Articles from %2 January, 2009

The MIT Muses surprise serenade for MIT Physics Professor Walter Lewin:

A compilation video of Walter Lewin's "Best Lines":

From the Salon.com blog, "How The World Works" by Andrew Leonard:

A fresh new dawn for trust-busters:

"... The news that the Obama administration is planning to invigorate antitrust enforcement couldn't have come at a better time for Reback, whose new book (publication date, April 16!) "Free the Market: Why Only Government Can Keep the Marketplace Competitive" is a primer in the politics of antitrust over the past century, with special attention to the Reagan Revolution's profound impact on government enthusiasm for enforcement. After reading my post "The Great Crash of the 'Chicago School' of Economics" Reback sent me a copy, telling me that "It's right up your alley."

Yup. From the opening page:

"Toxic assets" didn't fell the nation's economy. A toxic philosophy did....

The Book Deal looks into BookScan numbers today and how that information can impact future books deals and bookseller orders. This is definitely a must read for all authors, especially those with a second or third book in the works.

Read what they have to say at: http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2009/05/14/author-alert-what-you-don%E2%...

Follow the Reader has a really interesting post up today about knowing the [book buying] customer--it has lots of really interesting statistics about who is buying books and where.

I was most  surprised to read that even though they have grown up online, "younger readers are big supporters of bricks and-mortar retail, while older buyers tend to buy online."

The post can be found here: http://followthereader.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/bowker-reveals-new-book-....

What’s a flu like you doing in a host like this? by Marlene Zuk for The Financial Times

Amidst all the swine flu hype and hysteria, the hand-wringing and hand-washing, we have a lot of questions. How bad is this particular flu going to be – more like the usual seasonal viruses, or like the rapacious 1918 version that killed millions worldwide? Will a vaccine be available soon? What are the distinguishing symptoms? But one question seems to be going unasked: how does the flu virus feel about all this?

A virus does not have feelings, exactly. It infects without foresight, malice or mercy. But to understand a disease, it is important to look at things from the point of view of the organism – virus, bacteria or worm – that causes it. Take virulence, for example, the degree of damage a pathogen does to its host. The conventional wisdom used to be that a proper disease evolved to become relatively benign;...

The Strothman Agency is proud to announce that we now represent Former Poet Laureate Donald Hall. Donald Hall was the Library of Congress' 14th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, serving from 2006-2007.

Click here to listen to Donald Hall read "Mount Kearsarge."

We pass this article out to prospective clients. It ran in 2004, but is just as relevant today as it was then.

Who Needs an Agent? You Do!

By RACHEL TOOR

I had dinner recently with an eminent academic, a person whose book has been getting a lot of popular attention. We discussed his readings and radio appearances, chatted about the fact that the paperback was in its fourth printing. Finally I asked who represented him.

"What?"

"Who's your agent?"

He looked at me like I'd asked if he paid for sex.

"Why give away 10 percent of my earnings to an agent?"

Oh.

First I had to point out that, in fact, the going rate for most literary agents is now 15 percent.

Then I realized that this author, a senior professor at a fancy-pants university, long published by trade presses, well established in his field, had no earthly idea what literary agents do,...

The New York Observer has a great recap of Debbie Stier's DailyLit.com digital publishing lunch. From HarperCollins Wants to Be Your Friend:

"... The central insight driving much of the outreach that publishers have undertaken online is that, if used with finesse and attention, social media platforms like Twitter can be used deliberately to generate that invaluable, heretofore elusive phenomenon known as word of mouth. To that end, Ms. Stier and her counterparts in digital marketing departments at other publishing houses have sought to integrate themselves and their authors into various online communities of readers, and to interact—meaningfully!—with the individuals who participate in them. While they make no attempt to conceal their affiliations, the publicists and marketing people who man their companies’ accounts on Facebook and Twitter aim to be seen not as corporate promoters, but as friends taking part in a conversation...

Kathryn Miles, author of ADVENTURE S WITH ARI, will be appearing on the "Greg and Dan Show" on WMBD, Central Illinois' #1 radio talk show.

UPDATE: You can listen to Kate's segment here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y82ic1yPjiI

Yen at The Book Publicity Blog has written a great post about why it is important for authors to build some web presence before the book comes out.

Check it out at: http://yodiwan.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/why-a-pre-publication-web-presen...