Thought for the day

"Being a book evangelist is an occupational hazard when you're a bookseller."—Shelf Awareness

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Ain't that the truth!
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Thought for the day

From Shelf Awareness, a bookseller's daily email:

"Children ask better questions than do adults. 'May I have a cookie?' 'Why is the sky blue?' and 'What does a cow say?' are far more likely to elicit a cheerful response than 'Where's your manuscript?' 'Why haven't you called?' and 'Who's your lawyer?'" —Fran Lebowitz, The Fran Lebowitz Reader

Yep.

book seller or book trader

"Every word written from the heart holds a Mystery. The reader reveals it by building a whole from the sentences recognized by the consciousness. A book is a Family of mysteries. Booksellers are grandparents who love all their family members. That is why they can tell customers about the contents of the books. Booksellers who can't do this are not grandparents. They are just traders."—from the movie The Last Bookshop of the World, cited in Shelf Awareness

I'd like to think that I was a bookseller, and not just a book trader…

Tempest in a teapot

Aparently there has been a big dust up on Twitter about translators not being named on the cover of a book. Jim West has a post on it and I posted a comment. Because Jim moderates his comments (wise choice), it may or may not be posted, so I provide it here:

As Jim Eisenbraun pointed out to you on Twitter, it is normal for publisher not to display the translator on the cover. And, I'd like to point out that K.C. is an editor at W&S, so he might have had some input on that.

The cover is for selling the book. The title page is where the important stuff is. Worldcat, the librarians tool, usually only displays the translator in the (now hidden) details screen.

The only exception is where the translator is in some way a "big name" and having his/her name on the cover will help sell the book. Because that's what covers are for—to catch people's eyes so that they will buy the book. Period. Actually, exclamation point. Covers are a selling point—which is why the old-style stamped cloth cover is not around much anymore. It's usually on over-priced books that only need to sell 100 copies to libraries to make money. Popular-priced books need a cover to attract the nonlibrarians. If having the translator on the cover helps sell the book, then it will probably appear there. If not, too bad, so sad.

Sorry if I sound cynical, but with the proliferation of illegal sharing sites and people just not buying books, selling the few that a publisher does is what the cover is all about. (And note, too, that libraries are cutting way back on buying books.)

Sorry if you don't like my comment, but it's the truth. Not dissing translators in any way, shape, or form. They do difficult and necessary work, but if the book doesn't sell, their work will be in vain. And publisher will go away, which some of you may think is a good thing, but when I look at some self-pub stuff, with egregious factual, grammatical, and other obvious errors, I suspect the wild, wild west of self-pubs might not be the utopia that some seem to think it is.

Tell me I'm wrong…

Just an
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This is evil!!

The Maryland court blocked the library ebooks law from going into effect, claiming that it violated copyright protection.

Now, that might be, and by itself wouldn't have riled me. But, the very next sentence in the Publishers Weekly Daily eletter says this: "Hachette Book Group parent company Lagardère saw record gains last year, with HBG up as well even discounting its purchase of Workman Publishing."

And they aren't the only publishing company setting records for profit and sales!

But, they won't let the libraries have ebooks at a fair price (the pricing to libraries is definitely ridiculous and gouging) or in a timely manner. Why? Because it might damage their record profits. It would be different if they weren't making tons of cash and paying their executives sinfully extravagent salaries and bonuses (all the while paying their rank and file workers scandalously low wages and exploiting them). But they aren't.

Copyright is to protect the rights to make a fair profit for authors and publishers. It is an attempt to balance the rights of producers and consumers. But, the balance of late is far too much in favor of the corporate producer (not most authors, mind you) at the expense of the consumer.

Just an
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The bookstore

"We watch a reader in a bookshop: he picks up a book, leafs through it—and for a short instant he is entirely cut off from the world. He is listening to someone speaking, whom others cannot hear. He gathers random fragments of phrases. He shuts the book, looks at the cover. Then he often takes a brief glance at the cover flap, hoping for some assistance. At that moment, without realizing it, he is opening an envelope: those few lines, external to the text of the book, are like a letter written to a stranger."—Roberto Calasso, The Art of the Publisher, via Shelf Awareness

Another week gone by

and here's what I've been reading (well, some of what I've been reading anyway).

First off, Roger Olson explains what he means by his version of Evangelical. Personally, I'd just drop the label; no matter what you do, people will still think if means Trump-supporting fundamentalist.

Political Theology Network takes a look at guns and Christianity. Balanced approach, but right now it just raises more questions than answers. But that's good. Read it.

Anxious Bench argues for women theological education, but for a novel reason. Read it to find out. And speaking of ministry, Mike Glenn on Jesus Creed talks about our lack of capacity in the church. Nope, not physical space, but—well, read it. Here's a good taste:

Right now, we must grasp this idea of giving ministry away. The first Reformation gave the Word back to the people. The second Reformation will give ministry back to the people. Pastors will have to be the first ones to understand this. As long as we think we’re the only ones who can do the ministry of the church, our churches will be hampered in their effectiveness and limited in their impact. As we’ve mentioned before, Christ-followers are called from their sinfulness and called to a partnership with Christ in the service of His kingdom.

And speaking of capacity, how about our capacity to forgive? Fr. Stephen Freeman broaches that subject:

Of course, our experience of those who are truly enemies is that we do not want to forgive them. We do not trust them; the wound has been too deep; their offense is not against us but against someone we love who is particularly vulnerable. I could enlarge the list but we are all too familiar with it. The reasons we find it hard to forgive our enemies is endless.

But the commandment remains – not as a counsel of how to live a healthier, happier life – but with the added reminder that we will only find forgiveness as we forgive. Forgiveness is not optional – but a fundamental spiritual action which we must learn to use as though our salvation depended upon it – for it does.

Speaking of forgiveness, David Fitch is back with part 2 of the enemy-making machine:

If the enemy-making machine works to keep us locked in a zero-sum game, where only one person wins and the other person must lose, this passage in Matthew [18:15–20] moves us to a new place altogether. Here in this space of mutuality, “what is bound on earth is bound in heaven, what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven.” We are being taken into God’s future, releasing the power of the kingdom to heal, transform, create something new.

He then shows how Jesus models conflict management in John 8. Yes, he knows the text-critical problems of the chapter (as do I); get over it!

Meanwhile, down under, Stephen McAlpine has a pair of posts, the first one looks at the great toilet paper run and how COVID-19 reveals the lack of foundation in our lives. The second one looks at the fallout from the willingness of society to encourage gender change in teen-agers. Hint: It ain't pretty. Remember, Ideas have consequences! If I were a lawyer, I'd say there is a marvelous opportunity to make a few bucks there. But, aside from that, all I see is ruined lives.

A little closer to home, on the Anxious Bench they tackle "political hobbyism"—a term I had never heard of before.

And so, for Lent, the solemn season of reflection and repentance, I have vowed to give up political hobbyism. I’m striving instead to trade shallow political engagement for deep political engagement, which focuses on building relationships, serving my community, and effecting real change that has an impact on my neighbors. I know from my research on religious communities and their involvement in immigration and refugee issues that this type of work matters immensely—not simply for meeting the real, immediate needs of people, but for creating enduring and impactful political change.

She then goes on to list some actual concrete examples. Good stuff.

Meanwhile, Bob on Books would settle for a bit of modesty. I'm with him.

I love my country. But as a Christian I love a God who loves the world (John 3:16), and so I need to see my country within the world God loves. To share God’s heart is to share his love, and to love the United States alone is too small to share the heart of God. I love a God who is holy, just and true, and this requires me to look at my country through these lenses as well.

When I look at things this way, it leads me to far greater modesty about my country. While not denying the goods, there is another kind of history about which I’ve learned since I was in school. Much of it isn’t pretty.

Again, read it!

John Hawthorne is retiring at the end of this year after 39 years in Christian higher ed. He muses over it in two parts part 1, looking back, and part 2, looking forward. Good insights.

The Atlantic compares the COVID-19 virus to the Spanish influenza a century ago. Hint: it was much worse that this one. In fact, there's no real comparison. But there are some lessons to learn from it.

The BBC looks at the death of the apostrophe. I doubt it's dead, but it is certainly misused/abused. Fun read, though.

Rounding out this week, is a look at James Daunt, the guy who is now running Barnes & Noble. I hope he can bring them back from the brink of bankruptcy. One thing is certain, he's on the right path in emulating the independent bookstore. And for the first time in years, B&N is being run by an actual bookseller.

Final note: Incoming college students—you know, the digital natives—would still rather use a physical textbook! And not just a majority, but 76 percent. So that's good news for the booksellers, isn't it?

And no, I didn't read a post about Amazon this week. But, I did see an interesting note on Bicycling about a NASCAR racer who is apparently pretty famous but is also a bicyclist, Jimmie Johnson. Maybe he can raise awareness so I don't have to worry as much about getting run off the road. Well, I can wish, can't I?

OK; I really am done here. Read the links and have a healthy week.

Another week...

Well, it's been almost a week since the last round-up of stuff I found interesting. As always, read the posts for yourself to make sure I'm not misrepresenting them! Let's begin then...

Remember last week I said it would be interesting if someone used the dispensationalist framework to look at the current state of affairs in the US? Well, Benjamin Corey did it.

I’d honestly started this post intending to be silly, and during my research began to find the coincidences and certain numbers happening to match a bit amusing the first few times. But at a certain point the coincidences added up or got too specific, and it wasn’t funny anymore– it was deeply unsettling.

And by the end? Well, stick with me as the prophecies grow more specific, and you’ll see why my mind was a bit blown–and why as a Christian my spirit was deeply unsettled by the the end of it

Read the whole (or at least skim it for the headers). If dispensationalist theology is accurate (and I don't believe it is), then we had better head for the hills (Matt 24).

And another theologian, Roger Olson, weighs in. Mind you, he's no fear-monger, but he ends the post with this:

The time has arrived to fear every government led by a would-be dictator as soon as he or she punishes subordinates for nothing other than obeying the law.

That prayer breakfast fiasco takes a slam; a Classicist looks at the fall of the Roman Republic and the acquittal vote.

But the Senate impeachment trial has shown us how far along the identification of leader and state has moved in the Trump era. A central part of the president’s impeachment defense is, as we have seen, that the personal will of the president is indistinguishable from the will of the state and the good of the people.

Will the GOP-led Senate’s endorsement of this defense clear a path for more of the manifestations – and consequences – of authoritarianism? The case of the Roman Republic’s rapid slippage into an autocratic regime masquerading as a republic shows how easily that transformation can occur.

Mind you, I'm with him. But, let's move on to other, happier things. Scot McKnight gets interviewed on his own blog about his book Kingdom Conspiracy—a very good book. And Nathan Hatch looks at what only the church can do (HT: Jim E.).

Churches clearly need to form the faithful in how to think—and sometimes act—in the arena of politics and society. But that task needs to be done with great humility and with a depth of historical and theological reflection rarely seen. Such nuance will definitely not conform to current political orthodoxies and may make it very difficult for believers to become full-throated advocates for either major American political party.

Most of all, our nation needs communities of faith that give meaning, dignity, and love to twenty-first-century people who are lonelier, more stressed, and with less sense of hope than at any time in recent memory. People need acceptance for who they are, not for what they do, and forgiveness for the stray paths that all of us have stumbled onto. Let the church be the church, in concrete places, in specific places and neighbourhoods. Let it renew and manifest its primary reason for being: “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.”

Amen! George Yancey remarks on the loss of moral authority on the part of the church because of its current support for the current ruler. He ends with this:

This should not be hard stuff. As Christians our ultimate protection comes from God and not the government. This does not mean that we cannot participate in the government or support our chosen leaders, but it should mean that we do not depart from our values in order to look for governmental protection. Instead, we are to live out our values even as we engage with our government.

So, to my Christian friends, reality offers you a choice. You can continue to lose your moral authority and ability to speak to our society or you can begin to challenge this president. When he calls his ex-mistress Horseface or denigrates the National Prayer Breakfast you can call him out. You can begin to establish that you do not approve of his gross sins. Or you can continue to be ignored by everyone except those in your own inner circles.

And speaking of changing, here is a nice look at growing in holiness. He starts out by stating what most think salvation is:

A prevalent understanding of Christianity in the western world, both inside and outside the church, goes something like this: Through Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven so that when we die, we will go to heaven instead of hell. This, it is assumed, is what salvation is all about.

Wrong answer. That's a truncated gospel, just the beginning of what God wants to do in you:

Coming to know God’s love for us in Christ enables the new birth, the beginning of sanctification. The Holy Spirit specifically brings to birth holy tempers in the heart, most especially love for God and neighbor. Sanctification is the process of growing in that love and other marks of the new birth such as faith, hope, humility, peace, and joy. This transformation of the heart leads to transformation of life as we begin to live these out in the world.

Holy tempers are dispositions of the heart; they make us increasingly the sort of persons who love God and neighbor, who have the mind of Christ. As a result, we have new motivations and desires; our intentions are increasingly aligned with God’s. We also see the world with new eyes, looking at persons and situations through the lens of love.

But some would say that sin is just too powerful (I've heard that argument! As if sin were more powerful than God!!!). He finishes with this:

Wesley’s optimism of grace then extends from prevenient grace to Christian perfection. He is fully aware of the power of sin, but even more confident that through grace love triumphs, in this life and the age to come. Whatever God has promised, Wesley is certain that in God’s own way and time God will do.

Amen! I agree. The power of God via the Holy Spirit within us is more powerful than sin. Of course, that means a moment-by-moment surrender. His ways, not mine. Yep, never said it was easy, but it isn't a list of dos and don'ts. It is from the heart, which is why many like to call it "heart holiness." Ponder that for a bit, and then read this on why we should read. I'd love to quote the whole thing, but here's the last few paragraphs (do read the whole thing, though):

Reading causes us to reflect on the human condition. What is admirable? What is despicable? And what kind of person do I want to be? How have people faced adversity? What makes the difference between those who become bitter and those who become better?

And lest we get too serious, reading can be fun. Silly rhymes can make us laugh. Stories can amuse us and bring us joy.

I wonder whether in the press to pass standardized reading tests, our children may miss the opportunity to discover these humanizing aspects of reading, that also make reading deeply satisfying. I also can’t help but wonder if parents and educators who are in touch with these deeply human longings and weave them into their practice will educate more highly motivated readers.

He's correct, of course. Reading isn't about passing tests or the power of knowledge—or any kind of power except the power to empathize. And lest we move too quickly away from theology, here is a piece on penal substitution and its many problems. He offers an alternative with good pedigree, Irenaeus:

Offering a credible alternative that competes with the storied character of penal substitution is the larger challenge, but it can be done. Irenaeus of Lyons (b. 130 AD), for example, sketches a powerful picture of God’s redemptive effort in terms of “recapitulation.”

Personally, I think any one "theory of atonement" is too small, and he acknowledges that. Do read the whole thing.

OK, this is getting long, but if you use a smart phone or computer (and especially if you use one of those voice contraptions like Alexa), you will want to read at least this, part one. It would be good to read part two as well.

Let's end with a high note: Independent bookstores are making a strong comeback. If you are in the book business, this is old news, but it's finally getting mainstream media attention. And how they are doing it is being held up as a model for others who want to prevent the apocalyptic mess in the preceding two posts.

Based upon the 3Cs practices of community, curation and convening identified in Raffaelli’s research, the American Booksellers Association reversed its membership slide that bottomed out at 1,651 in 2009 to rise 49% to over 2,500 last year.

Even better, the ABA stores are thriving. While big-box bookseller Barnes & Noble reported revenues decreased by 3% in fiscal 2019 ending April 27, 2019, the ABA reported sales among its members grew an average of 5% year-over-year in 2018. That is a level of growth any retailer would be over-the-moon to report.

Stop and think about those 3Cs: community, curation, and convening. Doesn't that sound like what the church should be doing?

And that's it for this week. Happy reading!

Once more, round the web

Are you a teacher and had a bad week? I remember those—especially when I was teaching high school! Take a look at this post for some encouragement. He's right : )

Speaking of school, this article is spot on. Here's the opening gambit, and it should make you read the whole article:

The most damaging thing you learned in school wasn't something you learned in any specific class. It was learning to get good grades.

When I was in college, a particularly earnest philosophy grad student once told me that he never cared what grade he got in a class, only what he learned in it. This stuck in my mind because it was the only time I ever heard anyone say such a thing.

He's right. By the way, the title of the article is "The Lesson to Unlearn." And speaking of unlearning, maybe libraries need to unlearn charging fines. Take a look at this article. Summary: Less fines equals more use. Kind of like grace versus law : )

Shifting gears a bit, worried about fragmentation of society? Seems like everyone is today. I've run across a few articles this week along those lines. Here is this:

So, how should kingdom people in America respond to this social fragmentation. First, if any aspect of your essential well-being is anchored in the well-being of America, or any other nation, I’m afraid you’re going to be anxious, frustrated and disappointed. A wiser course of action would be to divest yourself of all hope in America and all other nations of the world, and instead anchor your well-being in the only King and Kingdom that you have reason to believe will last forever.

And Jim E. sent me this one this morning:

We Americans are locked in political combat and focused on President Trump, but there is a cancer gnawing at the nation that predates Trump and is larger than him. Suicides are at their highest rate since World War II; one child in seven is living with a parent suffering from substance abuse; a baby is born every 15 minutes after prenatal exposure to opioids; America is slipping as a great power.

We have deep structural problems that have been a half century in the making, under both political parties, and that are often transmitted from generation to generation. Only in America has life expectancy now fallen three years in a row, for the first time in a century, because of “deaths of despair.”

“The meaningfulness of the working-class life seems to have evaporated,” Angus Deaton, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, told us. “The economy just seems to have stopped delivering for these people.” Deaton and the economist Anne Case, who is also his wife, coined the term “deaths of despair” to describe the surge of mortality from alcohol, drugs and suicide.

And it goes on. Good stuff; do read it.

Here's an interesting repost from over 100 years ago. Small snippet of prophetic stuff:

Many of us believe that our nation has a peculiar mission to restore peace. Nothing is so likely to tamper with our judicial qualities, to undermine the confidence of other nations in our sincere friendship, and thus to frustrate that mission of peace, as the growth of these war interests. They will create an American “war party.” When the foreign market fails, they will turn to the home market, and we shall feel their influence in the demand for American militarism.

Anybody care to deny that's what's going on? I didn't think so—especially since 9/11/2001.

In even less encouraging news, the United Methodist Church has decided to acknowledge that they are anything but united (and haven't been since probably the mid-1970s). This article is probably the best summary of the situation I've read. Most other ones either don't grasp the depth and length of the problem, or ignore it to score culture war points. Sad; it was my denomination growing up and well into my late 30s.

How about some theology? Roger Olson takes on Greg Boyd and others who deny substitutionary atonement. I agree with Roger; you can't have full reconciliation without substitutionary atonement, but not the popularly defined version of penal substitution! A good book to read is Scot McKnight's A Community Called Atonement. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Concerned about the Middle East? Take a look at a guest post on Ron Sider's blog. Amen and amen.

Two final posts here. One on a professor taking a stand on transgender studies. The other, it appears that in France after generations of looking the other way about underage sexual exploitation, the women are speaking up. A well-known French author is being held accountable and the laws are being enforced and tightened. Interesting world we live in, isn't it?

Around the links

A quick glance at what I've found interesting in the last few days:

First, what is the proper use of Thucydides? Is the "Thucydides trap" a real thing? A Classics professor says no.

While parallels between now and then abound, lessons are less plentiful. In the end, Thucydides’ history does not instruct us on how to exploit or avoid certain situations, instead instilling the simple truth that given our nature, there will always be situations that we cannot avoid and, if we try to exploit, will have unintended consequences.

Why bother studying the past, then, if it cannot help us navigating the present? One might as well ask why bother reading Aeschylus or Sophocles if they have no useful advice on how to live our lives. Thucydides’ claim that he wrote his history not to win “the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time” is based on his tragic conception of life. Far from our being able to master events or even our own desires, events and desires will sooner or later master us. While this is not a rousing call for action, it is a call for modesty and lucidity. Especially in our own age, these virtues might still have earned the applause of Thucydides.

Stephen McAlpine looks at forgiveness, well really, he looks at unforgiveness, in our culture:

Our culture has a problem with forgiveness. We live in a post-forgiveness world. And it’s going to get brutal and cold if the trend continues. And it is trending. That’s the precise word for it, because all of the tools are available to unforgiveness to ensure it does. . . .

It was only when the gospel of Jesus Christ gave forgiveness to an astounded world, still locked into revenge and grovelling, that something did change. Until this vicious cycle was swept away by the gospel of forgiveness, nothing could change And we’ve more or less taken it for granted. Until now.

Now? The old order is back. And meaner and hungrier in light of its long absence. Its primary tool is not the actual arena, but the virtual arena, where the boos, scorns and “thumbs downs” assail those who would challenge the laws of the post-Christian Sexular Age.

Michael Gorman writes a letter that Paul probably would write to Christians in the United States:

Let me cut to the chase, brothers and sisters. Is this what your in-Christ community looks like? Is this how you decide your priorities? Your budget? Your mission activity? If you truly believe that Christ crucified is the power of God, and if you want the power of God to be at work in and through your Christian community, you will seek to become a community shaped by my master story—which is really God’s master story.

You see, the crucified Jesus was a Christophany—revealing what the Messiah is like. But it is also a theophany—revealing what God is like. And it is also an ecclesiophany—revealing what the church is supposed to be like. And ultimately it is also an anthrophany—revealing what human beings are meant to be like.

Michael Frost, while rejoicing that the "Jesus is my boyfriend" songs are gone (Praise God!), the succeeding ones still need a bit more revolutionary attitude to them:

It seems we’ve gone from Jesus-is-my-boyfriend to Jesus-is-my-savior, but we’re missing Jesus-is-our-Lord.

Christian worship should express our collective hope in Christ of a rescued, renewed and restored world, a world in which injustice, racism, hatred and violence have ended, once and for all.

Back to my book Exiles, my suggested alternative to romantic worship songs was that we ought to sing revolutionary worship songs. We need lyrics that call us into a revolution of love and justice. In fact, there hasn’t been a single revolution in history that wasn’t sung into existence.

Social change has a soundtrack.

The revolutionaries of the French, American and Bolshevik uprisings all sang about the new nation they were forging, a song they were willing to die for.

The Civil Rights movement sang Christian spirituals.

The German democratic movement that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall began with singing and prayers for freedom in a church in Leipzig in 1980.

The anti-Marcos movement in the Philippines, the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the anti-Russian movement in Ukraine – they all wrote songs to inspire their followers.

Even today on the streets of Hong Kong, millions of protesters resisting the controls imposed by Communist China have found the Christian hymn, “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord” as their anthem of freedom. The song has even been banned from Chinese streaming platforms.

And to underscore the point, today, across scores of cities in the US and around the world, secular Justice Choirs are being launched, where ordinary citizens can come together to sing for social justice.

And so on. . . He could have added that the Wesleyan revival was a singing revival, as were many of the other revivals in history. And who can forget the Salvation Army with its bands? Christians should be a singing people—not an entertained people where a "worship" band gets up in front and performs! Sing together; sing alone. Sing! Read the psalms; better yet, SING the psalms!

And, a long read, but well worth your time, on Amazon and it's quest for world dominion in The New Yorker.

Grace and peace until the next round. And we do need both of them in this topsy-turvy world!

Yes!

This guy "gets it" about that big river in South America that sells books (and lots of other things) online:

Some may wonder, why don’t I use an Amazon link?

I did at one time until a bookseller friend whose work I value greatly challenged me that I was helping to dig the grave of his business. Since I want to see him, and other brick and mortar booksellers stay in business, I paid attention. He pointed out that I was essentially endorsing Amazon as “my bookseller of choice” by directing traffic to their website.…

I’ve concluded that for all the convenience Amazon offers, we are sacrificing a rich, local culture, as well as the subtler delights of relationships with librarians, publishers, and booksellers, as well as the serendipitous delight of finding what you weren’t, as well as were, looking for on the shelves of a local book store. That is not something I want to lose.

<idle musing>
And that's the issue in a nutshell. Sure, you might save a few bucks buying via the river, but what are you doing to the local culture? Not just bookstores, but the local hardware store, or other local businesses?

Buying local puts money back in the community. Buying online drains the community.

Sure, I buy online, but almost always it's only because I can't find what I need locally.
</idle musing>

The physical book

When it comes to the format discussion, the physical book is here to stay. With studies published on exhaustive reading, the correlation between screens and reduced retention, and the often expressed active joys of using a physical book, it it impossible for me to see a future entirely empty of them. There is still very much a need and desire for academic book use in its physical form, particularly in the Humanities.—Against the Grain, 28/2 (2016): 20

So what do I call it?

Most of you (all two of you?) have probably seen the announcement from last Friday. If not, here it is:

As the announcement says, I'm working for Eisenbrauns once again—part-time. We are still on the North Shore of Lake Superior and have no intentions of moving. But, it raises a dilemma. What do I now call this blog? One person suggested I rename it Idle musings of a former former bookseller. Clever! But potentially confusing. I thought maybe something like Idle musings of a once-again bookseller. What do you think? Put your ideas in the comments.

A much needed house-cleaning

I'm very poor at maintaining the layout of this blog. Witness the "What I'm reading" as an example. I finished one of those books months ago and excerpted from it. The other one I've finished but haven't excerpted from it yet. Maybe I should just delete that section...

Anyway, the other section that I'm even worse at maintaining is the blog list. I hadn't changed it in probably 3 years. Over the course of that time, my interests have changed, blogs have died, others have started, etc. OK, the real reason I haven't updated it is because I didn't want to admit that some of the first blogs that I started interacting with almost nine(!) years ago are dead. There's a psychological thing about cleaning up the list and I wasn't willing to face it.

What finally made me do it was an e-mail sitting in the Inbox for the last two months. It was from a dear friend asking for a link. It sat there until Debbie asked me if I was ever going to delete it. Well, I can't just delete it without taking care of it, can I?

Long way around to say, I've updated the links on the side of my blog. They reflect what I'm actually reading as of May, 2014.

And that friend? Well, it is Emanuel Hausman from Carta; he asked me if I would be willing to link to them. I told him that I'd be delighted to link to their web site. It took two months, but the link is there now. They produce great stuff and I was proud to distribute them while I worked at Eisenbrauns (Eisenbrauns serves as their North American distributor, so I've also linked to the Eisenbrauns web site for those of you in North America).

Understatement of the week

From Behind the Books:

It turns out that making books into ebooks isn't as easy as you might think.

Too true!

How about all that sensationalism in reporting and writing? I'm delighted that someone is taking a stand against it:

When I started my first professional job at a local alternative newsweekly, lo, so many years ago when we still pasted up the paper, the first lesson my editor taught me was that our responsibility was to the reader. While the ad department was around to keep the lights on, without the reader, the whole shebang wouldn’t exist. I hang onto this belief and all that it implies—respect the readers’ intelligence, give them an engaging reading experience, recognize them as a community—with a fervor that borders on the religious.

And, here's the formula that is the all too common alternative:

1. Make a blatantly ridiculous statement.
2. Watch your buzz grow as your intended audience works itself into a lather about it, generating a lot of web traffic (fired especially by social media).
3. When asked to defend your blatantly ridiculous statement, point to the less ridiculous arguments in your writing, and/or take a superior attitude and act as if your detractor isn’t smart enough to understand hyperbole.

<idle musing>
I'm glad I work for a publisher that takes the time to check footnotes and facts! It is indeed a sacred responsibility to publish things that are correct and that matter...
</idle musing>

The way I look at bookselling

There's a bookseller's e-letter called Shelf Awareness that is sent out daily. Most of it would bore a non-bookseller to death : ) But, today there was a snippet about a store that is one year old this week. In an interview with the owner, this little thought came out:

"I don't look at someone and think, 'I'm going to make a sale.' I look at them and think, 'I know a book you're going to love.'"

<idle musing>
That's my attitude exactly. I would change the wording a bit and say, "I know a book that you really need for your current research interest." But otherwise, her approach is the same as mine. I let the books sell themselves; all I do is introduce people to them.
</idle musing>

There and back again

No, this post isn't about The Hobbit!

As most of you know, we left Warsaw, Indiana at the end of June, moving to Grand Marais, Minnesota. In Grand Marais, we spent the summer helping out at Sawtooth Cabins. I continued to work part-time at Eisenbrauns. I also did some freelance proof-reading for another publisher—more on that at a later date (I need to get approval before announcing the project).

We closed the cabins up in the middle of October; they won't re-open until next April or May, so I had some extra time on my hands—right...Eisenbrauns needed some extra help because of the upcoming ASOR, AAR/SBL conferences. And, my replacement, Andrew, was starting, so they needed help training him as well. Long story short: I am in Warsaw again (hence, there and back again) until the AAR/SBL meetings...

I guess you could say this is my last hurrah. After Andrew learns all that he needs to know—let me reword that—once Andrew learns enough to be able to find what he needs to know (I still don't know all I need to know after 9 years!), then my time with Eisenbrauns will come to an end.

It's bittersweet. I'm staying in the same motel I stayed in when I flew down for the interview 9 years ago in August; this morning Jim and I met for breakfast at the same restaurant I met him at for that interview. Huge difference, no difference...time marches on; God has done amazing things in my life in that time. I praise him for the time at Eisenbrauns; it was always one of my dreams to work here...

Eisenbrauns is hiring!

It's official now. This just went out in an e-mail to the BookNews

Marketing Director / Acquisitions Editor

June, 2012

Eisenbrauns is accepting applications for a position that combines marketing and manuscript acquisitions. The Marketing Director role is responsible for promoting all aspects of the Eisenbrauns book publishing and distribution divisions, including electronic, catalog, social media, and convention marketing. The Acquisitions Editor role assists in the evaluation of materials for publication and in setting the direction of our publishing program. These two functions are distinct but are, because of the size of the company, closely related.

James Spinti, our long-time Marketing Director, leaves Eisenbrauns at the end of June in order to live near family in northern Minnesota. Eisenbrauns is therefore looking for a person who can provide some of the services that the current Marketing Director maintains but who also will assist the Publisher in development of the company's Publishing Division, primarily through acquisitions of manuscripts for publication.

The successful applicant will

Need to relocate to Winona Lake/Warsaw, Indiana;
Have a strong background in ancient Near East and/or Hebrew Bible (Ph.D. or near-Ph.D. status preferred);
Enjoy working in a small-company context;
Be a word-smith who enjoys language, editing, and good writing;
Find prior knowledge of modern publication technology (print and electronic) to be very beneficial.

To apply for this position, send your indication of interest and resumé/C.V. to publisher at eisenbrauns.com, with the subject of your e-mail "Application for Position."

You can also find this notice posted on our web site at http://www.eisenbrauns.com/pages/JOBS target

Ouch!

This just arrived today:

Think it's sellable? You should see the CD-ROM in the back; it definitely will have a hard time spinning!