Tag Archives: literature

Feb 27 2013
2 Comments
Publishing and Writing Forum, Status of the Novel

The Next Big Thing

Apparently, the idea of this whole Next Big Thing thing is to interview yourself about your current or next book, mention the person who tagged you, and tag up to five more friends. Sounds like fun. Except now everyone’s doing it. AND it brings up issues, okay? Don’t worry, I’ve submerged them. The issues. I hold Sybil Baker, author of The Life Plan, Talismans, and Into This World, responsible for tagging me. Her blog post is at  http://sybilbaker.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-next-big-thing-questions-and.html
Q: What is your working title?
A: A couple of years back, one working title for my poetry collection actually was THE NEXT BIG THING. The title poem it was named after, however, was anything but. Plus, what tone is that supposed to be taken in? literal? ironic? satiric? paradoxical? I finally settled on THE BLUE DEMON. My agents and operators are standing by. Anyway, the talking point for this “interview” is a novel that I completed a first draft of one year ago. I now need to do the harder work of digging in deep, finding the soft spots, and connecting more dots. The novel is SIMON KRIMPLE’S WAGER.
Q: Where did the idea come from for the book?
A: Life events and things I’d been reading building up I guess. The ripening of time. Everything from theology books I read in Seminary, to psychology texts, to psychology of religion stuff like Eric Fromm and William James. As self-discovery, I find through writing that I return to the dualities between faith and skepticism, the myth-making and scientific mind, what “really” happened and how we piece it together.
Q: What genre does your book fall under?
A: It depends. There is a LOT of autobiographical material here. But anything that we arrange and unify and emphasize and set boundaries upon is fictionalized. I guess we could call it a novel to protect the guilty. Or we could call it nonfiction to protect the innocent. Or is it the other way around? What I would prefer is that it just be called “a book.” You can print that.
Q: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
A: I think it would be kind of tough because of the two intertwined narratives between the past and present. Plus, it’s hard to find leading roles for someone the likes of Simon Krimple, who is quite large, fat in fact. The best I can come up with for him would be Jonah Hill pre-Moneyball. For the narrator and minor-character protagonist, Chad Denning, I would say, Luke Wilson.
The future Simon Krimple?

The future Simon Krimple?

Q: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A: Chad Denning, firstborn and only son of an aspiring mega-church Baptist Pastor, is confronted with whether he’s really a Christian or not when his high school friend and social outcast, Simon Krimple, claims to be the Son of God—and then goes on to perform a series of miraculous deeds before his untimely death. Chad is left to pick up the pieces and make sense of the past lest he repeat it.

Q: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
A: I have no idea.
Q: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
A: 20 weeks. 105,000 words. I was aiming for 16 weeks, but the holidays happened.
Q: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
A: Well, there are some thematic comparisons that can be made to A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY, but that’s a lot to live up to and it’s very different at that.
Q: Who or what inspired you to write this book?
A: I can’t remember what exactly sent me running toward that first page. I think it’s the same answer for “where did the idea for the book come from.”
Q: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
A: Some really amazing real-life things happen which challenge a reader’s very belief system. There is an electrocution in the baptismal pool, levitation, demon expurgation, and someone in a chicken suit gets beat up, just to name a few intriguing moments.
Readers tagged are: Anis Shivani, Terence Hawkins, Kim McLarin
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Feb 15 2013
3 Comments
Hanging Chad: The Life, Publishing and Writing Forum, Status of the Novel, Trends and Culture

Literature, Literary Chops, and Redefining the Status Quo

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My literary chops are exquisite!

Okay, so Hanging Chad hasn’t hung it up. Just gone through an identity crisis. Yes, another one. Who’s counting? But these internal tectonic shifts are somehow important. At least I’d like to think so. At least if I can keep my balance and redirect.

For the past three years I’ve been at work on three novels. Why not one at a time? Lots of reasons. Everything from feeling like one was ready and just in need of connecting with the right personnel, to exploring a new style (which sometimes didn’t work), to wanting to “just write” and complete a draft. I’ve completed some drafts. I have one market-ready novel. I have a marketing plan. I feel great about it. But I also am envisioning where I want to take the next steps forward. One challenging part of writing is the complete creative directing that comes into play. There is no creative production team–at least not at first. So, strategy comes into play. Strategic vision, you might say. David Shields has been making the point of writing relevant literature for many years now, and his book Reality Hunger: A Manifesto has been shaking my tree and challenging how I want to channel my energies.

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If you dare suggest my literary chops need revision then I just might raise my middle finger!

So, I was talking about identity. I think part of the “problem” is developing an acute awareness of what is happening within the forms and definitions of literature itself, as much as seeking to tell the “truth,” to chart out some new territory, explore, dramatize some hidden dimension of life–to discover those things. I’m not here to pretend to resolve centuries old “issues” about the tensions and differences between writing for money and writing for the sake of “art.”

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Hey, man, don’t be dissin’ the chops, man.

Writing for the larger market is a skill–whatever we may finally assess of it as art–and giving the readers what they want requires acumen, creativity and plain hard work. Writing what we call literature, what is interesting to me, what I want to say, challenging the status quo, interpreting culture and the definition of what is “literary,” is what also pushes the art to evolve. But if only other writers of the ever-diminishing tribe of literature read the work in question (at best), then what is the point? How different is it than singing in the shower or joining the Mutual Admiration Society?

I have a good friend who “cracked the code,” whose novel went international, who sold major rights deals, who was trying to write something smart and marketable but also literary. A major publisher signed him to a three-book deal for his first novel. I believe the novel sold well

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Who’s chopping who?

in a few countries. Only after disappointing American sales on the second book, the publisher is now telling him the kinds of characters they’d like to see in the third. I guess that’s a good problem to have, but when the major publishers tell their authors the kind of characters they need to employ because they know how it will appeal to their intended market audience? I guess we can see who has the power in this relationship.

I’ve read and discussed and heard literally probably hundreds of discussions on related issues like “what is literary fiction,” and how you must always have an audience in mind, and how some say literature is dying because of the callow American culture. How far down has the culture really gone though? Only 1% of the population even graduated from college up until 1960. Is our culture really so under-educated in America? To me, it seems more of a re-directing of interest and energy. (And yes I think basic literacy is pretty poor, but that’s another topic.)

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Please. Not another word until I’ve spoken with my attorneys.

Overall, though, with the previously unimagined proliferation of information people now have access to, people are reading as much as ever before, probably MUCH more. It’s just that there are so many other kinds of discourse now. So many other dominant forms of entertainment. So many other forms of cultural boundary pushing that literature is left in the dust. Can you even remember the last bestseller that you felt had serious literary chops? So, I’m inspired by the likes of David Shields and others who are examining their fields from the inside out in order to write compelling literature that legitimately competes for our profoundly divided attention.

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Dec 04 2012
5 Comments
Publishing and Writing Forum, Trends and Culture

Self-Publishing: Enter Simon & Schuster

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The two sides of self-publishing hashing it out.

I’ve written a good bit recently about my optimism in the future of publishing. Like most people, I love it when walls come tumbling down. Nothing like taking a chip of the 1989 Berlin Wall home with you. Lots to love about opening up creative industries to a vast population. And yet there’s a lot to be concerned with. For instance, according to Bowker, 211,269 self-published titles were released last year, up more than 60 percent from 2010. A vast majority sold fewer than 100 copies, but enough were successful, hitting USA Today‘s Best-Selling Books list. That’s way more than ever before. The gates may be flinging open, but it’s a madhouse if you want to get noticed for writing something of value. Is this trend a new form of industry gatekeeping? Is it tantamount to nothing more than another hoop for author’s to jump through to prove their marketability?

According to GalleyCat, Simon & Schuster has created Archway Publishing to help writers self-publish fiction, nonfiction, business and children’s books. They will run the new service with help from Author Solutions, the self-publishing company acquired by Pearson for $116 million in July. Self-publishing is a rapidly growing sector of the book industry, but big publishers have been tentative about entering the market, partly for fear of tarnishing their brand by allowing content they have not reviewed to be published under their name.

Archway will offer a range of services, from a basic $1,599 package that includes “editorial assessment” and “cover copy review” to a $24,999 “Outreach” program for business books that features an “author profile video” and a reception at BookExpo America, the industry’s annual national convention. Simon & Schuster will monitor the sales of Archway titles and may sign some authors for traditional publishing deals. In recent months, for instance, the publisher signed self-published romance authors Jamie McGuire and Colleen Hoover.

Certainly a form of consolidation here. I see it being quite lucrative for them if they run their business well. Does it basically mean you have to pay to play? Does it just come down to another form of gatekeeping?

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Nov 26 2012
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Publishing and Writing Forum, Trends and Culture

The Creative Process: Make it Stop!

Where does it come from? Where does it go? You hear a lot of talk about how to “turn on the creative juices,” but what about the knowing when to turn it off? While it’s hard to say exactly where creativity comes from–one reason scientists have shied away from the subject until recently–we do know a lot of brain energy comes to play. As we puzzle-piece our creative process together, one question that comes up a lot for various artistic mediums is: When do you know something is done?

“Is it an original idea? Or is it something where you’re literally a creative collagist? You’re taking pieces of the world that you see around you and that are inside of you and put them together in a way that you see fit.” — Abigail Washburn

Some would say knowing when to stop makes or breaks nearly any given work of art no matter how big or small.  Billy Collins says his poems tend to be going somewhere and that he “advances the poem to some place where it can stop.” More mystically, Louise Gluck says that the poem “just closes the door.” Have you heard about the kindergarten teacher whose students were always producing the best art of any of the other teachers in the school?

She was asked, “How come your students produce such good art?”

“Well, I just know when to take them away from them,” she said.

The teacher was good at identifying when they’d achieved something artful before the thing ran to mud. May all of us be so wise with our own creations.

Here’s a ten-minute clip which discusses some of these ideas featuring our former U.S. Poet Laureate, Billy Collins.

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Nov 01 2012
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Publishing and Writing Forum

Is “National Novel Writing Month” A Good Thing?

It would seem that National Novel Writing Month began on the 31st for all the PR buzz and “planning prep” exercises. Anyway, today is officially the first day of the month-long phenomenon. So whether or not you participate in, or have even heard of, NANOWRIMO what do you think?

What I think is pretty cool:

(1) Challenge: Everyone who wants to connect with a challenge, should do it. It’s admirable that so many want to take on something that feels ambitious. Should anyone have questioned whether or not I ran a marathon? Wasn’t I just trying to survive? Wasn’t it clearly more than my body was up for in a single event? Isn’t that the spirit by which we accept challenge? Tip#1 is to read the 30 tips from last year. I do recommend checking them out. Some are fun, some are funny.

(2) Focus: As a creative focus or goal-centered approach to a process that is purported to take years by many–but certainly not necessarily by all, and not by all types of novels.

(3) Exercise: Specifically, as a type of creative exercise known in especially shorter forms of art as “immersions.” Immersions can be anything. My brother and I ran ourselves through a number of songwriting immersions some four years ago as we were developing content for our band project, One Shoe Untied. It worked to generate lots of content to fidget with later. I loved it. I found, too, that “immersions” translated well into the creative writing class. In the first place, you didn’t call them “exercises.” I hated the very word “exercise” when I was in a creative writing class, so I could identify with their resistance to do them in class for a variety of reasons. But immersions? The whole concept and experience is different. Also, as BookGoodies suggests, the experience can help one grow as a writer because it takes you out of the rigidity of worrying over every word. You just let yourself get into a flow and edit later.

(4) Awareness and Exposure to a varied and difficult writing form: Does it hurt the industry of novels for more novels to be attempted collectively during the month of November? I wonder how it would hurt the buying/selling in the long run? In the short term I can imagine a lot of editors and agents getting swoons in submissions from clearly un-prepared manuscripts and writers, especially considering the current marketplace conditions.

(5) Community: Writing can be an extremely isolating experience, especially for those who want to write but never formed that kind of community.

What’s wrong with it?

A lot of people delude themselves about what really fantastic writing really takes. It’s not like writing is somehow different from any other art form in this way. There are so many levels of craft, ambition, experience, in short–depth–that one just can barely understand even with what feels like a degree of expertise. The only real concept of what could truly be wrong with it runs along the neverending argument of how to define when and if there is too much “bad stuff” out there. Even then, it seems like this is a good problem ultimately for the consumer, and a difficult one for the generally underpaid editors of the world dealing with the deluge. An interesting and current debate on the subject as it relates to contemporary poetry, featuring a bell curve graph and everything!, can be found at Bark. But really I want the above question to cut both ways. In the end, what is wrong with it?

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

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Oct 25 2012
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Community, Publishing and Writing Forum

The 2012 Meacham Writers’ Workshop

Philip F. Deaver. Now that’s what I call an author pic!

I’m taking a deep breath and hitching up my pants. In just a few minutes I head over to the first event of a veritable gauntlet of literary readings, dinners and lunches, parties and general good times. It’s the late October Fall Meacham Writers’ Workshop 2012 and I’m thrilled to be a part, even if it does mean having to read on Friday night with Leslie Ullman, Richard Jackson, and Sebastian Matthews.

The Meacham Writers’ Workshop is one of the coolest literary events in the country, and it takes place in our own backyard. Well, at least mostly at UT-C, and also a number of other community spots around town. I know that sounds like easy-breezy hyperbole, but I make a serious claim here. First, it supports an undergraduate writing program that for well over twenty years now has launched scores of writing careers and changed even more lives. Sure there are hundreds of graduate writing programs, but one which fosters the literary community with such efficacy for so long is extremely rare. Second, it’s for everyone! Perhaps one might argue that if it cost a lot of money the community might value it more. But how can you argue with the democratic impulse to make the literary arts accessible and open for everyone? And the truth is for reading after reading over the next flurry of activity during the next three days, the readings will be packed.

Here’s a schedule for anyone interested in attending anything.

Randall Brown

And a list of past literary superstars and upstarts that have come from all over the country, even the world, to participate.

As they say on the website:

The Meacham Writers’ Workshop is supported primarily by an endowment funded by the late Jean Meacham in honor of her husband, Ellis K. Meacham. Occurring each fall and spring, the workshop is free and open to the public; there is no registration. The program consists of readings, discussion sessions, and group conferences. The philosophy of the workshop is to provide support but also honest and direct criticism for developing writers. The atmosphere is informal, and there are many opportunities for lunch and other casual meetings. The conference welcomes non-writers who are avid readers of contemporary prose and poetry, as well as school groups. The conference is open to persons of all age, race, religion, sex, veteran status, national origin, or disability.

Sebastian Matthews fumbling with the mic!

So, come on out and join the fun. There are events on E. Main, The Chattanooga Theatre Center, Winder Binder Gallery, and even at UT-C and Chattanooga State. Tell ‘em Chad invited you for a free ice cream sundae on Richard Jackson!

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Aug 23 2012
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Book Reviews, Community, Hanging Chad: The Life

Travel Literature 2: A Walk in the Woods

Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, published in 1998, is a classic in its own right (and apparently, as of February 2012, Richard Russo was working on a screenplay for the film adaptation). I’d heard a lot about Bryson and what a talented writer he is, and had even bought A Short History of Nearly Everything for my dad last Christmas (which he loved even more than A Walk in the Woods), but I have to admit I had no idea how easy this would be to read. Had I known, I probably wouldn’t have waited some huge span of time to read it. It was given to me as a gift at least a year ago at a time when I was leaving nonfiction reading behind for a whole lot of fiction.

As the title suggests, however, reading this book is a lot like taking “a walk in the woods.” It’s rather casual, informative, and especially funny when Bryson and his foil, Stephen Katz, start (and end) their hike together.

Like Bryson, there was a time when I wanted to walk the Appalachian Trail. It was just a few months before Shelley became pregnant with our first child, probably just a couple years after the book was published actually. I was feeling ambitious and ready to be challenged. Subconsciously, I was grasping for one last straw of freedom. For many reasons, that dream never came close to fruition, but I did try growing my dirt-blond hair into dreadlocks about that time. Creating a wilderness on top of my noggin was every bit as challenging as actually walking through one.

Hiking the length of the AT, it turns out, is so difficult only about 4,000 have ever done it, at least according to Bryson’s 1996 numbers. Of course, there are those who do it all at once, known as thru-hikers, and those who do it as section hikers, sometimes over many years. Regardless, at around 2,200 miles, with some of the most rugged and difficult terrain just waiting for you at the bitter end in Maine (assuming you start in the south as most do), it’s a tough slog. Bryson doesn’t actually do the whole thing, either. He calculates that he ends up doing some 789 or so miles. And that’s good enough.

Which brings me to my only minor critique: I was never entirely clear on the purpose of Bryson’s decision to take on the AT in the first place. What was he trying accomplish? He doesn’t make it clear whether this is a lifelong passion, or why exactly he wants to re-discover America through this particular approach. He vaguely hints at telling his publishers what he’s doing and that his wife has to put up with a lot. Also, after Katz leaves him for a spell, about 2/3 of the way through the book, I felt like the book lost a little tension.

Shelley and Chad on the AT at Springer Mountain, GA. Circa 2000.

For the most part, though, it’s a rewarding read, teaching you about the Appalachia mountain chain, the fascinating AT, and, as a result, so much about America, especially of America’s attitudes toward nature. There are innumerable lost species of trees, birds, big and small game. The loss of the American Chestnut alone (and the relative indifference we had to this majestic arbor) is enough to make this a tragic tale indeed.

Yet there is still a wilderness out there that has been maintained and is still strikingly non-busy, all things considered. I feel very much inspired now to get out on the trail for a few days (get past that first difficult day), and get a feel for the trail. At least I can do that much these ten or twelve years since my first inclination to give it a gander. I imagine I’ll feel a lot like Bryson does toward the end, that paradoxical tension between loving the neverending trail, wanting to walk simply because “that’s what you do,” and at the same time missing my family and the tame comforts of home. Now that I’m 40, I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.

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Jul 26 2012
2 Comments
Status of the Novel

Novels: The Importance of Ending

As I’ve written and re-written the ending to The Director of Happiness again and again, I’ve been thinking a lot about endings for novels. As they’re paid to do at places like the Atlantic, they’ve recently run an article about 10 fantastic novels with disappointing endings. I was intrigued. Especially when the central image is a cool line-drawing of the Cheshire Cat. Yes, they did include Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol.

They certainly made some interesting selections: Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest (perhaps no surprise there), as well as Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road, and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, among others. Overall, the 10 choices seem eclectic at best, but what else do you do when you choose 10 among a bazillion?

For me, a disappointing end to a novel I otherwise really loved was Fay, by Larry Brown. It felt like this intricate, sensitive, compelling, literary novel with a third person limited omniscient POV of 15-year-old Fay went a little Hollywood at the end (I won’t spoil it). And maybe it’s not fair to mention Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden since it was an unfinished novel, but the lack of an ending to that beautiful book forced me to swear off reading posthumous novels. I don’t know how Larry Brown’s A Miracle of Catfish got into my library, but there it remains, unread. A New York Times articles discusses the problem of reviewing an almost-finished, otherwise great, novel.

I don’t think readers always mind that a novel isn’t intricately wrapped up. Do you? While it’s always amazing when threads are woven masterfully together, many authors seem to cascade down the waterfall of their plot points and come tumbling down to wherever it sort of, well, ends. I don’t think it’s as easy to know exactly where to end a novel as compared to, say, a poem. Speaking of poem endings, Louise Gluck says, “The door closes. That’s how you know it’s done.” For some novelists it would seem it’s done because they stopped writing. And yet we love some of these authors. Hemingway probably ranks in their among them. John Irving (who knew that’s not his real name?) comes to mind as a less obvious choice. Certainly Thomas Pynchon, but that may be no surprise, as he’s considered to be a “postmodernist” writer.

I wonder what are some of the most satisfying endings for a novel. Any come to mind? Or what other novels would make another list for the Atlantic of otherwise fantastic novels with disappointing ends?

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Apr 20 2012
7 Comments
Publishing and Writing Forum

Word Count: Helpful Tool or Insidious Device to Make Writers Feel Like They’re Getting Somewhere When Really They’re Not?

When it comes to a first draft, for me there’s nothing like a good Word Count taskmaster sitting at the bottom of my Word document, chiding me to push on. Word counting, however, has become ubiquitous and I’m starting to wonder if it’s more a sign of our uber-chatty, product-and-information-based culture, than it is a tool that actually helps push forward good writing.

You hear lots of writers these days discussing their word counts. “When I’m going strong,” one says, “I’m a good 1,000 WPM.” As with most competitive sports, this creates games of one-upmanship. “1,000? Yeah, that’s pretty good. I mean, I don’t know exactly what you mean by ‘going strong,’ but I generally aim for 2,000. When I’m hopped up on some coffee and other legal stimulants, the sky’s the limit.”

Writers who seriously discuss their word counts sometimes remind me of those eighth grade reading classes that measured how many words one read per minute. Remember those things? You centered your book on the table just so, and a bar of light ran down the page. By then, I saw myself as a pretty serious reader, but all these other kids were flipping pages like Howard Stephen Berg. Remember Howard Stephen Berg? In my early twenties I was more serious than ever about my reading speed. I was halfway through my first graduate school experience, and was flush with enthusiasm for understanding and interpreting religion and all its ensuing humanities-related fields: philosophy, theology, history, psychology, philology. On several scholarships, my primary job was to read, study, learn. It was a good life (other than having no spending money and a scant dating life as a possible future minister), which would be made all the better if I could simply cover more ground in less time. Thus, I was hooked by the persuasive Kevin Trudeau and his partner, Howard Stephen Berg, world’s fastest speedreader. They guaranteed that the Mega Speed Reading course would at least quadruple my reading speed—or my money back. Now that was a guarantee I couldn’t afford to pass on. I followed the techniques, and with some solid concentration, I’d say at best I may have doubled my reading speed. This is what I told the operator when I asked for my money back. “I was guaranteed a quadrupled reading rate. It was only doubled.” In graduate school covering a lot of ground is an inherent advantage, no doubt. Reading as a writer? Absorbing style and techniques, not to mention simply enjoying the ride? Is the winner she who reads fastest?

I recently had dinner with Susan Gregg Gilmore who says she pays no attention whatsoever to word counts. She may be an exception to today’s rule. There are days over the past couple of years where I’ve really enjoyed having some kind of yardstick for how “productive” I was as I generated yet another series of first draft material. I’ve set goals like a 2,000 word per day average for five days a week over 13 weeks will produce a first draft. My PR stood at a couple of 4,000 word days until I broke through with back-to-back 5,400 and 5,100 word days. What I like about the concept is that if you hold yourself to a high number, you can function as your own kind of project manager, pushing through creative obstacles and making decisions that you might have otherwise gotten hung up on. That certainly must “count” for something. It’s also a reasonable monitoring device that helps guide one toward an overall goal. At this stage in my novel writing, I am wary of crossing the 100,000 word divide. Thus, when I’m pushing that margin (as I have for Simon Krimple’s Wager), I have a kind of guide to assist in the balance of scene, character, subject.

What I don’t like? After that first draft I find myself too conscious of the word count. How many words have I cut today? Is that an inverse progress? Why does it matter? I’m also adding material that needs development. Probably the single-most obvious issue is that quantity always loses to quality, and there’s no immediate measurement for that.

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Mar 15 2012
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Community, Publishing and Writing Forum

The Self-Publishing E-bubble: Coming Soon to a Reality Near You

Happy Ides of March! Have I got some prophetic news for you today! Want to make a million bucks? Want to break down the publishing hierarchy’s gates? Want to get that book out worldwide to millions of people in the whisper of a few short button-pushing moments? All of this can be yours and more!

Does any of this sound a LOT like the blogosphere bubble that came and went last decade? Did anyone “get rich” (with or without a lot of hard work?). Yes. A few. A very few did. The larger point is that it was a bubble. People got excited. Big promises were made. Loads of investments committed. The bubble burst. People fell from grace, weeping and gnashing their teeth. Do we still love blogs? Well, yeah! You’re reading one, right? Do we see them for what they are in this Age of Information? Not to burst your bubble, but hopefully by now, yes, we have checked back in with reality.

Except now there are books to be written! Money to be made! And, you know what, I dare say that if you’re really ready to act fast and maximize your opportunities (to use entrepreneurial language), you may be able to get in on the act.

Ewan Morrison, a writer who has found he makes far more money and generates a far wider audience by writing about the end of books as opposed to publishing them, points out that a lot of what the internet gurus have been predicting for some time is actually coming true. It’s true that books–cultural artifacts–are becoming increasingly harder to move across the entire industry (not just for you literary types). Ironically or not, you still do need to have “that book,” it’s just that the book is more a credentializing agent, which gets you the things that do increasingly pay: speeches and gigs. For an extremely detailed analysis as to why exactly we can call this whole thing a bubble, see Morrison’s article.

These are heady times in social media and ebook publication. Ebook sales are already outpacing print sales. Publisher’s Weekly offers loads of other stats to verify the point. Self publishing gurus emerge daily with programs and advice on how to self publish your book. While there are limitations to social media’s power and reach (there’s a reason why it’s called “social” media as opposed to “mainstream,” right?), it’s a juggernaut. First, however, there’s a difference between social media and ebook publishing, and there’s even another difference between publishing an ebook and self-publishing an ebook. This may seem obvious, but the lines do begin to blur between the distinctions.

There is hype, and I’m not saying don’t believe it. The bubble is happening. My prediction is that we’re probably at the relative beginning of a bubble, but it is a bubble.

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