Publishing industry and journalism Books

Book SynopsisAn NPR Book Concierge Best Book of 2018!A stunning story about how power works in the modern age--the book the New York Times called one helluva page-turner and The Sunday Times of London celebrated as riveting...an astonishing modern media conspiracy that is a fantastic read. Pick up the book everyone is talking about.In 2007, a short blogpost on Valleywag, the Silicon Valley-vertical of Gawker Media, outed PayPal founder and billionaire investor Peter Thiel as gay. Thiel's sexuality had been known to close friends and family, but he didn't consider himself a public figure, and believed the information was private. This post would be the casus belli for a meticulously plotted conspiracy that would end nearly a decade later with a $140 million dollar judgment against Gawker, its bankruptcy and with Nick Denton, Gawker's CEO and founder, out of a job. Only later would the world learn that Gawker's demise was not incidental--it had been masterminded by Thiel.For years, Thiel had searched endlessly for a solution to what he'd come to call the Gawker Problem. When an unmarked envelope delivered an illegally recorded sex tape of Hogan with his best friend's wife, Gawker had seen the chance for millions of pageviews and to say the things that others were afraid to say. Thiel saw their publication of the tape as the opportunity he was looking for. He would come to pit Hogan against Gawker in a multi-year proxy war through the Florida legal system, while Gawker remained confidently convinced they would prevail as they had over so many other lawsuit--until it was too late. The verdict would stun the world and so would Peter's ultimate unmasking as the man who had set it all in motion. Why had he done this? How had no one discovered it? What would this mean--for the First Amendment? For privacy? For culture?In Holiday's masterful telling of this nearly unbelievable conspiracy, informed by interviews with all the key players, this case transcends the narrative of how one billionaire took down a media empire or the current state of the free press. It's a study in power, strategy, and one of the most wildly ambitious--and successful--secret plots in recent memory.Some will cheer Gawker's destruction and others will lament it, but after reading these pages--and seeing the access the author was given--no one will deny that there is something ruthless and brilliant about Peter Thiel's shocking attempt to shake up the world.

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Book SynopsisPresents an analyses of the media and communications operations of the past four administrations, including chapters on George W Bush and Bill Clinton. This work describes how White House communications and media operations can be at once in flux and remarkably stable over time. It also describes how the presidential Press Office has evolved.Trade ReviewKumar combines her years of observation in the White House press room and hours of frank discussion with current and former officials to create a fascinating-and sometimes disheartening-history of how [the] dance has evolved over the last century. -- Jane Roh National Journal 2007 Having been a regular in the White House Press Room since the early years of the Clinton administration, Kumar can offer an insider's view... Political science and journalism scholars will appreciate the rich detail and scholarship here. Library Journal 2007 A must-read for political junkies. History Wire - Where the Past Comes Alive 2007 Some of the book is historical research, but much of it comes from the days and days that Kumar spends in the belly of the beast, hanging out in the press room in the West Wing of the White House. -- Michael Hill Baltimore Sun 2007 Kumar's insightful Managing the President's Message provides much-needed insight, charting the recent changes in presidential media management strategies and in the routines practiced by the two most-recent White Houses, and provides an important addition to the academic discourse on political communication, framing, and leadership. Political Science Quarterly 2008 Its place among scholarship on the presidency was quickly sealed when the presidency section of APSA awarded it the 2008 Richard E. Neustadt Award for best book on the presidency. The book is rich with detail regarding the Clinton and Bush communications and press operations... there is much to be mined in Kumar's descriptions and explanations. -- Stephanie Burkhalter Political Communication 2009 This is a well-written and detailed book and an ideal starting place from which to study the White House communications operations before moving on to fuller autobiographical accounts or the study of individual presidencies. -- Rob Griffiths Political Studies Review 2010Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Creating an Effective Communications Operation2. The Communications Operation of President Bill Clinton3. The Communications Operation of President George W. Bush4. White House Communications Advisers5. The Press Secretary to the President6. The Gaggle and the Daily Briefing7. Presidential Press Conferences8. Managing the MessagePostscriptNotesIndex

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Book Synopsis“We think of English as a fortress to be defended, but a better analogy is to think of English as a child. We love and nurture it into being, and once it gains gross motor skills, it starts going exactly where we don’t want it to go: it heads right for the goddamned electrical sockets.”   With wit and irreverence, lexicographer Kory Stamper cracks open the obsessive world of dictionary writing, from the agonizing decisions about what to define and how to do it to the knotty questions of ever-changing word usage.   Filled with fun facts—for example, the first documented usage of “OMG” was in a letter to Winston Churchill—and Stamper’s own stories from the linguistic front lines (including how she became America’s foremost “irregardless” apologist, despite loathing the word), Word by Word is an endlessly entertaining look at the wonderful complexities and eccentricities of th

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“All aspiring authors know the value of a great literary agent, but few know how to get one. Lucinda Halpern has written the definitive guide to attracting an agent and laying the groundwork for a book well worth publishing.” — Adam Grant, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Think Again and Hidden Potential, and host of the TED podcast Re:Thinking“While Lucinda Halpern offers invaluable advice for navigating the choppy waters of literary agencies and publishing houses, she does something even more valuable with Get Signed. She entices the writer to elevate the storytelling, to create a timeless book, and to launch a dream career.” — Jenny Jackson, VP and executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf and New York Times best-selling author of Pineapple Street“Lucinda Halpern and her book are the map and the compass for any beginning writer looking for a way to find their perfect agent. There is no question in my mind that it will forever be the only book anyone trying to break into publishing will ever need. If only I had it when I was starting out! Wherever Lucinda leads, I will follow.” — Sam Wasson, New York Times best-selling author of Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.; Fosse; and The Big Goodbye“Step by clear, insightful step, Lucinda Halpern gifts writers with the knowledge of what an agent does and how the writer-agent partnership works. She offers concise steps and exercises to help ready writers present their best ideas with excellent writing and secure platforms. As the title promises, this is the book to read to get signed.” — Marion Roach Smith, author of The Memoir Project“Lucinda Halpern offers aspiring authors a step-by-step, actionable roadmap for landing a literary agent. She pulls back the curtain to show you the nitty-gritty details agents and publishers are looking for so you can nail your big idea, dial in your pitch, and present yourself as the best author for the job. Full of insider wisdom suitable for writers of every genre, Get Signed gives you just what you need to woo—and then wow—the agent of your dreams. Highly recommended!” — Kelly Notaras, author of The Book You Were Born to Write“In this indispensable book, Lucinda Halpern teaches authors how to meet the marketplace and the moment. She turns overwhelm into action steps and helps make publishing dreams come true.” — Nicola Kraus, #1 New York Times best-selling co-author of The Nanny Diaries

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Book SynopsisThere is a certain perception from the outside that the publishing industry is a near insurmountable fortress, with gatekeepers and naysayers manning the turrets looking for any way to fire a flaming arrow at the dreams of an aspiring writer. Funny You Should Ask, based on the popular Writer's Digest column of the same name, assists to deconstruct, inform, and illuminate the path to publication and beyond, all while dispelling the rumor that those in the industry are better than thou. And even though each writer's publishing journey is like a game of PLINKO--you can drop the chip in the same slot every time and get a different result--there are still common constructs and confusions that can be shared and explored together in order to help inform all writers. From understanding the nuts and bolts of a query letter, to learning how to process the soul-searing envy of watching someone else's career flourish, to how to talk to your editor, veteran literar

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Book SynopsisNow a Netflix original film starring Will Forte, Domhnall Gleeson, and Emmy Rossum. Comic genius Doug Kenney cofounded National Lampoon, cowrote Animal House and Caddyshack, and changed the face of American comedy before mysteriously falling to his death at the age of 33. This is the first-ever biography of Kenney--the heart and soul of National Lampoon—reconstructing the history of that magazine as it redefined American humor, complete with all its brilliant and eccentric characters. Filled with vivid stories from New York, Harvard Yard, Hollywood, and Middle America, this chronicle shares how the magazine spawned a comedy revolution with the radio shows, stage productions, and film projects that launched the careers of John Belushi, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Gilda Radner, while inspiring Saturday Night Live and everything else funny that’s happened since 1970. Based on more than 130 interviews conducted with key players including Chevy Chase, Harold Ramis, P. J. O’Rourke, John Landis, and others and boasting behind-the-scenes stories of how Animal House and Caddyshack were made, this book helps capture the nostalgia, humor, and enduring legacy that Doug Kenney instilled in National Lampoon--America’s greatest humor magazine.Trade Review"Jammed with personalities and capsule histories." -- The New York Times""Fun, fast, and furious." --Library Journal"Josh Karp has informed us well about one of the funniest and innovative humorists of the last century. Doug Kenny was a great friend of mine and it is a good read." -- Chevy Chase, actor, Caddyshack"Josh Karp achieves the unthinkable--he's written an essential American excavation of comedy that is, of itself, very, very, very, very, very, very funny. Doug Kenney would be extremely proud and humbled, if he weren't dead." -- Bill Zehme, author, Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman"The definitive profile of Kenney's brilliant comic mind and his too-short life." --Richard Roeper, film critic, Chicago Sun-Times"The sharpest analysis yet of how success, self-doubt and drugs led one of his generation's wittiest minds down a blind path." -- Philadelphia Citypaper"A must-read for the curious, comedy aficionados, and subversively shy teenagers everywhere." --Mark McKinney, actor, Kids in the Hall"[This] is the definitive behind-the-scenes account of the man and publication that all but defined the comedy zeitgeist of the last 35 years." --Rob Siegel, former editor, The OnionTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Midas at the Marmont1 Hayley Mills in Pleasantville2 The Most Perfect WASP3 Here Is New York4 You’ve Got a Weird Mind. You’ll Fit in Well Here5 What Do Women Eat?6 Hitler Being Difficult7 Show Biz and Dead Dogs8 Guns and Sandwiches9 The Pirates10 The Cultural Revolution11 Fuck the Proposal12 Round Up the Usual Jews13 Pheasant Shake for Mr. Kenney14 A Year with No Spring EpilogueBibliographyIndex

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Book Synopsis“Bob Brown’s book is well named. It is, on one hand, a concise chronological history of a unique American publishing venture, and on the other, an autobiography of a maverick soldier and his bizarre assortment of cronies. Above all, it is a great read.”—American Rifleman"I Am Solider of Fortune" is a half-century of history told from ground level. The higher value, though, may be in the perspective it offers on the warrior culture. From the outside, it is easy to believe every soldier of fortune, every ‘private security contractor,’ is a Rambo-style wild man, pumped on testosterone. Some of the characters passing through Mr. Brown's book are that. Others are darkly sinister. Most are measured, disciplined professionals who understand both risk and principle.… At 80, Robert K. Brown stands as a central figure in a shadow world of secrecy and myth. His book opens that world to readers on the outside. There are many who don't like Soldier of Fortune magazine and the culture of rogue warrior exploits it represents. Bob Brown doesn't care.”—The Washington Times

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Book Synopsis"A witty, toothy, family saga, unashamedly intellectual . . . that, like youth, seems to have it all—energy, aspiration, and self-delusion." —Catherine Taylor, Financial Times"MEET SWEDEN'S SALLY ROONEY" —The Times of London"A wry bestseller that reads like the effortlessly chic European cousin of Fleishman is in Trouble." —The Telegraph of London"Poised at the intersection of life and art, reality and imagination, [Collected Works] blends the thrill of mystery with the curiosity and depth of philosophical inquiry." —The New Yorker"Collected Works . . . is as insatiable in its read as it is insightful to modern challenges of family, memory, and finding purpose." —Matthew Bedard, Flaunt"[A] sweeping and complex drama of family, art, and sacrifice . . . Readers will be captivated." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review"A richly evocative work from a major new talent." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review A compelling mystery and poignant bildungsroman for readers of Karl Ove Knausgård, Collected Works is a novel about love, power, and art—and what leads us to make the pivotal decisions that change the course of our lives.Martin Berg’s wife, Cecilia, disappeared years ago. His memories of their carefree college days seem ever out of reach, and the intellectual curiosities that once made him the object of her desire have given way to midlife uncertainty. The methodical and quiet life he’s made for himself and his adult children couldn’t be further from the one he dreamed of in his youth, when the manuscripts lying around his apartment were flush with promise and his ailing publishing house was still new.Perhaps nothing reminds Martin of these failures more than his friend Gustav Becker, a wildly successful painter who’s returned to Gothenburg on the eve of his career-defining retrospective. Gustav, meanwhile, is hurting too. His obsession with Cecilia’s inexplicable disappearance had made his art hagiographic, fixated on her image. When posters for Gustav’s retrospective plaster Cecilia’s face on major billboards across the city, Martin’s daughter Rakel learns a haunting fact that points toward her mother’s whereabouts. She and her brother chase this clue across time, memory, and Europe to discover why Cecilia abandoned her family, with the imagined hope that the question of what makes a person leave can ever be answered.Collected Works, a major hit in Sweden, sold over 100,000 copies in its first year in print, instantly making Lydia Sandgren a literary sensation. Winner of the 2020 August Prize for Fiction, the novel is set to publish in 17 territories.Trade Review"[Collected Works] has flavours of the realism of her countryman, Karl Ove Knausgard, more than a hint of emotional American big hitters like Jeffrey Eugenides or Jonathan Franzen, and something of the twists and turns of a chronicle like War and Peace."—India Lewis, The Arts Desk (UK)"Collected Works has been put together with the care of a medieval scribe and the patient skill of a master carver. It is without doubt one of the most meticulously built works of fiction I’ve read in a long time." —Charlie Connelly, The New European (UK)"This is the 600-page Swedish debut novel I will be pressing into everyone’s hands this spring. Don’t be alarmed! The pages frankly fly by—in fact, I wish there were more" —LitHub"The mystery at the heart of the story adds urgency to this warm, engaging, and funny novel about the inebriation of youth and the sobriety of middle age; about lives shaped by art and ideas; about our human flaws and joys. Collected Works is a thoroughly enjoyable book."—Aysegül Savas, author of Walking on the Ceiling"Sandgren hooks the reader with an absorbing, multilayered plot that shifts between past and present, building slowly towards the emotional and narrative mystery at its heart." —Anne Foley, Booklist"[An] absorbing story . . . [Collected Works] is a witty, toothy, family saga, unashamedly intellectual but rarely bogged down by the weight of its theories . . . It's refreshing to read such a confidently ambitious work that holds art, literature, and philosophy close to its heart . . . Collected Works is an assured, bittersweet novel that, like youth, seems to have it all—energy, aspiration, and self-delusion."—Catherine Taylor, Financial Times"Lydia Sandgren's Collected Works is the most convincing work of literary fiction I've read in years: one part family saga, one part buddy comedy, one part mystery, one part bildungsroman, and one part philosophical inquiry into the nature of art, the whole filled with unforgettable characters, wry humor, and knock-down gorgeous sentences, positively vibrating with intelligence and style. People often write, with varying degrees of accuracy, that new books feel destined to become classics, but Collected Works feels like it already is one—and you, lucky reader, have stumbled upon it."—Emily Temple, author of The Lightness

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Book SynopsisThree lectures, initially presented before the University of Cambridge and now collected here, examine Matthew Parker as a noted collector of books, an avid annotator, and a keen student of Old English. In these lectures Dr. Page assesses the evidence for Parker's use of his manuscripts and printed books by drawing upon varied sources, including Parker's very numerous annotations upon their pages, and surveys the archbishop's role in the early-modern rediscovery and recovery of Old English and other medieval sources. Plates accompany the text to illustrate many characteristic aspects of Parker's interventions in his books.Table of ContentsIllustrations Foreword Acknowledgement A Mighty Collector of Books The Conservation of Ancient Records and Monuments The Chief Retriever of Our Ancient Native Language Appendix: Matthew Parker's Hand Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWhether you are a CEO, who's written a book to position yourself as a thought leader in your field, or a soccer mom, who wants to write the great American novel, Get Your Book Published! gives you vital keys to publish and market like an expert. This book will help you: Understand the different types of publishing options available Plot the development of your book from editing to cover design Navigate the terms of a publishing contract Understand the role of the literary agent Avoid land mines that derail and defeat so many authors Decide how best to tailor and format your message (mobile apps, eBooks, on-line courses, blog articles) Learn the sales channels where your book can best be sold Build a foundation for marketing that will get you noticed If you want to publish properly and profitably, this is the book to read!

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Book SynopsisEverything you’ve ever wanted to know about publishing but were too afraid to ask is right here in this funny, candid guide written by an acclaimed authorThere are countless books on the market about how to write better but very few books on how to break into the marketplace with your first book. Cutting through the noise (and very mixed advice) online, while both dispelling rumors and remaining positive, Courtney Maum's Before and After the Book Deal is a one–of–a–kind resource that can help you get your book published.Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer's Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book has over 150 contributors from all walks of the industry, including international bestselling authors Anthony Doerr, Roxane Gay, Garth Greenwell, Lisa Ko, R. O. Kwon, Rebecca Makkai, and Ottessa Moshfegh, alongside cult favorites Sarah Gerard, Melissa Febos, Mitchell S. Jackson, and Mira Jacob.Agents, film scouts, film producers, translators, disability and minority activists, and power agents and editors also weigh in, offering advice and sharing intimate anecdotes about even the most taboo topics in the industry. Their wisdom will help aspiring authors find a foothold in the publishing world and navigate the challenges of life before and after publication with sanity and grace.Are MFA programs worth the time and money? How do people actually sit down and finish a novel? Did you get a good advance? What do you do when you feel envious of other writers? And why the heck aren’t your friends saying anything about your book? Covering questions ranging from the logistical to the existential (and everything in between), Before and After the Book Deal is the definitive guide for anyone who has ever wanted to know what it’s really like to be an author.

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