1.
What is your newest book
about?
I
have two new books. There’s The
Illustrated History of the Snowman by Globe Pequot. A version of
this book came out ten years ago but I finally got a chance to make the book I
had always hoped, a lush fully illustrated with hundreds of amazing images from
around the world. It’s the most beautiful book I’ve ever worked on. It includes
updates from the past ten years of snowman news, new paintings from me and my
800+ snowman collection, which is the world’s best. And it’s an adult
non-fiction book to be clear.
The
second item is a gift boxset of my bookstore paintings, called World’s
Greatest Postcards:100 Postcards based on my bestselling book, Footnotes
From the World's Greatest Bookstores. There’s 50 different bookstores, some
which didn’t make it in the book and some new stores I’ve recently been to that
I wanted to help out. There’s a pair of postcards of each: one to mail and one
you can keep for yourself. I’s just a continuation of celebrating independent
bookstores. I’ve been told in Tennessee it’s the postcard of choice to recruit
voters by mail.
World's Greatest Bookstores: 100 Postcards certainly reveals a true love and passion for indie bookstores. How do we promote today’s bookstore to millions of people who don’t visit?
We have
to raise awareness to everyone as to what is at stake here. In most cases these
shops are the cultural hub of Main Street, a venue for like-minded people to
meet and engage. Not just shopping for books but venues for music or readings.
For some artists this is their first platform. And online shopping is not
supporting the local infra structure. I could go on and give a hundred reasons
why it’s important and the only argument I hear back is Amazon is cheaper and
more convenient. It’s a tough battle but one worth fighting.
2.
Are bookstores still in
danger – or has the amazon/e-book threat subsided?
It’s
case by case depending on how progressive the bookstore has adapted but in
general terms, and from my personal
experience (with many dozens of bookstore owners), it’s still a war. The e-book
has leveled off for it’s own reasons. That’s a complicated animal that I’ll let
others explain–I’m into tactile books and I have made my geared for that market
specifically. So I’m no expert on e-books.
3. Bob, as a NYT best-selling author, can you tell struggling writers how you became successful?
This
answer can be a book but the best advice I can give, and it’s solid advice, is
today a writer must educate themselves. And it’s really never been easier.
There’s webinars, writer’s conferences, Writer’s Digest and so many
blogs and websites on the subject, teaching one the nuts & bolts of the
business. The answer to every question is out there.
4. Where do you see the book industry heading?
I
realize it’s very popular to provide an upbeat answer to this question and
proclaim literature will never be compromised, but I see challenges ahead. In
this country anyway. I mean right now most of the non-fiction bestseller list
is about Trump and I’m not convinced we are living in a time when being
educated is a premium. And that often feels like it’s for political
reasons.
There
are more books then ever coming out (due to self-publishing) and a higher
percentage of books ignored. Not enough demand, too much supply. That’s because
the stores support new authors, especially the chain stores that feed the
houses that will encourage them to take chances and they’re suffering. And so
there’s trickle down effect that changes the quality of work being seen.
Instead what is happening is publishers have to take less risks in this
business resulting in more dumbed down titles instead of artistically
challenging work. That’s generalizing, I know. There’s a lot of small press
championing what’s important but in all fairness one only has to walk into the
bigger stores or examine the bestseller lists to see the point I’m trying to
make. The answer? I know I sound like Ol’ Man Eckstein, but getting kids
unglued from their X-Boxes is a big start. that kid Harry Potter helped a lot.
Otherwise,
I predict, work and writers are going to go where the money is. More
screenwriting and Trump books.
Bob Eckstein is a New Yorker cartoonist and New York Times
bestselling author. His new book, The Illustrated
History of the Snowman and postcard boxset of his bookstore
paintings both just came out. To enjoy more of his artwork go to www.bobeckstein.com or
follow him at @BobEckstein.
Please feel free to join me on LinkedIn --https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/.
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Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative
opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone
and not that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him
on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels
much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2018. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in
Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and
IBPA’s Independent. This was named one of the best book
marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the
top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best
resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America and
participated in a PR panel at the Sarah Lawrence College Writers Institute
Conference.
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