Hello, I have finished reading Oil by Upton Sinclair. I will be taking some time to take notes so I can write a review of this very complex novel. There is still a lot that is very relevant in this book to todays world. In fact, I feel in some ways, it is a novel written before its time.
Right now, I am relaxing a bit. I looked at a few sites from blogcatalog. I went through and looked at library related blogs. There wasn't that much that was very interesting. I looked at both recommended blogs on the American Booksellers Association site and the American Library Association site. Only a few seemed interesting. American Library Association recommended http://www.bookslut.com/blog which is fairly entertaining, but can be a little raunchy at times. After looking at the American Booksellers Association blog, I only found one blog which they linked to which was very interesting; Vroman's books, the largest and oldest independent bookstore in Southern California http://vromansbookstore.blogspot.com/
It was interesting looking at these sites. I am not sure that it really made any difference. I am still looking around at professional blogs. There is one for Infotoday which covers their conferences. It is actually kind of interesting to read conference blogs because there is always something interesting to point out. The point of conferences is to entertain the attendees in addition to whatever professional activities go on. The Infotoday Blog covers four conferences over several years, Computers In Libraries, SLA-- Special Library Associatin Conference, Internet Librarian, and Online Information in London. http://www.infotodayblog.com/
I am not sure this does anything for my regular readers who are interested in my thoughts on books. There is a classic statement that "You don't want to sell anyone else's products. Direct people to things in your store." I think it applies to websites as well.
I was at the supermarket shopping for a little bit to get groceries. Something to remember is that 60% of books are no longer sold in bookstores. There is a small section for adult books at teh supermarket. It is mainly bestselling thrillers and romance books. Authors like Dan Brown and Jeffrey Archer who can entice a person to buy on impulse. The romances have your typical Fabio Lanzoni covers. Fabio was supposedly the first man to write a romance novel not under a pseudonym. I think of him as a romantic version of the cartoon character He-Man. I find him to be quite funny. If I go to the drugstore Walgreens near my house, the book selection is no different.
What really surprised me during the visit to the supermarket is that they were selling a few paperback reference items, the Merck Manual, the Oxford Essential Dictionary, and a Net Carb Counter. The Merck Manual was the most surprising item. I guess people are becoming a little more conscious about their health. Of course because this is superbowl time, there was also a glossy magazine on the superbowl.
The magazine selection was no different than you might find in Harpell's drug store. It had your typical titles like Forbes, Playstation, Wired, Nascar 2008, Bride, Cosmopolitan, along with a mix of crossword puzzle books and now sudoku books.
Next to the baby food section there was a selection of little golden books. I actually like a lot of the little golden books, there are condensed versions of Richard Scarry and Thomas the Tank Engine which are really quite nice. Unfortunately almost all of the Little Golden Books were disney items like Aladdin, the Jungle Book, Home on the Range, and other childrens movie tie ins.
There was a small section of childrens books not far from the Little Golden Books rack. These mainly consisted of popular authors and movie tie ins as well. There were Shrek children's books, The Spiderwick Chronicles-- a soon to be movie which looks like it will be spin off of the string of preteen fantasy movies that are coming out; The Chronicles of Narnia, The Golden Compass, and Harry Potter. Also the redwall books by Brian Jacques were being sold. I think they are going to make these into a movie as well.
Among the drek were a few decent board books. I rather like Eric Carle and Margaret Wise Brown. But, for the most part everything was a commercial designed to encourage you to buy or see another commercial product.
As you came up to the front checkout counter, there were some magazine racks with Better Homes and Gardens, Cosmopolitan, the National Enquirer, and a few other cheap newspapers.
It is increasingly hard to get the Weekly World News at the supermarket or even at the local corner stores. The corner store is Pakistani and they say they won't carry it because it repeatedly insults muslims and they won't carry it. The Korean news store which is not far off says the same thing. The Korean store claims it is stupid, obnoxious, and racist. I can't get it at 7-11 either for the same reason.
I can get it at the Walgreens. They don't seem to pay attention to that kind of thing. The Weekly World News is basically the paper which claims things like Aliens abducted Elvis, and Batboy is Hunting for Osama Bin Laden. I admit I read it sometimes for a laugh. It is dumb. It is also not politically correct.
Showing posts with label professional blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label professional blogs. Show all posts
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Blog2Print, Morning Thoughts
Hello, I was looking at various sites last night. I decided I wanted to start posting and looking at sites that are part of the corporate world. Mostly, I have been focused on personal blogs. But, last night, I went ahead and decided I should probably start posting to and looking at "professional" blogs in the publishing and library world. I've always been nervous about this. I am not sure what effect this will have on my site.
I was at Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog and found a couple of interesting things. http://www.jwikert.typepad.com/ . The first thing I noticed were two services that turned blogs into books. The first was http://www.blog2print.com/ a service that for a fixed commission you can turn your blog into a book which people can purchase. It is a very interesting idea. There was also something called http://www.blurb.com/home/1/ which turns your blog into a book for a fee. It sounds kind of interesting, so because I like to experiment, I put blog2print on my website.
I found Joe Wikert's Publishing Blog 2020 by looking at the Really Strategies Blog. Really Strategies was one of the firms which sponsored the Publishers Reception for the Information Industry Summit. http://blog.reallysi.com/ . I often like to hop from recommended site to recommended site. There is a very different feel between corporate sites and personal sites.
Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog reminds me of Kimbooktu http://kimbooktu.wordpress.com/ . Both of the blogs are focused on book technology. Kimbooktu is more focused on physical book technology, but I still feel there are some real similarities between the two blogs.
I also am starting to look at some of the more prestigious blogs. I posted on http://www.blog.oup.com/ for a first time. For a while I was afraid, I might be thought of as ridiculous. But, it was an interesting experience.
One of the few things which professional blogs have an advantage over smaller personal blogs is that they can requst interviews with authors to be included in their sites. I can of course go get some interview from youtube to post on my site, but it is not the same as reading a transcript of an interview on a blog which is supposed to be authentic. It is not that easy for me to get a major author to committ to having an interview put on a small personal blog. There is usually an honorarium requested for this kind of thing. This is one of the few advantages I can see right now for publishing blogs.
This afternoon I returned Debt Is Slavery to my local library. There was nothing which I wanted to check out during this visit. There were a few titles which I had read earlier which might have been interesting, but, I would prefer to write a review from a fresh perspective.
The walk to my branch was pleasant. It was quiet. There were very few cars on the street. The weather was clear, crisp and cold. The only thing of interest was a spindly tree limb wich had fallen on the sidewalk.
I was at Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog and found a couple of interesting things. http://www.jwikert.typepad.com/ . The first thing I noticed were two services that turned blogs into books. The first was http://www.blog2print.com/ a service that for a fixed commission you can turn your blog into a book which people can purchase. It is a very interesting idea. There was also something called http://www.blurb.com/home/1/ which turns your blog into a book for a fee. It sounds kind of interesting, so because I like to experiment, I put blog2print on my website.
I found Joe Wikert's Publishing Blog 2020 by looking at the Really Strategies Blog. Really Strategies was one of the firms which sponsored the Publishers Reception for the Information Industry Summit. http://blog.reallysi.com/ . I often like to hop from recommended site to recommended site. There is a very different feel between corporate sites and personal sites.
Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog reminds me of Kimbooktu http://kimbooktu.wordpress.com/ . Both of the blogs are focused on book technology. Kimbooktu is more focused on physical book technology, but I still feel there are some real similarities between the two blogs.
I also am starting to look at some of the more prestigious blogs. I posted on http://www.blog.oup.com/ for a first time. For a while I was afraid, I might be thought of as ridiculous. But, it was an interesting experience.
One of the few things which professional blogs have an advantage over smaller personal blogs is that they can requst interviews with authors to be included in their sites. I can of course go get some interview from youtube to post on my site, but it is not the same as reading a transcript of an interview on a blog which is supposed to be authentic. It is not that easy for me to get a major author to committ to having an interview put on a small personal blog. There is usually an honorarium requested for this kind of thing. This is one of the few advantages I can see right now for publishing blogs.
This afternoon I returned Debt Is Slavery to my local library. There was nothing which I wanted to check out during this visit. There were a few titles which I had read earlier which might have been interesting, but, I would prefer to write a review from a fresh perspective.
The walk to my branch was pleasant. It was quiet. There were very few cars on the street. The weather was clear, crisp and cold. The only thing of interest was a spindly tree limb wich had fallen on the sidewalk.
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