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This is Andrew Shaffer, creative director of greeting card publisher Order of St. Nick and author of the forthcoming Harper Perennial paperback original Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love. This is his blog.

 

Disclosure: Book reviews may be based on advance reading copies supplied by publishers. Also, Andrew's first book is being published this fall by HarperCollins, so there's a chance he might be biased towards their products. On a completely unrelated note, be sure to pick up Sarah Palin's memoir, which the author believes to be a "compelling read."

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Friday, February 26, 2010
12:00PM

Is Kindle the XM Radio of Publishing?

This was the question raised by Joe Wikert this week on his 2020 blog:

I loved XM at first, mostly because it allowed me to go well beyond the limited AM/FM offerings here in Indiana. I was hooked for a couple of years and then tossed it aside, partly because I discovered so many better alternatives on my iPhone. Sound familiar? That's pretty much what's happened to my early fascination with the Kindle. Is the Kindle our industry's XM Radio?

I'm a huge XM Radio convert. I have to disagree that Kindle and XM Radio are comparable, if only because most of the content that is available for XM Radio is exclusive to XM Radio. That's not true with the Kindle, or won't be after the introduction of the iPad.

XM Radio doesn't just "go beyond" local AM/FM--it has many exclusive stations: MLB, NFL, Howard Stern, Oprah, Cosmo Radio, etc. Some of those same stations are now available via their respective websites and as iPhone apps, but I wouldn't count XM Radio out of the game yet. (Check back with me after Howard Stern's contract is up next year.)

The Kindle, meanwhile, is still in the process of landing big name content providers as exclusives. Stephen King debuted a short story, "UR", in Kindle's e-bookstore. Stephen Covey and other authors are offering older works as Kindle e-bookstore exclusives. But until a Stephen King or a Stephen Covey gives up writing for a traditional publisher and signs a Howard Stern-like exclusive contract for their next full-length book, I don't think the XM Radio comparison is apt.

by AuthorAndrew Shaffer | CommentPost a Comment | |
Thursday, February 25, 2010
12:00PM

Comic Review: DC's "The Brave and the Bold"

If you prefer your comics fun (as opposed to grim and gritty), THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD from DC should be at the top of your must-read list. While death and decapitation have become standard plot points in 21st century DC Comics, Mark Waid and George Perez pulled off a perfect Silver Age throwback that is entertaining for all ages. There's tons of action in each volume, but the characters' personalities are what drew me in as a reader. Mark Waid's characterization is spot-on (the dialogue between Wonder Woman and Power Girl is fantastically entertaining).

Starting with the fourth volume, writing duties for the series were turned over to J. Michael Stracynski (Thor, Babylon 5). From what I've read, he's kept the same throwback feel--DC even included the tagline "Lost Stories of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" so that new readers know what they're getting. If these are lost stories, I'm really glad that DC has found them. (DC Entertainment, ongoing series collected in trade paperback volumes)

by AuthorAndrew Shaffer | CommentPost a Comment | |
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
12:00PM

Book Review: "The Successful Novelist" by David Morrell

An instructional writing book...by an actual successful novelist. While David Morrell may be best-known for writing FIRST BLOOD and the subsequent Rambo novelizations, THE SUCCESSFUL NOVELIST puts him on the map as a world-class professor of writing as he turns the edict "Those who can't do, teach" on its head.

Morrell used to teach in the University of Iowa English Department that was located below the Iowa Writer's Workshop offices. However, his instruction here is contrary to that of most college creative writing workshops, in that he adresses writers of all genres (not just "literary" writers). For that reason, this book will be of particular interest to thriller, science fiction, horror, and other genre writers looking for instruction outside of the university structure.

THE SUCCESSFUL NOVELIST is an update edition of Morrell's first writing book, Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing: A Novelist Looks at His Craft with an added chapter on marketing. If you enjoy THE SUCCESSFUL NOVELIST, you should also check out Stephen King's On Writing and Strunk and White's THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE to round out your writing "home study" course. (Sourcebooks, originally released in 2008)

by AuthorAndrew Shaffer | CommentPost a Comment | |
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
12:00PM

The "P" Word: A Necessary Evil

"Once referred to as 'seat-of-the-pants'; publishing by its critics and supporters alike, the American industry continued to make decisions about manuscript selection, print orders, and advertising campaigns on the basis of editors’ intuitions, ignoring the availability of the computer and the development of sophisticated market-research techniques.... Editors worried that if profit became the principal goal, publishers would be reluctant to sponsor the first novel of a promising young writer because its financial failure would be virtually guaranteed.” - Janice A. Radway, Reading the Romance

The above paragraph was written in 1983. More publishers have been acquired by media conglomerates since then. The industry is not as "seat-of-the-pants" as it once was; market research and publicity are all factored in when acquisitions editors evaluate manuscripts.

Despite the sea change, promising debut novels continue to be published...and, while more fail than succeed, publishers are still taking chances. Is "profit" still a dirty word in publishing? It seems that today, with the battle over e-book prices taking center stage, the logistics of profitable publishing are being discussed now more than ever. Based on recent arguments, it seems that it's now a given that profit is a valid reason to publish books and is, in fact, instrumental to publishers' continued abilities to put out quality books.

by AuthorAndrew Shaffer | CommentPost a Comment | |
Monday, February 22, 2010
12:00PM

Book Review: "The Cinderella Deal" by Jennifer Crusie

It's another quirky romantic comedy from Jennifer Cruisie--although it's not a new one. THE CINDERELLA DEAL was originally released in 1996 and was long out of print. This Bantam edition is a teaser for Crusie's next Bantam book, available in December 2010. As a filler book until then, it serves its purpose.

The hero and heroine, Linc Blaise and Daisy Flattery, are a couple of odd ducks. The heroine in particular is presented as a hippie-ish artist. In the first few pages, she's described as unattractive (through the hero's eyes), which clouds the reader's image of her for the rest of the book. Daisy likes to "tell stories," according to her business card...but she's an artist, not a writer. It felt like she was being pulled in different directions by the author, to the point that her personality was completely submerged to the plot devices.

THE CINDERELLA DEAL is quite funny on occasion and the romantic banter was engaging. It mainly falters in the realism department. The heroine makes at least one major--MAJOR--life change after thinking about it for five minutes, when the hero pleads his case to her. It's a little difficult to swallow, especially when the heroine spends weeks and weeks debating smaller decisions. (Bantam, Jan. 2010)

by AuthorAndrew Shaffer | CommentPost a Comment | |
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