Last weekend at the Little Literary Fair (LITLIT), we asked people who identify as members of a cultural minority to write a postcard telling us one thing people often get wrong about them.
Publisher's Notebook
What gets our goat…
Catching Up With Our Crew
Well, these are some seriously strange times we’re living through, no? Sad, scary, distressing. I hope each and every one of you is managing your stress, taking care of yourself and listening to all your favorite music very, very loudly. (Trust me on this: It helps.) Since real life (and book launches) have been put off for a bit around here, I thought it might be a good time to check in with our authors. What have they been up to since their books came out, and since Covid placed them all in quarantine?
Julia & Jesus: A Tribute to Real Books
I have a confession: I love reading books on my iPad. I know. There is a special place in hell for publishers like me, but I can’t help it. But there is one thing I do lament about the loss of real books on real bookshelves, and it’s probably the reason I will never give up print. Not entirely. Real books carry a tangible connection to the past.
Eight Reasons to Start a Virtual Book Club (And Your Free Starter Kit!)
It’s America in 2020. We’ve been stuck inside for weeks. Life, as we know it, has shifted considerably very fast. There is a new normal afoot, and even those of us bookish introverts, highly accustomed to living in our own heads for weeks at a time, are starting to go a bit stir-crazy. Solitude was a lot more fun when it wasn’t a government mandate.
Sandra Miller Nails What It Is To Be Alive Right Now
I just read Trove author Sandra A. Miller’s latest essay about life in quarantine, and it’s as close as I’ve seen to reflecting how I feel deep-down and providing a path forward. Here’s a passage from the piece, titled What’s Love Got to Do With This?, but be sure to read it all. Well worth your time.
Hilarious 'Video Book Review' Is What the World Needs — Or Maybe It's Just Me
It’s such a heavy time right now, with heavier times coming at us like a mack truck, and I do hope you are sheltering in place with lots of good reading material. And, no, I don’t mean the New York Times and Washington Post. As our own Ty Hatfield told National Geographic this week, “Watching the news is not self-care.”
Recreating Long-Lost Poster Featuring Wegman’s Dogs
Three Tips for Memoirists Seeking Publication
Four Reasons to Make ‘Trove’ Your Next Book Club Pick
Three Reasons to Order from Our Online Shop
As I said in my last blog, it’s almost impossible to compete with the ginormous dickhead that is Amazon. But it’s so much better for our authors (and for us) to order straight through our shop that it behooves us to get a little creative —in an attempt to lure you away from the behemoth and gently balance things out.
Does it Really Matter Where You Buy? Here's the Math
Publisher's Notebook, Book News, ParentShift
Celebrating and Reflecting on the (Weird) Launch of ‘ParentShift’
Now, as personally fulfilling as it’s been — and as proud that I am of the finished product — and as glad I am that my amazing co-authors agreed to publish the book through Brown Paper Press — I would very much like to NEVER DO THIS AGAIN. It’s just too difficult wearing the cap of publisher and author at the same time. I
#PubTip: Offset-Printing Contracts Should Come With Free Xanax
Publishers Have Dads, and Sometimes Those Dads Die
When I started this blog last March, my intention was to write regularly about what it’s like to be a small book publisher, to pull back the curtain and expose how things really work around here. But within weeks of starting the blog, my dad was given a terminal diagnosis. The cancers — yes, plural — that he’d been staving off for years had finally made their move, and this wonderful human began his long goodbye.
Shit Just Got Real Because We Have an Intern Now
Book News, Publisher's Notebook