In Brief: You Know Who

So sometimes I am a barista instead of a bookseller. Today was one of those days. It's generally not very fun--I have my job because I like to sell books, not because I like to make coffee. However, there are a number of distinct advantages to being a barista in a bookstore instead of a regular Starbucks:

Me: Can I have a name for the order?
Customer: Voldemort. Lord Voldemort.
(I write "He Who Must Not Be Named" on the cup.)
Coworker, after making the latte: Lord Voldemort?
Customer: Did you dare use my name?
Coworker: Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself. Have a nice day, Mr. Riddle.

I love working in books.

In Brief: Redface Moment

So, while at the store Saturday, I saw a gentleman and his wife talking a bit about Isaacson's Steve Jobs. There's a huge display next to the digital sales desk where I work. I've been enjoying Jobs since acquiring a personally signed copy from Isaacson several weeks ago when he visited the store. So I usually mention to everyone who picks it up that it's a great read, seeing as it's a hefty book and fairly pricey.

I mentioned this to the gentleman and his wife, and he gave me an odd look, and countered, "You should try the book about Jack Kennedy over there. Been on the New York Times Bestseller List for weeks. I wrote it."

And then he and his wife left, leaving me completely tongue-tied at having just unknowingly recommended Isaacson's book to CHRIS MATTHEWS.

Head, meet desk.

Nab a Nook Online

Missed the Black Friday deal for the Nook Simple Touch Cream? B&N is running a promotion with MasterCard today for a free $25 B&N gift card when you buy a nook with your MasterCard. This amounts to a $75 Nook Touch (if that's the one you go for), and has the advantage that you start out life with your nook with $25 in happy book-buying credit.

If you've been thinking about one, today might be the day. Head over to  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ for the full details.


And lest I be too, too biased toward the purveyor of my beer money, the Kindle DX is also on major sale today, $120 off which puts it at a nice, $259. The number one complaint I hear about the nook is that it's too small, even though people like the e-ink. So if you're looking for a larger e-ink display, go nab the DX at it's great price. Kindle DX at Amazon.com

Blog Rec: BookEnds LLC on Submissions

Every agent tells you, "Don't blog about the submissions process!" Which, frankly, I don't. I think it's kind of odd to talk a lot about fulls and partials and getting your hopes up, and it just intensifies the roller-coasteriness of something that's already pretty roller-coastery.

But that doesn't mean I can't point to someone else's post! :)

Jessica Faust over at BookEnds LLC revisited a post she wrote in 2009, "Submission 101" with some updates on how to handle being on submission. Her advice is almost always wonderful and clear, and this post is no exception. I especially liked her comment on how, as a writer, to handle the increasingly common practice of "no reply means no:"

This is one of those issues that stresses submitting writers out more than anything and, as we learned in Agentfail, causes more than a little anger and frustration. My advice is that if the agency has a “no response means no" policy, note that on your query-tracking sheet and move on the minute the query goes out.

I've been running this practice ever since I got an email saying the agency responds in 6-8 weeks even when it was clear from other data that about 95% of all requests came within six days of the query.  It saves a lot of heartache, and, if someone gets back to me, yay! Happy surprise. So, I was happy to see someone on the other side of the desk validate my intuition.

If you're a writer on sub, wander over there and read. Lots of great advice.

Jessica Faust at BookEnds LLC on Submissions

New Nook Tablet--Will it hold Fire's Feet to the Flames?

The new nook Tablet unveiled.

(Big disclaimer, I am a B&N bookseller. Nevertheless, I continue to be impressed personally by the B&N e-reader lineup simply as a person who is interested in e-reading. So while I think I'm unbiased on this account, use whatever grains of salt you wish.) 

Sure, I'm a shelver, and a stocker, and occasionally even a barista when need arises. But mostly, when I am at work, I am a digital bookseller, that is, a seller of the Barnes & Noble nook. So I've known for awhile that this announcement was dropping today, and the specs of the new device have been hanging around on places like Engadget for a good while.

Nevetheless--this is a pretty exciting device. Move over, Fire. The nook Tablet is on the market at $249, the same price as the existing nook Color, which is going to drop to $199 even as it adds some of the multi-media features like Hulu Plus and Netflix (which up until this point haven't been available on the nook Color, making it less desirable to some who want a table to do all of those things).