Perigee Bookmarks

Happy Holidays!

 
 

 

 

The Agony and Ectasy of the Bookstore

Posted by Jeanette Shaw

 

It's commonly said that publishing is dead during the holiday season, but I must be doing something wrong because I certainly don't find that to be the case. I'm not even in the office this week, but I still can't seem to get away from work. Of course, that might have something to do with all the time I spend in bookstores.

 

As a child, bookstores were magical places full of exciting new stories; I never failed to leave without purchasing at least three new paperbacks. As an editor, I now approach stores with a mix of anticipation and dread. Instead of wondering excitedly if my favorite author has a new book out or hoping to randomly discover some great new series by wandering the shelves, I walk in and immediately scan the front tables for my new titles, worrying that they've been relegated to sitting, spine out, on the bottom shelf of their section, where no one is likely to find them. If I see a similar title from another publisher on prominent display, I get righteously outraged on my author's behalf. If I see multiple copies of one of my books spine out on a shelf, I casually turn them face out, all the better to catch the customer's eye. And if I don't see one of my books in the store at all, I seethe so intensely I'm surprised the other customers don't notice the smoke coming out my ears. Basically, going to a bookstore has become a more stressful experience than I ever imagined on that long ago day when I said, "Mom, I want to make books when I grow up."

 

But that's all the more reason to be an editor, and to stick with publishing even when it's hard and the doomsayers are ringing the death knell. Editors should be passionate about their books and their authors. And for all the stress and heartache when books don't sell, there's also that happy occasion every so often when I'm in a bookstore and realize that the person next to me has one of my author's titles in their hands, headed to the cashwrap. And then I think about the books that I buy, and hope that one day the editor or author is standing next to me when I go to ring up my purchase, so that they can have that same feeling of accomplishment, of knowing that you've reached at least one more person. So as I haunt the stores this holiday season, that's the feeling I'll be hoping for.

 

 

Unleashing Your Inner Great Gal

Posted by Maria Gagliano

If you'd have told me when I was nineteen that I'd one day work on a book with Ani DiFranco and Lucille Ball on the cover, I wouldn't have believed you. It would have just sounded way too cool. I was in love with both ladies growing up, and even though they couldn't be more different, they are (were) both driven by a daring spunk that helped them reach unbelievable heights as artists. The same can be said for Cyndi Lauper, Betsey Johnson, and Joan Jett—all role models of mine growing up, each more fearless and kick-ass than the next.

So you could imagine my glee when I started working on Summer Pierre's Great Gals with fellow editor Meg Leder. Yes, Ani and Lucille are both on the cover, but there’s so much more between the pages (including my other aforementioned heroes).

Much like The Artist in the Office, Summer’s first book, Great Gals is loaded with inspiring prompts, quotes, and ideas to help readers create their own great life. But at the book’s core are profiles of dozens of amazing women throughout history—from Emily Dickinson and Alice Walker to Frida Kahlo and Julia Child. Brief bios show us just how real these ladies were. They made mistakes, were constantly rejected, got late starts, defied all odds, and never took ‘no’ for an answer. And because of that, they were able to do it all.

At the risk of sounding corny, I’m going to share a secret: I printed out the first page of Great Gals and taped it to my office wall. I read it whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed, uninspired, and ready to quit. It recharges my spirits every time. I also read it each morning, and it never fails to punctuate every part of my day.

I decided to share that brief burst of inspiration with you here. Feel free to print it out and post it on your own wall, if you’re so inclined. At the end of a long, busy year, it may provide just the oomph you need to launch into a kick-ass 2011.

     Great Gals

People Who Deserve It, Winter Edition

Posted by Casey Rand and Tim Gordon

Snow is falling, people are cranky, and we can’t feel our legs. You know what that means: awards season! And what better way to celebrate than with our own roundup of people who deserve it in the most depressing months of the year. And the winners are…

 

Barricade Snow Plow

Living in North America grooms us for the good life. Malaria? Nuh uh. Famine? No way. Ukranian nurse mistresses? Ok, maybe. But, being spoiled rotten has its downsides. Like when the guy who gets paid to remove the five new snowflakes from our golden-paved streets collects them all with his giant scooping machine and magically creates a 12 foot wall of cloud dandruff at the end of our eight-car driveway. Really, Barricade Snow Plow? Don’t you know we have last minute shopping to do at the diamond-encrusted foie gras outlet? How are we going to get the Ke$ha Collector’s Edition Hummer out now? Better reposition your mountain of freeze fluff or you’re the one who’s gonna get the plowing. And not in the tasteful, Youporn kind of way.

 

Tropical Apartment Roommate

Winter is a romantic time - snow falling, fires blazing, expensive sweaters unraveling at first snag on that stupid banister we’ve asked you to fix a thousand times! Bygones. Point is, cold weather is a great excuse to get cozy and consume otherwise unbearable alcoholic drinks. But not for Tropical Apartment Roommate. No, this hot-blooded energy suck is so hell bent on denying the existence of an entire season, he prefers to turn the whole place into a Sub-Saharan desert and parade around in his Joe Boxcar Hawaiian thong. Ninety-six degrees and a mini-stroke later, you’re up to your nipples in heating bills and alarmed at your increasing cravings for stone crabs. So listen up, TAR, either turn down the thermostat, or risk us sending your face on a real safari.

 

First-Sign-Of-Snow Turtle Driver

So, Tom Messner’s calling for snow. In most of this great country, that means a 1.5 inch dusting of something vaguely resembling winter precipitation that will subsequently send hoards of people into a paralyzing spiral of fear, reducing the average road speed to -26 MPH and creating a traffic jam tighter than a corseted pickle jar. What’s going on Turtle Driver? Does the wintry mix make you nervous? Are the falling flakes of cloud poop too beautiful to focus on the task at hand? Because we’re pretty sure there’s no reason for you to be driving at the speed of an armless man trying to start the wave. Put the petal to the metal FSOSTD, because if we’re late for polar bear club one more time, it’ll be your skins we use as a rug.

 

“It’s Not Cold Out” Guy

Currently, it’s -12 degrees Fahrenheit outside with a wind-chill brutal enough to turn a penguin’s genitals to ice cubes. But looking at It’s Not Cold Out Here Guy, you’d think Minnesota was Satan's Heat Blanket.  Honestly buddy, crossing the arctic tundra in cargo shorts and a sleeveless cardigan doesn’t make you look tough. It makes you look like someone who wasn't loved as a child and is in need of a polar bear hug in the face.

 

 Slush

Are you snow? Are you rain? Make up your mind, Slush. Because we just put our foot in a pool of ice water under the assumption it was solid enough to hold our fur-lined Crocks (the Croc knock-offs made from real crocodile stomachs). Next time you assault our footwear with more ice water than the North Atlantic, we’re going to treat you like Titanic and blah, blah, blah. We all know it doesn’t end well.

 

Snow Man Michelangelo

We love snowmen. You just roll up a bunch of white stuff; throw some coal in for eyes and a carrot as accoutrement, and voila, you’re done. You can retire to your abode and revel in a job well done.  Well, not if you have a Snow Man Michelangelo on your block. That’s right, this smug Renaissance man makes everyone else’s snow sculpture look like a cross between a piece of crap and a piece of crap.  Art is really the only way to reach SMM, so the next time this tortured soul is suffering for his craft, introduce him to the avant garde beauty of a rock-filled yellow snowball.  Magnifique!

 

 

People Who Deserve It

The Magic of Turkish Delight

Posted by Meg Leder

When I was a kid, I loved to read. I’d stay up late and tear through books, and then spend the next day pretending to be my favorite characters. I imagined my life on the prairie like the Ingalls. I daydreamed about meeting my own Gilbert Blythe, just like Anne Shirley. And to this day, I feel wistful when I open new closets, a part of me still wishing that Narnia and Mr. Tumnus really were on the other side.

While I’m an avid reader today, I’ve lost some of the magic of those early reading experiences—of new worlds opening in such real and immediate ways. I want that magic back.

In Turkish Delight & Treasure Hunts, Jane Brocket has given readers a way to revisit the footsteps of their favorite childhood heroes. A collection of recipes and activities from classic children’s books, the book is so vivid and loving and charming and excited, you know from page one that Jane Brocket is clearly a book-kindred spirit.

Not only is the tone companionable, but while I was editing the book, something magic happened: the characters I loved so much as a child began to stir to life again.

The activity that totally warmed my heart: Making Sugar on Snow, like Laura and Mary Ingalls do in Little House in the Big Woods. I remember reading about that when I was a kid and thinking, Candy from snow? SIGN ME UP! And while it took me more than twenty years, I now know how to do it (and am eagerly waiting for the first big snow in Brooklyn).

Since I’ve read Jane’s book, I’ve also been re-enjoying dark and stormy nights, like Madeline L’Engle’s Murry family. I’ve practiced learning my favorite poem by heart, like Anne Shirley. And I’m gearing up to make some Turkish Delight (There’s rosewater in it!).

To put it simply, Turkish Delight and Treasure Hunts reminds me of all the books I loved as a child, and brings them to life so keenly, it’s like I’m reading them for the first time all over again. The experience is nothing short of magic.

 

Turkish Delight and Treasure Hunts

Publishing: A Faery Tale

Posted by Marian Lizzi

One of my favorite projects this year has been Signe Pike’s memoir Faery Tale, which came out last month. Signe is a former colleague of ours here at the Penguin Group; she was an editor at Plume before running off in search of the magical faeries (or fairies) she loved reading about as a child, and to write about the experience. The result is an inspiring, charming, and heartfelt account of a skeptic’s search for something to believe in again.

Signe joins an esteemed line of editors-turned-authors: Michael Korda, Judith Jones, Amy Scheibe, Jason Pinter, Riverhead’s Jake Morrissey…. you get the idea. As authors go, there is no one more delightful to edit than a fellow editor. It’s the publishing equivalent of dating yourself. Don’t think about that too much.

Editing Faery Tale opened my eyes to the magical creatures that just might be buzzing all around us. You know – the ones that seem to hold the elevator door when you’re running late for a lunch, or that turn on an approaching taxi light when you’re late for a drinks date (can you tell I’m chronologically challenged?)

With Signe’s delightful book on the brain, I thought I’d take a moment to list a few faeries that I now strongly suspect are making mischief in the offices of book editors around town. Let’s meet a few:

• Editorial-meeting fairy:  Moves the clock ahead two hours so that you’ve suddenly been droning on about proposals you’re not really going to offer on anyway…and now you’re late for lunch--again.

• Email fairy:  Deletes, disguises, or otherwise hides that one email you’re sure you saved somewhere. (See also: the fairy who sneaks into your inbox at night and sends you a 10MB proposal that puts you over the storage limit--again. Thanks, little buddy!)

• Take-shelf fairy:  Snaps up that bestseller you were hoping to find up for grabs. Leaves in its place a copy of Working with Difficult People, which most of us could use but everyone’s too embarrassed to pick up. It sits there for three months until a kind soul carts it away for charity.

• First-time-author-with-just-one-more-question fairy:  Self-explanatory.

• Typo fairy:  Sneaks two little transposed letters onto that jacket that everyone on earth proofread six times. In extreme cases, the two letters happen to be in the author’s name. Let’s move on.

• Bookscan fairy:  Mysteriously doubles (or halves) your sales figures. Tears of joy or horror ensue.

• Slush fairy:  Drops exactly one undiscovered gem of a bestseller into your life, amid thousands and thousands of unsolicited submissions. The question is:  Which one is it?

Good times, little friends! Frolic on.

 

 Faery Tale