The irony of the full page Kindle ad in next week’s New York Times Book Review was not lost on us.

The Guardian reports that Jonathan Ross, the British radio and television host, has started a book club on Twitter. Focusing on mostly fiction titles, Ross chooses a book to read each week and he and his followers post mini-reviews. Ross’s first choice for the members of #wossybookclub was Jon Ronson’s The Men Who Stare at Goats.

Ross’s quarter of a million Twitter followers responded enthusiastically, and the book’s sales rose 7,000% over the weekend, according to Amazon, where it now sits in the second spot on the online bookseller’s “movers and shakers” chart.

It looks like Oprah has some comptetition…

Really interesting article in Book Business magazine by Carolyn Pittis (and we’re not just saying that because she refers to us ). Publishing houses are chock-full of interesting, educated, highly creative, talented and usually very funny people who know a vast amount about books, reading and packaging, and have wildly interesting opinions and judgments. But, in the online theater, these people are largely anonymous office workers to the opinion leaders who host the daily discussion of what publishing is doing wrong.

Two decades ago, as an entry-level editorial assistant, I was asked to sign form rejection letters with the name “Edith D. Wilson.” Edith was a fictional creation whose name my then-employer used exclusively to reject manuscripts. When “rejected” writers sent angry mail, phoned or worse—visited the publisher’s office—the use of Edith’s name at the reception desk would alert all to draw the shades or reach for the security buzzer. The message was clear: Editors, and the publishers they work for, need to be as hard to get to as possible. Publishing authority and position demanded “reclusivity.” Don’t call us, we’ll call you.  [More]

One of the many questions answered in Sarah Burningham’s new book, Boyology.

“Why won’t guys cry in front of girls?” (A. “It’s not like we cry in front of guys either. We don’t really cry in front of anyone.”)

You can find out more in her new book…….

Last night the HarperCollins Emerging Professionals group (HCEP) celebrated its one year anniversary at Housing Works in Soho. Young publishing peeps throughout the industry showed up to join in the celebration and support the right to read. There was a steady flow of wine and beer, and the room was abuzz with conversation. Nat Rich, Stephanie LaCava, and Jonathan Jao were seen mingling.

The party was a great reminder that there’s still a lot going for the publishing biz and a lot of young talent who hope to transition with the industry as it goes through this period of growing pains. Blair Nichols, one of the HCEP steering committee members, summed it up best in his toast to the gathering.

Happy Anniversary, HCEP! And to join the fight against censorship, sign The Right to Read petition.

The magic of a great kids book…

An enterprising mom makes her kid a Max costume from Where the Wild Things Are.

This week marks the publication of the anthology Burn This Book, edited by Toni Morrison, so we’re especially attuned to stories from the front lines of free speech. NPR’s decision to cut the names of politicians who were identified as gay in a new documentary caught our attention.

What do you think?

 

Illustration from The New Yorker

This week’s New Yorker has a terrific article about delayed gratification. It tells the story of an experiment in which children were given a choice between having a single marshmallow right away or having two marshmallows if they can wait a bit. It turns out that the kids who were able to wait grew up to be people who have exhibited a greater level of self-control throughout their lives—lives that are often more successful as a result.

We’re already familiar with this experiment because it’s one of more than a hundred studies that form the basis of MINDS IN THE MAKING: THE SEVEN ESSENTIAL SKILLS EVERY CHILD MUST LEARN—THE BREAKTHROUGH RESEARCH EVERY PARENT SHOULD KNOW by Ellen Galinsky, founder and president of the Families and Work Institute. Ellen’s book is important because it not only makes this massive amount of research available to parents, it shows them how to put the research to work with their children.

The book will be published in April, 2010…so you’ll just have to wait for it…

Farhad Manjoo’s Slate article about the end of voicemail got me thinking about the art of pitching. According to Majoo, voicemail is one of the most inefficient forms of communication and services like Google Voice will eventually drive it to extinction. Agents certainly email pitch letters more often than they do call. (I know I’m grateful to have been pitched that history of ketchup electronically!) But some people still prefer an old fashioned conversation. In fact, one of Tom Peter’s nuggets of business advice is to “work the damn phones.” So, which is a more effective way to pitch: via phone or email?

A friend recently sent me David Simon’s original proposal to HBO for ‘The Wire.” I can’t for the life of me imagine pitching this cop show over the phone, can you?