publishers &laquo; WordPress.com Tag Feed http://wordpress.com/tag/publishers/ Feed of posts on WordPress.com tagged "publishers" Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:33:38 +0000 http://wordpress.com/tags/ en <![CDATA[A big, fat yes to persistence]]> http://linelarsen.wordpress.com/?p=127 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:13:54 +0000 Line Larsen http://linelarsen.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/a-big-fat-yes-to-persistence/ When someone has recently received a rejection letter from a publisher (me), it appears that the list of successful authors who experienced the same thing is endless. All of a sudden friends and family are a never ending source of famous writers facing turn downs and hardship while pursuing their career. I suspect they researched this beforehand and has created some sort of writer-friends anonymous group, to make sure their encouragement checks out.

Apparently it is very rare for a manuscript from a brand new author to be accepted right away. Are publisher's like Jews; you have to prove your dedication and return three-four times before they will let you convert to their world? Supposedly, it's politics as well. What politics would that be? My novel is just too offensive? Or it's all about money. Well, of course it is all about money! That's the really soul-crushing part of it, isn't it. That someone read my book and thought: “Not many readers will be interested in this. Very few sane people will pay 10 dollars to read Line's writing.”

It's not like I want to give up. No, wait. I meant to say: It's not like I can give up. I do wish, though, that I dreamt of being a nurse. Or a mother of three. Or an historian. All life goals where you never have to receive a letter which basically says: “I have now witnessed you pouring your soul out on paper and while there is no doubt this has taken you some time, the spelling was adequate after all, I am not interested in you.”

The worst thing is possibly that when people ask what I do, I say: “Well, not much. I work with children, mainly, but I don't plan on doing it forever.” The typical question is then: “What do you plan on doing?”. And there I am, stuttering away, about how I hope/wish/dream to some day be a published author. These days I may go into a rant about how I try to make it as a freelance writer, which I then have to explain is far less glamorous than people suspect, and further tell how yes, I have written a book and no, it is not published and yes, I have tried.

The reaction is one of two. One is the thought: “She clearly doesn't have any talent, but clings on to a hobby.” Or: “You will make it! Don't give up!”. The thing that gets to me with the latter response is that we never hear about those that don't. Nobody has created a list over who never made it, despite not giving up and believing in themselves. It is probably far more of those than the other kind.

Such a horrible way to measure your accomplishments; those letters from publishers. Crossing my fingers and hoping for acceptance, this shall be my life.

]]> <![CDATA[PageRank bloss Hokuspokus?]]> http://replych.wordpress.com/?p=518 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:46:25 +0000 Joel Steinmann http://reply.ch/2008/10/13/pagerank-bloss-hokuspokus/ Joel Steinmann
Publisher Executive
TradeDoubler Schweiz

Ist der Google PageRank bloss Hokuspokus? Dieses Thema ist ja schon länger in der Szene hart diskutiert. Wie relevant ist der PR überhaupt noch? Wozu braucht Google den PR eigentlich noch? Ist es bloss ein Wert der dich zu Google's Darling macht, wenn du Adsense und Co einbindest? Mir scheint es langsam aber sicher so.

http://www.mondfeuer.ch/ ist eine wirklich sehr sehr sehr kleine Webseite. Eigentlich besteht diese Page ja bloss aus einer Startseite und nicht mehr. Nun kuckt man aber einmal auf den PageRank der doch für eine Mikroseite den Wert 3 aufweist. Ist eigentlich schon mal nicht schlecht. Die Page ist nicht sonderlich super optimiert. Das CSS wurde nicht ausgelagert sondern befindet sich im Code drin.

Was auffällt sind die Google Produkte, welche schön prominent implementiert sind:
Der Veriffaction-Code für die Webmastertools (<meta name="verify-v1" content="5FDKyv2hqAW/RTmY3M59jzwqAvKeiPM9U2HvR5wvCtA=" />) ist schön bündig eingebaut. Adsense wurde gleich doppelt eingebaut - einmal oberhalb des Headers, das andere mal im Footer. Google Analytics ist ebenfalls vorhanden.

Weiter würde mich ja schon interessieren, ob das bald einen Einfluss auf das Ranking hat. Sollte sich bald jede Webseite die Produkte von Google einbauen müssen um in den Rankings überhaupt noch zu erscheinen?

Warten wir mal ab was Google so präsentiert in der nächsten Zeit.

]]> <![CDATA[Monday Monday mirth ]]> http://veryhungrycaterpillar.wordpress.com/?p=186 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:24:29 +0000 veryhungrycaterpillar http://veryhungrycaterpillar.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/monday-monday-mirth/ Hello to everyone I met at the Irish Pen event last week - I really enjoyed it.  Host Sarah Webb has a good rundown of the event over on her blog. My fellow panelist Helen Carr from O'Brien Press discussed how to prepare submission letters for publishers and very good advice it was to. Coincidentally over on stony river there is a brilliant and funny list of submissions don'ts and do's for anyone needing more info.

]]> <![CDATA[Self-publishing is the new black. ]]> http://editorinchic.wordpress.com/?p=10 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:12:24 +0000 pubconvict http://editorinchic.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/self-publishing-is-the-new-black/             

            Conventional publishers are HUGE SNOBS. They are the snottiest LOT thinking they can just rake all the credits from authors who slaved on their books but push them around like vermin when their books do not sell. And they get all the glory – from the copyright to the royalties – the real authors get as much as a paltry sum of 5% of how much their book should cost. And their quality? Que horror!

            When authors gave up hopes of ever being picked by a traditional publisher, they turn to SELF-PUBLISHING.

THAT’S WHAT SETS THEM APART FROM TRADITIONAL PUBLISHERS: AUTHORS are the publishers. Self-publishing companies provide the SUPPORT and the INFRASTRUCTURE.

There are many reasons why authors self-publish and I just wish that they remind themselves of those reasons why their work is not published the traditional way. Promotion and marketing of self-published books seems to be one thing why authors are critical of the whole concept. Authors must undertake book publicity which means developing and looking for ways to get coverage "off the book page."

Perhaps if we ask them, have you investigated the industry thoroughly before launching? Producing and marketing may instill unforeseen investments that they might not be able to handle. If authors believe that the book will succeed by adding THEIR OWN EFFORT, then SELF-PUBLISH. They’ll even have FUN.

Second question, Have you set a goal?  How actively are you going to promote your book? They are going to be doing that T-O-G-E-T-H-E-R.

We should set expectations. Remind them of what self publishing companies do and why they turn to them. They have the PRODUCT while self-publishing companies PRICE them accordingly, PROMOTE them, and DISTRIBUTE them. Aren’t they listed at online bookstores at the onset of production?

Leave it up to the author who wished to be published than just published.

 

--------------------------------

To learn more about self-publishing, your free information is here.

 

 

 

]]> <![CDATA[Flags--A compelling story about humanity]]> http://livingindurham.wordpress.com/?p=682 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:50:44 +0000 livingindurham http://livingindurham.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/flags-a-compelling-story-about-humanity/ Flags is a book written by Maxine Trottier and Paul Morin. The book tells the tale of a little girl named Mary and her Grandmother who had a next door neighbour Mr. Hiroshi who was Japanese. I read the book with my daughter recently and wanted to share the story of the book as well as for you to reflect upon the message. Please feel free to borrow the book from your local library if it is available and share the story with your own children or even with your friends and family. Also you can visit the writer here: http://www.maxinetrottier.com/bio.htm You can visit my other Blog Booster Shots For Living here: http://boostershotsforliving.blogspot.com for other interesting articles.
The book started out with Mary describing the time spent with her Grandmother during the summer and how beautiful everything felt. "The Ocean sang and filled our day with the scent of salt. A nearby river ran deep and cool. It was a world of green and dragonflies and fog-dampened air."

Mary's Grandmother home was next door to Mr.Hiroshi's. She would always go outside to admire the Cherry Plum trees and love their smell at springtime. This next part is what touched my heart deeply. Mary would go on to depict Mr.Hiroshi's garden as unusual. "I had never seen anything like it. There were no flower beds or ivy. No lilies or ferns nodded their heads in the pale sunshine. Instead, it was all sand and soft, green moss. Gravelled paths and stepping stones wandered between the clipped evergreens." Mary went on to say, "In the center lay a pond that was ringed with small, blue Irises her grandmother called Flags." Koi swam in lazy circles beneath the water's surface. When I clapped my hands, the fish drifted to the top and their greedy mouths poked into the air.

To me Mr. Hiroshi's garden was designed without a sense of permanence. One could tell that he was no doubt a very sad man with a kind spirit but hardened by some pain he felt inside. The fish in the pond reminded him I believe that there is hope and possible some beauty left in the world.

It's amazing how our lives can change in a heart beat. Mary's Grandmother was concerned about Mr. Hiroshi. She had read in the newspaper that Japanese people were being taken away to camps far from their homes. "It is because of the war, Mary," she told me. "But surely they will leave Mr. Hiroshi alone." One morning two soldiers came with a letter to the house next door. Mr. Hiroshi would be going too.

Tears came to my eyes because just like Mr. Hiroshi, I once had to leave my home many years ago to go live somewhere else. I had to leave my brother behind, my mother and Father and it was hardest thing a small child had to do, but I had no choice.

"The night before he left said Mary, we sat in his garden on a low, stone bench. The setting sun lit our faces with the red and Mr. Hiroshi looked out across the ocean. I knew that Japan lay there, a world away. Behind us in the pond, the koi made tiny popping sounds as they begged for food." It is strange, said Mr. Hiroshi. I was born in this country. I have lived in this house all my life. How sad that I may not be able to finish this garden."

In the morning a bus came. Many Japanese people sat inside it, their faces stiff with sadness. Grandmother and I went to say goodbye. "I will take good care of your garden, Mr. Hiroshi," I offered. He smiled. "That would give me great comfort, Mary, he said."

Later, Mr. Hiroshi's home was sold and new family moved in. The new family dug up Mr. Hiroshi's garden and planted grass. They filled in the pond and edged the yard with rose bushes and daisies. They seemed very pleased with their work.

 

 

The Author Maxine Trottier wrote a "Authors Note" where she tell the story of many Japanese

 

settling on the West Coast. There was a great deal of descrimination against them and life was not easy. Still, they thought they had the same rights as other citizens. Then, in 1939, world War II came. In 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. In Canada and the United States, the homes and businesses owned by the Nikkei were seized. Families were relocated to isolated camps or split up and sent to different places. When the war ended, people of Japanese ancestry were not allowed to return to their homes. Many were eventually deported to Japan, a place many had never seen or been before.
I would like to apologize on behalf of all of us who do not descriminate and feel the need to hurt another human being due to ethnicity or race that we are sadden by these stories but with great writers like Ms. Trottier. We will all grow to become better human beings. I implore everyone today to leave a mark on the world by spreading kindness and respect to one another in our daily lives.
]]> <![CDATA[What's Success?]]> http://clara54.wordpress.com/?p=211 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:19:56 +0000 clara54 http://clara54.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/whats-success/ A prolific writer friend of mine asked me sometime ago my thoughts on what makes 2 people who start out on the same career footing with only one ending up successful...why, she asked did one succeed, whereas the other failed?

I've thought about this question often in trying to build up my own freelance writing biz... my answer then was an attempt to define the idea of "success" From a personal point of view, I'm thinking I'm successful when all's right in my world in regards to family, health, enough monies to keep food on the table/clothes, although a bit worn, on my back and a slightly leaky roof over my head!

In my endeavor to get my career to a place where folks might want to hear/read/pay for what I have to offer as a writer, becomes an uphill climb...but, I'm still feeling a sense of accomplishment in areas of establishing community with other like-minded people...getting work out to publishers/editors...getting the occasional gig:)

Am I successful? I would have to say, yes! I'm not exactly where I want to be in my writing career right about now, but, there's no denying "I'm not where I used to be" I can live with that as I continue on this wondrous writing journey...

How about you... how do you define success?

]]> <![CDATA[Antique Desk Clock]]> http://metalcomputerdeska.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/antique-desk-clock/ Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:49:47 +0000 valentinmccormickl http://metalcomputerdeska.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/antique-desk-clock/
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]]> <![CDATA[The Jewel of Medina: light the blue touch paper, step back and wait...]]> http://wallscometumblingdown.wordpress.com/?p=591 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:47:57 +0000 wallscometumblingdown http://wallscometumblingdown.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/the-jewel-of-medina-light-the-blue-touch-paper-step-back-and-wait/ I've referred to the publication of 'The Jewel of Medina' previously, suggesting that the response from some Muslims and Muslim organisations seems to have completely overlooked the fallout and legacy of 'The Satanic Verses' affair. In fact, on the day that I posted a twenty year reflection on the publication of 'The Satanic Verses' a week or so ago, the Islington offices of Gibson House publishers were firebombed. This is only the tip of the iceberg. It is likely that over the next few months, numerous others - both here and elsewhere around the world - are going to be undertaking similar campaigns and protests without any consideration whatsoever of the potential or actual ramifications. Not just for them but for all Muslims without differentiation.

For those fortunately unaware, 'The Jewel of Medina' is a historical novel by the author, Sherry Jones. The novel tells an entirely fictionalised account of the life of Aisha, one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad and the person who accompanied him as he received most of his revelations. The novel sets out to tell Aisha's story from the age of six when she was betrothed to Muhammad, through to his death.

It was originally scheduled for publication in the United States by Random House earlier this year but was duly canceled amid fears of a 'Rushdie' style backlash from Muslims. This was not because the publishers received any complaints from Muslims themselves. But instead from Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of Islamic History at the University of Texas, who condemned the book as 'offensive'. Random House immediately dropped it. Since then, it has been subsequently announced that it would be published by Beaufort Books in the US and by Gibson Square here in the United Kingdom later this month.

In the twenty years since the publication of 'The Satanic Verses', we seem to have internalised what can only be a sense of 'self-censorship'. Nowadays publishers drop books, theatres are uneasy about staging certain plays, opera houses cut productions and art galleries censor shows. And on the whole, these things are all done before any Muslims complain, let alone whether or not they were even going to do so. An example of this was when Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council 'banned' toy pigs just in case they offended Muslims during Ramadan.

What seems to be the victim of all this is 'free speech' - to some extent, freedom per se.

Even this doesn't seem to be enough for some, and so when 'self-censorship' doesn't work, legislation seems to fill the void, not only outlawing hate speech but also such things as the defamation of religion and saying just what you believe. And before others jump to say that it is not only those against Islam and Muslims that are allegedly being silenced by these processes, our British laws against the glorification of terrorism also impact upon Muslims and indeed others.

Having attended a 'Leaders Summit' in Westminster earlier this week - supported by the likes of Sadiq Khan MP - on the issue of 'security and community cohesion' (clearly a euphemism for 'terrorism' and 'preventing violent extremism'), there were a small number of Muslim 'representatives' that were peddling these type of arguments. Look slightly beyond the limits of their at times irrational rhetoric and you will see that restrictions of 'free speech' are being imposed on us all. It's not just Muslims: is it not only a one way process.

More worryingly, I was concerned to hear a handful of those same Muslim 'representatives' voicing their anger about the book's proposed publication and calling for 'action'. Most worrying was one representative - whose name I did not hear - who stated that he was from the UK Action Committee on Islamic Affairs (UKACIA), an organisation I thought had long been wound up. As one reputable Muslim website describes UKACIA:

[UKACIA] were instrumental in convening a meeting of over twenty like-minded Muslim organizations...on 11 October 1988 in order to mobilize public opinion and coordinate actions against The Satanic Verses

And what a good job they did then. If they have reformed, or even felt merely reinvigorated by the thought of doing 'the same again', then of course this is extremely worrying - and completely unnecessary. Doing the 'the same again' - angry Muslim men and women shouting on the streets, carrying offensive banners, burning books, burning effigies and so on - will be a massive own goal for all concerned. It will further impinge upon the bounds of free speech for all of us and will reinvigorate the vilification and stereotypification of Muslims and Islam for at least another twenty years. It will further increase 'self-censorship' also.

It will - to the greater anger of those Muslims engaging in public displays of outrage - also send the book to the top of the bestseller charts and make both the author and the publishers a huge amount of money. Imagine though without the protests and without the outrage, how the book would have - like numerous other poorly written novels today - have been published, remained unread and made a loss for the publishers who were no doubt hoping for a 'controversial' impetus to boost its returns.

If no-one made a profit, wouldn't that soon stop this type of thing happening again? I'm certain that it would.

Nonetheless, the madder members of society will continue with the shouting and barracking, lacking any apparent reason, rationale or responsibility in the process. The Muslim Council of Britain are meeting this weekend to orchestrate a response. Let's hope that they have some influence and can halt the drive towards even greater restrictions on our free speech.

Light the blue touch paper, step back and watch...

Creative Commons License

This work by Chris Allen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Based on a work at www.chris-allen.co.uk.

]]> <![CDATA[Great Chicago Fire And the Myth of Mrs. O'leary's Cow]]> http://marketoutthere.wordpress.com/0786423587 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:52:36 +0000 hhotlot http://hhotlot.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/great-chicago-fire-and-the-myth-of-mrs-olearys-cow/ The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 swallowed up more than three square miles in two days, leaving thousands homeless and 300 dead. Throughout history, the fire has been attributed to Mrs. O�Leary, an immigrant Irish milkmaid, and her cow. On one level, the tale of Mrs. O�Leary�s cow is merely the quintessential urban legend. But the story also represents a means by which the upper classes of Chicago could blame the fire�s chaos on a member of the working poor. Although that fire destroyed the official county documents, some land tract records were saved. Using this and other primary source information, Richard F. Bales created a scale drawing that reconstructed the O�Leary neighborhood. Next he turned to the transcripts�more than 1,100 handwritten pages�from an investigation conducted by the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners, which interviewed 50 people over the course of 12 days. The board�s final report, published in the Chicago newspapers on December 12, 1871, indicates that commissioners were unable to determine the cause of the fire. And yet, by analyzing the 50 witnesses� testimonies, the author concludes that the commissioners could have determined the cause of the fire had they desired to do so. Being more concerned with saving their own reputation from post-fire reports of incompetence, drunkenness and bribery, the commissioners failed to press forward for an answer. The author has uncovered solid evidence as to what really caused the Great Chicago Fire.

Great Chicago Fire And the Myth of Mrs. O'leary's Cow is available at Amazon for $37.50. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

]]> <![CDATA[Some Thoughts on the Epistolary Novel]]> http://anthropologist.wordpress.com/?p=4124 Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:55:01 +0000 anthropologist http://anthropologist.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/an-epistolary-novel/ Self began reading this novel a couple of days ago. Since this is not going to be a very kind post, self will refrain from actually naming the thing.

A question that's been at the back of self's mind ever since she started reading this book is: How did this author get away with writing a novel in the form of a series of letters when no one, no one nowadays writes long letters -- it is all e-mail?

The back of the book has blurbs from the likes of Jay McInerney ("Hollywood and terminal illness are equally treacherous subjects for the novelist. Like a latter-day Quixote, xxxxxx has taken on both in her first novel, and succeeded brilliantly.") and Jonathan Franzen ("This is one of the funniest Hollywood novels I've ever read" -- to which self can only respond, "Obviously, JF, you have not read many Hollywood novels." Or, at least, not as many as self has).

Self checks to see who the publisher is, and it's one of those "prestige" places that publish only the very best fiction: Little, Brown. Self imagines the editors sitting around a rectangular table and exclaiming over the novel's "originality." Self thinks there is nothing original about the epistolary novel, she's been studying them ever since she took a course from Terry Castle at Stanford, and was forced to read a humongous novel called Clarissa. At the risk of repeating herself, self asserts: When set in the modern world, the only epistolary novel that makes any kind of sense is one that makes use of e-mail.

But self is still reading this book because it turns out that the narrator's sister has been diagnosed with ALL, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is the same kind that Ying had. On p. 146, self reads:

They call it ICU psychosis, or sundowning, and it often happens when people are in intensive care for so long that they, well, lose their minds: the immobility, the drugs, the absence of day and night and, in Mad's case, the stroke itself wreak havoc on the brain and leave the patient a ravening, disoriented, hallucinating mess.

How clearly self remembers the last she heard of Ying's voice, in the hospital in Tel Aviv. Self had dialed Ying's cell, and Dear Bro had picked up. In the background she could hear Ying: Ying was talking. But who was she talking to? She went on and on and on, and finally self asked to have the cell phone put closer to Ying, and it turned out she was addressing no one. She was talking to herself. And Dearest Mum took the phone and said, "She is not the same. Her mind is gone." Self knew that what her mother was really saying was: It's no use your coming.

Hubby snuck away from the living room while self was dozing on the couch. Self woke up and found herself watching the History Channel, a program about making bread. The lights of the house were all off, and self realized that hubby had gone to bed. Why did he not rouse her from the couch? There's nothing more lonely than waking up on the couch in the middle of the night with the TV blaring.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

]]> <![CDATA[Hemingway and Agent Submission Record]]> http://hemingwaywantabes.wordpress.com/?p=149 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:48:24 +0000 Mark Shaw http://hemingwaywantabes.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/hemingway-and-agent-submission-record/ Finding the proper literary agent to represent your book is a key ingredient to becoming published. I know firsthand about this since my New York agent recently sold a book of mine after only two weeks. He believed in me and the subject matter of the book, knew the editors who might be interested, and then sent off the book proposal to them. Last Thursday night, I received the good news that a terrific publsher had purchased the book and that a fresh biography of the spiritual guru Thomas Merton (see my blog at www.mertonandfriends.wordpress.com for more about him) will be published in the fall of 2009.

Hemingwaywantabes, here's a tip for you from How To Become a Published Author: Idea to Publication mentioned above. When you start the process of seeking an agent, keep an "Agent Submission Record." Here's one to guide your efforts:

Agent/Publisher Submission Record

Document: Book Proposal—Las Vegas, A Novel

(Tip—Prepare one sheet for each submission. Print and collect in loose-leave notebook marked “Submissions.”)

Submission Date - June 12, __

Agent/Publisher Information - Rosalie Thompkins Agency

56 West 57th Street

New York, NY 20002

212-789-7890

RThompkinsAgency@aol.com

Contact at Agent/Publisher - Jeanette Furber, Agent

Four – Six Week Reaction - No response, telephoned agency. Spoke with Furber’s assistant. Proposal in stack to be read. Estimated time—two weeks.

Follow-up - 6/17—Furber’s assistant telephoned. Requested full manuscript. Forwarded by Fed Ex.

Revisions, if an ___________________________

___________________________

Decision - Hooray! Jeanette has agreed to represent book. Suggested revisions being forwarded.

Outcome - Revisions completed. Submitted to Jeanette. She submitted it to four publishers. Riverhead books’ offer accepted. Hooray again!

(Tip—First submit material to four or five literary agents. Follow-up, keep four to five in play at a time. If no positive response, then repeat process to selected editors at publishing companies. Continue process until successful, but keep good records for future use.)

Being organized and keep track of submissions will come in handy while searching for a literary agent. And remember - it only takes one liteary agent to say "yes."

]]> <![CDATA[Publisher as brand?]]> http://electricalphabet.wordpress.com/?p=263 Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:05:51 +0000 electricalphabet http://electricalphabet.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/publisher-as-brand/

Recently the friendly-looking team at HarperStudio asked a question on their blog, The 26th Story, about whether to invest in a full-featured website or keep up the blog. Since they invited input, I weighed in with an oft-quoted phrase in the industry: "The author is the brand".

The general idea (which someone else much smarter than I had a long time ago) is that customers don't walk into a bookstore and ask for the latest HarperCollins or Macmillan. They seek out their favourite authors and genres. Readers want to buy the next Alexander McCall Smith or Stephen King or the latest crime thriller or epic fantasy.

In this context, there doesn't seem much point in investing a lot of money in a publisher website with a lot of bells and whistles, unless you can master the challenges of searchability in order to drive attention to your authors and titles. Instead it makes more sense to invest in communities of interest around topics or genres, such as the Spinebreakers or tor.com sites, or individual author brands.

But then I had a quick look through the HarperStudio blog and static pages and was pretty charmed, actually. When was the last time you saw a publishing company website with candid photos of the publishers? Open, humorous bios with real human details? There aren't a heap of publisher blogs that are more than publicity channels for the books they're putting out. The Penguin blog is funky and well written with a diversity of voices, but these are still disembodied voices emanating from an opaque corporate behemoth. The 26th Story is one of the few blogs where I feel like I'm actually engaging in a conversation with the real people behind the enterprise, instead of being fed marketing copy. 

Perhaps that will change as HarperStudio signs more authors and has more titles to manage and promote. Perhaps it will change when they create their new site - although I note they've decided to stick with a blog platform for now, using Wordpress (good decision!) - but for now I like the small team feel of the blog, the sense (however idealistic) that I could take an elevator to the 26th floor of the HarperCollins digs and find Bob & co sitting around the table much the same as they are in their photo.

And all this got me thinking... is the author the only brand? Isn't it possible, however unlikely, that some publishers could create an identity so strong and a community so vibrant that audiences seek out their books because they trust and like the people producing them? It's hard to imagine of the multinationals, but not so hard to imagine of the quirky independents who have well-known identities associated with them, such as McSweeney's (Dave Eggars) or Small Beer Press (Kelly Link).

Of course, even a wildly successful publisher blog is unlikely to generate the kind of audience that would shift books in the quantities required to make the ROI worth it. Then again, when you look at blogs like Boing Boing it's quite clear the awesome power of conversation and community. The publisher as brand may not be something to write off just yet. Perhaps publishers just haven't worked out how to do it well in the new paradigm.

I've got some thoughts about author sites and branding too, but this is getting to be an awfully long post already so I'll hold that over for next time.

What are your thoughts? Do you think it's worth publishers spending the time and resources on their own brand identity?

P.S. Keep up the cello practice, Bob. It is the most sublime of stringed instruments.

]]> <![CDATA[Lyndon LaRouche Mistaken About Satanism Commentary By Grand Magister Blackwood]]> http://blackwood666.wordpress.com/?p=68 Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:43:15 +0000 famine http://blackwood666.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/lyndon-larouche-mistaken-about-satanism-commentary-by-grand-magister-blackwood/  

Grand Magister Blackwood Debunks Lyndon LaRouche's Ideas on Satanism: Exposing Satanism

By Lyndon LaRouche1-17-5

 

Anglo-American Satanists
 
The best-organized Satanist forces operating presently inside the United States include the following prominent organizations:
 
THE LUCIS TRUST
 
This is the leading, putatively respectable Britain-based Satan cult (it worships Lucifer). The Lucis Trust, which runs the only religious chapel at the New York United Nations headquarters, The Temple of Understanding, was originaly founded as the Lucifer Trust, in London, in 1923. The Lucis Trust associated with the UNO is the New York affiliate of the British organization. The name was changed from Lucifer Trust, to Lucis Trust, to make the nature of the organization less conspicuous.
 
The Lucis Trust's leading sponsors include the following prominent figures:
 
Henry Clausen, Supreme Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, Southern District Scottish Rite Freemasons Norman Cousins John D. Rockefeller IV The Rockefeller Foundation The Marshall Field family Robert McNamara Thomas Watson (IBM, former US Ambassador to Moscow) The United Lodge of Theosophists of New York City U. Alexis Johnson, former Undersecretary of State Rabbi Marc Tannenbaum, American Jewish Committee
 
Prominent front-organizations sponsored by the Lucis Trust, include the following:
 
The Theosophical Order of Service (founded by Annie Besant in1908) The Theosophical Society (founded by Helena P. Blavatsky in 1875) The United Nations Association The World Wildlife Fund UK The Findhorn Foundation Greenpeace International Greenpeace USA Amnesty International The Nicholas Roerich Society (chief connection to Russian mysticism, spirituality) The Anthroposophs of Rudolf Steiner The Rudolf Steiner School [these could not be genuine followers of Steiner] UNESCO UNICEF The American Friends Service Committee .
Grand Magister Blackwood: The realm of Satanism is full of numerous rumors similar to those of the political landscape, and conspiracy theories are everywhere, I however after extensive study have seen no concrete evidence of the existence of this group.
I have traveled coast to coast in the United States and found no membership or meetings of said organization, this appears to be made up by Mr. LaRouche.
Satanic Organizations exist beyond investigation however I have personally met almost every type of Satanist and as Satanic Leader dedicated and devoted to Satan certainly this organziation would have appeared on Satanic Radar!
 
THE ORDO TEMPLI ORIENTIS (OTO)
 
This is today's best-known of the hard-core, British-based Satanist cults. Like the Lucis Trust, the OTO is a direct off-shoot of the work of Britain's leading twentieth-century Satanist, Theosophy leader Aliester Crowley. OTO enthusiasts claim this organization is an offshoot of Templar freemasonry, and hint at very influential protection from among Templars very high in British freemasonry.
 
THE WICCA CULT
 
The WICCA cult came to the surface early during the post-war period, as a legalized association for the promotion of witchcraft. It is the leading publicly known international association of witches in the world today.
 
In the United States, WICCA's outstanding sponsor is the New York Anglican (Episcopal) diocese, under Bishop Paul Moore. Officially, New York's Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Divine has promoted the spread of WICCA witchery through its Lindisfarne center. The late Gregory Bateson conducted such an operation out of the Lindisfarne center during the 1970s.
 
No later than the 1970s, and perhaps still today, the crypt of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, is the headquarters for solemn ceremonies of the British (Venerable) Order of Malta. Key figures, such as Gregory Bateson's former spouse, Dame Margaret Mead, associated with that British order, have been associated with projects in support of the Satanist "Age of Aquarius" cause.
 
For obvious reasons, U.S. witches have chosen Salem, Massachusetts, as their national center. One of the most important operations of these witches is their coordination of the hardcore of U.S. astrology rackets.
Grand Magister Blackwood: The foundation of Wicca came from Gerald Gardner, regardless of what is foretold about it Elizabethan or Green or White is merely contrived in the minds of the practitioners and often is offered to those who refuse to grasp the darkness of Wicca, from its Gardernarian Roots.
Most witchcraft that had been preformed prior to Gardner was simply Witchcraft.
THE AGE OF AQUARIUS
 
The "Age of Aquarius," or "New Age," is the generic name adopted by the modern Satanist movement. The best-publicized among the founders of the Age of Aquarius movement include Fyodor Dostoevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, Alex Muenthe (of Capri notoriety), and Aleister Crowley. Most Aquarians trace the origins of modern Satanism to Nietzsche and Crowley.
 
Anti-Christ cultist Nietzsche announced that the twentieth century would see the end of the Age of Pisces, which Aquarians associate with the figures of Socrates and Christ; Nietzsche prophesied that the New Age would be the Age of Aquarius, which he identified with the Satanic figure Dionysos. Crowley announced himself publicly a devotee of Nietzsche's New Age cult in his Vienna Theosophy magazine, near the beginning of this century, and indicated as his preferred choice of name for Satan.
 
Among hard-core insiders, the New Age models its dogma on the Magis' cult of Mithra, as Nietzsche did. The cult has notable affinities to the Bulgarian-Cathar Bogomil cult(from which the slang term "buggery" is derived). The New Age's most celebrated historical figure, its choice for the original "incarnation" of the Anti-Christ, is the Roman Emperor Tiberius who ordered the execution of Christ. [Some Roman emperors, most notably Caligula, became possessed by being initiated without being suitably prepared.] Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering were among the notable figures who followed this cult.
 
The best-known coordinating-center for the Age of Aquarius project in the U.S.A. today is Palo Alto, California's Stanford Ressearch Institute, whose Willis Harman is the relevant leading personality. See Harman disciple Marilyn Feruguson's 1980 Aquarian Conspiracy for a popular exposition of Harman's views and program for subversion of the United States. Ferguson is accurate when she reports that the Fabian Society's H.G. Wells (World War I boss of British intelligence) is a key figure of the Aquarian Conspiracy. Also key are Wells' ally, Bertrand Russell, and such Russell cronies as Robert M. Hutchins (Chicago University, Ford Foundation, Fund for the Republic, Aspen Institute, and the project).
 
Both Margaret Mead and her husband Gregory Bateson were close collaborators of Russell and Hutchins from no later than 1938. The brothers, Aldous (Hollywood) and Julian (UNO) Huxley were collaborators of H. G. Wells, and were recruited to Crowley's Satanist cult during the late 1920s.
Grand Magister Blackwood: The Age of Aquarius was a movement in the sixties and perhaps Anton La Vey came from it, there again is no concrete evidence that
and authors and or celebrities other than a few artists ever grasp Satanism, and the turbulent times were filled with Free Love and Free Sex, however I have yet to see any proof that H.G. Wells had a Satanic Connection.
Thelema isn't Satanism, and as Crowley did diabolical thinks and spook of Lucifer he was an adept who practiced from many paths to form his very own.
The contributions of Crowley to magic is unquestionable.
SATAN ROCK
 
Since the launching of the Beatles as an international project via TV in 1963, "rock" has been the most influential recruiter to Satanism. Rock was created, and is still coordinated by Crowley's followers and by the OTO network, in cooperation with WICCA. It is, not so incidentally, also the Satanist's biggest money-maker, and believed to provide the chief logistical support for deployments and other activities of the OTO-WICCA efforts world-wide.
 
There is nothing spontaneous or accidental about "rock." It is a product of classical studies of the ancient Phrygian terrorist cult of Satan-Dionysos, the model for the Roman Bacchic cults of similar characteristics. Crowley's control of the "rock industry" has been documented by a team of [private] investigators, who have also noted, that in addition to the Satanist lyrics, Satanist messages embedded sub-limally in rock recordings are a key feature of this subversive operation.
 
The "rock rythm" itself is copied from the old Dionysian-Bacchic cults. Even without the drugs and sexual orgies which are characteristic features of hard-core rock affairs, repeated,frequent, hours-long exposure to constant repetition of "rock rythms" produces lasting, drug-like effects on the mind of the victim. Reducing sexual practices to the level of bestiality,is a crucial feature of Satanism in all historical periods studied, from Phrygian Cybele-Dionysos cult-period onward.
 
From western continental Europe, among the threats to the U.S. from this quarter, the two leading open centers for hard-core Satanism today, are Turin, Italy (where actress Elizabeth Taylor's "Live AIDS" project attempted to sponsor an aborted Satan-rock festival), and Lausanne, Switzerland.
Grand Magister Blackwood: The idea that “Satanic Lyrics” come from music played backwards has been debunked for years, and even the band Led Zepplin has denied such allegations, even if they were hiding it, would it not be assumed that Satanic Death Metal would hold the key to lyrics being overwritten subliminally.
There have been bands and are bands connected to Satanism, the Temples of Satan has several affiliated, however being with several bands at recording I found them never participating in subliminally adding background music to records or background words.
I can say this to the best of my knowledge has never occurred.
The Satanist Mind
 
Satanists already have numerous victims. Most of the sexual and related atrocities perpetrated upon "disappeared" infants and other children, are done as part of the rituals outlined in manuals of Satanist organizations. A leading police association has received expert estimate, that of all known murders, one in five is a ritual murder, like the ritual London assassination of Italy's Roberto Calvi, perpetrated by members of Satanist cults. The "Son of Sam" murders in New York, and the Cobb County-based cult operations in the so-called "Atlanta child-murders," fit into this pattern.
 
Satanism is not "just another nutty occult fad." The mind of the Satanist is pure evil; the Satanist is a former person who has been transformed into something no longer human. It begins like drug-addiction; the prospective recruit to Satanism "gets into something" on a playful impulse, but then finds himself or herself gripped by compulsions which he or she can no longer control. Drugs and other special circumstances may be significant collateral features of the initiation, but not necessarily. The key is "letting oneself go," into the depths of acting-out impulses which combine sexual impulses and rage as a unity, and expressing this form of "pleasure" in the form of an act which violates an important precept of one's own conscience.
Grand Magister Blackwood: This is a rather assumptive article on Satanist's, I in most recent times the last ten years have not indulged in drug abuse and my relationship with Satan has been enhanced, I have met many like myself that are business owners, and hold professional and blue collar jobs, and barely drink.
As well as “Sex Addicts” (like myself) I have met virgins and those who have few relationship skills, along with several dying people still dedicated to the practice and worship of Satan.
Nietzsche's writings, especially toward the last period of life preceding his mental breakdown, address these special sorts of emotions, and refer implicitly to terrible obscene acts as the prospective fulfilment of such impulses. Nietzsche recognized these impulses as Satanic --dionysiac-- in quality. [Dionysian activity, or wild abandon, by itself leads to non-demonic possession. Becoming demoniacally possessed requires killing, torturing, or tormenting someone with a neutral or positive attitude.]
Nietzsche's ideology is simply advanced humanism, in its easiest to practice form, as it was plagiarized, from Frances Bacon, and Swedenborg or even Machiavelli, to later be regurgitated by followers of the Master Plagiarist Anton La Vey.
The concept of strength through individuality is survival of the fittest in the raw and Satan did not discover or promote it he just allows it to thrive.
 
Ordinarily we think of the criminal mind as representing a person whose goals are based on "normal human impulses," but whose choice of means is immoral. Doing something illegal is not necessarily immoral; the useful definition of the criminal mind, is the person inclined to prefer immoral means as short-cuts to some goal usually not inconsistent with normal human impulses. In the case of the Satanist, we touch upon something way beyond such a mere criminal mind.
 
Imagine a criminal mind which has undergone a curious transformation. Perhaps, formerly, this fellow was an habitual thief, even of that sort of twisted mind which delighted in occasions he might have imagined he had pretext to exert the power of life or death over some chance victim on the scene of his crime. Yet, up to that point, robbery or kindred results were always the prompting of his criminal activity.
 
Now, he has changed. Crime is no longer motivated by the impulse to employ cruel means for personal gain. Instead, the pleasure of the sense of power realized in employing viciously cruel means, becomes an end in itself. This form of criminal pleasure becomes a blend of rage and sexuality. Jaded appetites create the mental state in that man, that he must do something more monstrous than he has done before, to realize the desired level of orgiastic pleasure from the evil deed. Evil for the purpose of doing evil, has become for him, a goal in and of itself. This man has become a beast, a virtual Satanist.
Grand Magister Blackwood:
This action could more easily occur in a Modern Satanist's life, I however have found those dedicated to Satan a-bite a few criminals such as Ramirez or Son of Sam, those who are dedicated to Satan, tend to be highly conservative and highly intelligent.
That is the state of mind which Satanism seeks to develop in its initiates. It might begin with an ordinary sexual act performed under the influence of an ugly state of mind. Soon, something much more degraded becomes a need for the prospective initiates rapidly jaded appetites. In contrast to the healthy mind, which seeks always to become better in what is being mastered, for the initiate to Satanism, a sense of need develops, to seek to muster oneself to do something much worse than one has ever done before. Satanic cults organize that degraded process of self-degeneration. The potential for endemic incidence of individual bestiality within society, is transformed into an organized,institutionalized form of social behavior.
Grand Magister Blackwood:
Satanism, being destructive by organization, sounds a little bit like a “Christian Fear Machine!” did I hear a motor running Mr. LaRouche?
The tradition of the "Black Mass," points to the mechanisms of Satanism as such. Nietzsche's instruction is much to the point. Perform some really monstrous act of blasphemy, and associate that blasphemous doing with some sort of degraded,orgiastic pleasure.
 
Go back to ancient Mesopotamia, whence Satanism was transmitted to western Europe. The relevant figure of Satanism is not a male, but a female figure.
The male figure --Satan, Baal, Lucifer, and so on--is a subordinate figure; the female principle of evil is pre-dominant. Hence, Satan's mother, the "Whore of Babylon,"known otherwise as the Chaldean Ishtar, the Caananite Astarte,Isis, Venus, or the Phrygian Cybele.
The ritual of the priestesses of Ishtar was an obscene "religious service" which concluded with the priestesses' fornicating with the congregation. Hence, "Whore of Babylon," and the associated position of Ishtar, Athtar, Astarte, Isis, and Venus as the patron goddess of prostitution.
Grand Magister Blackwood: Perhaps the writer should have read Kramer, and not the controversial writer that suggests mythology and space aliens abound rather than a one dark one perhaps not known by Sumerian Priests and Priestesses as Enki, or Ishtar but known as a male whose name was Xul (Zul).
The Sumerian's practiced some fo the first forms of magic and were far superior to most civilizations, “hell they invented beer.”
 
This satanic cult-practice was introduced to Mesopotamia from pre-Aryan India [which was Inanna/Ishtar's assigned domain - see Sitchin's Wars of Gods and Men]. The so-called "Harrappan" culture, featuring the Earth-Mother and fertility goddess Shakti and her satanic male figure Siva, established a set of colonies in the Middle East. The Sumer established as a colony by what the local Semites named "the black-headed people" (Dravidians), was a Harrapan colony. There, among the Semites, Shakti became known as Ishtar. In the Harrapan colony of Sheba-Ethiopia, Shakti became known as Athtar. In the Canaanite ("Phoenician") offshoot of Harrapan colonizing, she became known as Astarte. The Hellenic cults of Isis and Osiris, were offshoots of the Harrapan cult of Shakti-Siva, by this route. When the same cult spread to an Indo-european people, the Phrygians, Shakti-Siva assumed the Indo-european forms of Cybele and Dionysos (day-night). Apollo and Lucifer are variants of the name for Satan-Osiris-Dionysos. [Ishtar was ambitious.]
 
Among the Canaanites, for example, Satanism expressed itself in such forms as the worship of Moloch, with the included custom of making a human sacrifice of the first-born of each marriage.
Notably, that Canaanite tradition is featured in the Modern Satanists' ritual sexual and homicidal rituals upon infants and children used as human sacrifices.
Grand Magister Blackwood, did the Church of Satan start doing sacrifices without me?
Once again a great assumption occurs about Satanism, most people use animals in place of humans, in history there have been human sacrifices, however this is not condoned by The Temples of Satan, a replacement to human would be a goat or lamb.
“I could care less about PETA.”
I practice rituals that the Modern Satanist could never comprehend, they are widely known an shared amongst those of the Theistic Path of Satanism.
 
By combining the means by which men and women are degraded into potentially satanic forms of beasts, as rituals associated with Satanism practiced as an "anti-religion," large-scale Satanic movements are developed through systematic proselyting.
Grand Magister Blackwood: I am really uncertain about how many of the Real Satanist's actually do any proselyting, I have but often have found the Internet a far better communication tool for network amongst mass quantities of people.
 
The result of this initiation, as we have already stressed,is no human being, but a former human being transformed into something which is not human.
 
Modern liberals and others frown on reports of savage witch-hunts from earlier centuries.
Usually, the special British COINTELPRO operation, run in Salem Massachusetts as a covert operation against the independence of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, is commonly referenced. A better comparison is the proliferating of Satanist movements during the fourteenth century; these witches were actually sub-human, Satanist beasts, who represented that sort of mass threat to the population of that period. So, the population, as its only defense against a genuine Satanic force of that sort, hunted them down and sought to wipe them out. Not for nothing, does the Old Testament warn, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." The witches of the old Middle East and fourteenth-century Europe were very real, very evil witches, no longer human, but murderous beasts.
Grand Magister Blackwood: Finally a few points I can agree on, the witches of old were much more real and fierce in nature, however Liberal and Conservative Lawmakers have dulled down our abilities to practice and have taken away our rights and voices of power.
We still reign but mostly behind closed doors, I have been trying to awaken those of you but you still are silent.
Fear?
Modern Witchcraft
 
The modern spread of witchcraft in English-speaking nations, began during the sixteenth century, in the setting of imported cabalist and Rosicrucian cults built up around Oxford and Cambridge.
Francis Bacon and his secretary Thomas Hobbes were part of this movement.
The endemic inculcation in Satanism which this prompted in seventeenth-century England, exploded after the accession of King George I, in the form of the Hell-fire Clubs which proliferated among degenerate English nobility during the long Liberal prime ministry of Hugh Walpole.
 
During the Stuart Restoration period, the pro-satanic Rosicrucian and cabalist cultism around the Stuart court seized upon the case of Robert Bruce to reorganize the cult in a new form.
Grand Magister Blackwood:The above paragraph once again is steeped in legend and myths expelled by historians who would never venture into a local Hellfire Club.
 
Robert Bruce had been the leader of a group of Satan-worshiping (Baphomet) Templars, who had fled to Scotland, away from the angered justice of the Papacy and the King of France.
What they brought with them, was the Templars' exploitation of the Cathar (Bogomil) tradition in the region of Toulouse and Albi, to build up the syncretic sort of Satanic worship the Templars had acquired in the Middle East.
Grand Magister Blackwood:
Legends persist regarding the Catha r's being Satanic, Gnostic perhaps, but the secret order established in France was originally The Templi Satanas, or what I have done restoration to The Temples of Satan, and as the new order the old was dedicated to the worship of Satan.
The Papacy had enough of this, and the King of France acted to