In case you missed it, make sure you check out the text of Jason Epstein’s keynote on the future of publishing in the digital world, as presented at the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing (TOC) conference.

In it he lays out a great case for human nature, and how it will save us from the undifferentiated content streaming through the WWW.

Also he articulates his vision for good content (authors must eat), e-readers (yes), large publishing houses (will die), print-on-demand (Gutenberg x 10), and lots of other stuff.

If you don’t know who Epstein is, he has worked in the publishing industry for fifty years as an editor and a publisher, and is responsible for many innovations.  He created Anchor Books at Doubleday, which was the first Trade Paperback imprint, and he is the co-founder of On Demand Books, which markets the Espresso Book Machine, which can print and bind a 320 page book on demand in about 4  minutes.

Ten years ago he did a series of lectures on the publishing industry at the New York Public Library which became Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future. I highly recommend it.

If my blog had a wash-and-wear tag it would say:

Slight imperfections, bumps, and color variations are characteristics of handcrafted projects, and they enhance the beauty of this garment.

Why do I say this?

I’m just back from an extended Book Expo hiatus, which is a three month marathon for me, during which I literally have time for nothing else, including food and sleep.

It’s nice to be home.

In recent link-backs some of you blogeratti have very tactfully pointed out that although I post infrequently, what I have to say is interesting, or relevant, or at least not-irrelevant. I appreciate your circumspection.

But here’s the thing I have noticed about being a blogger. I’m sure you other bloggers will understand. If I’m not careful, blogging begins to feel an awful lot like work. And, as many of you know, I have plenty of work already.

How many of you saw the 4/6 article in the NYT titled In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop? Actually, that’s probably a stupid question, since we are a pretty self-referential bunch. I’m sure the blogosphere was alight. Anyway, it talks about bloggers dropping dead from overwork. Most of us kid lit bloggers are nowhere near that level of ridiculousness, but I did have to make a decision early on to pace myself.

It’s easy to see how it can get away from you. Starting out, I got a little thrill each time my blog was mentioned by another blog, especially ones with lots of traffic. I obsessed over my metrics. I lost sleep to write. “They like me! I’m included! MUST-WRITE-MORE!”

My initial experience of blogging suddenly felt very much like high school. Who are the taste-makers? Who are people talking about? What do I want to say about what they’re saying? If I wasn’t writing, I felt compelled to read everything, just in case.

After a few weeks I suddenly thought “Wait a minute! I already went through high school. I am SO over it. Duh.” (Sound of forehead being slapped.) I still check out what’s being talked about, but now I appreciate that reading less insures that what I’m writing about is coming from an original and organic place.

Which brings me to my next point. I also recognized very early on that there are two types of blogs. Those that generate original content and those that serve as a clearinghouse by aggregating lots of interesting information from other blogs/cyberspace in one place, often with added commentary. Aggregating content seemed like a great way to generate traffic, but too much of a treadmill. I guarantee that those recently deceased bloggers in the NYT article were spending lots of time on that same treadmill.

So, original content it is. It suits my creative nature anyway.

I’m a marketer by profession. I know the rule that regular posting=more traffic. It’s true, if traffic is all you care about, and you actually have something relevant to say. It’s possible to bootstrap your way to industry fame through this technique.

But here’s what I care about: writing about whatever interests me, whenever it interests me. Writing about it in depth, and being realistic about everything I have to do. In short, going for authenticity and substance over popularity. (Again, like high school.)

So, I am unfurling the banner of the Idiosyncratic Blogger, and making my confession. I am an inconsistent poster. I may go for quite some time without saying a thing, and then I will post in a clump. I occasionally will apologize to you, my readers out of a sense of guilt. I may make excuses. I hereby give myself permission to have a life beyond this desk. I’m going deep, and I’m in it for the long haul. If nothing else, I promise to be authentic, even in my inadequacy.

Want to join the IB club? I’d love company! I give you permission to be imperfect too!

I’m about to cross the 100,000 hit mark here at pixie stix.

I don’t know 100,000 people, so I must be doing something right.

During my childhood, my (slightly eccentric) father had a ritual when his long suffering truck would hit a 100,000 mile odometer reading. (Several of his trucks have made this marker 2 or 3 times, as in 300K.) No matter where he was, he would stop the truck, get out, and circle the truck three times. Could be a busy four lane highway, or it could be a dusty back road. Then, without a word, he would keep driving.

I want to take a moment both to thank the many great people who have linked to me in praise of a post, or those that have been clearly passing the word.

If you were here with me, you would see me circling the desk three times.

Now let’s keep going.

www.tikatok.net

At BEA recently, I was facilitating a panel on the Gen-Z reader, (as in Gen x, gen y, gen z), and one of the threads the conversation turned to was whether the publishing industry can use the music industry as an example for the future. In particular whether artists/authors will take control of the medium as they have in music, thereby cutting out the middle man. The panelists were not convinced that the model went that far, given all the complicated things that have to happen to make a book a book. I myself am pretty sure that we will see increasing examples of this, given that consumer control over pretty much everything is the wave of the future. I definitely think that the readers and authors of the future will be much more empowered and DIY about things.

It’s already happening.

I give you Tikatok, an online publishing service for the young authors of the moment. Started by a mom, this is basically a site where, for less than $20, children can self-publish their own paperback or hardcover book. Using “story sparks” or completely from scratch, they do it all using the template based system. They can upload art directly to the site or mail it in. The whole thing is very well designed, clean, and easy to navigate. They even offer packages to schools and libraries for group orders. (This might be a very cool project for a children’s bookstore too!) The site is very family centered, and has an awesome and well-thought-out privacy policy.

And, the above handmade example aside, there are several examples on their site of books with fantastic art and photographic treatments. It’s possible to come up with a very credible product. Especially if you’re a second grader.

Yes, there have been self-publishing projects for kids in the past, but never have they been so kid-centered, user-friendly, or so interactive. Seriously, this is something an elementary kid could do pretty much on their own. Certainly, not every tikatok author will run their own publishing house in the future, but it’s not a far leap from here to web publishing, blogging, and all other manner of communication. I do think the youngsters of today will have a VERY different idea about communication when they hit adulthood.

As a mom, I think this is pretty cool.

What do you think?

Okay, this wins my award for best sideline of the year.

Developed by a mother of three, this is the ultimate in monster defense. The spray itself is made of English Roman Chamomile, High Altitude French Lavender and Italian Mandarin essential oils, but its psychological mojo comes from the empowering feeling kids get by running around their room at bedtime, spraying it anywhere and everywhere monsters lurk. Then, once all the meanies are vanquished, all that lovely calming fragrance will help youngsters sleep sweetly.

Extra bonus: parents of stinky children everywhere will rejoice at the added nasal benefits.

At $10.00 per bottle retail, it seems a small price to pay for a smooth bedtime. It’s unclear if she offers wholesale terms, but there is a volume discount. Order directly from the mom in question.

For those of us non-adopters who prefer our books the old fashioned way, the Italian design company Nobody&Co has made it so that we don’t even need to leave our comfy seat for our next read. This bibliochair chair holds nearly 16 1/2 linear feet of books, and comes in six different finishes and cushion covers so it’s basically a sit-alone library. My only concern? Where do you put your arms to rest?

Oh well, fashion hurts. Your reading corner never looked so mod.

Tricky pixie!

Hello Bookhounds.

Looking for a good recommendation?

Each year ABC produces a 20 page, full color consumer catalog packed with 240 of our picks for the top children’s books of the year.

The catalog alchemy begins with bookseller recommendations, and then is rounded out with an exhaustive review of critical picks, award winners, and small press gems that sometimes escape attention.

400,000 of this catalog are printed and distributed to consumers through ABC member stores in the fourth quarter, but as a member of the pixie stix faithful, you can print out a low-res version here, as well as a copy of the booklist by publisher.

If you like the list, you’ll *heart* your local independent children’s bookstore even more! Please consider buying these books locally, because investing in a relationship with your local independent children’s bookseller will pay off many times over in great recommendations in the years to come. Find your local independent bookstore at BookSense.

Of course, with nearly 18,000 children’s titles published every year, there are always many more worthy titles than we can include, so as a EXTRA BONUS here’s the pixie stix 2007 fav’s list, which includes the catalog titles and so much more.

Enjoy!!

Hello faithful readers.

As if I wasn’t taking on enough with a new baby this year, we’ve gone and moved from the picture postcard quaintness of New England…

to the picture postcard sunsets of Miami….

Sorry I’ve been lax with my postings, but I’ve had my hands full.

We’re almost set-up, so we’ll resume with our regularly scheduled program shortly.

Yours truly,

pixiestix

Okay, so I’m at an author luncheon yesterday being hosted by the good folks at Houghton Mifflin.

Sitting around the table is a nice little grouping of who’s who in the Boston kid-books scene, including Roger Sutton of the Horn Book, Carol Stoltz from Porter Square Books, the wonderful Anita Silvey, poetess extraordinare Joyce Sidman, (if you have seen her latest book of apology poems, check it out), and the hard-working Alison Morris from Wellesley Booksmith and PW blogger fame.

Apropos of my essay below, the conversation turned to self-published children’s books and customer reviews on websites, and Alison brought the above to my attention. Props to her, because I think this is just about the funniest thing I have ever seen on Amazon.

Self-published authors, take note.

Published in 1990 via Vantage Press, a notorious vanity publisher, LATAWNYA, the Naughty Horse, Learns to Say “NO” to Drugs is the story of a—well—a naughty horse named Latawnya. And her sisters Latoya and Daisy. And how they run into four other horses Connie, Crystal, Jackie and Angie who are all playing a “smoking game and a drinking game”. But wait, why paraphrase when you can read the whole book for yourself. Go ahead.

Here’s my favorite part:

Now putting aside the amazing writing for a minute, let’s just meditate on the image of one horse slapping the alcohol and drugs out of another horse’s HOOF. I swear I laughed so hard I cried.

And if the book itself makes you laugh, be sure to read the reviews on Amazon. Like this one:

Thank you Latawna!
I used to be an alcoholic, drug-addicted AND naughty horse.
But thanks to this inspired work ( thank you God ),
I am not a horse anymore.

So, who is this author? Perhaps she herself has had a bad brush with “smoking drugs”.

Lest you think I am making fun of the message here, I am not. It’s a very important message.

I have also occasionally thanked God, but not twice in the same bio.

This is the perfect example of how a great message can be completely overshadowed by a bad delivery. It’s like proposing marriage in a clown suit. In this particular case, we have a work that is so bad it’s genius, and like Snakes on a Plane, it’s poised for cult fame.

Maybe Sylvia should put it back in print, because she might make some money on it finally.

Listen up, people. It’s not the drug smoking horses you have to be afraid of, it’s having a story like this make you the butt of jokes on Amazon for years.

Save yourselves. Just say no.

***

Many thanks to Walker B over at The Something Awful Forums for first making this available to the wider public after he found it in the elementary school library where he works. This deserves to see the light of day, if only to serve as a warning to others.

One of the most perennial topics of discussion that comes up among members of the ABC is the (sometimes tricky) relationship between booksellers and authors.

In rare moments of quiet, booksellers on the front lines share their war stories about off-putting cold calls, misguided interruptions, unpublished manuscripts about pets and grandchildren, and frustration at the number of would-be authors who want stores to carry their self-published books on consignment.

On the other side, ABC fields hundreds of calls from authors and publishers every year about who we are, and whether or not we can help them promote their books. (We can’t, other than providing a great network should they want to join.) Clearly, there is a hunger to figure out a way to penetrate the market.

To be sure, we sympathize with their position because getting a book published is like threading a very fine needle. And once that book is published, getting it into the hearts and minds of independent booksellers is even tougher. After all, not every single book coming out of a publishing house can receive the same amount of marketing resources. That’s just the reality of publishing in an age where thousands of new books are released every season.

More and more, authors in the current publishing climate think that a little guerrilla marketing might help them get ahead. That perhaps by hustling on behalf of their projects they can do their part to get the word out. (That is—when they’re not writing, or illustrating, or doing free school visits, or running their business, or taking a shower and putting the kids to bed—to paraphrase my delightful friend author/illustrator Mary Newell de Palma.)

They recognize that building relationships with booksellers is important. And they are right, but how to do it? What’s most effective?

In a recent guest column entitled The Proper Care and Feeding of Booksellers, and How It Can Work for You, blogger Bookseller Chick put out a call for authors to dispense cookies liberally when visiting bookstores. The theory here is that a bookseller will form a favorable opinion of the visiting author, and will recommend that author’s book next time they have an opportunity.

Nice author + cookie = sale.

So, should authors everywhere get out their oven mitts? Does the cookie theory work?

The question sparked a lively debate among ABC members. Here’s what Carol Chittenden, the owner of Eight Cousins bookstore, and the hardworking children’s buyer for Bookstream had to say about it on a recent post to the ABC list serv:

“There are plenty of opportunities for good relationships between authors and booksellers. At the head of the list—waaay above everything else—is to WRITE A TRULY EXCELLENT BOOK, of course. But I’m adding some others, and hope other booksellers might chime in.

• Offer a day’s gift-wrapping backup during the holiday season.
• Put up posters for bookstore events.
• Help staff an out-of-store event.
• Help read and evaluate galleys.

Those are just a few of the things that take time but not much training, and help an author see the world from the back room perspective. And any bookseller is prepared to respond to the offer to sign stock: they’ve handled it before, or else it’s time they figure out a gracious response. No need to be shy: tactful will do nicely.

And none of this should be construed as a disdain for cookies. I am the Cookie Troll at Eight Cousins: there’s even a remodeled troll doll (green pantsuit, flowered scarf, silver in the hair, glasses, button that reads “I Love Cookies”) that stands alert atop my computer. But I’d rather have a fine, fine book than a cookie any day.”

Clearly, there is more at play here than just slinging cookies. The principal of being nice to bookstores and booksellers goes a long way, but I would urge authors to dig a little deeper. At the most basic level, creating successful and long-lasting relationships in the children’s book business is really about understanding and helping booksellers do their jobs better.

Want to make friends with a bookseller? Then help them build their business.

Here’s my top five suggestions:

1) Patronize your local independent bookstore. Be a regular. Nothing shows your commitment to independent bookstores like putting your money where your mouth is. Your loyalty will go a long way in building a successful and honest relationship. All of Carol Chittenden’s excellent suggestions above speak to this. Get involved.

2) Put a Booksense link on your website. It’s amazing how many authors talk about loving independents, but then send their web visitors directly to Amazon. A Booksense.com link is such an easy thing to do, and independent booksellers notice. Believe me.

3) Know your audience. When communicating with booksellers, keep it short, sweet, and respectful. A written communication trumps a cold call or a visit. If you are visiting a store for the first time, be very sensitive of a bookseller’s time and priorities. Introduce yourself, [hand over the cookies], get an e-mail, and ask if you can send information about your book. Don’t let your passion for your own project blind you to a bookseller’s priorities and make you pushy.

4) Act like a publishing professional. Learn everything you can about the business. At the very least, subscribe to Publisher’s Weekly, and to a bookselling newsletter like Shelf Awareness. Talk knowledgeably and intelligently about the business. Booksellers work with thousands of titles and authors every year, and they do not need all of the fluffy marketing language you might use for end readers. They don’t want the emotional presentation, they want the publishing facts. Specifications, season, publisher, BRIEF synopsis, notable review successes, publicity, a local angle, a sales success, why this book is different than others in the same category. Don’t inadvertently piss them off by talking about how well it’s selling on Amazon or in the chains. And don’t be like the author that called the ABC office recently and read their entire book about feelings over the telephone. If your verbal pitch lasts more than twenty seconds and your written pitch doesn’t fit in three short paragraphs, you’re talking too much.

5) When developing materials, think about things that would be really useful to booksellers in building their business. Go beyond bookmarks, postcards, and such. Think authorless event kits, downloadable materials for kids, essays in your area of expertise that would be great parent resources. One ABC author member who does this really well is Debra Frasier. Check out the materials she has designed at her website. She regularly does things just for bookstores, and always lets us know when something is available. This is a way to reach a wide audience effectively and cheaply. If you take it on the road, put together a presentation that makes it easy and fun for booksellers. One great example of this is author Brian Lies‘ package for his book Bats at the Beach. We’ve heard nothing but raves about this program, how well planned it was, and how well it worked. (Also, notice the links to independent stores where he’s appearing. Bravo!) Don’t think you have to convert your car into the Batmobile to pull a successful program together. A thoughtful program with an advance kit that might include a poster and press release, good structure, interactive activities, and inexpensive giveaways is great.

Conversely, here’s the five LEAST effective things you can do to work with independent bookstores:

• Mail a single flyer and then follow up with a hard sell either by phone or in person
• Make a cold call to a bookseller, and then monopolize their precious time with a lengthy sales pitch
• Interrupt a bookseller who is working with a customer to talk about your book
• Pull a primadonna and ask why a store isn’t stocking 15 of your book
• Launch your book tour in the chain store down the street

As a final caveat, I would echo Carol Chittenden’s sound advice: Write a good book.

All the cookies in the world won’t save a badly written book. If the book doesn’t have what it takes—good writing, good design, professional illustration, appropriate format, a real binding, a tangible sense of success—it doesn’t matter how nice you are. Bookstores aren’t charities; they’re there to make a living for the people who own them, and it’s a very difficult thing to do these days. Know the hard truth: bookstores can’t carry every book, and they may have to say no to yours.

However, if you’ve got a good book and you know and love your local bookstore, a good cookie can go a long way.

*************************************

Addendum 8/27/07

 Check out these FABULOUS cookies made by Sarah Varon, author of Robot Dreams for a recent store appearance. (Let me just say, I *heart* her books, and will review this new one in an upcoming post.) Here’s an author with a wonderful book and wonderful cookies.

Okay, this has nothing to do with books, other than being a brutal way to dispose of another electronic threat.

However, it made me laugh, and so I will share.

By the by, I have been on a little hiatus as I get this whole “Baby -vs- Life” thing worked out, but you will see regular postings starting next week. I have a backlog of reviews to share, and some ideas about a total overhaul of the book industry as we know it.

Stay tuned, peeps.

Well, fair readers, another Book Expo America is behind us.

As far as Book Expos go, this one was neither the best nor the worst I have ever attended.

Just the most crowded.

(As it always is in NYC–preliminary figures have attendance at 30,000, up from 22,366 in DC last year. It felt like a deodorant commercial directed by Busby Berkeley.)

For those of you who do not know the history of this show, once upon a time it was run by the American Bookseller’s Association (ABA), and it was the place where publishers went to share their fall lists with booksellers. At a certain point it got too unwieldy for ABA, and it made more sense to let Reed Business take it over. (They are behind a ton of major trade shows, including Comicon and the NY Anime Show.) However, more has changed over the years than just who was running it.

I always find BEA to be a little trippy. On one hand, you have the super-swanky mega-booths from the major publishers, complete with Saturday afternoon cocktail service and leather couches to rest your weary behind. (To give you some sense of the cost—it will run you $45.00 to rent a folding chair at this show.) Free autographed first editions run like wine, and many will end up on ebay before the day is out. On the other hand, you have would-be published authors trying all kinds of guerrilla marketing techniques on innocent passers-by.

My favorite of this year was a woman who asked me to auction off her book–written with her mom about a mouse and some cheese–from the podium of my industry dinner on Friday. In return she would write ABC a check for $5,000. I was so flabbergasted at the audacity and inappropriateness of the request, it was all I could do to wrap my lips around the word NO. She felt that “donating” her book was no different than the artists who had donated their work to the ABC auction.

Lord save me from all of the other authors who would also like to “donate” their books to publishers. These conversations always start off benignly enough, and then take a turn for the worse with the following sentence: “I have a children’s book, and I was wondering…”. Pretty soon you’re caught in a conversation about cats, goats, or grandchildren, and someone is handing you some color xeroxes. (Listen up, those of you who want to write. Don’t let your passion get in the way of good manners.) Don’t get me wrong. I spend a lot of time talking to would-be authors, and I feel for them because they have obviously poured their hearts into their projects. Like all those salmon trying to get up stream, only a few are going to get to reproduce.

But I digress.

Ostensibly, BEA is still supposed to be about the booksellers, and ABA is still prominently involved, but if I had to say what the show is really about, I would say it’s about publishers showing off for other publishers and for the industry at large. This show used to be about selling books, but that is less and less important. Because of pressure from the chains and big box stores for earlier and earlier schedules, the big deals are made elsewhere these days. Booksellers are becoming marginalized in terms of how the show floor operates. Unlike other major book shows like the American Library Association (ALA) or the International Reading Association (IRA), there are relatively few books on display and a lot of smoke and mirrors. (See Alison Morris’ excellent post at PW for more on this.)

It’s a little bit like Oz in that respect.

It is the premier networking event in publishing, and there are some very swanky parties. It is also the place where you can do the best celebrity stalking outside of LA. (Ohmygosh! Next year it will be in L.A.–those of you with celebrity life-lists better make your plans.) As the percentage of books sold through bookstores gets smaller, this show will continue to become less about frontline booksellers, and even more self-referential. Like a snake eating its tale, I wonder where this is heading.

In the meantime, grab those canapes and run.

Hello from Babyland. I’m glad to be back.

It’s been a wild few weeks here at pixie stix, but I’m happy to say that it’s also been totally amazing, and our pixie is doing great! (see below)

In thinking about what would be my first post A.B. (after-baby), it seemed that the old adage “write from where you’re at” seemed particularly appropriate. So here’s a round up of the best new parenting books I’ve come across, and they all belong within arm’s reach for anyone expecting or recently delivered.

Let me say that I believe there is such a thing as too much reading when it comes to pregnancy and parenting books. Certainly there is no shortage of books out there that seem purposely calculated to overwhelm and scare the bejesus out of anyone who’s new to the baby game. I have found that the best books in this category combine sound advice with a level headed approach, and I completely embrace anything that delivers the above with some humor and honesty. A couple of these books will come in handy a little later on, but are so good they bear mentioning here. Any of these would be a great shower gift, or the salvation of a sleep-starved new parent. Enjoy!

THE BABY BOOK by William M. Sears, M.D. and Martha Sears
978-0316778008; Little Brown; March 2003; $21.95
This is the closest thing you will find to an owner’s manual for a baby. Covering everything from breast feeding to new baby care, and all kinds of parenting advice for both moms and dads, this is the definitive guide written by a husband and wife team who are a pediatrician and nurse respectively. Commonsensical and strongly supportive of the attachment parenting style of childrearing.

THE PREGNANCY BOOK by William M. Sears, M.D. and Martha Sears
978-0316779142; Little Brown; June 1997; $16.95
Written by the same team as THE BABY BOOK above, this book shines at giving grounded, sensible advice that looks at both the changing body and the changing feelings of a pregnant women. Covers everything from nutrition to exercise to picking a birth team. Strikes a better balance between information and advice than its main competition WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU ARE EXPECTING, which can provide a little TOO much information at times.

THE HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK by Harvey Karp, M.D.
978-0553381467; Bantam; May 2003; $14.00
One of my biggest pre-birth fears was that I was going to get a fussy baby that I would be unable to soothe. This book is the bible for calming fussy babies in the first three months of life, and it is full of practical strategies for tapping into a newborn’s powerful relaxation reflexes. The theory here is that babies need another trimester before they are really ready to take on the world, so for the first stage, they love anything that duplicates their experience of being in the womb. This book is great reading for any soon to be parent.

BE PREPARED by Gary Greenberg and Jeannie Hayden
978-0743251549; Simon & Schuster; June 2004; $13.00
Often times dads are left high and dry when it comes to practical advice for dealing with the chaos a newborn brings to his life. If MacGyver wrote a book for new dads this would be it. Packed with practical information, developmental advice, and delivered mano-a-mano, this book is the perfect gift for the dad to be. My favorite tip: How to improvise a diaper from a tube sock and duct tape.

OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS by Anne Lamott
978-1400079094; Knopf; March 2005; $13.95
There is plenty of ink spilled about all of the beauty and sanctity of the birth process, t