From the Publisher's Desk - Ten Rules of Writing, Addendum

From this morning's Shelf Awareness

Writers, take note... or notes. Inspired by Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing, the Guardian asked authors to share their personal rules for writing fiction. A sampling:

* Margaret Atwood: "You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality."
* Roddy Doyle: "Do keep a thesaurus, but in the shed at the back of the garden or behind the fridge, somewhere that demands travel or effort. Chances are the words that come into your head will do fine, e.g. 'horse,' 'ran,' 'said.'"
* Geoff Dyer: "Have regrets. They are fuel. On the page they flare into desire."
* Anne Enright: "The first 12 years are the worst."
* Richard Ford: "Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer's a good idea."
* Jonathan Franzen: "When information becomes free and universally accessible, voluminous research for a novel is devalued along with it."
* Neil Gaiman: "Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong."
* Jeanette Winterson: "Enjoy this work!"

Enjoy - and keep on writing!

reBlog from Joseph Esposito under: The Scholarly Kitchen

I found this fascinating quote today:

Book publishers have lost control over their own industry, not because consumers have won, but because they haven’t — they will be no better off with de facto platform dominance than anyone else except the company that controls that platform.Joseph Esposito under, The Scholarly Kitchen, Feb 2010

You should read the whole article.

Buddhapuss Ink's TwitWall

Buddhapuss Ink's TwitWall

From the Publisher's Desk - Vote Early, Vote Often

It seems that The Last Track has been added to the Best Books of 2010 list on goodreads. Now it's up to all of us to get out the vote! Please go to: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3957 and click on the Vote button!
In the words of my grandfather "It is every citizen's patriotic duty to Vote Early and Vote Often!"

From the Publisher's Desk - Call for Submissions

We are actively seeking submissions for our Poetry Showcase for 2010. You can find all the details at our website.
Cheers!
http://www.buddhapussink.com

CONGRATULATIONS!

Margot Kinberg was the winner of a signed (and personalized) copy of the paperback of The Last Track in our first Launch Day twitter Giveaway!
We will be doing additional giveaways this week during our Launch Week Promo so check back for more details!!

From the Publisher's Desk - TGIF!

It's been a crazy week leading up to the official release date of our first book on our debut list! There were links to check, books arriving, bookmark designs to approve, email blasts to prepare, ad campaigns to finalize, and an author's hand to hold as we plow through the last details.
It's been a number of years since I was involved in the inauguration of a new imprint, and it is just as intense as I remember. Well, possibly more so, now you have to throw the ebook version into the mix! Everything is coming together and the book launch party is set for tomorrow evening. Right now I'm just trying to remember to breathe!
Catch the excitement! Check out the trailer and read the first chapter of the book - links are here on our blog and on our web site.
Cheers!
MCB

From the Publisher's Desk - a snowed in Saturday

It has been a long, cold and very snowy Saturday here. Amazing how some snow can slow everything down. A good heavy snow will do that. It was so quiet this morning - no one walking, no cars, no dogs barking - just the silence of the snow punctuated by the occasional gust of wind. For a few hours it was like living inside a snow globe.
Now we've all dug out, the streets are plowed, sidewalks shoveled and all those cooped up puppies have had their walkies. It is time to turn my attention back to the running of this publishing house and the launch of our first book (The Last Track by Sam Hilliard) which is only a few days away.
Time to get back to the mechanics of publicity and marketing. But forgive me while I savor the memory of those quiet moments, inside that snow globe for just a little longer.
MCB

From the Marketing Desk

The trailer for The Last Track is now live - and AWESOME!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQDFWmJOtIE