Tag: Kristen Lamb

Barnes & Noble Puts Literary Classics in Blackface for Black History Month

Is there a stronger word for atrocity? To do this is essentially saying that people of color are incapable of having their own art or their own stories…so let’s lend them some white stories and help them out.

Amazon Past Prime: Why Major Retailers & Publishers are Going it Alone

The Penguin Random House site is a perfect illustration of businesses defecting from Amazon because they no longer NEED them. This is a laudable example of what I’ve been begging the publishing industry to do.

No Sales or Lackluster Sales: It Isn’t the Reader, It’s the Book…Really

sales, book sales, publishing, Kristen Lamb

Agents predicted market changes and trends. They looked at what was already out, what was slated to be released, what was already selling, what wasn’t, what was saturated, etc. Then, they used that data to maneuver their authors around the sales minefield. Still do to the best of their abilities. Yet, there often are REAL reasons a book isn’t selling and it isn’t the reader’s fault. It’s all on the book and the author.

FEAR: Why Humans Crave Stories That Scare Them

Since fear practically saturates every area of our lives, readers are gravitating more and more to books that allow them to put a face to the fear and then kick its metaphorical @$$. We can’t do much of anything about escalating tensions with Iran and Iraq or the Fukishima reactors that continue to pollute the oceans. And, since we DO NOT LIKE feeling powerless, these stories hand us back some form of agency and ease our terrors.

Penguin SOLD: Publishing, Change & Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Oh MY!

Penguin visionary, Sir Allen, wanted to offer books to the public for the same price as a package of ten cigarettes so consumers could afford to read.