tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18370147716930454382012-01-13T04:55:47.854-05:00Publicist, pitch thyself.Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.comBlogger1211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-41234617895371091522011-12-22T23:29:00.001-05:002011-12-22T23:30:44.316-05:00

CFS: Bethlehem, from The Huffington Post: DIVISION OF CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES FIELD REPORT DATE: The reign of Cæsar Augustus, when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, in the days of Herod the king; Tuesday. COMPLAINT: An anonymous epistle reporting a newborn infant living in unsanitary and possibly unsafe conditions. INVESTIGATING AGENT: Nicodemus COMMENTS: Accompanied by Rookie Agent

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-12494892133500439322011-11-04T22:41:00.000-04:002011-11-04T22:41:08.011-04:00

You see this? * You probably see an asterisk. I see the most potent and powerful typographical symbol of all time. And that includes the interrobang. The asterisk is no mere glyph. As I explain in a Soapbox piece in the current issue of Publishers Weekly, the asterisk is nothing less than a repository for every book ever written. It is a microdot containing all the volumes ever published. It

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-59316850234205278232011-09-19T21:55:00.000-04:002011-09-19T21:55:18.095-04:00

From The Huffington Post: To research his book The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, author Joe McGinniss spent the summer of 2010 in a house immediately next door to the Palin home in Wasilla, Alaska. The following are excerpts from McGinniss's private diary from this period. May 23 -- Took possession of the Wasilla house today. There must have been bad blood between the Palins and

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-86237698207316088602011-07-16T14:11:00.003-04:002011-07-16T15:08:33.887-04:00

Today is the 60th anniversary of the publication of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd revisit my brilliant idea for an unauthorized sequel. It's what the kids nowadays are calling a mash-up, combining characters from The Catcher in the Rye with plot elements from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I'm calling it The Snatcher in the Rye. The plot:

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-90179301605412827642011-04-09T16:21:00.002-04:002011-04-10T10:43:41.796-04:00

From The Huffington Post: Whenever it was a damp, drizzly November in my soul, I would drop by Mr. Starbuck's for a steaming double-cupped grande vanilla latte with extra foam. Our industrious First Mate made a habit of buying coffee from local growers in whatever far-flung lands The Pequod made port -- from Brazil to Peru, from Sumatra to New Guinea -- hand-selecting beans at the peak of their

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-42311725913986132732011-02-10T15:10:00.001-05:002011-02-10T17:32:04.543-05:00

Two years ago today, HarperCollins and I parted ways. One year ago today, I took stock of my situation on the first anniversary of my layoff. This second anniversary seems an appropriate occasion to do so again. This is my fourth day into my new job at Free Press and it feels good. Coming here felt a little like coming home. There are so many familiar faces, from the distant past and the more

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-14994887202682084062011-01-25T11:40:00.002-05:002011-01-25T14:51:56.445-05:00

Here's the lede: I got a job! Starting February 7th I will be bookflacking full time for the Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Here's the background: I started this blog about 21 months ago to chronicle my efforts to publicize myself into a new position. The month that HarperCollins folded the Collins division and my colleagues and I were laid off--February 2009--about 650,000 other

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-20184530642268501162011-01-20T01:23:00.000-05:002011-01-20T01:23:07.557-05:00

[Today is the day after Edgar Allan Poe's 202nd birthday--time to revisit "Five Belated Birthday Greetings for Edgar Allan Poe," from The Huffington Post.] "It is what Edgar Allan Poe might have called 'a mystery all insoluble': Every year for the past six decades, a shadowy visitor would leave roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac on Poe's grave on the anniversary of the writer's birth. This

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-72517937625288221822011-01-12T11:55:00.001-05:002011-01-14T12:25:52.526-05:00

[From The Huffington Post] When I saw the recent headline that Mark Twain scholar Alan Gribben was removing all the n-words from Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, my first thought was: Good! Those narratives will flow a lot better without words like neologistic, numismatic, and nanotechnology cluttering things up. Then I thought: What if he goes too far? Do we really want all the n-words

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-58574103985188311112010-12-23T12:03:00.001-05:002010-12-23T12:04:23.093-05:00

[From McSweeneys.net] At Santa's Workshop, your privacy is important to us. What follows is an explanation of how we collect and safeguard your personal information; the kind of information we collect; and your choices regarding our use and disclosure of this information. Why Do We Need This Information? Santa Claus requires your information in order to compile his annual list of Who is

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-82160729113607618372010-12-03T17:13:00.000-05:002010-12-03T17:13:21.843-05:00

By now you've heard that Steve Martin's appearance at the 92nd Street Y in New York on Monday night didn't go so well. Martin was interviewed on stage by Deborah Solomon, who interviews famous folks for The New York Times Magazine and has also written extensively about art. Martin is an art collector and his new novel, An Object of Beauty, is set in the art world, so it seems like a natural,

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-31951051678896517932010-11-18T13:51:00.002-05:002010-11-21T16:37:32.919-05:00

[From The Huffington Post] This has happened to me more than once: A publisher invites an author in for a let's-get-acquainted meeting to have an initial discussion about marketing and publicity. At a minimum, the editor, the publicist, and the marketing director are there, but the publicist's boss might be there too, and the agent, and some other people from marketing, or the art director,

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-52202610847574450492010-10-19T09:20:00.000-04:002010-10-19T09:20:17.984-04:00

[From The Huffington Post] This publishing season is thick with new and forthcoming memoirs by Bush administration insiders, from Donald Rumsfeld to Condoleezza Rice to Dick Cheney to President Bush himself. Now comes the most stunning inside account of the Bush administration to date: On the Spot: From Dog House to White House, by President Bush's dead dog Spot. On the Spot was written with

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-42369519467476143902010-09-03T17:53:00.001-04:002010-09-03T17:54:14.133-04:00

[From The Huffington Post] Identify the work of literature in which each bed bug infestation occurs: A. In this short tale of mystery and imagination, a man is bitten by a strange gold bug, which leads to the discovery of a cryptograph revealing the location of Captain Kidd's treasure. The story's narrator, who is staying in the man's guest room, is bitten by bed bugs, but that only leads to

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-89103099253340468322010-08-30T15:55:00.018-04:002010-08-30T16:03:01.762-04:00

From The Huffington Post: Twitter was all atwitter about a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece in which Rod Adner and William Vincent argue that the increasingly difficult economics of the publishing business will soon lead to advertising in ebooks. I'm dubious about the idea. For one thing, how would you match an ad to a book? I mean, you could probably get away with advertising Billy's

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-60015467060359666512010-08-16T10:46:00.000-04:002010-08-16T10:46:12.796-04:00

Today would have been Charles Bukowski's 90th birthday, so I featured some songs inspired by his life and work over on Classics Rock!--tunes by Modest Mouse, U2, Tom Russell and the Boo Radleys.  Which resulted in this nice item in today's Shelf Awareness: Happy birthday to Charles Bukowski, who would have been 90 today. To celebrate, Classics Rock!: Books Shelved in Songs is featuring several

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-62206710836425157102010-07-16T14:30:00.002-04:002010-07-17T00:47:56.608-04:00

[From The Huffington Post] The life of a book publicist is undeniably glamorous and exciting, except for about 98% of it. Mostly it consists of trying to extract useful contacts from outdated media lists and shoving books into Jiffy bags. Sure, sometimes you get to deal with Oprah and Colbert and the Today Show and NPR. More often than not, though, publicity opportunities come in the less sexy

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-63683897546497305872010-07-09T20:51:00.001-04:002010-07-09T20:55:27.909-04:00

Sunday is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winner To Kill a Mockingbird.  Just think:  Scout would be about 83 now, and Jem about 87.  We won't talk about Atticus. On Classics Rock! we posted some songs that were inspired by the novel, from the likes of Bruce Hornsby, Ra Ra Riot, and the Noisettes (along with a shout-out to the Boo Radleys), and were

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-68810362420744563022010-07-02T10:15:00.000-04:002010-07-02T10:15:18.724-04:00

When Rob Lowe's memoir Stories I Only Tell My Friends comes out, will he go on "Wayne's World" to promote it?

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-550248435439773642010-06-24T10:30:00.000-04:002010-06-24T10:30:30.794-04:00

[From The Huffington Post] When a publishing company's publicity department announces that a major media break has occurred, many an editor, publisher, and sales director will exhibit a unique two-stage reaction. The stages occur sequentially. Stage One is usually along the lines of: "Yay!" Stage Two, which follows just milliseconds later, is invariably: "Did we know this was coming?" It's

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-59083944847212191482010-06-14T10:02:00.004-04:002010-06-14T11:47:24.412-04:00

Not long ago I compiled a list of Six Things Book Publicists Love to Hear.  I'm now adding a seventh: "How can we leverage this?" This is generally asked by an author, agent or editor when a book has garnered a nice bit of media exposure that falls along the decent-to-boffo range of the publicity spectrum.  It's a natural reaction and a perfectly reasonable question—how can we use this break to

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-53700189391924415262010-06-13T02:21:00.002-04:002010-06-13T02:21:50.121-04:00

If you're a B-list celebrity looking for some exposure, try a public same-sex kiss. The media fall for it every time.

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-61695844369241349392010-05-26T09:40:00.002-04:002010-05-26T18:11:48.232-04:00

As noted on Classics Rock!, independent booksellers found a sympathetic ear with singer/songwriter Al Stewart.  The first stanza of his song "Elvis at the Wheel" gives a nod to their plight: There's an independent bookstore The last one that remains All the others you might look for Have been eaten by the chains They soldier on  No one cleans the window panesYes, we featured this song once before

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-30689469463809841062010-05-19T00:49:00.001-04:002010-05-19T09:51:03.108-04:00

George W. Bush has been out of work for some time, poor fellow.  Having been without full-time employment for about fifteen months myself, I sympathize.  Bush has put the time to good use by writing a book.  Apparently all the brush in Crawford had been cleared, and he had nothing else to do. The book is called Decision Points and focuses on fourteen key decisions he's made in his lifetime.  It

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-6941271826149313772010-05-13T17:55:00.002-04:002010-05-19T09:53:17.445-04:00

I was fascinated by the news last week that Neanderthals had mated with modern humans.  I think my first response was probably the typical reaction that most people had:  Hubba hubba! Then I thought that Neanderthals, presumed to have gone extinct about 30,000 years ago, had never really died out--at least not genetically.  If you're descended from ancestors who lived in pre-historic Europe or

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-40328845753671229592010-05-11T09:21:00.000-04:002010-05-11T09:21:57.813-04:00

While this blog was napping (picture it yawning and stretching in its feety pajamas), my other blog, Classics Rock!, passed an important milestone:  Its one-year anniversary. I observed this milestone with a song that touched on both my background in book publicity and my interest in the intersection of music and literature:  "Lady Writer" by Dire Straits.  Mark Knopfler saw an author

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-24941098640630169192010-04-23T17:40:00.000-04:002010-04-23T17:40:37.558-04:00

For a while I did a feature here called "Things I'd Like to See This Weekend on C-SPAN's Book TV," which offered a take on recent publishing news.  Then I stopped doing it because I got lazy. Yesterday I wasn't lazy for a while so I did another one, only this one's on The Huffington Post.  It looks at: The London Book Fair (sparsely populated) A notorious Australian cookbook (offensive recipes

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-17728627310219695792010-04-22T17:52:00.003-04:002010-04-23T17:20:48.831-04:00

The giant ash cloud caused by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano led to all kinds of chaos throughout Europe, but for the publishing industry it specifically impacted the London Book Fair, which took place earlier this week.  Because of travel restrictions and canceled flights, attendance at the fair was down dramatically this year.  Most Americans planning to attend never got off the ground

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-46180382367088269542010-04-01T09:21:00.002-04:002010-11-21T18:09:04.432-05:00

At this holiest time of the year, ask yourself:  Do I exercise religiously?  Or do I indulge in sinful desserts?  Either way, you should be aware of the many weight-loss and exercise books that are appropriate to the season.  Books like Psweatin' to the Psalms, Pontius Pilates, and Take and Eat This, Not That.  Books designed to help you maintain the corporal while you're focusing on the

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-60978194565367063092010-03-30T01:34:00.002-04:002010-03-30T01:39:05.843-04:00

There's a lot of media attention focused on the bad behavior of some elements of the Tea Party movement, and it's quite true that some of it is heated, hostile, and reprehensible.  But there's plenty of incivility to go around.  Tea Partiers don't hold a monopoly. An interesting example can be found on Amazon.com and is centered on Michael Lewis's new book The Big Short.  In the Customer Reviews

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-40135660275461358622010-03-22T15:35:00.001-04:002010-03-22T15:38:33.592-04:00

Back in his standup days, Woody Allen had a joke about a project supposedly undertaken by Noël Coward: "He had acquired the rights to My Fair Lady, and was removing the music and lyrics and making it back into Pygmalion." I'm reminded of the line as I consider the ever-expanding library of monster mashups--classic works of literature that have been rejiggered with a fantasy or science fiction

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-56602046483441121232010-03-20T11:43:00.006-04:002010-03-20T11:49:28.350-04:00

Here are some last-minute amendments to the health care bill that I've asked my congressman to lobby for, which he promises to do pending the outcome of his ethics investigation: Patients waiting to see their doctor of 15 years can no longer be asked by some nurse they've never laid eyes on before if they have a referral. Magazines in the waiting room must be current and can not be about

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-90738328420446123882010-03-18T11:15:00.000-04:002010-03-18T11:15:32.913-04:00

All you hear about in the publishing news these days is e-books and e-readers--important topics, to be sure, as they are transforming the entire industry. Still, you can reach a level of e-book saturation. I mean, the terms "e-book" and "e-reader" are u-biquitous. There's a certain monotony to seeing them repeated endlessly in everything you read. Frankly, it gets a bit tedious. And that "e"

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-71469356717358571812010-03-03T18:07:00.000-05:002010-03-03T18:08:00.215-05:00

Over the years I've noticed a strange phenomenon:  An author will write a bestselling novel, which then becomes a successful movie.  When the time comes to write a follow-up, the author writes a sequel not to the original novel, but to the movie! On The Huffington Post I offer four examples of writers who've done this for various reasons:  Alistair MacLean, Brian Garfield, David Morrell, and

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-8258317682020412322010-03-02T17:33:00.005-05:002010-03-02T18:06:55.351-05:00

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and constant media presence, had a hand in the controversial decision to take away Pluto's status as a planet (it is now classified as a dwarf planet).  Late last year DeGrasse Tyson published a book called The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planetin which he discusses that decision and the backlash it

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-39209449273515236402010-02-26T22:05:00.002-05:002010-02-26T22:10:20.514-05:00

Peter Robins wrote a piece on The Guardian's Book Blog questioning the need for dustjackets on books.  "What is the point of dustjackets?" he asks.  "The jacket remains an unnecessary and vulnerable encumbrance. That, at least, is how it has always seemed to me – and some in the book trade appear to be reaching the same conclusion." Couldn't agree more, Peter.  In fact, I predicted this

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-12959679192185409212010-02-25T22:30:00.000-05:002010-02-25T22:30:47.048-05:00

Earlier this week I learned that Sheryl Crow's breakthrough hit "All I Wanna Do" is based on a poem called "Fun" by Wyn Cooper.  This is probably common knowledge, and may even be taught in elementary school, but it was news to me and I was only too happy to feature it on my blog Classics Rock!, which explores the intersection of popular music and literature. A few hours after the post went up

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-13880706005729378452010-02-11T21:03:00.000-05:002010-02-11T21:03:37.544-05:00

The present in question is a lovely item about yesterday's "Anniversary" post that appeared on Publishing Perspectives today. It's written by Erin Cox, who is also coming up on a year since she left corporate life.  She seems to be making the most of it, and stands as another reminder that leaving a job is not the worst thing that's ever going to happen to you.  It may even turn out to be one of

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-66775591659006932232010-02-10T16:02:00.002-05:002010-02-10T19:29:59.116-05:00

One year ago today, HarperCollins and I parted ways.  That was entirely their idea, by the way. The anniversary of my layoff seems like a good time to take stock.  Since that day last February, I have: Been interviewed on national TV a couple of times. Appeared in a national magazine or two, and a major daily newspaper. Been featured on some high-visibility websites. Started a couple of blogs

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-53092918203615648732010-01-29T14:52:00.046-05:002010-01-29T16:45:07.791-05:00

Every once in a while I realize how far I've strayed from the original mission of this blog: To chronicle my shameless self-promotion. Today I'm back on task, with a handful of media hits to report.  They came about thanks to two posts I put up on my Classics Rock! blog yesterday--one about J.D. Salinger, the other about Howard Zinn, both of whom passed away on Wednesday. Ron Charles at The

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-42786779866086934262010-01-28T10:29:00.002-05:002010-01-28T10:36:14.739-05:00

Flavorwire has a list of the 10 Best Songs About Libraries and Librarians.  Couple of issues: Biggest omission:  "Marian the Librarian" from The Music Man.  Surely this is the grandaddy of all librarian songs, but perhaps it's just too ancient and unhip to be considered. Biggest stretch:  "Fun Fun Fun"  by the Beach Boys.  You can hardly say that this song is about libraries or librarians.  A

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-36855889882700016582010-01-26T17:29:00.001-05:002010-01-26T17:31:03.901-05:00

Edgar Allan Poe's 201st birthday last week was marked more by what didn't happen than by what did.  For decades a mysterious visitor has left roses and a half-drunk bottle of cognac on the writer's grave to mark the occasion.  This time, he was a no-show, leading to speculation about whether he was dead or incapacitated or what. I figured there could be any number of reasons why he might have

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-41734968226669025882010-01-21T10:01:00.000-05:002010-01-21T10:01:35.986-05:00

Mystery writer Robert B. Parker, best known for his series of books about Boston P.I. Spenser, died earlier this week, reportedly while sitting at his desk.  I've been thinking about the time I almost worked with him (what might be termed "a low brush with fame").  I was working at Delacorte Press in 1994 when they were gearing up to publish Parker's All Our Yesterdays, a non-series novel about

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-87383921161878186192010-01-16T09:42:00.001-05:002010-01-16T09:44:18.186-05:00

I've been thinking about this story reported in GalleyCat earlier this week.  It's about a book called Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America by Helen Thorpe.  The book was released to "sluggish" sales last September, but two months later it enjoyed "an unexpected sales bump--defying publishing expectations with her late-blooming book." What's interesting to

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-43607324132029644752010-01-08T17:43:00.000-05:002010-01-08T17:43:01.925-05:00

Several big names in publishing have come out with their predictions about the future of the industry: Richard Curtis, Bob Miller, Jane Dystel, Richard Nash, and probably a lot of others too. I couldn't wait to get in on that action: Whatever you say you come off sounding like a sage, and you can relax in the certainty that no one is ever going to check back to see if you were right.  I could do

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-34341519763145767432009-12-24T13:41:00.000-05:002009-12-24T13:41:07.270-05:00

The good folks at The Huffington Post books page have adapted my recent piece about "The 10 Best Years That Are Books" into a snazzy slideshow, now called The 10 Best Books That Are Years (fans of SEO will understand the reasons for the title change).  A nice present for Christmas Eve! Speaking of which:  In honor of this special day, here's the return of my guide to Lesser Known Characters From

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-69887618044375088632009-12-18T15:47:00.005-05:002009-12-22T13:20:11.560-05:00

I'm pretty tired of the endless "10 Best Books of the Year" lists that are spilling out all over the place, so I came up with what I hope is a novel variation on the theme: A list of The 10 Best Years That Are Books, up now on The Huffington Post. You may not realize it, but such a year is staring us all in the face right now: 2010, the coming new year, which became a book in 1982 with Arthur C.

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-86253132912668202262009-12-04T12:24:00.005-05:002009-12-04T12:37:23.086-05:00

Scrooge. The Grinch. Satan. To the list of Christmas's greatest antagonists, you may now add the Book Flack. Just a few days into the holiday season and already it's got me PO'd. I'm steaming like a mug of hot cocoa, God help me.I'm happy to say that I have responded by lashing out on the Huffington Post. In a piece called A Grouch's Guide to Un-Christmas Books, I've offered guidance to help you

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-82093743159206892872009-11-15T12:51:00.002-05:002009-11-15T12:53:27.338-05:00

Can't wait for Sarah Palin's media tour. Putting her near a microphone is like dropping Mentos into Diet Coke--mindless, messy, and really really funny.

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-17387127143074166072009-11-10T19:58:00.004-05:002009-11-10T20:03:43.902-05:00

With this blog post, I'm blogging about another blog post I wrote on The Huffington Post, which in turn focuses on my other blog, Classics Rock! That's a triple play by anyone's standards--even I have trouble following it. I'm hoping to drum up more input for Classics Rock!, which features songs based on books and authors--I'm running out of ideas (though I hope you'll visit tomorrow for a song

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-21025796586491710862009-11-04T12:43:00.007-05:002009-11-04T13:01:27.461-05:00

"King Henry V [led] a sodden and exhausted English Army against a French force that was said to outnumber his by as much as five to one. . . . But Agincourt's status as perhaps the greatest victory against overwhelming odds in military history--and a keystone of the English self-image--has been called into doubt by a group of historians. . . . The historians have concluded that the English could

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-6148691006842439942009-10-29T17:15:00.008-04:002009-11-04T12:36:57.188-05:00

There's a news story going around to the effect that Emily Dickinson's ceiling collapsed. It's all true--last weekend, a portion of the ceiling in the parlor of Dickinson's residence, the Homestead (now part of the Emily Dickinson Museum), collapsed, damaging some furniture and breaking bric-a-brac and no doubt throwing off the meter of some of her poems as well. What caught my eye was the fact

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-69305081046118152352009-10-21T12:28:00.009-04:002009-10-21T12:46:00.064-04:00

Identify the work of literature in which each swine flu scare occurs:A. A group of farm animals rebels against their human masters and takes over the farm. At first all the animals are considered equals, but soon the pigs emerge as the leaders of the collective. Over time the pigs adopt more and more human characteristics until finally they become indistinguishable from people. They enjoy wearing

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-11213562645274262512009-10-16T17:36:00.003-04:002009-10-16T18:19:48.784-04:00

Saturday10:00 am Google Books and Mythical BeastsIn a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece defending the Google Books settlement, Google co-founder Sergey Brin stated: "The agreement limits consumer choice in out-of-print books about as much as it limits consumer choice in unicorns." Here Brin expands upon this statement, clarifying Google's plans for unicorns. "We've rounded up all the extant

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-13126704589856121162009-10-12T09:08:00.009-04:002009-10-12T09:32:07.609-04:00

Matthew Cavnar, part of the team behind the new ebook-video hybrid called a "vook," left a comment about my rhyming vook post last week. I thought I'd put it front and center today, because if you're going to call someone out about a blog post, this is a pretty classy way to do it:Dear Larry,Though your lines were rather criticalWe at Vook were impressed they were lyricalPerhaps our next vooks

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-27812300072992458992009-10-09T10:42:00.009-04:002009-10-09T12:00:59.134-04:00

A response to the launch of a new ebook-video hybrid called a "vook"--or more specifically, a response to its name--done in rhyme in honor of National Poetry Day (technically yesterday--sue me).I took a look. I saw a vook.It seems some genius undertookTo artfully combine a bookWith video somebody took.My problem with this new ebook—The thing that really has me shook--Is that they’re calling it a

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-83012912536850806992009-10-02T11:30:00.003-04:002009-10-02T12:00:31.757-04:00

Saturday10:00 am Vook TVThis week Atria Books announced the launch of the "vook," a video-book hybrid that combines text with original video content in an ebook format. As with any new technology, people have lots of questions about the vook: Do I really have to call it a vook? Isn't vook kind of a stupid name? Will I have the opportunity to scratch the eyes out of the person who made up the word

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-35156182658236684692009-09-30T08:46:00.004-04:002009-09-30T09:08:49.616-04:00

When I heard that Sarah Palin's forthcoming memoir bears the title Going Rogue, I looked up the word "rogue" in the dictionary and immediately wondered if anyone in Palin's camp had bothered to do the same. (Knowing of Ms. Palin's dysfunctional relationship with the English language, I never dreamed that she would personally undertake such research, but surely someone on her staff could have

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-19438220164684786102009-09-29T10:22:00.016-04:002009-10-01T17:29:39.035-04:00

Over on Classics Rock! we're marking Banned Books Week 2009 (September 26-October 3) by featuring songs based on frequently challenged books. So far we've had:"Sneaking Up on Boo Radley" by Bruce Hornsby (To Kill a Mockingbird)A roundup of songs inspired by Joyce's UlyssesA roundup of songs inspired by The Catcher in the Rye"Here Comes That Rainbow Again" by Kris Kristofferson(The Grapes of Wrath

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-55363370397502626132009-09-28T08:24:00.003-04:002009-09-28T08:31:03.443-04:00

Publishers with newsworthy books often employ the embargo, a tactic that keeps the book under wraps and away from reviewers, the media, and anyone else in order to preserve its news value. As we saw with Ted Kennedy's True Compass, this is hardly a foolproof technique--the New York Times broke the embargo on the Kennedy memoir almost two weeks before the book's on-sale date. The same has

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-77984086207894389212009-09-24T13:36:00.002-04:002009-09-24T16:26:33.026-04:00

FACT:"It's buried out there somewhere."PrologueThe secret is how to die.Drink it....You have nothing to fear....this...I am just blocks from the White House.mausoleumThe Temple Room.The secret is how to die...The Supreme Worshipful Master.They will never know my true purpose here.Throat cut from ear to ear. . . tongue torn out by its root. . . bowels taken out and burned. . . scattered to the

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-27017798344225039622009-09-22T12:40:00.004-04:002009-09-22T13:27:13.357-04:00

So I'm reading The Lost Symbol and by Sunday night had gotten all the way to Chapter 3. (Italics always slow me down!) In that chapter, Robert Langdon receives communications from mentor/father figure/plot device Peter Solomon. What struck me is that Peter Solomon's complete phone number appears in the book, not once but twice. And on facing pages. It's not one of those phony '555' numbers

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-72454730153543970282009-09-18T11:00:00.018-04:002009-09-18T12:00:56.071-04:00

Saturday11:00 am Breaking News: Bestselling Author Sells a Lot of Books!The New York Times, Reuters, Entertainment Weekly, and media organizations around the world are reporting the astonishing news that Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol has sold a lot of copies. TV networks interrupted their regular program schedule with updates on this extraordinary development, and newspapers had to tear

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-19507923281333591322009-09-11T09:35:00.002-04:002009-09-17T20:26:04.290-04:00

Saturday10:00 am Amish AmoreFor those seeking an exciting new reading experience, The Wall Street Journal suggests Amish romance novels as just the thing to get your barn raised and set your butter churning. A panel discussion of the genre reveals that, like other romance novels, these books feature hunky cover models, but dressed less like half-naked pirates and more like the guy on the Quaker

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-5699686377398437662009-09-01T00:01:00.002-04:002009-09-02T22:34:50.634-04:00

I recently caught 3:10 to Yuma, the 2007 remake of Elmore Leonard's short story, featuring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale (the first version came out in 1957 and starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin). In the opening scene of the new version, a family hears noises outside at night, and the wife says, “Maybe it’s the wind.” I'm pretty sure it's the first line in the film.That rang a bell and sent me

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-183434012052404032009-08-28T13:06:00.030-04:002009-09-04T17:39:18.694-04:00

Saturday10:00 am Glenn BeckThe cable news pundit discusses his ongoing problems with sponsors. More than forty companies have pulled their advertising from Beck's Fox News Channel show over his statement that President Barack Obama is a racist. Now he faces similar difficulties with several of his published books. Recently the word "idiots" was removed from the title of Beck's Arguing with Idiots

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-80192611555187044022009-08-25T17:02:00.009-04:002009-08-25T18:10:07.567-04:00

Got a nice shout-out from Douglas Rushkoff in this week's Publishers Weekly. Doug has a thoughtful essay in there called We'll Be Back, about how the current strife in publishing was probably inevitable and may be creating an environment in which a more sustainable industry model can emerge.I worked with Doug when his book Get Back in the Box was published in 2005. His new book is called Life Inc

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-32740514430050557762009-08-21T20:07:00.005-04:002009-08-21T22:53:33.821-04:00

Saturday11:00 am Ate, Prayed, Loved, Then...Elizabeth Gilbert discusses the pressure attendant upon her to deliver a suitable follow-up to her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. This week the New York Times reported that Gilbert completed, then scrapped a 500-page manuscript last year, and that she had since written an entirely different book, Committed, about marriage. Now Gilbert announces

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-85157056706046953902009-08-19T21:31:00.011-04:002009-08-20T10:28:34.558-04:00

I was the publicist on Rick Pitino's book Rebound Rules: The Art of Success 2.0 last year, and I've been thinking about him as I've watched this horrific tabloid story unfold around him.We spent the better part of two days together last fall as Coach Pitino did media interviews in New York City: CBS College Sports Network, Bloomberg TV and radio, "Costas on the Radio," and so on. He struck me as

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-3185844529743926832009-08-17T21:25:00.006-04:002009-08-17T21:44:20.371-04:00

I have a piece in the new issue of Publishers Weekly called Preliminaries, inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing(if you haven't read them, you should).One of Leonard's rules states: “Avoid prologues. They can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword.” Jumping off from there, I try to explain how to tell an introduction from a foreword

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-43619319564344985692009-08-14T11:50:00.003-04:002009-08-14T12:11:01.850-04:00

Saturday11:00 am Do Fictional Death Panels Threaten Fictional Characters?So-called "death panels," which would determine whether the elderly and the infirm are given end-of-life care or sent to the Soylent Green factory, do not appear in any Democratic proposal for health care reform; yet they are widely accepted as fact--a tribute to the special powers of make-believe enjoyed by such masters of

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-39445986045796020652009-08-11T10:20:00.003-04:002009-08-11T10:25:59.997-04:00

The naughty behavior of millions of dogs goes unpunished because there are no newspapers to roll up and rap them on the nose with. Dogs become sassier.Grandparents are no longer able to make newspaper hats for their grandchildren. Intergenerational bonding deteriorates.Customers at traditional fish’n’chips shops have to take away their deep-fried snack in their bare hands because the shops no

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-35889095710784508272009-08-04T11:56:00.006-04:002009-08-04T12:52:38.597-04:00

In the sports section of yesterday's New York Times, Greg Bishop had an article about how Dwight Lowery is bouncing back from a "crisis of confidence" after a difficult rookie season with the New York Jets. The turning point came when Lowery and his girlfriend stopped in a store he describes as "total Zen" in a shopping mall in Santa Cruz, California. "Tucked among the shelves filled with teas,

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-55282078986267846642009-08-03T08:35:00.004-04:002009-08-03T08:50:24.086-04:00

I watched a "Shark Week" documentary on the Discovery Channel last night about a series of shark attacks at the Jersey Shore in 1916. It was more of a docu-drama, really, since it was told in "dramatic reenactments" that combined equal parts blood and cheese. The narrator repeatedly said that these attacks "inspired the movie Jaws." Hey Discovery Channel: just being a stickler here, but I seem

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-63829186771329399922009-07-31T09:00:00.008-04:002009-07-31T10:57:31.050-04:00

Saturday10:00 am Balancing the Bernie BooksPublishing industry experts discuss the glut of books about Bernie Madoff. Three competing books will be published simultaneously in August, and a fourth has been scheduled for next year. The panelists weigh the huge financial risks involved in publishing multiple books about a media-saturated topic, but fail to acknowledge the irony that, even from

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-17149495825593058472009-07-30T12:06:00.005-04:002009-07-30T12:11:46.003-04:00

What if the 'teachable moment' over beers at the White House today is just an elaborate sting operation to get Henry Louis Gates back into custody? He'll walk in looking for a frosty Budweiser and be wrestled to the ground by police officers with flak vests and M-16s. They'll lead him away in handcuffs and the judge won't allow bail because a guy called "Skip" would be considered a flight risk.

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-84181049621399453932009-07-29T16:35:00.004-04:002009-07-29T16:49:56.344-04:00

After reciting Sarah Palin's farewell speech for Conan on the "Tonight Show" last night, William Shatner is probably already lined up to do the audio book of her forthcoming memoir. If not, the publisher is missing a real opportunity. See how he combines the icy verbal high-sticking of the hockey mom with the lipsticky mellifluous drool of the pit bull. Or is it the other way around?

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-75116023971572604382009-07-28T16:57:00.007-04:002009-07-28T17:24:39.382-04:00

Word is that three publishers have moved up their Bernie Madoff books (including one called Madoff with the Money, no joke) to publish in August instead of in the fall as originally scheduled. With those initial books sucking up all the available oxygen, other publishers with Madoff books in the pipeline would be wise to hold off publishing for a while. Like, say, 150 years--that's when Bernie's

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-65374172332118521762009-07-24T00:01:00.006-04:002009-07-24T09:27:03.501-04:00

Saturday10:00 am Big Brother BezosJeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, explains how Amazon was able to delete unauthorized digital copies of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four from thousands of Kindle devices, in much the same way the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's novel eliminated information deemed too subversive for public consumption. In a related case of life imitating art, Bezos reveals that

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-24947772264638418712009-07-23T00:01:00.005-04:002009-07-23T00:01:03.618-04:00

Comic-Con 2009, the huge comic book convention, begins today in San Diego, so the near-simultaneous influx of carnivorous flying giant squid is starting to seem more and more like a publicity stunt. And that's OK--as a book flack, I salute it!In any case, over on Classics Rock! we're celebrating Comic-Con all week with songs based on comic books. We offered a preview last Friday with Deborah

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-25040038154481718072009-07-17T10:45:00.004-04:002009-07-17T21:26:00.868-04:00

Saturday10:00 am Ernest Hemingway BlofeldThe authors of Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America talk about their contention that Ernest Hemingway served as a KGB agent during the 1940s. Recently discovered files show that Soviet recruiters were, in fact, in touch with Hemingway, who first caught their attention with his fondness for shooting things and punching people out. The KGB trained

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-62256188878643096982009-07-14T10:17:00.013-04:002009-07-14T12:44:39.881-04:00

Yesterday I was featured in the the New York Post. I know what you're thinking: "Page Six" caught me clubbing with Leonardo DiCaprio and two stunning mystery females, or getting tattooed with Zooey Deschanel. It's true, I often engage in such activities--that Leo, what a character!--but that's not what this is about. You have to flip several pages past "Page Six" (actually located on page 10, so

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-71924530694719433232009-07-10T00:03:00.001-04:002009-07-10T00:08:06.958-04:00

Saturday11:00 am Sarah PalinDiscussing her decision to resign as governor of Alaska and how it will affect her forthcoming memoir, Palin again demonstrates why she is the most oddly compelling figure to appear on the political landscape since Mayor McCheese. Palin says her book will argue that deciding to terminate instead of going to full term is not a choice that pregnant women should have, but

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-59012124360090319712009-07-09T11:03:00.006-04:002009-07-09T11:15:16.261-04:00

Jack Cashill has a theory that Bill Ayers, the former Weather Underground member, is the actual author of Barack Obama's book Dreams from My Father. The theory is based on supposed similarities between Obama's book and various writings by Ayers. These include overusing the word "power," misquoting Carl Sandburg, and referring to various kinds of eyebrows. You can judge his evidence for yourself,

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-20554992437826221162009-07-07T10:55:00.005-04:002009-07-07T17:26:08.502-04:00

Yesterday I had a chat with a writer for the New York Post who's working on a story about unemployment blogs. I did my best to present myself as a raging self-centered narcissistic egomaniac--'cause, you know, people like that. The piece should run in a couple of weeks in the Post's @Work section. For better or worse, I'll share it with you here.

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-24829372002230132042009-07-03T11:17:00.012-04:002009-07-05T21:36:49.231-04:00

Saturday10:00 am Gov. Mark SanfordGovernor Mark Sanford of South Carolina discusses the newly revised edition of his 2000 book The Trust Committed to Me, now entitled The Tryst Committed by Me. The book has been updated with new material about the governor's unconventional approach to crisis management, a strategy that relies on multiple teary narcissistic public apologies played out over an

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-51196829920693447052009-07-02T11:44:00.005-04:002009-07-02T11:58:31.908-04:00

In honor of the Fourth of July weekend, which starts tomorrow and which I'm panting for, check out this song by Dave Nachmanoff (with an assist from Al Stewart) called The Loyalist, which depicts a ghostly figure who was on the wrong side of the Revolution.If this encounter with a Tory makes your patriotic soul uncomfortable, you can always listen to Paul Revere and the Raiders. Or just open a

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-82341454246813574152009-06-30T17:46:00.017-04:002009-06-30T18:46:17.367-04:00

This whole episode with South Carolina governor Mark Sanford disappearing for days kept ringing a bell for me. I think I finally figured out why.A character in one of the Fletch mysteries by the late Gregory McDonald--the 1983 novel Fletch and the Man Who--engages in similar behavior. Caxton Wheeler, the governor of an unnamed state, is in the middle of a heated campaign to lock up his party's

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-29444145083724334232009-06-25T16:05:00.006-04:002009-07-01T12:00:20.806-04:00

I'm taken with this story from the Book Bench blog at the New Yorker about a guy who wrote a book that will take 1,000 years to read. I hope he's got a good copy editor--he'll feel pretty stupid if, 600 years from now, they find a typo.

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-86171968043761551032009-06-24T19:10:00.006-04:002009-06-24T19:32:09.152-04:00

I have resumed my book flacking activities, part of the time anyway. I'm working on a freelance basis for Planned Television Arts, known as PTA, a division of Ruder Finn. They've been around for years and are one of the leading book publicity firms. I worked with them often when I was on the publishing side of the business, so I knew what I was getting into. They're a great bunch of people and

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-36032622735536408712009-06-19T10:31:00.010-04:002009-07-02T16:51:25.905-04:00

Saturday10:00 am: J.K. RowlingDiscussing the origins of her popular novels, Rowling reveals that the Harry Potter books were inspired by Satan, and that through them she plans to seduce the world's children to witchcraft and sorcery and usher in Armageddon and the thousand-year reign of the Antichrist as foretold in the Book of Revelation. She also discloses that her next book will be about cute

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-21481506613766637822009-06-16T09:39:00.006-04:002009-06-17T20:36:40.875-04:00

Today is Bloomsday, a day to celebrate James Joyce's novel Ulysses and its protagonist, Leopold Bloom. The entire story takes place on June 16th, 1904. Bloomsday is typically celebrated with public readings of the novel and a tremendous amount of drinking.I must have mash-ups on the mind, but I'd like to publish an edition of Ulysses that injects all the monsters and nymphs and sorceresses from

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-42395984040596654122009-06-09T09:26:00.006-04:002009-06-09T10:30:01.170-04:00

Here's how I'm going to make my fortune: I'm writing an unauthorized sequel to John David California's unauthorized sequel to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. My book will turn the Holden Caulfield series into a trilogy! It's what the kids nowadays are calling a mash-up, combining characters from The Catcher in the Rye with plot elements from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I'm calling it

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-22829963483617416002009-06-08T14:32:00.007-04:002009-06-08T14:51:33.444-04:00

I'm pleased to report that the list of Catcher in the Rye-related songs posted on my Classics Rock! site last Friday drew some attention. Gloria McDonough-Taub at CNBC featured it in the Bullish on Books blog on the network's web site, and gave it a shout-out on Twitter as well. Ron Charles at the Washington Post also tweeted about it. And Deirdre Donahue of USA Today posted it on Facebook.I

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-14318296308665212962009-06-05T10:35:00.001-04:002009-07-01T11:42:44.031-04:00

J.D. Salinger has emerged from self-imposed obscurity to sue everyone involved in publishing 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, an unauthorized sequel to his classic The Catcher in the Rye. Can you imagine how that filing reads?"With regard to the following:The book;The author;The author's pseudonym;The agent;The publisher;The editor;The copyeditor;The distributor;The guy who did the cover

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-75464534173022651142009-06-04T11:37:00.010-04:002009-06-04T12:12:49.555-04:00

William Scheckel, who shared a Fox & Friends segment with me a couple of months ago, is working on a book. I don't mean he's squinting at someone else's turgid prose, struggling to get to the end of a chapter before he nods off. I mean he's writing a book of his own.He's done a lot of writing in the course of his marketing career, and much of it has been published--unfortunately, under other

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-15836974028151481272009-06-01T10:30:00.007-04:002009-06-01T10:47:39.103-04:00

Perseus Books pulled off an amazing feat at BEA over the weekend. Last week I posted about their "Book: The Sequel" promotion, in which readers were invited to submit the first line of an imagined sequel to a famous book. The deadline was last Thursday, and over the next 48 hours they edited, designed, and published a collection of the best submissions.Book: The Sequel is available for pre-order

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-41117408179883704612009-05-30T14:13:00.003-04:002009-05-31T22:09:58.280-04:00

Another Publishers Weekly blog post from BookExpo America, which technically went up yesterday evening. . .

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-39329950461691339042009-05-29T16:09:00.005-04:002009-05-31T22:09:26.300-04:00

Here's my first post on the Publishers Weekly blog, live from BookExpo America. Stanley Bing makes a return appearance!

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1837014771693045438.post-88629002240741981452009-05-28T12:08:00.010-04:002009-05-28T17:38:05.431-04:00

So I signed up for Twitter today (@BookFlack). I know, in the last post I said "no way," but that was meant ironically. I thought it would be smart to take the Twitter plunge because BookExpo America (BEA) formally kicks off tomorrow (with some preliminary events taking place today). This is the big publishing industry convention and runs through Sunday at the Javits Center in NYC. The place will

Larry Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11394127529069748000noreply@blogger.com0