to gaudy sales and great acclaim.

Are any of you attending BEA this year? What galleys are you walking away with?

May 24, 2010   DG&B   fun, Jim, queries, reading, trends  
26

James and the Giant Zombie

by Jim

Sometimes a book will become a bestseller and we suddenly see dozens of knock-off queries. There were about two years when everyone said they wrote the next Da Vinci Code. The thing is, you can’t tell if they were working on something that ultimately felt comparable to the original title or whether they’re peddling a quickie novel they pounded out to fit what they perceive as a market need. Ultimately, it doesn’t really make a difference as long as the quality is there. But, well…it usually isn’t.

There’s another rash of query-alikes happening right now, but this time, I KNOW they’re just ripping off a formula. And for some folks, it’s working.

First came Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Then Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. And since then, dozens of similar literary mash-ups have been acquired and hundreds have been written (or at least queried).

My question to you: isn’t this a gimmick that gets old after the first time? Even the author of the first book moved onto something different right away: Abraham Lincon, Vampire Hunter. Now THERE is an idea….

May 21, 2010   DG&B   favorites, fun, lists, Rachel, reading  
4

Presidential reading

by Rachel

I’ve got to admit, I only picked up a copy of Netherland last year because I heard President Obama was reading the book. Usually I’d give a book a fair go, but I couldn’t get into Netherland at all—I want to say it’s because the main character’s wife was named Rachel (which kept throwing me off), as well as there being too many cricket references in the book (a sport all-too familiar and exhausting for me!). These were incredibly petty reasons not to love the work, though they were enough to make me stop reading. But coming back to why I picked up a copy in the first place—it was because Obama was reading it; I think it’s fascinating to know what a public figure is reading. And not just any public figure, but a president.

So it’s no surprise that I loved this slideshow on the Huffington Post of some of the U.S. presidents’ favorite books. After evaluating their favorites, I think Bill Clinton sounds like the type of person I’d like to sit down and talk books with. And, George W. Bush—95 books read in 2006? That’s a lot of spare time for reading.

How do you rate the presidents’ book choices? And, have you picked up a book simply because a public figure was reading it?

May 19, 2010   DG&B   Miriam, opinion, reading, writing  
10

Literary pablum…

by Miriam

This NPR piece about aphorisms and proverbs, made me think of the acquaintance who frequently utters the phrase “a fine tooth and comb” (as in “I went over that document with a fine tooth and comb”) to my endless chagrin and secret delight, or my four-year-old whose impressive vocabulary sometimes stalls on him and who ends up asking for a “drum ball” before an important announcement instead of a “drum roll.” But it also reminds me how much I hate the tired, meaningless cliches that authors occasionally resort to out of laziness or haste.

Do you ever find yourself reading something and being so put off by the author’s use of throwaway platitudes that you put the book down and turn on the tv? Or is it just me?

May 18, 2010   DG&B   feedback, opinion, reading, self-publishing, Stacey  
13

Diamond in the rough

by Stacey

I know we’ve all talked a lot about self-publishing and what it means for the more traditional, old fashioned book business, and I’m not really interested in getting into the pros and cons of self-publishing, but I thought it was worth exploring this topic a little bit further and see if there are ways to address how the two worlds can come together.

What prompted by interest in the subject was a few things that came up around the same time. First, I read this piece about the rise of self-publishing and how the digital age is somehow making self-publishing more respectable. I’m not sure if I agree entirely , but she makes some interesting points about how far self-publishing has come. Then, I saw this in Publisher’s Weekly about an entire trade show for self publishers and authors who have either published this way, or plan to, or for anyone curious about what it’s all about. Finally, and perhaps the most interesting piece of all, I had lunch with a prominent editor recently at a major commercial house who told me that they had recently done a deal with an author who had previously self-published her book. We talked a little bit about it, and when I asked her if the book had done very well in its self-published life for them to consider reissuing it, she told me that it hadn’t sold particularly well, and the numbers weren’t all that great. So I asked her why in this ridiculously difficult market did they agree to publish it? Because it’s really good, she told me. Oh, how simple. And how refreshing!

I continue to believe that there are untapped talented authors lurking out there publishing books on their own, in some cases quite successfully. I’ve signed up several self-published books over the years, and it’s been a bit of a mixed bag. One author was self-publishing her novels successfully long before it became fashionable, or as easy as it is today. When she chose to reach out to traditional publishers, we got her a very nice six-figure deal for two books with a commercial publisher, and after a few years of feeling increasingly frustrated by the lack of control over the publishing process, she decided to go back to self-publishing. Another was a cookbook that I resold successfully to a division of Random House, and the book has sold fairly well and looks like it will backlist nicely. A third was a nonfiction self-help book that had some great elements and an author who promised to support the book financially, but I wasn’t able to make it work. I am fascinated and intrigued when I hear stories of self-published books selling to traditional publishers, in some cases for a lot of money or with a big promotional plan in place. And I’ve thought over the years about trying to find self-published books that have done well in an effort to find new clients and new projects. If an author has gone through the time and work required to publish on their own, they have already shown a commitment to their work, and if the stars are aligned in just the right way, maybe we can help them in their efforts by matching them with a traditional publisher who can offer much greater sales, marketing and distribution support. In the perfect storm effect, this can be a major win-win for all parties. Look at The Shack as an example.

There are so many books self-published every year (the stat of 764,448 titles last year is staggering) that there still needs to be some sort of filter to find the quality over quantity. Other than the books I’ve worked on, I haven’t read many self-published titles, and I’d love to learn more about what’s out there. Do any of you have any recommendations for self-published books you absolutely loved?

May 14, 2010   DG&B   contest, fun, Lauren, photos, reading  
12

At home on the shelves

by Lauren

One of my deepest home decor desires is to line my walls with bookcases.  I grew up in a house where bookshelves were everywhere you looked, but New York City apartment living isn’t necessarily ideal for the literary pack rat in me.  I’m probably not going to fulfill my dreams of Beauty and the Beast-style rolling ladders any time soon. 

That said, I’ve happily just added a new bookcase to my collection, so for right now, my shelves just barely hold all the books in my apartment, so long as I don’t bring home the stacks of books obscuring the window by my desk here or the ones boxed up at my mom’s.  The box of Babysitter’s Club books I just bought from a stoop sale (Books #1-44 plus various specials for $20!  A total bargain!) really ate up all the space I had left after moving the floor stacks onto the bookcase.

So when I read the comments on Rachel’s post last week, I was envious of the enormous size of your to-be-read piles.  Those numbers don’t count all the already-read books you probably possess!  Do any of you have a real personal library?  Or walls upon walls lined with shelves?  Just massive stacks threatening to topple?  Books strewn about here and there, to be picked up on a whim?

I’m a big fan of the New Yorker‘s Book Bench blog’s 1,000 Words feature, where people send photos of books out in the wild, so I’m asking you, dear readers, to send photos of your lovingly curated or totally ramshackle collections.   Email your photo as an attachment to news@dystel.com with the subject line “Book Shelves”, and then comment below to tell us about your personal library!  We’ll feature some of our favorite photos here on the blog—and I’ll see if I can’t convince some of my colleagues to share their own images.  The person who sends in my favorite photo (or the first person to demonstrate their ownership of the enviable rolling bookshelves) will get a copy of something from my bookshelves–making room for me to bring home the copy of Sebastian Junger’s War I just got.

May 14, 2010   DG&B   favorites, fun, Rachel, reading, video  
6

Literary heroes turn plastic!

by Rachel

When I was growing up, I played with Masters of The Universe action figures. My sister and I would play with these action figures for hours until a fight broke out over who would play with He-Man and who would be stuck with Skeletor – because seriously, nobody wants to play with Skeletor when you can be playing with He-Man.

I’ve always been a bit of a fan of action figures, and especially now that you can get action figures of literary heroes. I’m not ashamed to admit I have a plastic Virginia Woolf action hero, or a Chekhov finger puppet in my apartment. My love of good writing knows no end, I suppose.

So, I just loved this video I found on Huffington Post!

Bronte power dolls! I’ve got to get some, though if I do, I’m calling dibs on Emily Bronte—because seriously, again, why play with the other Bronte sisters when you can play with the writer of Wuthering Heights?

I’d like to see literary characters as action figures, too. Maybe Gregor Samsa from The Metamorphosis. He looks like a regular plastic figurine, but with the switch of a button he easily transforms into a monstrous insect.

Got any literary characters you’d like to see made into action heroes?

May 13, 2010   DG&B   culture, fun, Jessica, opinion, reading  
8

Literary analysis

by Jessica

In this month’s Atlantic, author and staff writer Caitlin Flanagan argues that the success of books like the Twilight series, the romantic raptures of the High School Musical franchise and the syrupy stylings of Taylor Swift are related—indeed, they are a collective expression of an “insurrection” among young girls, which is taking place now. She hypothesizes that girls are hungry for “the Boyfriend Story,” because in the real world, where the sexual landscape is bleak, romance has been replaced by “hook-ups.” Hers is a controversial point, and Flanagan is not everyone’s cup of tea, indeed one blogger called her “the Phyllis Shlafly of the late Boomer set,” and another “the antifeminist darling of the Atlantic.”  The Observer is perhaps most diplomatic in calling her “a provocatrice.” I was actually fairly surprised to see the fury she generates; there were on-line rejoinders to most every word she has written.

In any event, whether or not you buy her argument that in this trend toward the lovey-dovey we can espy “the fourteen and fifteen year olds of our nation” making “one of the last, great stands for human dignity,” it seems to me that this sort of conjecture (tendentious or not, I leave this up to you) is part and parcel of the ongoing discussion how books shape and are shaped by the public discourse. Indeed, Flanagan’s essay is at heart about a book—Anita Shreve’s new novel, Testimony, which Flanagan believes is a pitch-perfect portrayal of the grim world in which adolescent girls must operate. Flanagan’s penchant for peering into novels in search of larger reflection of the zeitgeist is hardly unique. You can find examples everywhere—including A.O. Scott’s recent New York Times essay, which connects Sam Lipsytes new novel The Ask, the Ben Stiller film Greenberg and Hot Tub Time Machine, and situates us squarely in what Scott believes is Gen-X’s “midlife crisis.” (As a gen-Xer myself, I find it impossible to believe.)

So, tapping into the cultural studies geek/provocateur in all of us, let’s indulge in a little trend analysis. What does it say that vampire books are huge? For a smart discussion on the new generation of ethical undead, have a look at the Millions. That mash-ups and steam punk and graphic novels are in vogue? That we are fascinated by the Tudors to the exclusion of much of the rest of British history? That books on the unseen forces behind common phenomena, a la Malcolm Gladwell, are so very popular? It’s tricky to make these sweeping statements about what we’re reading and why, but formulating wild generalizations is part of the fun.

May 12, 2010   DG&B   fun, Miriam, reading  
23

Words, words, words

by Miriam

Looking back it’s amazing I survived my childhood without much in the way of bullying or even name calling. I was a humongous geek with a penchant for reading the dictionary (and the World Book Encyclopedia) and then holding forth on my discoveries about everything from glaciers to Millard Fillmore or using words like “sesquipedalian,” just because they rolled so trippingly off the tongue.

To this day, I can pick up a dictionary and get hopelessly lost in definitions. When I found this piece on one of my random Google searches that led to other searches I was delighted to be reminded that other people enjoy the dictionary as an entertainment, not just reference, source. Lots of us geeks out there, huh?

‘Fess up! Do you read the dictionary for fun? What are your favorite “finds?”

May 12, 2010   DG&B   contest, opinion, polls, reading, Stacey  
35

What do men want? A poll–and a prize!

by Stacey

Following up on my blog post from last week and based on some of the comments we received, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to ask our blog readers, men in particular, or the women who love them, what it is they’d like to see more of, and/or less of in the marketplace. Reader David Jarrett brings up a good point that a lot of what’s published today is derivative of other, successful books or authors, and often not even written by those original authors. But because they’ve become a household name, it’s easier to sell the “branded” version of an author’s work than an original work by an unknown writer. I read one of these for our work book club once, and I found it almost unreadable, lacking any depth or originality, a complete by the numbers exercise. It’s a frustrating thing that we are all forced to deal with, but it’s a reality of the current business model.

So I’d like to know what our male readers really want to read (which categories specifically on the fiction and nonfiction side), what they see lacking in the market, what they see too much of in the market, and what they would feel excited to spend their money on. I’d also like to see positive and negative examples of books they either loved or hated, and why.

Then if I (or any other agents here) sign a new project up that falls into these categories, I will gladly reference this blog post and let editors know there are lots of men out there who are excited to buy and read interesting, original, thought-provoking books in any number of categories, and we need to work harder to find them! As an incentive, I will choose one person who responds at random and send along a copy of a recent DGLM title. Thanks for taking part in our discussion, and in our ongoing effort to make the book biz a better place.

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