Bob was on All Things Considered yesterday, talking with Lynn Neary about how publishers gamble on blockbuster book deals. Click here to listen to his interview!
If you’re going to be in Manhattan this fall, keep an eye out for Philippe Petit, man on wire. The New York Times announced Petit’s upcoming walk today, but could only say that “he will perform a high-wire walk in the fall in Midtown Manhattan. It will be high, it will be long, and it will be outdoors in a very recognizable location that he does not want revealed quite yet – arrangements are not final.” Wherever the walk is going to occur, it will certainly be quite a show. Petit’s walk in Manhattan is part of a series of walks that he will be doing across the country, to raise awareness for literacy.
In between wire walks Petit is completing his book on building a barn by hand (with 18th century tools), which we will be publishing Fall 2010.
Tumblr backend
I’d heard great feedback about Tumblr from people I respect: Gary Vaynerchuk‘s blog is on Tumblr; This is Why You’re Fat started out as a Tumblr blog and grew crazy fast; I Am Neurotic started as a Tumblr blog (though she’s now switched it over to a WordPress) — which all lead me to want to know more.
I asked two people to start Tumblr blogs and let me know what they thought (medium tech-savvy people) — and they both came back to me saying the same thing: “I don’t get it.”
I had to it try myself.
So I started a little experimental blog called The Things We Love List — the concept being a “family blog” where we could each post stuff we like. (So far I’m the only one who’s participating, by the way, though they seemed to like the concept in theory.)
I’ve spent the weekend playing around with all of the Tumblr features, and even coached a friend who’s very new to the internet to start a blog on Tumblr.
Here are my 5 quick & dirty observations:
1) It is so easy to make a blog on Tumblr that looks professional with great layout and video and photos and quotes and musings……that it makes Facebook look like it’s for techies.
2) While Tumblr may not have all of the capabilities of WordPress, it does have other great features such as “reblog” and “follow” (similar to Twitter). What it lacks in fancy features it makes up for with simplicity and ease of use.
3) The reblog function is really cool. It actually makes it so that you can really easily update your blog simply by reblogging other people’s stuff……which brings me to my next observation:
4) Tumblr is actually a hybrid. Think Twitter (“reblog” is “retweet;” plus the “follow” feature) meets Facebook (share your photos, videos,etc.) mixed with a more traditional blog where you can post your musings for anybody to see. I think this hybrid quality is what confused the people I sent to make Tumblr blogs. It’s almost as if it needs a new category and can’t be classified in the “blog” department. There’s something very social about it.
5) The back end is not technical looking at all, like WordPress or Typepad — it’s more like a Facebook Twitter feed of the people you’re following’s posts. The back end is someplace you would go to spend time like you would on Facebook, and choose what you want to “reblog” for your public persona, like Twitter.
My very first impression, when I saw how easy it is to use (think Blogging for Dummies) and absorbed the viral power potential of the reblog and follow functions — I had one of those “the earth moved again” moments. Later on I saw that you can get your Twitter feed right in Tumblr, add the app to your phone, call in blog posts on your cell phone, send them out from instant message — and I thought for sure this is the next big thing.
We’ll see! I definitely recommend others give it a whirl. There is no reason in mid-2009 that you can’t start your own blog on Tumblr. Trust me, if Debralyn Press did it, you can too.
PEN has done an incredible job teaming up with publishers to promote their cause in subtle yet meaningful ways. The Vintage partnership is yet another example.
We’re publishing Burn This Book in conjunction with PEN in May. It’s a powerful collection of essays that explore the meaning of literary censorship, an issue that PEN deals with in their pledge to oppose any suppression of freedom of expression. Check out the book jacket below.
You can also join the fight against literary censorship by signing The Right to Read petition here.
I was in awe of FSG‘s creative marketing efforts for 2666. Today I stumbled upon this fabulous video for the novel Lowboy, which I just added to my kindle:
Listen to John Wray read his novel on NPR.
Did you catch Isabella Rossellini on the Today Show yesterday? If not, check out her appearance below. She talks about her new season of Green Porno and keeps Kathie and Hoda in stitches!
I have paused virtually every time I’ve reached for the OJ this past month at the grocery store: 35 million dollars for that new juice carton. Ad Age reports Tropicana sales have decreased 20 percent on account of the poor redesign and the company quickly pulled the plug. As Debbie said in an earlier post: Why didn’t they put the 35 mil towards lowering their price?
