7.20.2005

Killer Bees...biblio style

Via Media Bistro comes this story out of , where else, Texas
about a library, a UNIVERSITY library that will have one
thousand books in the actual library.

If you need an idea of how few 1000 books is check the comments
to my post titled "I confess. I don't have much of a library".


Here's part of the article.
Allison B. Smith, a junior who is majoring in public relations, seems nonchalant about the truckloads of books that have been pulling away from the library, destined for other campus buildings. She usually visits the undergraduate library just to check e-mail between classes. "I've never been here to get a book," she says.

"The way things are set up these days, it's kind of a hassle when you have to go into the library to get a book," she adds. "I can get just about everything I need, right at home, through UTnet," the university's high-speed digital network. If she needs a bound book, she says, she can always get it from another campus library.



These are the kids who'll be using Vid Lit (see earlier post) to buy books.

It's coming Snarklings, it's already in Texas.
Like Killer Bees.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

If only things from Texas would stay there.

Anonymous said...

Okay, let's get nitty and gritty.

Given sufficient fudge to conceal your identity, what are the five biggest deals you've made for first-time novels, moneywise? How about for nonfiction?

What's the ballpark average, for both?

Is there any number so low you don't even tell the writer? Probably not--is there any number so low you advise that they tell the publisher to get lost?

Anonymous said...

HA! Still laughing about the Vid Lit comment. So very true.

Miss Snark said...

Ethically you MUST inform the writer of every offer. Even one that is insultingly low. Yes, I've had those.

I never tell a publisher to get lost. I tell them we can't afford to make the deal. Then I show them why they can't afford to lose the project. Miss Snark majored in math and mirrors.

Don't worry about money. Don't even THINK about it. If you are a writer, think about writing. If you are writing for money, you need to be visiting banks with notes and a false nose.

Anonymous said...

Telling a writer not to think about money is like telling an agent not to think about plot. Might not be your first concern, but pretty important nonetheless.

I'm a novelist without a day job. All I want is enough money to live on, but I -really- want that much. I'm doing okay at the moment, and I think part of the reason is, I'm pretty mercenary. (Of course, it's equally possible that if I was doing this for love alone, I'd be making even -more- money. Seems unlikely, though ...)

Miss Snark said...

Writers of FICTION who live on their work are like actors who earn their keep: they exist but they are 5% or fewer of the "pack".


Part of living wage means you are able to continue to earn money from your books. Any agent and most writers will tell you that it's harder to have a fourth book sell if you haven't "broken out" by then, than it is to get a debut novel published.

There's a reason most writers have teaching positions. Or other sources of income.
Like wives.
Like legal careers.
Like ransom notes.

It reminds me of the cruel but true joke: "you know what you call a drummer without a girlfriend?"

"homeless".

Pat Walsh's WONDERFUL book which should be required reading for every writer in America says have "high hopes and reasonable expectations".

Constance Reader said...

As a UT alum, I can tell that 1) The UGL never had much of a book collection to begin with and it is more accurately described by the building's name, Flawn Academic Center; 2) It's a remarkably uncomfortable spot to read or study. You only go there if the Texas Union next door is too jam-packed to find space; 3) It's ugly. I'm sorry, but it really is hideously ugly. And 4) UT has, in addition to its at least two dozen highly respected and valued departmental libraries, the Perry-Casteneda Library has a capacity of 3,200,000 volumes in 70 miles of stacks. It's an amazing place.

Anonymous said...

not to mention that the PCL library with the 3,000,000 volumes is about three blocks from the UGL...

 
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