Thomas Nelson Publishers citing “loss of confidence” pulls a book about Thomas Jefferson from circulation – What a mess. People are taking sides and calling this an issue of free speech while others applaud the move and call it smart. More from World Magazine on the issue and a quote from the VP of editorial at the publisher can be found here. Bottom line? The book is no longer available from the original publisher. The author bought out the remaining stock and will be reissuing a new edition very soon.

Born between 1979 and 1989? You Buy More Books! – Finally some good news about book sales. But note that “43 percent of millennials buy books through online vendors and are leading the way in the adoption of digital texts.”

Google buys Frommer’s Travel Guides – purchased from Wiley & Sons for $23 million. They bought Zagat last year for $151 million. They are obviously positioning the content to become a value added part of their maps and directories. The question is whether Google will still publish the travel guides. If so, do they suddenly enter the world of book publishing?

Goodreads Hits 10 Million Members – Goodreads has shaken out to be THE social network for readers to recommend books to each other. I have a relative who joined their “round the world in 80 books in 12 months” club. Each book has to be set in a different country. What a cool idea.

Calvin Miller has Passed Away – A true Renaissance man. Pastor, professor, painter, and writer. Died Sunday from complications during heart surgery. His book The Singer deserves to be read or re-read by every believer. Truly a masterpiece. If you haven’t read it you should.

Steve Laube reflects:

I had the honor and privilege of being Calvin’s editor for seven books. I treasure those times with him. Calvin was a man of God who understood the artistry of words and endeavored to make each one count as if it were his last.

I still remember editing his book Into the Depths of God by sitting in Calvin’s study and reading the manuscript aloud to each other. I would read a passage and he would scrunch up his face and say “What does that mean?” I laughed and said, “I don’t know, you wrote it!” He would mark a big “X” through the page and toss it on the floor. Later one of us would read something and pause. We would look up at each other over our glasses and declare “Ooooh that’s good.” It was those passages that made it into the final book.

I think it is fitting that his last book is called Letters to Heaven. It is there that I look forward to seeing him again.

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You Might Get Sued for Using that Photo! – Bloggers beware. That photo you snagged for your blog may not be yours to use. This article is a cautionary tale. (Beware, the author writes romance novels for the general market and her book covers are prominently displayed.) Our blog uses crestock.com and istockphoto.com for nearly all our photos. The licenses cost between $1 and $4 for each photo…

7 Ways to Sell Your Books on Pintrest – Beth Hayden offers some creativity!

Life Below the “Fold” – Common wisdom in home page design is to have everything important fit on the screen so readers don’t have to scroll. This article suggests otherwise. Agree or Disagree? (I think too much text is a design killer on the web. That opinion coming from a fellow who is known for writing epic length blog posts.)

Understanding the Harlequin Lawsuit – If you don’t think this lawsuit applies to you; think again. A similar suit change music contracts.

Reviewing Your Reviews – This is a tough thing to grasp for every author. Reviewers can be harsh. And even if the review is positive there is likely a negative comment or two. Nancy Mehl provides some excellent advice with this article.

Grilled Cheesus – Yes, this is real. In an October 2010 episode of the TV Show “Glee” had a poke at strange Christian products exclaiming “”It’s a Grilled Cheesus!” Then in 2011 some folks, who had been working on the idea for a couple years, raised money through KickStarter.com and actually created it. (Click here to see that they raised over $25,000) The product was found for sale on the convention floor of the ICRS (International Christian Retail Show) last week.

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