Mongoliad Authors in Google+ Hangout
On the Sword & Laser book club this week, hosts Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt interviewed nearly all of the c0-authors of the epic book, The Mongoliad. Novelist Neal Stephenson joined the interview while working out on his treadmill.
Check it o...
Barack Obama Fails ’50 Shades Of Grey’ Pop Culture Test
As part of his campaign efforts, president Barack Obama was on The View, where he took a pop culture quiz. It turns out that the president has never heard of the top selling erotica book, 50 Shades of Grey.
When asked the question, “what is the...
Shakespearean Insults, Animated
Have you ever used a Shakespearean insult? The TED-Ed animation video embedded above explores insults used in two popular Shakespeare plays, Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet.
Teacher April Gudenrath designed the lesson and TEDtv executive Juliet Blake na...
Mark Z. Danielewski Shares 30-Second Writing Advice
House of Leaves novelist Mark Z. Danielewski shared a 30-second bit of writing advice over at the Knopf Doubleday YouTube page. It is a deceptively simple tip and chance to meet the author.
The video series includes nearly 28 brief and useful intervie...
YouTube Book Trailer Advice from Chronicle Books
Want to make a cool book trailer? Check out Chronicle Books’ YouTube page to get ideas. The company’s videos are so catchy that YouTube itself is featuring the publisher as part of its corporate video demo series.
In the “It’s ...
Chip Kidd Offers Book Designing Tips
Random House book designer Chip Kidd gave a TED talk called “Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is.” The video embedded above features his entire talk.
Many publishing executives feel that the cover design is the number one mark...
YouTube Time Machine for Book Research
The next time you need to research a book or a new writing project, you should use the YouTube Time Machine to explore the time period in your work.
The online tool will let you find videos that range from 1860 until the present, traveling back in tim...
Mobsters Visit Grand Central Publishing Offices
In that new book trailer for The Family Corleone, mobsters visit Grand Central Publishing trying to get a galley copy of the Ed Falco novel. The book is a prequel to The Godfather, based on a screenplay by Mario Puzo.
Grand Central editor Mitch Hoffm...
Ellen DeGeneres Narrates ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
Talk show host and author Ellen DeGeneres shared a short skit online, attempting to read the audiobook version of E. L. James‘ steamy erotica, Fifty Shades of Grey.
We’ve embedded the video above (Completely Safe for Work)–what do yo...
Neal Stephenson Stars in Book Trailer about the Inherent Silliness of Book Trailers
Amazon Publishing’s 47 North imprint has released a book trailer for The Mongoliad: Book One, the first installment in a group-written novel headlined by Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear.
Instead of making a Hollywood version of the book or hiring ...
How Many Hours Have You Spent Writing?
How many hours did you spend writing last week? Multiply that times 52 and you will have a rough idea of your annual dedication to the craft of writing.
In the rambling and inspiring video embedded above (contains a bit of swearing), novelist Yuvi Zal...
BeBe Winans to Publish Memoir about Whitney Houston Friendship
Gospel music star BeBe Winans has landed a book deal for a memoir about his friendship with the late singer Whitney Houston. Worthy Publishing will publish The Whitney I Knew in July, complete with photos and links to video performances.
Above, weR...
