Roy Miller's Blog, page 192

New Picture Books for Young Vehicle Lovers

This content was originally published by JAMES STURM on 12 May 2017 | 4:53 pm.
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I pause here to note: It’s puzzling that the characters in the above books, with the exception of some of the trucks in “Mighty, Mighty Construction Site,” are all male. The themes of striving and achieving are as gender neutral as the vehicles themselves. If children’s book publishers and authors are ever going to embrace the gender-neutral pronoun “they,” perhaps stories like these would be a good place to start.

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From “All Kinds of Cars.”

Dispensing with plot and pronouns, but not personality, Carl Johanson’s All Kinds of Cars (Flying Eye, $16.95; ages 3 to 7) is presented as a pictorial dictionary. Flat colorful shapes playfully combine to depict the carefully observed (small dump truck, small loading shovel, snowmobile) and the completely imagined (castle car, chewing-gum car, crystal car). The simple but cleverly rendered vehicles are likely to inspire children to grab some markers and get in on the fun. Exquisite design and seductive production values make picking this book up a no-brainer. Where to put it down — on your child’s night stand or a living room coffee table — will present the bigger problem.

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Recycler: From “Gus’s Garage.”

Gus the pig, the good-natured star of Leo Timmers’s Gus’s Garage (Gecko, $16.99; ages 3 to 8) also knows his cars and, as his ever-present smile attests, delights in inventing new ones. When a penguin overheats or a hare needs a turb charge they turn to Gus, who customizes their vehicles using the pile of “bits and bobs” heaped alongside his shop. Each page spread presents the garage from the same vantage point, and this well-crafted stage set allows the reader to track the refuse pile’s dwindling inventory. By the end of the book only a little tree stands where the pile once stood. The tree provides a home for an odd assortment of birds, proving once again that everything can be made useful. This is an amusing book to reread, since even the smallest details are assigned a narrative purpose. Clearly, one animal’s clutter is another pig’s livelihood in this buoyant, rhyming tale.

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From recycling to cycling, Allan Drummond’s Pedal Power (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $17.99; ages 4 to 8) is a timely political story told with a soft touch. In the 1970s, congested roads in Amsterdam were becoming increasingly dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. Young moms like Maartje Rutten began to speak out and stage family-friendly demonstrations that included parties held in the middle of the street and hand-holding singalongs. Though these events were catnip to the local news media, it wasn’t until a little girl was killed while cycling that the movement gained traction. As fuel prices skyrocketed amid a global energy crisis, drivers joined the cyclists in demanding change and together they transformed Amsterdam into the “bicycle capital of the world.”

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From “Pedal Power.”

Drummond’s line work and coloring is loose and breezy and serves as a fitting counterpoint to the informative text. I especially liked that the police are not depicted as villainous and retain their humanity even as they confront the protesters. This book is a celebration of both cycling and political activism, and in these turbulent times it’s inspiring to know that when the righteously motivated collectively march, shout, sing and pedal, the powers that be eventually yield.

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Though social change is usually a story of fits and starts, a more leisurely paced journey awaits readers in the pages of Vanina Starkoff’s Along the River (Groundwood/House of Anansi, $17.95; ages 4 to 8). Open, the book’s long, narrow pages become the river itself. Drifting along, painted in succulent color and loving detail, are all manner of boats abundantly stocked with food, music and celebrations. Born in Argentina and now living in Brazil, Starkoff creates a vivid tapestry of life that reminds us that the spirit in which you travel is more important than where you go.

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Steer your own course: From “Along the River.”

In one wry juxtaposition the text gently implores the reader to “search for … your own way” while “continuing to steer your own course.” The accompanying illustration suggests otherwise: A man, eyes closed, is contentedly lying out on a longboat stacked with watermelons, while a dog naps on his chest. A flock of birds hitch a ride and a school of fish swim along. Whereas the construction trucks are all ambition and drive, this stunningly beautiful book presents a refreshingly new sensibility: Willpower alone can only get you so far; sometimes it’s best to go with the flow.

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From “Trains Don’t Sleep.”

The murmur of a lazy river may calm one’s nerves, but the distant sound of “wheels on steel” has always been an invitation to wonder. Where has that train been? Where is it going? Moving from dark forest to frozen tundra, from sleepy village to congested metropolis, Andria Rosenbaum and Deirdre Gill’s Trains Don’t Sleep (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99; ages 4 to 7) covers a lot of ground. Though never explicitly stated, the book is also a dreamy journey back in time to the golden age of rail travel, when circus trains packed with bears, elephants and tigers would “sweep by sheep,” and interstate highways had yet to be built. The illustrated glossary will help young train enthusiasts learn the difference between a flat car and a stock car, but it’s the book’s painted double-page spreads — at once monumental and ethereal — that are truly transporting.

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Two Milestones Celebrated at The New England Book Show

This content was originally published by on 11 May 2017 | 4:00 am.
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The New England Book Show and Bookbuilders of Boston celebrated two anniversaries and honored Tom Plain, v-p of King Printing Company, with the W.A. Dwiggins Award at Boston’s Symphony Hall.


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How to Launch Your Blog With Your Book in Mind

This content was originally published by Guest Column on 12 May 2017 | 4:00 pm.
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When I started my blog nearly 7 years ago I secretly harbored dreams of writing for magazines and publishing books, but I didn’t have a single byline. What I did have was some free time and access to online WordPress tutorials. Thus my blog was born.

Starting that blog was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Blogging helped me hone my voice and connected me to a community of readers. But, oh, if I could start over knowing that many of my far-fetched writing dreams would come true, I sure would do a few things differently.

If you’re starting a blog with dreams of writing a book some day, don’t make the same mistakes I did. Launch your blog with your book in mind.

This guest post is by Kim Dinan. Dinan is an author and adventurer. Her writing has appeared in Parks and Recreation Magazine,  Northwest Travel Magazine, Trailer Life Magazine, Cincinnati Magazine and OnTrak Magazine, among others. Her popular blog, So Many Places, was named one of the best outdoor blogs by USA Today and has been featured online by sites such as The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed. Her debut memoir, The Yellow Envelope, is available at bookstores now. She lives in Ohio with her husband and daughter. Follow her on Facebook , Instagram and on Twitter @kimdinan.

Consider your domain name

If you listen to only one piece of advice in this article, let it be this: Choose your domain name carefully. Did you catch that? Let me say it again, just to make sure. Choose your domain name carefully. I’ll use myself as an example here. I decided to call my travel blog So Many Places (because there were so many places I wanted to go- get it?), bought the domain name www.so-many-places.com (more on those hyphens later), and then soon regretted the whole thing.

Why? Well, when I launched my blog it was just a blog. But over time it grew into a hub for all of my writer-y pursuits including freelancing, editing, public speaking and, most recently, publishing a book. I’ve evolved—but my domain name is still stuck in travel blogging land.

What I wish I’d done is use my own name as my domain name (I did eventually buy kimdinan.com, but now I have two websites to manage). The same piece of advice goes for social media handles. Cheryl Strayed’s twitter handle isn’t @hikergrrl, is it? J.K. Rowling’s Facebook author page isn’t called Wizard Woman Writes. Nope, you’ll find them online by their names. Make it easy for your readers to find you, too.

Don’t use hyphens in your domain name

Imagine this. Your book has just been published and you’ve been invited onto NPR to have a friendly conversation with Terry Gross. She asks, “Where can we find you online?” You respond, “I’m at Joe Smith dot com but there are hyphens between Joe and Smith so it’s actually Joe hyphen Smith dot com.” You don’t want to say that, right? Hyphens just make things complicated. If someone else already owns your domain name, insert your middle initial (joehsmith.com) or, if that won’t work, consider something like joesmithwrites.com.

[5 Ways to Turn Your Blog Into a Book-Writing Machine]

Collect e-mail addresses from day one

You’ve just launched your blog and there are 3 people that read it: Your mom, your sister, and a Google Bot. No matter, you should collect email addresses from all of them. There will come a day when someone you don’t know will land on your blog and when they do you want to make sure you can collect their email address. On the homepage of my blog, readers can sign up to receive each new blog post via email or my monthly newsletter. Some bloggers offer a free downloadable gift in exchange for an email address. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just make sure you have an email sign up form on your homepage. All of those loyal readers with email addresses will come in handy for book marketing one day.

Your blog and your book should have similar themes

This seems obvious but bears mentioning. Before launching your blog ask yourself what kind of book you want to write. If you start a blog about horticulture but you plan to write a young adult crime series one day, your blog won’t attract the right kind of audience. Use your blog to build a community of readers that will want to read your book.

Be a real human

When someone stumbles upon your blog, they want to know that you are a living, breathing person. Put your photo on your homepage, spend some time crafting a compelling About Me section and make sure your contact information is easy to find (you don’t have to share your email address but at least install a contact form.) Make it easy for your readers to form a bond with you—they’ll be more likely to come back for more and, yes, they might even buy your book someday.

Learn to market yourself

I don’t know a single writer who enjoys tooting her own horn. In fact, marketing is essentially the antithesis of writing. When I’m writing I sit at home, alone in my pajamas, and hang out with my own thoughts. When I’m marketing I am, at the very least, persistently visible on social media and—if I’ve got a book to promote— I’m in the public eye as much as possible. Maintaining a blog has helped me strengthen my marketing skills and made me more comfortable with marketing overall. Over the years I’ve asked readers to buy my e-books, like my social media pages, and fill out surveys. My blog has shown me that the world will not come crashing down around me if I ask for support—and that lesson has helped me promote my book with confidence.

With How to Blog a Book, Revised and Expanded Edition you’ll learn:

—How writing a blog and writing a book can be the exact same thing
—How to start a blog that will be your writer platform, marketing tool, and self-published ebook all in one
—How to convert blogged books into ebooks, podcasts and more
—Practical tips from a best-selling author, blogger, editor and book coach on achieving your dream of blogging your book
—And more!

Order How to Blog a Book Now!

Thanks for visiting The Writer’s Dig blog. For more great writing advice, click here.

Brian A. Klems is the editor of this blog, online editor of Writer’s Digest and author of the popular gift book Oh Boy, You’re Having a Girl: A Dad’s Survival Guide to Raising Daughters.

Follow Brian on Twitter: @BrianKlems
Sign up for Brian’s free Writer’s Digest eNewsletter: WD Newsletter
Listen to Brian on: The Writer’s Market Podcast

 

 

 

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A Different Kind of Sports Novel

This content was originally published by GREGORY COWLES on 12 May 2017 | 7:19 pm.
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PUCKISH: Sports novels can sell. Over the past decade or so, the hardcover fiction list has included books about baseball (Chad Harbach’s “The Art of Fielding”) and football (John Grisham’s “Playing for Pizza”) and basketball (E. Lynn Harris’s “Basketball Jones”) — even bicycle racing, which was central to Chris Cleave’s “Gold.” But hockey novels have been in short supply, as Keith Gessen noted in a 2006 essay for the Book Review: “What is needed now,” he argued, “for the sake of both hockey and literature, is more hockey literature.” Enter Fredrik Backman, whose novel “Beartown,” at No. 10 in its second week on the list, concerns a Swedish youth league team and its fraught place in a declining town. As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with Abba and Stieg Larsson; his debut, “A Man Called Ove,” has sold millions of copies, and most of his subsequent books have also been best sellers. But in “Beartown” he’s not skating by (so to speak) on his name alone; he really has a feel for the sport, and for sports in general. “Hockey is just a silly little game,” he writes. “We burn and bleed and cry, fully aware that the most the sport can give us, in the very best scenario, is incomprehensibly meager and worthless: just a few isolated moments of transcendence. …But what the hell else is life made of?”

ERRATA: Neil deGrasse Tyson, whose science guide “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” jumps straight to the top of the hardcover nonfiction list, doesn’t care much for vocal film critics. “To rank annoying people” in a movie theater, he told The South Bend Tribune in March, “the No. 1 category are the people who’ve read the book.” Tyson prefers to watch quietly — most of the time. “The only time I get a little peeved is if they didn’t get the science right,” he said. “I’ll walk out of the theater ready to tweet about it.”

SPOTLIGHT: “Into the Water,” Paula Hawkins’s second novel, enters the hardcover fiction list at No. 2. Hawkins was as surprised as anybody at the success of “The Girl on the Train,” her debut. “When you find that they are talking about your book on breakfast television in America, you know that that is massive,” she told The Toronto Star this month. “As far as I was concerned, ‘The Girl on the Train’ was a quiet, slightly depressing little British thriller about a woman on a train. I didn’t think it would take off like that. Obviously it was wonderful, but I was shocked when it happened.… You suddenly feel very exposed.”

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Desmond Named Publisher at Twelve

This content was originally published by on 12 May 2017 | 4:00 am.

Sean Desmond has been named v-p and publisher of the Grand Central Publishing imprint Twelve, following the announcement on Thursday that . Desmond has been editorial director for the imprint since 2013. In addition, Paul Samuelson has been promoted to publicity director at the imprint.

“I’m thrilled by the success we are having at Twelve,” Desmond said in a statement. “The mission and boutique nature of this imprint is a publisher’s dream and I am so excited to continue making Twelve a terrific home for authors to receive excellent attention and every chance to succeed with their writing.”

The moves mark the latest in a series of executive changes at Grand Central and its imprints since the December departure of former GCP president and publisher Jamie Raab, along with v-p and editor-in-chief of hardcovers Deb Futter, who also helmed Twelve.

Desmond will report directly to Grand Central senior v-p and publisher Ben Sevier.

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Author Platform Building: How to Create a Valuable Email List For Your Book

This content was originally published by Guest Column on 12 May 2017 | 9:03 pm.
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If I could point to one external factor that has had the biggest positive impact on my career as an author, it would be my email list—and I’m far from alone. Most writers today know they should probably have an email list, but misinformation and confusion abound about what exactly that list should entail, why it’s so crucial and, of course, what to do with it.

This is a guest post by Gabriela Pereira—author, speaker, and self-proclaimed word nerd—whose new book DIY MFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build Your Community shows you how to recreate the Master of Fine Arts experience without going back to school. As the founder and instigator of DIYMFA.com, Gabriela’s mission is to empower writers to take an entrepreneurial approach to their education and professional growth. She earned her MFA in creative writing from The New School and teaches at national conferences, local workshops, and online. She also hosts the podcast DIY MFA Radio, where she interviews best-selling authors and book industry insiders about the art and business of writing.

Why You Need an Email List

The Internet is always changing. From Facebook to Foursquare, Pinterest to Periscope, it sometimes seems as if a new social media platform pops up every minute. Who can keep up? The beauty of email is that it’s evergreen. While websites, forums and social networks might come and go, email has solidified its place in how we communicate.

Email is a direct line between you and your readers. There’s no “middleman” to get in the way. In a digital world where social networks change their algorithms, sites get hacked and servers crash, direct communication is invaluable. You can export that list and take it with you wherever you go. As long as you build that list correctly, it’s yours and no one can take it away from you.

The connection you make via email has the potential to be far more personal than sending a tweet or posting on your blog. Email lets you talk directly to readers as individuals. You become a welcome presence in their inboxes, where you’ll find a higher level of engagement. Email list subscribers aren’t just people who might pick up your book and read it someday. Many will become dedicated fans who happily receive (and read) your messages every time you send them.

How to Create Your List

To set up a list of your own, simply follow these steps.

Step 1: Choose a system.

First, choose an email system. This is not a piece of paper with a list of addresses on it. It’s not a Google Form or other online survey where your readers enter their email addresses. And it’s definitely not that widget you add to your website that says, “Get blog updates via email.”

To build your email list the right way (and comply with anti-spam laws), you must use an email marketing software (EMS) system. That’s a fancy term for a simple system that allows you to collect email addresses and send messages to the people on that list. An EMS also allows you to set auto-responses or schedule a sequence of messages in advance.

Leading EMS systems include:

MailChimp (mailchimp.com): A popular choice, MailChimp is user-friendly and free up to 2,000 subscribers to any given list, but can get pricey after you exceed that limit. Also, integrating it with wordpress.com websites can be tricky.

Aweber (aweber.com): Reliable, known for customer service, and fairly inexpensive, this system is slightly more advanced than MailChimp, but easy to learn.

Constant Contact (constantcontact.com): This system offers add-ons (for additional fees) that provide more hand-holding than MailChimp or AWeber. Try before you buy with a free 60-day trial.

Infusionsoft (infusionsoft.com): Offering integrated email and shopping carts, this service is powerful but expensive, and has a steep learning curve.

convertkit (convertkit.com): Equipped with a user-friendly interface, great customer service, and integration with major shopping carts and  blogging platforms, ConvertKit will even handle your migration from another EMS (with certain plans).

Step 2: Put the form on your blog or website.

Once you have selected your EMS system and completed the basic setup, the next step is to place a sign-up form on your website inviting readers to join. Follow the simple instructions to design the form in the EMS system you’ve chosen, then insert the embed code on any page of your site that allows for HTML. I recommend these optimal locations (choose one, all or a combination):
In the home page header or just below. This is the most highly trafficked and visible area of your website. If most of your visitors come to your website via the home page, it’s essential to have an email form here (though if your newest blog post doubles as your home page, you can sidestep this option and put your email form at the top of the sidebar).

In the sidebar. Depending on your site’s design, visitors who click to a subpage or blog post through an outside link may not see the sign-up form in the header. This is why it’s also smart to include a form in the sidebar, preferably at the top.

In the footer of each post or page. This might not be the most visible area of your website, but visitors who take time to read an entire post and then sign up will be more committed and engaged.
Dedicated “squeeze page.” This page exists solely to house your email form. Here, emphasize the benefits of joining—what readers will get when they sign up. You can also include a few testimonials about your work or blurbs about your book. Then link directly to this page (keep the URL simple: yourwebsite.com/join or /newsletter) in your social media profiles, email signature, author bio, etc.

Step 3: Offer incentives for opting in.

One of the best ways to entice people to sign up is by offering a freebie that readers can download as soon as they join—say, a sample chapter of your latest book, deleted scenes or other bonus content.

A good opt-in offer will feel valuable to your readers while also providing an immediate benefit. Choose something that is useful or entertaining, but also fast to consume and leaves them wanting more. Your goal is to deliver great value but also build a relationship with your subscribers so they will want to keep hearing from you.

Step 4: Welcome new subscribers.

Most EMS systems allow you to create an automated welcome email that will go out as readers confirm their subscriptions. Use this email to deliver your freebie, but realize, too, that its impact extends far beyond the opt-in offer itself.

Your welcome email lets you set the tone for all subsequent communications. Use it to establish expectations so subscribers know exactly what they will receive from you going forward. Let them know how you’ll send emails or newsletters, what kind of information you’ll share and anything else key to your message.

Finally, consider asking subscribers to reply to you with an answer to a specific question. Ask them about their favorite books, or ask something that relates to your own book or subject matter. For instance, if you write dystopian young adult fiction set in a world with various factions, you might ask your readers which faction they would belong to if they lived in that world, and why.

While only a small number of subscribers may reply, these answers can give you insight into your readers, offer a chance to genuinely connect and even inspire future newsletter content. With an email list, most of the communication goes from you to your readers, but encouraging your readers to message you can create a more interactive and personal relationship.

How to Stay Connected

Once your list is set up and subscribers have started to join, all you have to do is continue the connection. Some authors send email only when they have news about their books, upcoming signings or events, a new byline to share, or something else to promote. Others send regular newsletters on a monthly basis, or even less frequently.

Personally, I’ve had success with my own list (at DIY MFA) by challenging this paradigm. If you email your readers infrequently, subscribers might forget about you altogether. When they finally hear from you and all you do is promote your next book, they may unsubscribe or, worse, mark your email as spam. Think of your emails as opportunities to offer continued value to your subscribers. Don’t wait too long to send updates. I’ve found it beneficial to email my subscribers every week or two.

Don’t let this schedule scare you, or feel pressure to go overboard creating new material for your newsletter. Instead, think of your list as an extension of your overall online strategy. Find creative ways to expand on content you’ve already created for your blog or social media, but up the ante and offer more value via email.

Remember that subscribers have invited you into their inboxes. They are not random visitors dropping by your website; they want to engage with you on a deeper level. If you’re smart about your content strategy, you don’t have to drive yourself crazy to give these committed fans a little something more. (See the sidebar at left for ideas.)

If handled correctly, an email list of loyal subscribers can become one of the most valuable assets of your author platform—one that allows you to connect with your most loyal readers. These are the people who will buy (and actually read) your work, recommend your books to friends and attend your signings. Not all of your subscribers will be die-hard fans, but some will. Treat them like gold.

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Judith Stein, Author on Liberalism and Economics, Dies at 77

This content was originally published by SAM ROBERTS on 12 May 2017 | 7:51 pm.
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Assertive and irreverent, she was unafraid of challenging her fellow liberals.

“Unlike many on the left,” said Eric Foner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Columbia University historian, “she offered, before it was common, a critique of liberal Democratic politics as setting the stage for the turn to the right.”

He added, in an email: “She was quite fearless in putting forward ideas that broke with established orthodoxies, pointing out the limitations of neoliberal ideology and pioneering the analysis of the detrimental effects of the policies of both Democratic and Republican administrations on the manufacturing working class and how they contributed to rising inequality.”

Her first book, “The World of Marcus Garvey: Race and Class in Modern Society” (1986), broke ground by placing Garvey — the Jamaican-born founder of the New York-based Universal Negro Improvement Association — and his early-20th-century back-to-Africa movement in the broader perspective of global black politics and economic conditions during and after World War I.

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Louisiana State University Press

She also identified a fundamental dichotomy in his strategy.

“Garvey attempted to enlist the masses behind the elite model of progress,” Professor Stein wrote.

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Clarence E. Walker, a professor at Wesleyan University, wrote in The New York Times Book Review that her authoritative biography of Garvey was “an interesting and intelligent attempt to break away from clichés and acrimony” over his willfulness and attraction to the Ku Klux Klan’s notion of racial purity. Instead, he wrote, Professor Stein delved into Garvey’s success in moving from “agitation to organization.”

In an Op-Ed article in The Times in 1983 Professor Stein recommended that Garvey be pardoned for his conviction in 1923 and subsequent deportation on trumped up mail-fraud charges involving his Black Star shipping line.

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“The record exposes political motivation at every stage of the prosecution,” she wrote. “But the law must not be used for suppression of dissent, and the F.B.I. must not serve the political prejudices of its bureaucrats. Pardoning Marcus Garvey, albeit tardily, is a small step toward reaffirming this.”

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Professor Stein’s “Running Steel, Running America: Race, Economic Policy, and the Decline of Liberalism” (1998), blamed government policy as much as globalization for the steel industry’s demise.

Her book “Pivotal Decade: How the United States Traded Factories for Finance in the Seventies” (2011) suggested that the government had begun a more conservative economic agenda not with the election of Ronald Reagan, as conventional wisdom has it, but under his predecessor, President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat.

In 2013, Professor Stein was named a distinguished professor at City University and was awarded a fellowship to study the expansion of the American economy in the 1990s. She attributed the economy’s comeback in that decade to a “neoliberal recipe for growth,” whose ingredients included market solutions, fiscal discipline, liberalization of trade and deregulation.

Judith Susan Stein was born on April 17, 1940, in Brooklyn to George Stein, a stockbroker, and the former Anne Shuchman, who taught history and civics at Erasmus Hall High School.

She graduated from James Madison High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College in 1960 and a doctorate in history from Yale in 1967, a year after she began teaching at City College.

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She is survived by her brother, Jonathan Stein.

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Publishers, Library Vendors Urge Senate to Support Library Funding

This content was originally published by on 12 May 2017 | 4:00 am.
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“The bottom line,” the publishers and vendors wrote, “is that the health of our businesses, our workers and all of our communities is inextricably linked to the health of libraries and their continued federal funding.”


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Dear Book Club: It’s You, Not Me

This content was originally published by JUDITH NEWMAN on 11 May 2017 | 7:23 pm.
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But … that is one group. Book clubs can also be the epicenter of fierce friendships and enmity; a breeding ground for resentments large and small. They can be as fraught with drama as any romance, because for many they are a romance. A romance that comes with snacks.

Sometimes passions flare simply because of the books themselves. Three of Ms. Rubin’s book clubs are for “kid lit,” and people can react to Young Adult literature in particular like hormonal 15-year-olds: “The biggest division in Y.A. involves the ‘Twilight’ series,” she said. “You’re either on that train or off it. Big fights break out.”

Elizabeth St. Clair, a lawyer currently in two book clubs — one distinguished by the members’ interest in anthropology, the other, their interest in drinking — had her Waterloo in a previous club over Cormac McCarthy’s “All the Pretty Horses.”

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The group consisted of several couples, including Ms. St. Clair and her boyfriend at the time. In one scene, she explains, “the main character is staying in a bunkhouse, and over the course of several nights a gorgeous strange woman comes to his bed and has sex with him. The men in the group thought this was the most romantic thing ever — dark, anonymous sex with no consequences. The women, on the other hand, were guffawing. When they pointed out that this was entirely a male fantasy, that few women would relish the prospect of anonymous sex with a possibly unattractive stranger in a bunk bed, the men felt insulted.

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“Tensions were already high and everything kind of escalated,” Ms. St. Clair added. “People walked out.”

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That was the last meeting of that club. It was also the beginning of the end of Ms. St. Clair’s relationship. “We didn’t break up that night,” she said. “But the way he reacted to the book, well, that planted the seeds.”

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Most would agree that the clubs can draw out — and amplify — certain personality types. Marcia Goldstein, a retired academic living in Laguna Woods, Calif., has participated in book clubs for decades. She detailed for me the various archetypes she has observed over the years. Among them: the Controllers and the Acquiescers.

“The Controllers are the most interesting,” she said. “It’s not just a matter of their opinions on books. They are compelled to control operational decisions” — the dates of meetings, the venues. “Sometimes we Acquiescers laugh at them behind their backs,” Ms. Goldstein added. “But we never struggle.”

Then there are the Underperformers, those members who never finish their books but show up anyway. Usually these people fall away from the group. But not always. One friend attended a club where a member would always show up unprepared, then become agitated if anyone discussed the ending, because she didn’t want it spoiled for her. “It was really a whole new level of passive-aggressiveness,” she said.

One of the lovely qualities of book clubs is that they usually rotate to members’ homes, allowing people to hold a mini-party. But problems arise when hosts get competitive — or simply overzealous.

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“I was invited to a group by a woman I didn’t know very well,” said Barbara Lippert, an advertising writer, “and I did the first reading — a so-so but still interesting novel about an academic in the 1920s. I arrived at the home of a lovely woman who owned a 12-room, perfectly appointed apartment on Central Park West.”

Part of this club’s tradition was that everyone sat down to a four-course dinner themed to the era in which the book was set, she explained: “This time it was roast beef and parsnips and some sort of incredibly complicated cake a character had described in one paragraph of the book. This woman had made the cake herself, and set a gorgeous table, all matching china and glassware and fresh flowers. “

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“I was so intimidated by the prospect of reciprocating,” Ms. Lippert said, “it was the first and last time I ever attended.”

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Excessive entertaining is at least generous and well-meaning. The biggest sin in book clubs, members say, involves the This-Book-Is-About-Me! Crowd — those who examine the author’s intentions entirely through the prism of their own experience.

“You really haven’t lived until you’ve heard a discussion of Elizabeth Bennet converted into the problems of a member’s granddaughter finding a husband,” griped one club member.

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The novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz thoroughly agrees. “It’s the great divide between people who actually want to read and discuss the book and people for whom the gathering is a social event, where the idea is a brief roundup of plot/characters/themes, and then — let’s talk about where our kids are applying to college.”

All you need is one person on either side of the divide, Ms. Korelitz said, and that person is likely to get the boot. “It’s not pretty.”

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Indeed, exclusion is one of the biggest fears for book club members. When a club disbands, it is not uncommon to think maybe it has disbanded only for you.

There are stories of members being openly asked to leave. Cynthia Heller, a physician in West Hartford, Conn., remembers being thrilled to be invited into a book club when she moved into town. She was then disinvited when the group was deemed too large. “I got together with the other people who had been cut, and we called ourselves the Rejects,” she said.

But sometimes there is actual ghosting. Andrea Lavinthal, People magazine’s style and beauty director, has been with Book Club (that’s what they call it — like Fight Club, only, you know, books) since she graduated from college 15 years ago. Together, they have gone through weddings, babies, divorces and the deaths of parents, and Ms. Lavinthal said there was a secret to their longevity and closeness: Over the years, certain members would be “released.”

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An email would go to the outlier, saying the club was going on hiatus for the summer. It wasn’t. Then the emails to that member would stop. “Book Club has the most interesting, witty women I know,” Ms. Lavinthal said. “ Some people just weren’t our brand.” One time, a founding member got sentimental and tipsy at another member’s wedding and asked a stranger to join. That new member came and was soon released. The others won’t easily let her forget her infraction. “We still call her the Weakest Link,” Ms. Lavinthal said.

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Perhaps this is the time to mention that I am not in any book clubs. Let me rephrase that. I have joined four of them. I have attended the first meetings. I let people know how deeply and passionately I felt about the book, and I guided them to proper opinions about it. There were those with the temerity to vigorously disagree with me. I never returned.

But we live in hope. Please, invite me to your book club. I will be an eager participant who brings deviled eggs and a flask of Cosmos.

Just don’t interrupt me.

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Editor Resigns Over an Article Defending ‘Cultural Appropriation’

This content was originally published by JENNIFER SCHUESSLER on 11 May 2017 | 7:47 pm.
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Among them was Alicia Elliott, an indigenous writer from the Tuscarora people, whose own article discussing cultural appropriation had been edited by Mr. Niedzviecki. “It felt like an intimate betrayal,” she told The National Post.

The lack of diversity in Canadian literature, Ms. Elliott added, wasn’t because of limitations on cultural borrowing, but because of the fact that the voices of white, middle-class writers “are lifted up” while those from other cultures “are pushed down and kept outside the industry.”

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The union, a group for published book authors that has about 2,000 members, responded with a string of Twitter posts, acknowledging “mistakes we have made” and promising a review of policies at the magazine and “across the organization.”

“The intention behind the magazine is to offer space for honest and challenging discussion and to be sincerely encouraging to all voices,” it said in a statement quoted by The National Post and other news media outlets. “The Union recognizes that intention is not enough, and that we failed in execution in this instance.”

The charge of cultural appropriation has a long history, and has prompted debate about where, if anywhere, artistic influence ends and illegitimate borrowing begins. Last year the novelist Lionel Shriver generated a firestorm of criticism for a speech at the Brisbane Literary Festival in Australia arguing that accusations of cultural appropriation threatened “our right to write fiction at all.” (To underline her point, Ms. Shriver, an American who lives in London, put on a sombrero.)

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