The Written Nerd

Thanks to Shelf Awareness (a great electronic resource for those of us in the print industry, as many of you know), I spent all morning reading this article in Newsweek about the Kindle , the new e-reader just released by the same company that runs Amazon. I know that name -- and often, the concept of internet book sales and digital books -- is likely to incur hisses from the bricks and mortar booksellers. I admit to feeling some stirrings of indignation myself at the sometimes smug sense of inevitability with which the author (as most journalists, seemingly) wrote about the increasing viability of digital tools for reading. But, as is my habit, I'm trying not to make this an us-vs.-them thing (i.e., those vapid digital people vs. us serious print people, or those hopelessly old-fashioned meatspace people vs. us progressive connected people). Because as usual, I don't think a viable e-reader and a healthy book market are necessarily mutually exclusive. (For example, I us...

Haitian novelist and memoirist extraordinaire Edwidge Danticat was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award for her most recent book Brother, I'm Dying ; you can read an interview about her book and the nomination here . A few weeks before the awards, however, Danticat was gracious enough to talk a bit about her childhood in Brooklyn. Though Danticat no longer lives here, the borough's literary culture is a little bit richer for having her. Brooklyn Lit Life Edwidge Danticat Describe your particular literary project, and your role in it. It’s a book called Brother, I’m Dying , a family memoir. Why Brooklyn? What made you decide to live/work here, in both practical and emotional terms? My father moved here when I was 2 and my mother when I was 4. They left me in Haiti with my aunt and uncle while getting settled here. With immigration red tape it took us 8 years to be reunited in Brooklyn when I was twelve years old. Is there a Brooklyn sensibility or character? How wou...

Thanks so much to Jay Baron Nicorvo for inviting me to participate in the CLMP/LWC this weekend (that's Council of Literary Magazines and Presses - Literary Writers Conference for you acronym buffs). I had a great time in the "Power of Blogging" panel with Ron Hogan (of Beatrice and GalleyCat ) and BethAnne Patrick (of PW's BookMaven). Though I felt a bit outclassed -- I found out Ron has been blogging since the dark old days of 1995, and BethAnne actually gets paid to blog (though I wouldn't recommend anyone try to make her conform to some corporate idea of what she ought to be writing -- she's got opinions and chutzpah to spare!) I'm tickled to have had the opportunity to talk with them, and I hope we were of some help to the writers in attendance, who struggle (just like booksellers) with how to incorporate blogging into the world of the written word. If you don't have plans for this evening, and you're in the New York area, may I recommend ...

Greetings, fellow book nerds! I'm back from sabbatical, more or less, but I've realized the new schedule with BookStream et al. means that my blogging habits may need to change. Lucky for me this morning's Shelf Awareness led me to Booktrix , a book consulting company with a mandate as wide-ranging and hazy as mine at times, and to this post on the Booktrix blog , with the valuable advice: "Blog often, blog short, blog with pictures." I spent half of the "Digital Tools" panel at NAIBA telling booksellers that not every blog has to be the same format, length, or frequency, and that this doesn't have to take up all of your time. So I'm taking my own advice. I'll be posting (hopefully) a bit more, but in smaller bites. I've got a couple of Brooklyn Lit Life interviews in the pipeline, and a folder full of links and ideas to post. Today I'll pick just one. I was thrilled to get an email from Lauretta Nagel of Constellation Books i...

As some of you have pointed out, I tend to take on a lot of projects. And what with NAIBA and various shift switches, I haven't had a full day off from the bookstore in nearly three weeks. Earlier this week it got to that critical mass of tiredness -- panicky tired, teary tired, veering between lashing out and zoning out tired. As I'm about to jump in to another, perhaps more intense work time in my life, I feel that now is the time to get a little rest and get ready. So, until sometime in early November, I'm letting some things slide a little and doing like other professional readers (i.e. academics) do: giving myself a sabbatical. No blogging, only emergency emails (so forgive me if I owe you a reply). Lots of sleeping in, lots of long meals with the ALP, lots of reading for pleasure. It's only for a week or two , but I think it will help. Right now, I'm going to run a bath, pour a glass of red wine, and find my place in Night Train to Lisbon . I'll see y...

No link madness today, folks. Instead, as promised, here's the big news: On Sunday night at NAIBA, I sat in the hotel bar with Jack Herr, the president of BookStream , and my friend Carolyn Bennett, a BookStream sales rep, and hammered out the details of an arrangement that had been in the air for a while, by which this independent bookseller will become an employee of the independent wholesaler. So what does this mean, and why am I doing it? It doesn’t mean I'm leaving the bookstore. It doesn’t mean I'm leaving Brooklyn. It doesn't mean I've abandoned my dream of having my own store, or that I'm selling out on my indie ideology. In fact, it's a way to get a little closer to the dream, and a way to work and learn and connect more with the indie bookstore community. First, just in case you don't work in the book industry or you're not familiar with this particular company, let's talk about book wholesalers. In addition to ordering books direct...

It seems to me that the chronicling of this past weekend's NAIBA Con in Baltimore has been done very effectively by other folks! For very good overall descriptions of the action, the vibe, and the major players (authors, publishers, and booksellers) at the Baltimore Sheraton, I recommend: Susan L. Weis and Shannon McKenna Schmidt writing in today's Shelf Awareness . Their article "NAIBA's New Conference Format Draws Raves" does a great job of summarizing the whole show, describing some of the highlights with quotations from booksellers who were there. Kelley Drahushuk of Spotty Dog Books & Ale in Hudson, New York, with a piece titled "Booksellers Win Big at NAIBA Fall Conference" in Bookselling this week. I love that both pieces include as a highlight the booksellers' own "Pick of the Lists", the impromptu result of a suggestion by Carla Cohen after the sales reps' Pick of the Lists (perhaps we should officially include Booksell...