I knew it had to be true!
Pizza does grow on trees…
Fun Fridays – July 17, 2015
A televised talent show in Germany…for contestants ages 8 to 14 years old. The Voice Kids (Germany). It is always inspiring to find amazing talent. (The young girl’s name is Solomia Lukyanets.)
Christian Fiction is Not Dead
Last week’s news of Abingdon Press deciding to no longer acquire new Christian fiction has created another clamor of claims regarding the demise of Christian fiction. The articles, emails, and comments range from glee (“it needs to die”) to consternation (“woe is me of ever getting a book deal”). Fewer Publishers There is no question that there has been considerable shrinkage in the …
Fun Fridays – July 10, 2015
Enjoy this brother and sister piano duet…with some great twists throughout!
ICRS 2015 – Observations
Last week the industry gathered in Orlando for the annual booksellers convention (I.C.R.S. – International Christian Retail Show). This was my 34th consecutive event and this year had some new benefits. I’ll run through some of the highlights and then make some observations. 1) Like last year, Tamela Hancock Murray and Dan Balow attended as well. We tried to do our meetings with publishers as a …
Fun Fridays – July 3, 2015
Sheer delight at the FAO Schwarz store in New York city. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lA9yBrnFyI
Does Genre Matter?
Earlier this month two literary heavyweights discussed the issue of “Genre” and whether or not it should exist in its current form. Read Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro’s discussion in the New Statesman. It all started because Ishiguro’s new novel Buried Giant is not presented as a Fantasy novel despite having a number of elements in it that would brand it as a Fantasy (like ogres). The argument is …
The Sale of Family Christian Stores Halted
In case you missed the news, late last week the judge presiding over the bankruptcy case of the Family Christian Stores (FCS), voided the auction results on which I reported three weeks ago (see that story here). There were a number of reasons for the judge’s decision. On page eleven of his 48 page ruling the judge called the auction process “nothing short of chaotic” and said that some mistakes …
When Your Book Becomes Personal
I wish every writer could see what we see as agents and editors with regard to proposals. I wish they could experience the sheer variety of book ideas presented at writers conferences and through the submission process. It is breathtaking. And sometimes heartbreaking. I wrote down a selection of the true stories that have recently crossed my desk. This small sampling shows real-life events that …