Steve Laube

Fun Fridays – October 29, 2021

By Steve Laubeon October 29, 2021

Collective Nouns

I have a book of collective nouns that merely proves that English is a strange language (A Compendium of Collective Nouns by Woop Studios, Chronicle Books, 2013).

For example:
A scourge of mosquitoes
A quiver of cobras
A town of prairie dogs
A skulk of foxes

Which made me wonder. Why should the animals have all the fun? So I thought of some unconventional collective nouns that don’t exist. Guaranteed to either offend or make you laugh:

A potluck of Baptists
A selection of Calvinists
A shout of Pentecostals
A sprinkle of Presbyterians
A mass of Catholics
A silence of Quakers
A buggy of Amish
An anecdote of preachers

Can you add to the above collection? Or
can you fill in the blanks below?

A __________ of writers
A __________ of literary agents (Be very careful with this one!)
A __________ of publishers
A __________ of editors
A __________ of book proposals

Fun Fridays – October 22, 2021

By Steve Laubeon October 22, 2021

With the basketball season starting up around the country, I couldn’t resist showing this video of inspiring sportsmanship. May we all treat one another the way we would like to be treated. (If you cannot see the embedded video in your newsletter email, please click the headline and go directly to our site to view it.)

Category: The Writing Life

Hidden Retail Economics

By Steve Laubeon October 18, 2021

I find the world of retail and bookselling economics fascinating. Doesn’t make for scintillating party conversations, but I digress. Below is a video that you should watch first as I have a few thoughts related to its content below the video. (If you cannot see the video in your newsletter feed, please visit the blog on our website where it is embedded.) This particular video is a few years …

Category: Book Business, Economics

Fun Fridays – October 15, 2021

By Steve Laubeon October 15, 2021

While rather corny, today’s video is at least entertaining! Enjoy the MozART group performing “How to Impress a Woman.” Dare I say that I was impressed too? (If you cannot see the embedded video in your newsletter email, please click the headline and go directly to our site to view it.)

Category: The Writing Life

Book of the Month – October 2021

By Steve Laubeon October 11, 2021

I’ve known Les Stobbe for well over 30 years. And here he is, at age 91, publishing a new book! God Moments in My Publishing Life: The Making of a Writer and Publisher was just released by EABooks Publishing. I want to recommend it to all of you. I had the honor of endorsing this book and wrote, “It is important to hear the stories of our industry’s history. Our confidence in …

Category: Book Review

Fun Fridays – October 8, 2021

By Steve Laubeon October 8, 2021

Enjoy today’s video of master potters at work. Seven minutes of extraordinary creativity and artistry. I could not help but compile the following: “I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Has …

Category: Fun Fridays, Theology

Always Be Curious (The ABCs of the Writing Life)

By Steve Laubeon October 4, 2021

by Steve Laube

Depending on where you live and your school district policies you may already be in a back-to-school mode or preparing for it.

It got me to thinking about the need for all writers to always have a "back to school" mentality.

Here are five things we can learn from always going "back to school."

Category: Book Business, Steve, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Creativity, Writing Craft

Fun Fridays – October 1, 2021

By Steve Laubeon October 1, 2021

Today’s video features 11 singers from 8 different countries. Enjoy! By the way, for those who love choirs (aka choir nerds), it’s a high D for the soprano and a low G for the bass. What makes this most unusual is the tracing of the globe. And this was done before the pandemic forced global choirs to do this all the time! (If you cannot see the embedded video in your newsletter email, …

Category: Fun Fridays

God Gave Me This Blog Post

By Steve Laubeon September 27, 2021

God gave me this blog post. By invoking divine inspiration, I have guaranteed that you will read this post and possibly give me money to read more. Sound like a stretch? Then what if I just wrote or said: “God spoke to me.”“I was led to write this.”“God revealed this to me.”“I have been called to write this.”“I believe this is an inspired post.” In the Christian publishing industry, editors, …

Category: Book Business, TheologyTag: Pitching, Theology