Christopher Newgent set up Vouched as a way to reinvigorate the book selling dynamic. By setting up guerrilla book stores and launching his Vouched Presents series, he’s had some success. You can keep tabs on their Twitter account to see when they’ll stop by your area.
“We love sentences and the people who create them.”
Eat Your Heart Out, James Patterson
Meet Philip M. Parker, a marketing professor at INSEAD Business School and the man whose name graces the covers of over 100,000 books. Is he the most prolific author of the modern age? Well, kind of. Thanks to “a computer system that can write books about specific subjects in about 20 minutes,” Parker and his company have combined to create over 800,000 titles currently listed on Amazon – including such works as The Official Patient's Sourcebook on Spinal Stenosis and Webster's Icelandic - English Thesaurus Dictionary.
●
●
Dyer on ‘Reader’s Block’
A rare Geoff Dyer essay, previously unpublished in the U.S., on the curse of reader’s block, excerpted from the forthcoming Otherwise Known as the Human Condition.
Proof that Obama is a Socialist
At long last...Google provides proof that Obama is a socialist! "Barrack" Obama, that is.
Elections and All
Recommended Reading: John Williams suggests some reads as we prepare for the presidential primaries.
Support Indie Publishers
Recommended Reading: Nathan Scott McNamara writes for The Atlantic on why we need indie publishers. “Eighty percent of U.S. books are produced by the Big Five publishers, but with each passing year—and with a stable small number of annual releases—independent presses are earning more of the literary conversation, gaining frequent articles and reviews in The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and more.” You could also read Rebecca J. Novelli’s thoughts on Roberto Calasso’s The Art of the Publisher.