OK, what did I miss?
Well, I received approximately 7 million queries over the holiday weekend and my inbox is so full I can hardly bear to look at it. People, look. I don’t really believe in timing your queries and normally I’d say fire away, but I received MORE queries than usual in the past week. If you want your prospective agent to read your query while they’re not in a turkey induced food coma or, alternately, if you want to avoid giving your prospective agent a post holiday heart attack when they come in on Monday and look at their inbox I’d suggest avoiding the major holidays.
Meanwhile, in TV news, the Bachelor didn’t choose ANYONE, which shattered my belief in the possibility of finding true love on a reality TV show that involves dating multiple people at the same time. Just a stunning turn of events.
In other reality TV love news, Spencer and Heidi from The Hills were unengaged for 24 hours AND THE WORLD STOPPED TURNING ON ITS AXIS. Oh wait. No it didn’t. Whew.
And in big publishing news, Amazon unveiled the curiously named e-reader Kindle (because, uh, books and fire go together so well?), which I will blog about more tomorrow. And the next day. And possibly the day after that. Maybe forever. WHO KNOWS.
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and in the spirit the season please feel free to share your hilarious Thanksgiving stories in the comments section.
Katie Alender says
Kindle… sounds like a suggestion to go burn all of one’s embarrassingly old-fashioned paper books.
Laurel Amberdine says
Yay! The leftovers were nice, but fresh is better.
I never watch TV. Last week (while having my teeth cleaned) I heard an ad for the Bachelor finale, and thought, “Oh good, I’ll get to hear what happened from Nathan!” That is pretty shocking!
I suspect people deliberately query you around the holidays so they can have more than five minutes of hope. π
Liz Wolfe says
The kitchen didn’t catch on fire. No one got drunk and admitted something embarrassing. No in-law fights on the front lawn. Pretty boring day.
Sarah Hina says
We all made it out alive.
Better than last year…
π
Vinnie Sorce says
Don’t know if this qualifies as hilarous but it ticked me off…
https://vinster82.blogspot.com/
Stew21 says
My in-laws played “Are you smarter than a fifth grader” game after Thanksgiving dinner.
They aren’t.
Miss Viola Bookworm says
Well, our small group consumed six bottles of wine in just two hours. Dinner was at noon, and my 84 year-old grandpa and I were both passed out in the living room in our turkey coma/drunkenness by 2:30. I’m not sure if that qualifies as hilarious or pathetic, but, it’s true.
Scott says
From my nine-year-old son on Thanksgiving: “I want to go with you to buy my Christmas presents so you get the right stuff, then I’ll erase my memory–but without drinking beer.”
sex scenes at starbucks says
I had to boil turkey bones for my son’s school project on bones. And then I had to look up labels on the internet.
Gee. I hope I get an A.
Conduit says
Yeah, I saw that Kindle thing too. Amazon have a bunch of videos about it, including various big name authors giving it their thumbs up. It looks interesting.
Anonymous says
Hi Nathan,
May I ask a question that’s unrelated to this post?
Say a person has the opportunity to publish a novel in a foreign country (it’ll be translated to said country’s language), how does that affect American rights and all that great stuff?
Subservient No More says
Thanksgiving stories? Lord have mercy, have I got an entire week’s worth of blog posts of those. Bad food, inappopriate comments, kosher turkey, drunken relatives and strange people showing up at all hours – we had it all.
I want a Kindle too. I was thinking that maybe it could save me having to carry so many books to school, but not all the books I need are available for it yet.
Nathan Bransford says
Anon-
Depends on the contract.
Isak says
That’s hilarious, Scott.
Definitely smarter than an average fifth grader…Watch out.
Linnea says
7 million eh? Yeah, that’s a lot. I’d share my turkey story but I’m from Canada and we celebrated Thanksgiving awhile ago.
2readornot says
I don’t normally watch The Bachelor, but this time I tuned in to the last ten minutes or so (mostly because a football game was on during the shows I usually watch). At first I was irritated with him, because why did he make that big stink about the first girl and then not choose the second one either?
Then I thought, “Well, maybe he does have some moral fiber — he didn’t want to lead them on.”
And *then* I thought, “What kind of guy with moral fiber wants to be on The Bachelor in the first place? He just wanted to meet a bunch of pretty girls and get paid to kiss them all.”
That was the funniest part of my week.
Mary says
Welcome back!
Glad you mentioned the Kindle. As well as the odd name, itβs an unattractive piece of design, reminiscent of a thin, telephone answering machine, or some strange etch-a-sketch/writing tablet. I love technology and gadgets, but in terms of form following function, the Kindle misses the aesthetic spot, for me.
Josephine Damian says
Nothing but term-paper writing and studying for finals for this graduate on Thanksgiving day, and every day between now and the end of the semester.
Speaking of Kindle, I wonder how hot that thing gets? Kinda like a laptop battery? Ouch. Also seems tough on the eyes too. Even if I had the dough to blow, I’d pass on it.
Dave F. says
My Niece’s young son turned from an engaging boy into a surly teen before our very eyes. Now he ignores and grunts with the best of them.
My other niece and I actually stuffed the turkey and had it in the oven in less than five minutes. We made the stuffing the day before and had everything ready. Shoved four hands into that carcass, spread some salt and pepper and shoved it into the oven with a cup of Proseco in the roaster. It magically appeared three hours later tender and delicious.
Funny, if two people spent five minutes stuffing four hand into me, I’d have complained. The turkey never said a word.
Laurel Amberdine says
Josephine,
The e-ink technology takes no power when it’s not rearranging into new letters, so the Kindle shouldn’t get warm at all. I’ve played with the similar Sony reader and it was plenty cool.
It really does look similar to paper, except when the the letters dissolve and rearrange into new words.
It’s almost magical.
Other Lisa says
I love technology and gadgets, but in terms of form following function, the Kindle misses the aesthetic spot, for me.
Oh, me too! That thing is ugly. I know I am spoiled by Apple stuff, but really…would a little nice design have hurt?
Angela says
I agree. The Kindle just doesn’t do it for me. Give me a paper book any old day!
Josephine Damian says
Nathan, did you see on Paper Cuts that the “Times of London” named On Chesil Beach as best novel of the year?
Laurel, thanks for the info… now if only I can keep my clunky old laptop from getting hot….
otherkatie says
Nathan,
Did you see the pics in the media of Spencer serving Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless at the LA Mission?
He’s an angel.
A Paperback Writer says
I don’t have any Thanksgiving tales to tell, but may I recommend this delightful bit on leftovers by the humor columnist in the Salt Lake Tribune? Robert Kirby is really funny.
https://www.sltrib.com/columnists/ci_7558354
Topher1961 says
Hi Nathan. I remember you answering this a few weeks ago, but I couldn’t find it by looking at your labels.
An agent asks for a partial. When is it okay to send the polite e-mail reminder?
Heidi the Hick says
I guess the Kindle would be great for people who need to drag piles of books with them everywhere. It does seem that a lot of thought went into its design, but it is not pretty to look at.
yes I do think that’s important. I judge books by their covers. I think lots of people do but not everybody admits it.
I’m not a gadget techno person at all, so the packaging is more important to me than specifications. Also, despite not being into tech, I’m a Mac snob, so I have very little regard for that thing.
Bottom line? I love books. I love reading them, holding them in my hands, and lining them up on my shelf. As much as I hate leaving the house, especially to spend money, I love the bookstore.
I can’t see myself owning a Kindle any time soon.
Anonymous says
Hi, Nathan.
I just want to ask is it possible to publish a book in USA although author lives in another country and if he has to translate book into English?
Thanks.
P.S.
Sorry for my English
rivergirlie says
disturbing images of books piled up and flaming high into the night. didn’t someone think of this? it reminds me of the campaign to market the vauxhall nova car in italy. ‘no va’ – doesn’t go – tremendous!
anyway, the kindle will NOT take off unless there’s a place in it for you to tuck your bus/train ticket. you heard it here first.
Travis Erwin says
Glad you are back. I’m eager to read your take on Kindle.
No great stories from this Thanksgiving but over on my blog I am rehashing my one year of hell as a mall Santa.
brian_ohio says
My 4 year old daughter said she liked the Thanksgiving Beast.
I’d have been more shocked if the bachelor chose them both.
Still… I worry about this man. Will he find love? Will he maintain those perfect pecks? Will his twin brother have plastic surgery to remove the resemblance? My heart goes out to Glenn… or Bruce… or is it Gary?
Josephine Damian says
Topher, best wait for Nathan to confirm, but I seem to remember he said send the most brief email possible after one month.
Heidi, what about the thrill an author gets seeing people carrying around their book? A kindle gizmo does not give that effect.
original bran fan says
re:the Kindle. What about book signings? How does one sign a copy of their kindled book? Will book signings disappear?
Isak says
I could see book signings becoming rare, extremely high-profile events if things like Kindle take off. To have a physical, signed copy of an author’s work would be like owning the Holy Grail of that publication. Publishers would probably limit publications like that to a few hundred and even less would probably get signed.