Corrupt and Offensive?

Burning books. Ripping off the covers and destroying them. Removing them shelves, ripping them from a person’s hands. Locking them and throwing away the key.

This is what may happen when a book is deemed, “weird,” “freakish,” or “unacceptable.”  I was reading Quill and Quire online, and discovered a blog about a blog (hopefully not too confusing, right?). Derek Weiler wrote about publisher Brian Lam over at Aresnal Press who sent a few books to a convicted man whose sitting in a Texas prison.

The prisoner is a gay male who politely asked if they had any extra copies of gay literary books we could send, in order to help him “forget about the outside world.” He was sent some. One of the titles was called, The Carnivorous Lamb and it was, almost immediately, destroyed. The reason  was that “the publication is detrimental to offenders’ rehabilitation, because it would encourage deviant criminal sexual behavior.”

The Carnivorous Lamb

This quote is in regards to the editorial in the book. It was destroyed “because three pages in the book describe acts of incest between two brothers. But while incest is one of the plot elements in The Carnivorous Lamb, the book is a beautifully written melodrama that is also a stirring indictment of Franco-era fascism in Spain.” Lam writes,

“What I found interesting was that the State of Texas appears to be paying prison authorities to read EVERY PAGE of every publication sent to prisoners (a good use of taxpayers’ money), and that, at least in Texas, the archaic idea that literature WILL (not “may”) encourage DEVIANT CRIMINAL SEXUAL BEHAVIOR is alive and well.”

Just as music creates bombers and gun shooters, books create deviant criminal sexual behaviour. (Does my sarcasm come through?)

What do you think? Ridiculous? Not so much? Tell me why.

Written a book? Want to publish it?

So writing, and completing, a book is a terrific achievement. You have put your blood, sweat and tears into writing this thing, and you want to publish it. You want people to see and ready your baby. Makes sense, right?

But what happens when you get 500 rejection letters? What if you get a contract, and the money is puney? When you have something great, you know and your friends know it, it may just to be time to do-it-yourself.

So once you’ve built yourself a web presence (which everyone, apparently, needs these days) and you think you may be able to grab a teeny, tiny piece of the publishing pie, here is a video that can help you do it:

Still not convinced? Here are some advantages to self publishing:

1. You will always have complete (and total!) control over what you have written and how you want it to be produced. There is no middle man this time. It’s you and what you want.

2. It’s relatively cheap to copy, so there will be little out-of-pocket expenses.

3. You get 100% of the profits. You do not have to pay the publisher, the editors, the designers, the sales people, or the warehouses. You make all the cash.

4. Once you book has been self-published, you may have a better shot to get a “real” publisher to make you a much better offer.

So, congratulations on your first (or second) book. Take your time, figure out how you want to proceed, and get it done. If anyone has ever self-published before, if it worked or didn’t, please comment and let us know. It’s a tough world right now, and we need all the help and advice we can get on how to succeed. Good night, and good luck!

Sony Readers for Magazines, too?

From the Page the to the Screen

I have always loved books. I love the smell, the feel, the turning of the pages…but what does the book lover do when presented with an option to buy a Sony Reader, a $300 unit that allows me to carry books around electronically. Just purchase, download and enjoy. Simple enough, right? Press the arrow keys to flip the pages. Lovely.

No weight of a hardcover … no hurting thumbs from holding the book too high or too long.

Magazines, as I have noticed lately (as I want to cart ALL the ones I own around with me) are heavy as well. Three, four, even five of them in your bag is enough to want to leave them at home. Or at least consider that. The Sony Reader has asked many questions of the book publishing industy and has finally invented a new way to read books. This new way has not fully caught on, but it will eventually. More and more TTC go-ers will prefer a lightweight electronic *thing*, over their 50lb new James Patterson hardcover.

My question is this: will magazines hop onto this hobby horse? Will it soon be available to download any and all of our favorite magazines for a discounted (subscription) price? And is this a good thing? Please comment with your thoughts.

The Sony Reader