Disqus - Latest Comments for marcbolano

Re: The Book Club Hustle - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:56:36 -0000

That last paragraph makes it sound vaguely sinister, but 99 times out of 100 I'd rather see a 250 page manuscript over one at 460, regardless of its book club aspirations. Most stories simply don't warrant 460 pages.

Re: John Edwards' Aide Pitches Publishers - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:39:19 -0000

I would love to meet an editor willing to pay a million to the former aide of a guy most people stopped caring about post-November 04.

The scandal is ugly and sad, and while the "We would have brought his campaign down to save the Democratic party" angle is bizarre enough to be mildly interesting, who cares enough about it to buy a book?

Re: Christian Group Urges Burning of Francesca Lia Block Book - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:31:02 -0000

Whoever came up with the name "Christian Civil Liberties Union" deserves a "double-plus good" for their efforts. Burn those books, liberty lovers!

Re: Sherman Alexie Versus Amazon - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:13:57 -0000

"I wanted to punch [a Kindle reader] in the face" was a stupidly inflammatory thing to say, and he deserved to be called out for it. Are you going to start punching iPod users in the face too? This woman cares enough about reading books to invest in a Kindle--and clearly plans to buy enough e-books to make it worthwhile financially--and you want to punch her?

Granted, the Times didn't report on everything else he said, so maybe he did ask some "serious, tough questions"--but then he should've been savvy enough to know that one dim, loudmouth crack would overshadow the rest of his message.

Re: Salinger Suit Spooks Distributor - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:04:43 -0000

The distributor's "Geez, why's Salinger being so mean about this?" defense is adorable.

Re: Non-Reader Kanye West Publishes - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:10:49 -0000

"Blog-baiting" sums it up. Deep breaths, everyone: provocateurs provoke.

Re: Ron Rosenbaum Attacks Anonymous Web Commenters - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:36:26 -0000

@LaraD: It's dangerous to assume that anonymous bile shows our "true unvarnished nature"--the internet, and particularly comment sections, can be a rough and tumble space, and commenting names allow us to disengage from ourselves and prepare for battle via wit/lack thereof.

Marc Bolano isn't me, isn't some unvarnished version of me--he's a character created to best navigate this particular space.

(Oh, and Rosenbaum is trying to fight a bee swarm with a switchblade. It doesn't take guts to fight bile with bile, especially when nothing can be accomplished with it. You aren't going to 'fix' the internet via shame, guy. Accept it or STFU.)

Re: Kindle Ownership an Unreliable Marker of Literary Self-Importance - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:41:33 -0000

Cliff notes: NY Times did a frothy piece on the Kindle. In it, Sara Nelson made a snotty comment. Galleycat found it not only snotty but also wrong, and steam came out of his ears. Turns out no one cares about the Times piece. The end.

Re: Garry Trudeau Mocks Journalists on Twitter - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:37:32 -0000

Usually I find Twitter-bashers sanctimonious and out-of-touch, but that criticism's spot-on. @davidgregory, ask @KingAdbullah abt his thoughts on paula v kara!

Re: Quirk-y Assignment Lands Author a Two-Book Deal - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:54:09 -0000

Seems like Quirk got excited about an impending hit and overplayed their hand--embargoes make sense for Bob Woodward or Sy Hersh, not a hasty (if clever) repurposing of a classic novel. (Braaaains, braaaains, we'll eat your brains if you post before pub date...)

Still, hard to argue with hitting #3 in your first week out.

Re: Amazon Customers Boycotting eBooks over $9.99 - GalleyCat

marcbolano — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:44:18 -0000

The actual, physical cost of producing a book is around $1.50. It's all of the other overhead that drives the pricepoint, and so eliminating the buck and a half doesn't really change anything.

The AAP should be getting out in front of this issue now, explaining the pricing issue more clearly, but they won't, and public perception will continue to harden against publishers...

Re: GalleyCat Readers Debate Kindle 2's Text-To-Speech Function - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:45:49 -0000

Unless the audio book is being read by Mischa Barton, the TTS robot voice is not comparable. Are you going to prop your Kindle up in the front seat of your car for 7 hours of robo-Grisham?

I can hardly imagine those using the TTS feature (i.e. the visually impaired) are cackling and rubbing their hands together over the steal of the century.

Re: First Twitter Hardcover Published - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:35:06 -0000

On a similar note, I've abandoned my annoyingly efficient mp3 blog and started pressing each song onto 7-inch vinyl, then mailing them out to my readers via the Pony Express.

Re: Audrey Niffenegger Sells Her Next Book for $4.8 Million - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:12:18 -0000

Just US rights, actually. It's Knopf in Canada.

/nitpick

Re: Richard Nash To Leave Soft Skull and Counterpoint - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:20:26 -0000

Hard to separate Richard from the idea of Soft Skull and still have that brand mean much. Good man.

Re: Danielle Steel To Release 71 Digital Books - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:42:10 -0000

What the article failed to note was that more than half of the 71 titles have yet to be written, but Steel will do so in the next 2-3 months.

Re: Expert Wonders If HarperCollins Layoffs Were "Personal" - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

marcbolano — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:53:03 -0000

I thought it was spiteful when they made her watch as Michael Morrison set fire to her company Maserati, but this? This would just be over-the-top.