Lev Raphael's Blog, page 56

Was Pat Robertson Stoned?

Bloviating TV minister Pat Robertson is known for his hateful and ignorant comments about gay people, but this week he veered into pure silliness when talking about marriage equality:

I think you've got to remember from the Bible, you look carefully at the Bible what would have happened in Jesus' time if two men decided they wanted to cohabit together, they would have been stoned to death...So Jesus would not have baked them a wedding cake, nor would he have made them a bed to sleep in because...

Mitch Albom's Blind Spot on Marriage Equality

Writing in response to U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman's historic ruling last Friday that voided Michigan's homophobic ban on same-sex marriage, Mitch Albom recently asked in The Detroit Free Press if we were better off for the ruling.



Of course he meant it rhetorically. He clearly thinks we're not, and he's wrong. Dead wrong.



We're better off because the state presented a laughably amateurish case. Thanks to the judge's rigorous decision, anti-equality prejudice, bigotry and shoddy resear...

Mitch Albom Thinks Marriage Equality Undermines Marriage

In response to Judge Friedman's ruling last Friday that voided Michigan's homophobic ban on same-sex marriage, best selling author Mitch Albom asks in The Detroit Free Press if we're better off for the ruling.



It's an astonishing question, but I'm not surprised that a rich, married white man asks it, because he has no idea what it's like to be a second-class citizen. He's wealthy and famous, his books have sold in the tens of millions of copies and he's a writing superstar.



Yes, Mitch, we're be...

Dissing Other Authors Can Be Dangerous--Or Not

When I was first starting out as a published author, and before my first book was published, a famous writer at an awards banquet offered me unsolicited advice about launching a career.



"Don't attack your peers in public," he said. And he grimly added without explanation, "It'll come back to haunt you." He'd obviously crossed that line and regretted the results.



Lynn Shepherd is probably feeling the same way, even though she's not a newbie. She recently published a blog asking J.K. Rowling to...

Writing Is My Business, But So Is Business

My father had a small business that I thought imprisoned him, and as a kid, I swore I would never "do retail" as I thought of it.



Boy, was I wrong. As an author, I wound up owning my own small business and it's as vulnerable to competition and the vagaries of the market place as any physical store. Sometimes it's just as exhausting.



From the beginning of my book publishing career in 1990, I was deeply involved in pushing my work, contacting venues for readings, investing in posters and postcard...

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Author

I've done hundreds of talks and readings from my books across the U.S. and Canada, and in Great Britain, Germany, Austria, France and Israel.



When I'm picked up on tour at a train station or airport, one of the most frequent questions is a rhetorical one: "This must be pretty exciting, right?"



It is. I'm an extrovert. I love meeting new people and speaking to new groups. I prepare extensively for every gig I do: finding out as much as I can about the audience and venue in advance, then writing...

Giving Up on Downton Abbey

I've always been an Anglophile, reading heavily in English literature, history and culture even before I became an English major in college.



At that point, my New Zealand-born girlfriend turned me on to Monty Python and Masterpiece Theater and I was a total Upstairs, Downstairs junkie. If only we'd had DVRs and binge watching!



So I was predictably intrigued with Downton Abbey when it debuted. Beautiful noble house, fascinating family turmoil, class conflict, lovely setting, well-drawn character...

The Latest Publishing Wisdom: Authors Need to Shop Themselves 'Til They Drop

I've been publishing books since 1990 in many genres with different publishers and have seen wave after wave of answers to the question "What will sell this book?"



Once it was believed that author tours could do it. Or advertising in the right media. Author web sites and newsletters for fans became another magic solution. With the advent of book groups, book group Skyping was all the rage.



As the Internet became more and more a part of our lives, blogging, blog tours, blog reviews, guest blogg...

The Latest Publishing Wisdom: Authors Need To Shop Themselves Till They Drop

I've been publishing books since 1990 in many genres with different publishers and have seen wave after wave of answers to the question "What will sell this book?"



Once it was believed that author tours could do it. Or advertising in the right media. Author web sites and newsletters for fans became another magic solution. With the advent of book groups, book group Skyping was all the rage.



As the Internet became more and more a part of our lives, blogging, blog tours, blog reviews, guest blogg...

Jennifer Weiner Is a Genius at Self-Promotion

How many authors of commercial fiction do you know who get huge, glowing profiles in the New Yorker?



Well, Jennifer Weiner just did, as she continues to ride her successful hobbyhorse about not getting respect. When she even feels attacked by literary novelists like Claire Messud, this author of commercial fiction can say "as a reader and a writer, I was out of step, out of fashion."



Let's lay out some facts. Weiner isn't out of step with anything, and she is totally in fashion. Her first book...