How to prepare for a successful reading Once your book is published, expect to schedule events where you read an excerpt of your work out loud to an audience. Reader engagement sells books and one of the tried and true methods for authors are public readings. How can you best prepare for a successful reading? If you have been to enough author readings you know… [Read More]
For many recent college graduates, or really anyone with big aspirations, New York City is the destination – and was the destination for most of my friends graduating from college this past May. New York also has the reputation of being the book publishing epicenter of the East Coast. Searching for jobs online on Publishers Marketplace or MediaBistro, many entry-level jobs posted are based in New… [Read More]
Before you send out your query or a book proposal, take a second look. Have you answered these questions? What is the “genre” of the book? (humor, history, memoir, travel, how-to, etc) What is the main subject of your book? (what subject headings would a library give your book?) What topics will be covered? (what keywords could describe your book?) Describe your approach to the… [Read More]
In my quest for notable small bookstores in New York and the world over, I must mention the near and dear WORD in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This neighborhood hot spot – referenced frequently in Shelf Awareness – is a little bookstore with a big heart for its north Brooklyn community. With a vast array of literary events like book groups and readings, plus current Staff Picks… [Read More]
Even the toughest cosmopolitans have a soft spot when it comes to their city’s most beloved bookstore. New York City has the Strand, Paris has Shakespeare and Company, and London (my favorite city of them all) has Foyles. In the last few years’ cinematic odes to NYC and Paris – New York, I Love You (2009) and Paris, Je T’aime (2006) – I was disappointed… [Read More]
Autumn Leaves, Ithaca’s beloved source for used books, boasts “60,000 books, 10,000 records and a café, all under one roof.” In the heart of the Commons (115 E. State Street), the basement of the bookstore contains Angry Mom Records, the ground floor contains the main bookstore, and the second floor doubles as the Owl Café (fair trade coffee, of course) and a space for the… [Read More]
For The Love of Books: Buffalo Street Books Ithaca, NY Buffalo Street Books is one of my favorite haunts in Ithaca. Located in DeWitt Mall between Cayuga and Tioga Street, the bookstore seems designed to curve around visitors and readers like a comfortable armchair – just enough nooks and crannies to make you feel somewhat hidden, and entirely cozy. It even has a “reading room,”… [Read More]
Steven Piersanti, the President of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, recently updated his 2009 report on the publishing industry earlier this summer. Previously I posted an essay here that referenced Piersanti’s points raised in 2009 and how authors could overcome the 10 big mistakes big publishers make (February 28, 2011). Piersanti’s assessment in 2011 reflects the changes in technology and the economy in the past two years. In… [Read More]
