jefishman

Very interesting insight on the future of books. S...

2011-02-27T12:32:29.151-05:00

Very interesting insight on the future of books. Seth Godin is doing interesting things in that domain. Like the music industry things are going need to change in the book "world"

In life as in writing, there is always a second ch...

2011-02-25T04:21:56.937-05:00

In life as in writing, there is always a second chance. Thank you Mr. Fishman!

You got it. Get writing.

2010-12-06T13:56:53.266-05:00

You got it. Get writing.

You've summed up my current dilemma succintly....

2010-12-04T21:58:19.054-05:00

You've summed up my current dilemma succintly. Thank you for the hope at the end of the tunnel. All is not lost if I make the 'wrong' choice.

This is an interesting and well-written piece, Joe...

2010-09-22T20:02:08.767-04:00

This is an interesting and well-written piece, Joel. It highlights the many different perspectives on the rapidly changing publishing industry. It will be interesting to see where things stand in a year's time.

I live my kindle...but not more than my regulat bo...

2010-06-12T17:05:31.042-04:00

I live my kindle...but not more than my regulat books. I primarily use my kindle to read classics or try new authors. My favorites I always buy the book.

Ironically, a day after posting this I wrote an es...

2010-05-19T09:31:37.684-04:00

Ironically, a day after posting this I wrote an essay for The Nervous Breakdown that received more comments than I've ever had before. Very few of them were meretricious or jejune. Most, in fact, were intelligent. So do I take it back? Nah.

Violet: Gouache. Nice! Extend the metaphor. Sim...

2010-04-29T10:40:13.623-04:00

Violet: Gouache. Nice! Extend the metaphor.

Simon: Yes. It's a matter of awareness of structure, really, and what that does for you. I think structure frees the characters, which sounds counterintuitive until one tries it.

I like the awareness of having an outline but know...

2010-04-29T02:03:34.713-04:00

I like the awareness of having an outline but knowing that it's a guideline, not an edict - if character or a stream of narrative wants to move the story in a different direction, well, that's the way to go.

So, gouache?

2010-04-28T16:30:37.995-04:00

So, gouache?

Pretty hard to change the world if no one is readi...

2010-03-18T14:39:24.429-04:00

Pretty hard to change the world if no one is reading, that's for sure. I'll do a post one of these days on the commercial ambitions of Joseph Conrad. The guy wasn't trying to write literature. He just couldn't help it!

Yep, I agree and I'm a woman- women probably b...

2010-03-18T13:20:33.454-04:00

Yep, I agree and I'm a woman- women probably buy more books than men anyway. I know so many writers who are just trying to get any attention. Women's lit might get referred to the husband/boyfriend and in the end it's how big your audience is.

Thanks, Charles. Love your blog. I've added ...

2010-03-11T08:37:00.862-05:00

Thanks, Charles. Love your blog. I've added it to my blog roll.

Hey, Joel. John Hubner (is that you above, John?) ...

2010-03-10T18:48:43.148-05:00

Hey, Joel. John Hubner (is that you above, John?) sent me here. Good to see what you're up to. I'm blogging, too. I have one called Bookishness (charlesmatthews.blogspot.com) and one about reading Proust (proustproject.blogspot.com) and a pretty much moribund one based on the Oscar book (oscaratoz.blogspot.com}. The last turned out to be too damn much work, especially the second time around!
Good luck!

It's as if book publishers and video game desi...

2010-03-10T15:23:50.907-05:00

It's as if book publishers and video game designers have returned to the caves. By that I mean the caves in Spain and France with the world's most vibrant animals painted on the walls. Anthropologists believe they are stage sets for shaman, who told stories of the hunt. Man is, most fundamentally, a story telling animal. Joel Fishman understands that, as this post shows. It is also evident in 'Cadaver Blues,' a thriller he updates weekly on 'The Nervous Breakdown.' The protagonist is Phu Goldberg, a debt consolidation expert with an anger problem. How's that for a Marlowe for an ever-changing America?

I don't know if all people are unreliable, but...

2010-03-08T13:31:11.444-05:00

I don't know if all people are unreliable, but but I agree that we're all unreliable narrators, and often unintentionally. We all have our own point of view. Besides, reliable people rarely make good characters (or narrators). As Tolstoy suggested (in different words), unreliable people are interesting because they're all unreliable in different ways.

I know exactly what you're talking about as I ...

2010-03-05T14:42:23.961-05:00

I know exactly what you're talking about as I was frequently accused (I use that word on purpose) of having an "unreliable" narrator.

Who cares about that? It is noted as if it is a bad thing! I like unreliable narrators; we are all unreliable narrators. To be entirely reliable in narration is not even possible, I think.

Good point! Schools are not buying any textbooks ...

2010-03-02T20:06:56.720-05:00

Good point! Schools are not buying any textbooks in this economy!

I like it. Certainly, it's no less rational t...

2010-03-02T12:18:06.240-05:00

I like it. Certainly, it's no less rational than half the pricing schemes out there.

I propose a pricing system inverse to how much the...

2010-03-01T17:23:58.306-05:00

I propose a pricing system inverse to how much the book enriches my life. Say, a dollar for Ulysses, and 100 dollars for The Pelican Brief. Most books would fall somewhere in between. Want to spend less on a book? You'll have to try meeting the author in the middle. Want to be spoon fed? That will cost you.

cool~..................................................