M. Stefan Strozier

March 10, 2010

World Audience Books & More

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 12:16 am

World Audience just published this new crime book: The Long Slide by Blair Oliver, Ph.D. and Peter Soliunas ISBN: 978-1-935444-58-9, and like all of our books, it is getting great reviews and selling well and is very popular. I’ve been very busy lately with books, books, books. They come in waves, then there is a lull, then another wave. I am just at the end of a big wave. A couple more books to move to press and then I start looking again. Sales keep rising and zero—count ‘em zero—returns, for months. I will hazard a guess that people like World Audience books! The cool thing about being a publisher is that right now all of these thousands of people are out there soaking in something from my press, and our authors. My vision and asthetic is changing our culture as we speak. And even though a major publisher sells many more books, how many are returned, or bought simply because of advertising dollars?—and thus having little if any impact.

J. Matthew Nespoli is marketing his book, Broken, very well. He will have a booth at the LA Times / Authors Den Book Fair and his staff from www.nakedwordsurfer.com selling his book.

Dr. Frank Romano has started on his next worldwide book tour as you can see in the post below. He will be in NY next month and we’re going to set up a booth in Times Square and sell his book for 2 days—that will be a blast because Frank is very cool.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian has started a tour in conjunction with his upcoming movie and book.

There is a lot more happening as World Audience takes its first steps into becoming a major force in New York publishing. It was only a matter of time for this day to arrive. I don’t care what other publishers say; they are full of it. I act. Now. If you’re not an author at World Audience, where are you and what are you doing?

As for my own writing, I am just a couple of pages away from the first revision of my 5-act play about the Mexican Revolucion. I have gone through and made it much more focused and taut. And I have expanded parts and characters quite a bit. Now, the last stage is to shuffle the deck, in its entirety. That means changing the order and promote plots and demote other ones.

I should have The Labyrinth, edited, back from Kyle Torke in a matter of days and then I am going to greatly expand it and publish the 2nd edition. I’ve lowered the price and raised the discount.

Then I will finish my epic poem about 9-11 over the following weeks and publish the 2nd edition of my poetry chapbook. I will meet Sergey Cherep in New York at the art fair later this month to see what he’s painted about my poetry, which I will post here.

Meanwhile, I’ve already started on Moctezuma! my second 5-act play and it’s moving much faster. I expect to be done by the summer too. Then to Benito Juarez and last Porfirio Diaz.

I have no idea what any of this is going to do for me, professionally or personally—except to say that World Audience is very much on track to be a huge force this year. And it does not matter if any hippy freaks like Charlie Rose or Frank Rich refuse to acknowledge that World Audience is a major force, so long as we keep publishing great books that are very well-reviewed and bought and liked by our readers.

Perhaps I am trying to follow a similar path in my own career, and just keep churning out more and more excellent and complex work that no one else can even imagine doing. Something has to give. By the end of this year, given my press and my theater company (I didn’t even tell you about that; I’ll do so later) and all of this work of mine, I should be able to step back and say, “I am the man.”

March 8, 2010

Dr. Frank Romano’s 4th Worldwide Book Tour

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 6:04 pm

Storm Over Morocco by Frank Romano, PhD, (World Audience, ISBN 978-1935444251)

Israel & West Bank Interfaith Events (Will be in Israel and West Bank from April 2-14)

APRIL

Organize and participate in interfaith events- Jenin, West Bank, April 13, 2010

Possibly organize an interfaith event in Jerusalem between April 3 and April 12.

Frank Romano- Author Events
(Storm Over Morocco, 2010)
APRIL
April 17- Saturday-BORDERS, 1 – 7 pm, 2825 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa, CA
April 23-Friday-BORDERS, 11:30 am – 2:30 pm, 600 14th St., NW, #100, Wash, DC
April 24-Saturday-BORDERS, 2 – 7 pm, Deptford Mall, 1750 Deptford Center Rd.,
Deptford, NJ (near Philadelphia)
April 25- Sunday-BORDERS Express, 1 – 6 pm, White Marsh Mall, 8200 Perry Hall Blvd, Baltimore MD
April 30- Friday-BORDERS, 6 – 9:30 pm, 1500 16th Street, Suite D, Oak Brook, IL

MAY
May 1-Saturday-BORDERS Express, 1 – 8 pm, Chicago Ridge Mall, Ridgeland & 95th Street, Chicago, IL
May 2-Sunday-BORDERS, 2 – 7 pm, 755 West North Ave., Chicago, IL
May 8-Saturday-BORDERS, 1 – 7 pm, 2437 Southcenter Mall, Tukwila, WA (near Seattle)
May 9-Sunday-BORDERS, 1 – 7 pm, 3000 184th Street, SW, Lynnwood, WA (near Seattle)

Frank Romano- Invitations: Guest Speaker
APRIL
April 15
All day – Santa Rosa High School, Santa Rosa, CA, Teachers William Lyon & Amanda Newlon, English, Writing & French classes
5-6:40 pm – Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, Professor Nancy Morales, Advanced Linguistics (not confirmed)

April 16
10:53- 12:39 pm – Maria Carrillo High School, Santa Rosa, CA, Teacher Mary Kay Pedersen, Advanced (4th Year) French
1:30 – ?  - Santa Rosa High School, Teachers: William Lyon & Amanda Newlon, English, Writing & French classes  (not confirmed)

April 19
10:30 am – 12:30 pm – Santa Rosa Junior College, Petaluma campus, Petaluma, CA, Professor  Gloria de Blasio, Puente English Class
6:10 pm – 7:45 pm – College of Marin, Novato campus, Novato, CA, Professor Nancy Morales, Elementary Spanish (mixed levels)

April 20
7:30-9:20 am – Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, Prof. Nancy Morales, Advanced Spanish Conversation & Composition
10:10-11:45 am- College of Marin, Kentfield campus, Kentfield, CA, Nancy Morales, Elementary Spanish (mixed levels)

5-6 pm – Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa campus, Santa Rosa, CA, Prof. Todd Strauss, Advanced French (French 4)

Digital Adverts Surpass Print

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 5:13 pm

Very interesting. For the fisrt time, Internet advertising is making more money than print. This is great news for a 21st century press like World Audience Publishers; but the war still rages, despite this article’s claim that there will now be fewer print companies closing because they have founds ways to adjust. No, they have not done that yet or they would be online. It’s one or the other thing. The Web takes money from the print companies so either you come over to our side or you die.

Magazines are holding about steady with a slight raise; but I’m not really worried about print magazines, they are slowly dying too, just much more slowly, and they will hang on to a much smaller chunk of change.

The reality is online advertising works. I’ve tested it myself and I was able to use it in precise and very useful ways to attract excellent clients and customers.  But with print it is a scatter shot approach and that difference is what is going to keep advert dollars going to the Web.

Hurt Locker Stolen?

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 2:13 am

Look at this! An army sergeant says the movie that just won best picture is based on him! And he’s from the great state of New Jersey. Good luck, buddy. So not only is everything mediocre—it’s stolen too! But really, my friend, do you expect to win? They have a right to take anything they want from you, even your identity. The movie is more important that your soul, and your body, which you gave in defense of your country. (Now I am being sarcastic.) Plus, it was a woman director and she needed to win this year and really deserved it this time around. Let’s be patriotic, OK? It’s for Hollywood, after all.

And Best Actress is…

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 1:55 am

The hottie with the big butt who is married to white trash that she loves very much.

“It was her time.”

I’m sorry, I’m trying here to not be so cynical anymore. I’m in treatment. It’s not going so well.

And the Oscar…

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 1:41 am

Goes to President Obama for playing such a great president! But really, “The Hurt Locker”? Versus a 3-D Liberal agenda movie? Where have all the good movies gone? Oh well.

I am now into Moctezuma! and I was researching Martin Luther, who’s life and purpose peaks before Charles V in one of the most dramatic courtroom scenes and trials of all history, which itself would make a great play. But then I realize that Luther’s whole thesis was about the Catholic Church being greedy with money and lusting for more. I had already planned on tying in the Old World of Europe with the New but could not figure out how to do it, other than some pretty boring stuff involving some king. But with Martin Luther,  now I can tell that story too and link it to the Spanish quest for gold, and bring in the Holy Roman Emperor, who is a major player in Cortes’ life and action. So I have opened with that very scene. Perhaps I need one before it where he is nailing the trestise to the church door…not too shabby, eh?

March 7, 2010

La Revolucion

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 1:58 am

Today was a great day, thanks for asking. Tomorrow I meet World Audience’s first employee, my executive assistant. Next is my New York office, this year.And unlike President Obama, I achieve my goals—every single time. Sometimes I amaze myself and achieve a goal without even trying, I’m so damn good. When that happens, I always say, “Sometimes, I amaze myself.” Doubt me if you like, you won’t be the first to misjudge or underestimate M. Stefan Strozier and then be wrong. I’ve gotten so used to it that I use your biases as a sales advantage. If I really don’t want you around, I just whip out my “Strozier: certified schizo” card—-that usually sends ‘em packing fast (or their eyes get real wide and their faces go pale). Next is evicting Random House from their 5th Ave skyscraper. You can go back to Germany is you like. World Audience, Inc. is going to be a raging monster! Like Godzilla! Run for cover, fools! That’s me, breathing FI-YA!

Yeah, I’m feeling good right now and the main reason is ever since my reading of La Revoucion, my 5-act play about the Mexican Revolution, in January, I’ve been rewriting it. And frankly, it hasn’t been easy. To write a 5-act play is very difficult. But I want to do what Shakespeare did. And I was starting to get discouraged there for a while—especially after the reading when I saw how much more work I had left. And plus, who cares? No one, apparently. I have no idea what I am going to do with this play once it’s done but I don’t care anymore about that—I am through worrying about it. (Although Jose Esquea of Teatro La Tea said to send it to him and I have a contact in L.A.)

Now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It works now and very well. It’s much leaner and meaner. The love story is major and central to the plot! What was a long story (and that does not work on a stage) is now a rough and tumble play. And now I know how to write a massive, epic 5-act play like Shakespeare—forget about it. Next is Moctezuma! and it’s rolling along fast!—already. Yes, I keep saying it, 2010 is the year. First my stories, now I’ve tamed this bear; then my memoir The Labyrinth, which Dr. Kyle Torke is done editing; then my epic poem (yes, I am going to write an epic poem this summer!) about 9-11 and my poetry chapbook; then a book tour!; and producing theater with La Muse Venale, Inc. Hollywood: I even forgive you. I am open to you making a movie of one of my plays. In fact, I may find an agent and write a screenplay.

March 5, 2010

Another Review of Magical Pen:

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 6:15 pm

From Joe Hart (it will be at Amazon tomorrow):

“This book of stories is short and it reads fast.  I think it would be better read in as close to one sitting as possible in order to keep the feel of the whole experience.   The feel of the stories ties them together.

The author of these stories wrote a book of poems called “Schizophrenia Poems” – this gives an indication of the nature some of the stories, though not all.  And it’s best exemplified I thought in the first story, “The Farm”.  (Also by the way in “The Temptress” ["The Tigress"]- about a young man, recently out of a mental hospital, making his own identity, and “Happiness in New York City”  - an ironically titled story about a homeless man who hallucinates a visit from god.)  ”The Farm” is a wonderfully written piece on the life and mental aberrations (including vivid hallucinations) of a young boy, who in a later story is diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic.  I believe the book is autobiographical-ish, though the main character in each story usually has a different name.  The author is also a playwright, and I thought the dialog flowed smoothly – clean and natural.

I won’t reveal anything further about plots of stories.  Except to mention that one, “Seashore of Lake Michigan”, is I believe about an adolescent boy with mental problems testing a friendship.  ”"The Man and His Wife” is right out of Kafka, succinctly and effectively written.  There is a long story about a sensitive man’s reactions to the Gulf War (before, during and after his going there).  The grandfather of this man was himself in a war, had shot an enemy soldier in half, and never stopped feeling remorse and regret for it.  At one point, in a car with his grandson, he cries and cannot stop for 10 minutes, then recovers and drives on.  A story about rejection struck me as pure feeling – the whole thing, emotion inhabited every sentence.  I felt it.  Though there was nothing maudlin or melodramatic about it.  There is a story about a shipwreck, excitingly told, leaving two men alone, adrift on a raft – an Irishman and an Englishman.  The title story (probably not autobiographical!) has a great ending.  The story called “Hollywood’s Last Hurrah!” (ostensibly true) started out reminding me of Capote’s collection of essays on people he’d known, then turned into Dostoyevsky’s “Notes From The Underground”!
I’ve mentioned something that struck me about several of the stories.  I liked this book very much, and recommend it.”

—Joe Hart

More Reviews of Magical Pen Arrive!

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 5:50 pm

This is from Prof. Louis Phillips. He says some stories have “bitterness” to them. Well, at the end a couple do, but that is sort of the point, the book overall is the arc of my life—told through wild, imaginary stories where I am more or less the protagonist and describing real-ish events. And the stories were written at that point of my life, so for example, the stories in the middle were written in my 20s and don’t have a trace of bitterness in them because I was, well, you know, a typical young man. And if there is a trace of bitterness creeping up on me in the last couple years, I can deal with it, because from it I’ve written some damn good work and my bets are now paying off i.e. World Audience Publishers and La Muse Venale, Inc. and theater in general. So yes, I am at bit bitter right now—I want success and I want it now!! And I have earned it and proven how good I am and I’m tired of wading through….When I’m finally done and have reached my goals—maybe this year—and I’m sitting on a beach with a margarita, shrimp on the fire, all that bitterness will have not only been worth it (to spur me on) but wash off me like water off a duck’s back.

Tired of  the  anemic, navel-gazing, midlife crises stories that dominate so many literary journals these days? Well, then you should read some of the crazy-laced, fevered, and volatile stories that make up  M. Stefan Strozier’s first collection – The Magical Publishing Pen. The stories have strong currents of feeling through them and some contain a bitterness that is hard to chew upon. But these stories  will be difficult to forget: A man remembers his father’s advice – “Always remember that you’ve had Hollywood all of your life”  — and ends up briefly involved with an exotic wrestler, Hugh Hefner, and a locker room scene that teeters on the brink of surrealism; in “The Tigress” the narrator, who had been diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic, restores  an old tractor engine and in the process restores himself; in “The  Man and His Wife” a beleaguered husband watches his wife transform into a giant spider.  No, these are not stories for the squeamish; these are not stories for puritans. But they are alive, and that’s what good readers deserve

—Louis Phillips

Author of The Woman Who Wrote King Lear and Other Stories

And Joe Hart on Happiness in New York City (another story in the collection):

“It was a very affecting and effective story, I felt. I liked it very much.”

And the title story:

“Your title story has a great ending!”

Magical Pen at Goodreads.com

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 5:14 pm

Matt Ward of Mary Celeste Press put up 3 free copies of my stories at www.goodreads.com and in just a few days 506 entered to win. More reviews are coming soon. Joe Hart, who’s blurb is a few posts back is still reading and says, “I am into the book now, no longer just reading one a night.”

March 4, 2010

Good-bye, NY Times!

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 8:27 pm

Today again is an all-time high for this blog!—by like 3 times. I am continually mystified by this blog. But take the day off; have a drink on me.

In this video, Arthur Sulzberger, the publisher and member of a family that has always owned the NY Times, lays out his vision for integrating his company with the future (in March of 2010?). It’s interesting how families have owned the major papers for a century—or slightly longer: the Chandlers and the LA Times, and formally the Bancrofts of the WSJ. Alas, this trend is dying, as these last two are gone now and even Rupert Murdoch is leaving with no family legacy. So, that last man standing—representing the last family—is going to change fate! I am all ears.

His 3 core ideas are quality, a recognition of world-class journalism, and democracy. Already, I am lost. But that’s okay. My little brother is a journalist (who even went to a Ivy League journalism school) and he’s a punk that I used to smack the crap out of—and he too never made much sense, even after whooping his ***. So please, continue. He goes on to talk about how the NY Times is changing but it was mostly fluff from that point forward; except for two points.

One, that the NY Times will become a multi-platform media company. In this strategy, I agree. World Audience is a multi-platform publisher, with POD books, eboks and audio books, as well as much other media, not to mention the media we use to market our titles. However, I part company is his concept that content will become more interactive and the content provider must think of a new bell or whistle every other day. Content is content and it’s all-powerful. (You gotta admit, I can turn a phrase from time to time ;-) That means content drives the marketing strategy. There’s no way around it, at least on the Web.

But then Mr. Sulzberger goes on to say that the NY Times will charge people for content in 2011. And with that, the last of the last fell on his sword. He made a weak defense that online ads will work with a pay wall;  but he can’t have it both ways. He says the NY Times is one of the greatest Web sites on the Internet. It’s comments like these that reveal a babe in the woods in terms of understanding how to be a 21st century publishing company, such as World Audience, Inc. is. Not only can this claimed title of the best Web site change over one weekend; but it means nothing. It’s not like readers spur the entire Internet to read the writers at www.nytimes.com. And this is going to justify people paying for that content? Yeah, right.

So good-bye, NY Times.

Almost 600 Downloads of My Stories

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 12:14 am

–The sampler of my stories, The Magical Publishing Pen, has been downloaded nearly 600 times in less than one month at Skive and World Audience.

–Today is an all-time high for this blog, page views and visitors—and it’s still early.

–My plan is to finish the rewrite of the 2nd revised edition of my memoir, The Labyrinth, in a couple of weeks, working with Kyle Torke, PhD, and then my poetry chapbook with it’s epic poem, and go on a book tour by the summer.

–World Audience grows at light speed. I think by this fall we will be seriously competing with major publishers in New York i.e. no-kidding-putting-them-out-of-business.

–I am producing Trump the Musical, by Bernard Margalit, which is getting a staged reading for Broadway producers in a few weeks. The music is being arranged now. And now I have more plays to produce.

–Work on my 5-act plays continues and later this year a production of La Revolucion, Villa y Zapata. Look for my next play, Moctezuma! soon too. It will probably be me at the top of my game. If I faltered coming around the last turn with La Rev, I am back up and running—ever read HORSEMEAT by Charles Bukowski?

March 3, 2010

Bloggers Get Some R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 5:46 pm

Bloggers can cover restricted media events and write about them, according to this article. Hey, now we’re talking. I can think of a few events that I’d like to visit, not really to “cover” them like a journalist—who cares about that?—but to give the event that old-time “M. Stefan Strozier” feel. This blog is probably best categorized somewhere in entertainment, and there could be some interesting things to see, say, Fashion Week. Can you imagine what I would have to say about that?? It says you have to have written 6 times about restricted events in the last 2 years. I probably have done that 60 times.

Chris Anderson thinks the iPad will revolutionize magazines but not for 10 years, according to article. He wrote “The Long Tail” and then another book that he admitted he plagiarized. This article says Conde Nast did not lose readers in 2009. What? That’s a big fat lie, if ever I’ve heard one, and I’ve read enough to confirm it. It sounds like certain parties are trying to “beef up” their chances.

However, the iPad will revolutionize things faster then 10 years. I think it will take as long as the iPod—about 2 years—to become the main way magazines and newspapers are sold. But not books, though it might make publishers some money. Books will take 10 years before they are profitable as electronic books, and even then only about 50% of the market share.

You heard it here first.

March 2, 2010

Playboy Shrinks, Huffington Speaks

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 11:27 pm

It looks like Playboy is getting ready to close up its operations. That’s too bad, it really. I wonder if my satire, written in June when Playboy’s troubles started, had anything to do with it. This is every blogger’s secret desire, to influence events. It’s like when Conan O’Brien was battling Major Booker of Newark, NJ, I was blogging about that; but then he too is now gone. More realistically, I am quick to sense a trend and then join it, but I am still one of the voices of the jury. Then again…

That brings me to Ms. Huffington, who says she didn’t destroy newspapers. And she cites her rules for making online content successful—or profitable. I don’t disagree with her points; but they don’t seem very vital to me. I think it has more to do with creating a brand, with your content. Your brand sells your content. That’s why the NY Times means next to nothing online, which makes them very mad. The NY Times is a printed newspaper brand and its marketing does not transfer online directly (it could have, if they had started a decade ago). But of Ms. Huffington’s “4Es”, yes, you have to have energy, but then every writer does, so it’s a non-factor. (Maybe journalists need to be be reminded of that.) And enthusiasm? I can be a pretty unenthusiastic guy. I am, after all, a product of my generation, but look what I’ve created. Furthermore, the core of World Audience is of an age 42-44. So, enthusiasm? Naaaahhh. Engagement, yes, but only up to a point. She seems to think that the content provider or social network has to do 100% of the work here. I am not so sure. I think it’s 50-50. I demand a lot of people. The best deliver and I work hard to keep them at my side. Finally, empathy? Huh? My first reaction is, “Screw that.” She seems to think there is some huge marketing trend and potential here. I don’t know, not for what I am doing: publishing books. I am trying to reach readers—Not Web page readers or even newspaper readers (the online ones, that is). I want book readers. Real book readers don’t need my empathy. They just want a very good book from a very good publisher they recognize as excellent.

The Best Review of My Stories

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 9:27 pm

(You can be sure I got his permission to publish this first, if you feel me. ‘Cause, you know, us Schizos, we roll like dat.)

Mike – Read “The Farm” – think I could tell the hallucinations from reality (maybe not, am probably being presumptuous) – am myself schizophrenic – woke up crazy last night thinking about the story – went right back to sleep – woke up later feeling fine and liking the story very much – if I finish the book (might not frankly – am really not a reader anymore) and it’s all as good as this, will write you the best review I can (for what it’s worth to you) – think I caught your reference to James Joyce BTW – showed your book to a friend tonight – he read the blurbs, glanced at the text – was very interested, wrote down your name, is going to get a copy at Borders – told him if they didn’t have it I’d buy him a copy – wrote a poem about the story (a reaction – may submit it someday) – that made me crazy too – will recover – I was relieved “your” dog wasn’t killed – the story reminded me of Kafka (a hero of mine, especially his diaries) – I thought the story was good, very well written…

- Joe Hart

March 1, 2010

Last Thing, I Promise

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 11:26 pm

LOL. In reading my recent posts and then the linked articles, you will find a lot of seemingly inconsistent points and arguments. To many, this is probably very dry stuff. But right now there is a very intense battle being waged over books, which is somewhere around a 50 billion-dollar industry. So I am happy to debate these so-called dry topics, any time, any place, any how.

The author I linked to in my previous post is a big, famous Hippy-freak publisher that invested in something called the “Espresso Book Machine” and he has a certain vision for publishing that he obviously hopes will fit with his investments. POD has nothing to do with his device—NOTHING.

My own personal vision is something I share with the power brokers of World Audience, Inc. You invest where you think it wise, my friend. By the way, shares of World Audience are still available!

Just One More Thing…

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 10:10 pm

Mike “Colombo” Strozier here. In this article, the author is doing what has become fashionable since it became clear about six months ago; yet remained whispered in the corridors of power: Publishing is dying—attempting to insist that ebooks are the future and will replace the printed book. Without going into the basically pointless reasons why, this argument and the big publishers despise print-on-demand technology. World Audience is a print-on-demand press, among other things. The river is only going to flow one way. Money is currently hemorrhaging from the big publishers. Where is it going, then? Those in power wish and hope and pray that the money is and will go to ebooks, because that is chic and hip and fashionable. (But please, not POD, the plead.) But money is not going into ebooks—as everyone constantly writes, paradoxically!

To be honest, I don’t know where the money is myself. However, I do know two things for sure. One, it’s out there somewhere. And two, I’ve found it. Okay, maybe I do know where it is: POD!

Right now, I am all alone in this vast POD universe that no one wants to touch. So yes, keep lying to yourselves about the future of ebooks, by all means!

I’ve been writing about all of these things for years. Here they are. And here are some more. Guess what? I am tired of this subject. Reading Jason Epstein’s article recalls the Simpsons episode where Bart is listening to his teacher speak, “Communist Manifesto, Gutenberg press, networking with workers in other cities or countries…” and then Bart hears “Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah…” It bores me now. What he writes about I have already done! And you know why it bores me now? Because I was right!!

Game is over. I won.

On Publishing

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 9:29 pm

World Audience is leading the publishing revolucion. Leading does not mean that you are biggest or most recognized—just the best. And being excellent means to be consistently very good and sustain high standards. In this article, Random House is apparently seeking to enter the business of video games because of the high profits. That’s great, but then don’t call yourself a serious book publisher anymore.

I detect that journalists are now writing about publishing and trying to acknowledge that it is changing. This is the first time I’ve seen such writing, like this NY Times piece about pricing and this one, which tried to define everything in one article. Both articles are seriously flawed. The pricing the Times cites means nothing to me, and my press is successful and growing fast. How can that be possible, then? It’s because the journalsts can’t bring themselves to write truthfully about the publishing revolution; they want to analyze everything that is changing from the perspective of the major publishing houses—and how many are left now? And of those still around, are they even publishing books anymore? I am publishing 25 or more books a month and I could easily double that—and will shortly; but I bet that I am matching the “big” houses.

Alas, this is what journalists do, by chasing the power like its an ambulance they are able to portray themselves as important too, and worthy of discerning what is unimportant. However, in fact, there are no rules at present. No one can write a sweeping article about publishing because tomorrow that essay will be obsolete—forever.

New Review of Death’s Green Eyes by Kent Wallace

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 9:02 pm

Click to read the review!

More Sharks are Eating Humans These Days!

Filed under: 1 — Mike Strozier @ 5:14 pm

Don’t go swimming in the water this summer!

Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na, Dun-na,……………….

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