Here’s the best metaphor I can think of for what it’s like to publish a book: It’s like trying to do a craft project on a rollercoaster — you’re scared, the wind’s in your face, the adrenaline is flowing, and at some point you change from being a perfectionist to […]
1. Don’t post when I have nothing to say 2. Don’t post when it makes me feel less human
It’s easy to say numbers don’t matter — but how do you communicate that to a client? Up front, find out what your client is really looking for. Is it more likes? Then definitely use the tools and methods that will get you there. But if your client is really […]
This year, I reviewed not one but two books for BookPage in which technology advances allow the characters to scienfically know if they’re soulmates. (The other was Crosstalk.) Is this part of the zeitgeist now or something? Anyway, I liked The Future for Curious People; I don’t think we were […]
I’ve spent the last few months writing a book! I’m very excited about it, but I’ll need some funding to make it a reality (to pay a designer and editor and to get the book printed). Want to help? Click here to check out my video and donate to The […]
“I’m a 34-year-old man with a house full of puppets,” Jason Segel said to me and a huge group of children’s booksellers at the BEA breakfast this morning, “so it occurred to me that I might feel at home in a room full of people who love children’s books.” Jason […]
This morning, I had breakfast with Neil Patrick Harris. Well, kind of. Really I sat in the back of a BEA conference room sipping coffee and eating a protein bar while Neil stood on stage talking about his new biography, but I’m counting it. Neil, unsurprisingly, was brilliant. And even […]
What’s better than a trip to New York? A trip to New York that includes author sightings, book nerdery, and lots of free books — so I’m packing my bags next week and leaving Alabama for BEA, the biggest book conference in the U.S. I’ve been to Book Expo […]
Inside sources are reporting that Facebook plans to throttle page views for businesses even more than they already do, effectively choking off any organic search your business (or blog, or possibly organization) page hopes to have. If you want page views, you’ll have to pay for them, the plan goes. […]
Regular readers of this blog are probably mad at me — and for good reason. We went on an unplanned hiatus for the past month: no posts went up, no books were reviewed, and no mention was made of where we went. Readers noticed and let us know through comments […]
Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American writer and scholar of religions. He is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside, a Research Associate at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, and a contributing editor for The Daily Beast. His latest book, Zealot, offers an alternative […]