Golf Style: Persistent Perceptions of Sartorial Shortcomings

The Boys of the Bad Pants Open

A reputation, once it becomes ingrained in the minds of the masses, can be almost impossible to shake... and golf, over the years, has developed a sartorial reputation that's decidedly sordid.

Thanks to decades of garish polyester pants, generations of dorky saddle shoes and endless incidents of argyle abuse, golf fashion has become a joke in the minds of many... with Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack as its poster boy.  The perception persists, particularly among those who don't follow the sport, despite the wealth of sophisticated golf styles available today from top designers and a roster of young golf stars with who could hold their own on the runways of Paris as well as the fairways of Augusta National.

"Golf style is an oxymoron along the lines of airline food or congressional ethics."

So began a review of Nike's new Dunk NG Golf Shoes in Freshness, a new style/trend/consumer publication that addresses itself to a discerning community of global consumers.  The shoes, which were recently released in Japan, are of the popular street shoe/casual/sneaker-like variety, in other words, the antithesis of the aforementioned dorky saddle shoes and the review, after beginning with that inauspicious comparison ended on an optimistic note:

"... the brand is doing what it can to rehabilitate golf’s image. This Dunk NG, equipped with Scorpion Stinger Spikes and Tri-LOK system, features a crisp White/Court Green-Black colorway that injects a modicum of street style to the gentleman’s game. They still don’t make golf cool, but it’s a start."

The reviewer... by the sounds of it... isn't much into golf, and his perceptions are probably pretty representative of the non-golfing public in general.  For those of us more immersed in the sport - as spectators or players - it may be unsettling to think that despite the best efforts of designers like Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste and Ralph Lauren... and even with stars like Ricky Fowler, Rory McIlroy and Ryo Ishikawa... golf, in the minds of many, still isn't considered cool.

Director's Cut - Fiona Ellis

Listen here:



This Director's Cut episode has been sponsored by:

You can find Fiona's website here, her teaching schedule here, and she is on Ravelry as fionaellis.

Things we mention in this episode:

Inspired Cable Knits
Inspired Fair Isle Knits
Twist Collective
Fiona's patterns in Twist collective
Bonnie
Coronation Street
Vogue Knitting cardigan with short-rows and lace
Jellied eel (yes, it's a thing)
Tree pose
Sting

The publishing industry

I often get frustrated, even angry, about publishing now.

Last weekend I went to look at a house -- I've never owned one -- and while talking to lots of people who had, I learned quite a bit about real estate agents and contractors. Someone advising me said,
"Your interest and theirs are not aligned -- the more money you spend, the more they make."

That really took me aback -- it's in EVERYONE's interest in publishing for a book to do well: the author's, the editor's, the publisher's, the agent's, everyone. No one cares as much as the author, but at least we're all on the same side!

What a girl wants, what a girl needs.
Lulu + Big Mac

Of Impressive Golf Trophies and Amazing Wedding Cakes

The sky blue Wedgwood cup that Hunter Mahan won yesterday at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship, is one of golf's most distinctive trophies.

Named after golden age golf legend Walter Hagen, it will be the second piece of Wedgwood on Mr. Mahan's trophy shelf.

in 2010 Mahan won the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, and took home the yellow-and-black Wedgwood Gary Player Cup.  You see, each of the four World Golf Championship events boasts  a distinctive Wedgwood trophy.  They're all  designed in a variation of the distinctive Jasperware style, inspired by cameo glass and embellished with ancient roman motifs ... and each bears the name of a famous golfer. 

After winning in Arizona yesterday Mahan suggested that it would be nice to have all four of the WGC trophies eventually. In the meantime there's an impressive new trend in wedding cake design based on the same Portland blue Jasperware style that inspired the Accenture trophy... and an astounding variety of towering Wedgwood cakes can be found on the websites of wedding planners and lifestyle experts.

As you may know Hunter Mahan married his beautiful wife Kandi just last year.  But if the couple should decide to renew their vows, they may wish to select a blue and white color scheme... and a cake to match their latest trophy.

Of Pin-up Models, Calendar Contests and Golf's Top Dogs

When someone says "golf pin-up" or "golf calendar model" it generally brings to mind images like like this.  Or perhaps, this.

In other words you picture a shapely lady in a revealing outfit... with maybe a golf club or two in the mix. Anything else is optional/irreverent.

Well, earlier today I discovered a different kind of "golf pin-up". One with a slightly less libidinous aesthetic.

TurfNet.com is a site for the superintendents, the often under-heralded professionals who manage the labor, time, materials and financial resources needed to care for the fairways and greens of the courses we play on.  In addition the tutorials, job boards and equipment listings, there are myriad blogs and articles that provide an interesting and enlightening look and the extraordinary effort required to keep even the most modest golf courses up to par.  It's a fascinating glimpse into the multi-faceted world of a profession that we golfers depend on for our favorite recreational activity... but one most of us know very little about.

Then there's the calendar... and this is a feature that totally transcends golf.

"Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Hedy Lamarr... and Tank; just a few of history's most popular pin-up models." 

That's how the TurfNet Superintendent's Best Friend Calendar's call for models is presented, and every year since 2002, 14 fabulous golf course dogs have been selected to grace the pages of this very special calendar.  The 2012 nominees are presented in their own video, and there are numerous other videos in the site's TurfNetTV section that present all of the beguiling canines in their photogenic glory. The quality of the photos is, quite simply, amazing.  The variety of different breeds and the diversity of the courses they inhabit is remarkable, and the way the dogs pose... and project ownership of their respective domains... is enchanting.
 
So when you've got a bit of time to spare head over to TurfNet, and check out the awesome golf course dogs.  I guarantee they'll lift your spirits.

Asian American Author Series

Last summer (pre-baby bulge!), I participated in an Asian American Author Series of interviews for Primary Source. Other authors in the series include the lovely Mitali Perkins, Jean Kwok and GB Tran. Here is a excerpt of one of my interview (you can see more here):




I actually had forgotten what I had said about the "Little House" books until recently. But even though "Ma hating Indians" made me feel insecure about my own racial identity, I wouldn't have them censor out Ma's hatred, now. I didn't like it, but it was true sentiment and one that showed how even good people could believe/feel things that weren't right. When I began to witness different kinds of racism--Asians against Blacks, Chinese against Japanese, Asian-Americans against Asians-- that sometimes originated from people I trusted and loved,  books like "Little House" set the groundwork for me to realize that what the adults around me thought weren't always the right things to think, especially when it came to things like race.

STU-STU-STUDIO

Books that hold up and books that don't

Some friends and I were talking about re-reading books we had loved as children, and how some hold up and some don't. For me, LITTLE WOMEN really held up -- but someone else found all the mother's lectures and Louisa May Alcott's own preachiness really annoying. I did, too, but I still love the book anyhow and suspect that as a child, I ignored those parts the way I ignored much of what the adults in my life said.

Some books that did hold up for me:
The Secret Garden -- I may even love this MORE now, even though I never could get as interested in Colin as I was in Mary, AND liked her better before she became nice
The Hobbit -- especially the scene with the trolls,and when they are first riding into Rivendell
very old MADs, from the late 1950s and early 1960s--they still make me laugh out loud
fairy tales
nursery rhymes
the d'Aulaires Abraham Lincoln
--to name a random few. I could go on and on, but what's going to be most interesting about this post is what other people think.

I also reread a Giant Golden book called ASTRONOMY and could see why I liked it so much, but as an adult, I didn't read every word. Maybe as a kid I didn't either! I was sad, though, to see something I don't know if I noticed as a child: that the scientists and astronauts were always men of European ancestry -- and that even the children doing simple experiments were white boys. People -- men and women -- with dark skins appeared in skin-tight outfits stretching their arms to the moon. Once a woman in a neat suit, hat, and gloves looked at a meteorite with her children. The text talked about MEN going into space someday.

If I get impatient with PC things, I will remember this book and its not-so-subtle message. I hope I ignored it the way I ignored the preachiness in LITTLE WOMEN but I wonder....

What didn't hold up:

Alice in Wonderland -- this wasn't one of my FAVORITE books as a kid, but I did like it a lot. I thought Alice was really smart and both loved and admired the way she always tried to figure everything out. When I reread it as an adult, I realized with dismay that that was supposed to be funny! I also found the book too boring to finish.

Then there were some classics that I could never get into as a child and can't now--like Carl Sandburg's short stories for kids. One was in a beloved, literally loved-to-pieces anthology illustrated by Garth Williams called THE TALL BOOK OF MAKE BELIEVE (this story was NOT by Carl Sandburg -- it's "The Very Mischief"):
Although I read everything else in that book over and over and over, I could never finish the Carl Sandburg story. It just seemed pointless and kind of stupid -- the kind of silliness some adults think children like. I also hated (and still hate) Aesop's Fables.

What about you? What has held up? What hasn't?

I'm especially curious about all the great children's books I've read for the first time as an adult, because I just don't know what I would have thought of them as a child.

(I am only listing authors who are dead in keeping with our blog's unofficial policy of not discussing work by living authors....not that we have ever even really talked about this, we just don't seem to do it.)

Golf History - The Double-Edged Sword of a Bittersweet Past

"Golf must change now"

The PGA of America's recently unveiled grow-the-game initiative, Golf 2.0, is based on that belief, and efforts to make the game more friendly, accessible and fun are already underway at courses and clubs across America.

The goals are lofty;  Golf 2.0 is aiming for a 50 percent increase in the U.S. golfer population by 2020, to upwards of 40 million.  Some say such goals are unrealistic, and that may be true, but they are the stated goals, and one thing that is clear is that a substantial part any increase be attracting, welcoming and retaining non-traditional golf consumers: minorities, women, families.  Hence the "Drive for Diversity" element.

As it did for many who love golf, the motivation behind Golf 2.0 resonated with me. It made me think about the things I love about the game, and how I might be able to communicate these elements  to new players... or perspective players.  That's where I came up against the double-edged sword.

There are the obvious attributes of golf... the camaraderie and the competition, the park-like settings... the things almost everyone can relate to,  but beyond those basics, there's a wide variety of places where golf lovers find the game's wonderment. However those places don't necessarily represent the most inclusive aspects of the game.  Take for example, golf history.

One of the things I really love l about the game is its unique history.  I savor stories of golf's golden age; stories about the creation of iconic courses, and the unlikely outcomes of early tournaments.  I also delight in photographs and illustrations that bring this early epoch to life.  However I realize that in sharing golf's proud, picturesque history one must also deal with its history of exclusion; The PGA’s “Caucasian Only” rule was on the books until 1961, and Augusta National didn't admit its first Black member until 1991.  Jews and Catholics have also faced discrimination, and women still can't become members of the cloistered club.  Ironically,  the very populations golf 2.0 is attempting to woo are likely to be "turned off" rather than inspired by the game's history.

In the recent wake Golf 2.0's launch, I came upon a series of articles written by corporate diversity expert, Andrés Tapia. In addition to his work with top corporations on diversity programs Tapia is a prominent speaker and author of, The Inclusion Paradox, a book about diversity and its relevance to business and organizational success.  The three part series, "Golf Mythology: What the “Gentlemen’s Game tells us about European American Culture”  is Tapia's exploration of the history of golf in America, and the game's strong bond with European-American corporate culture.  His overview allows one to imagine how certain exclusionary behaviors may have emerged to distort golf's aspirational ideals.

"...inclusion requires not only that we learn and know more about others, but also that we actually start by trying to learn more about ourselves."

To my mind that's most applicable and important takeaway for the advancement of Golf 2.0, and particularly its Drive for Diversity component, and when it comes to golf history, the past offers no shortage of inspiration for new golfers.  However they should probably be advised to avoid some of the fashion foibles that marked the game's early years. 

Roald Dahl stamps

Aren't they fantastic? More here.

(Via Cup of Jo)

Sergio Garcia Seems to Have Found His Happy Place

Prowess at the poker table, talent on the tennis court and killer keepie uppy skills,  we've seen ample evidence of Sergio Garcia's alternate proficiencies.  But as we all know, the sometimes-tempestuous Spaniard plays golf for a living, though there were times these past couple of years, when he appeared to take little pleasure in the game. 

Today however, Señor Garcia seemed ready to handle whatever golf may throw at him as he raced up the leaderboard at Riviera Country Club with a best-of-the-week, seven-under-par 64 thatincluded two eagles.  And... it's looking like the "best player never to win a major" may lose that undistinguished honor before too long.

from the BRG archives: blah, blah, blurbs

Last year, I was asked to write a blurb for the upcoming book Kimchi and Calamari, by Rose Kent (which is a really nice book, by the way). I agreed. However, recently after perusing Amazon and looking at the images, I think my quote was not used.

Now, I am NOT upset in any way, shape or form that it wasn’t used. In fact, I am pretty relieved. I had never written a blurb before, so I tried to “sparkle”; and whenever I try to do that my writing comes off really fake. I realize now I should’ve just written an honest line about how nice I thought the book was instead of trying to be some kind of marketing soundbite. Oh well.

I think the reason why I overreached was because I was so flattered to be asked. Famous people give blurbs! It’s their name that helps sell the book, right? But in the case of Kimchi and Calamari, I couldn’t imagine how having my name on the cover would help it, except perhaps as an additional, unnecessary curiosity factor. I imagine the conversation would go something like this:

“Look, this person Grace Lin liked the book.”
“Grace Lin? Who’s that?”
“Um, wasn’t she on one of those reality shows?”
“No, I think she’s an actress on that sci fi show, Battlestar Galactica.”
“Gee, I wonder if this book is about aliens eating human food, then.”
“Maybe, are you gonna get it?”
“Naw, I hate that spaceship stuff.”

But, regardless of my blurb-writing shortcomings and pitfalls, it is the idea of the blurb that I find fascinating. Do these one to two line quotations REALLY make a difference? Do they push a browser over the edge to actually buy the book? Or does the difference come in the judgement of the book? Do these blurbs bias the readers mind, filling them with preconceived notions? Does it elevate the book to a certain stature if Famous Person A endorses it? But book people are smarter than the average George Foreman grill buying public, aren’t they? They don’t need a big name to validate their purchase or opinions. They can choose their own books without a celebrity sanction, I’m sure. Right? Right?

I ask this as I shove my George Foreman grill into the closet.

Originally posted January 24th, 2007

Rising Commodity Prices & The Fate of a Popular Golf Course

Corn, it seems, is the culprit.

The U.S. government’s backing of corn-based ethanol has created steady demand for the classic mid-western crop and hastened a steep rise in the value of land that can produce it.  Rising global demand for grain certainly plays a role as well.

In Mason County, IL this is a welcome reversal of fortunes for families who struggled during the farm crisis, but it's putting one of the area's most popular golf courses at risk. 

Crane Creek Golf Course, a highly-rated 18 hole course in Kilbourne, will go one the auction block next week, part of 347 acres owned by Chicago-based St. Andrews Properties, Inc.

The property will be sold in five different tracts,  three of which contain the front nine holes, the back nine holes and the clubhouse. Those three would need to be purchased together in order to keep the golf course, and golfers across the state are hoping that happens, but there are also some major doubts. 

Ken Nofziger works for Murray Wise Associates, the firm in charge of the auction, and he speculates that the golf course may not be around for much longer, stating “Where commodity prices and land prices are today it wouldn’t be surprising if somebody stepped up and said we could make a lot of money if we convert it back to farmland."  Additional details on the precarious case of Crane Creek appear in this pjstar.com piece,

The auction will take place on Tuesday, February 21.

TTs!

My girl, Molly, is creating and selling her own blends of tea. She is a super smart herbalist preacher. She knows what the body needs. She can help you out, fix you right up.

Check out Telegraphic Tree Teas

When is it time to give up on a ms.?

An agent told me recently that when she looks over her list, the mss. that ended up selling the best are the ones that took longest to place. What's the most number of times you or your agent have sent something out before it sold or you gave up on it?I love those stories of mss. that got rejected over and over, and then went on to become famous books -- here's a list of 14 books that became famous that were rejected over and over by publishers. Some I'd heard of, some I hadn't.....but I find it encouraging, especially the comments that must have seemed idiotic to the authors, like:
"Does anyone drown? [to the author of KON TIKI] Then it can't be very interesting."

But sometimes when a ms. doesn't sell, maybe it SHOULDN'T. Dear Genius has lots of stories about mss. that didn't quite work -- by people who then went on to write other things that worked brilliantly. For example:
"....I don't mean to sound cross, but I felt so hopeful when you left my place last weekend, and was a little depressed by the ms. when I read it (several times) this week...I wish I could be more constructive but until you do more on this it is pretty hard for me to be. I will say this: I think your first "chapter" can't be called "The Tiger," and you can't just say in two lines that this Frances was in bed and she couldn't sleep...."

Yes, it was the first Frances book -- published many rewrites later as Bedtime for Frances.

There is really no way for an author to know how it will turn out or which (worth working on or not) is true of a particular ms....what I have concluded about my own work is that it just depends on how interested I am in the story and TIME usually clarifies that. If, years after I first wrote something, I reread it, see the flaws, and want to fix them, I do. If I read it over, and think: "This is really GOOD! Someone ought to take it!" I keep sending it out, but with a different pitch. And if I read it over and wince, I file it or throw it away, thankful that it was never published.

And on an unrelated note: if anyone read the blog earlier today and saw the post about the "1 weird old tip" -- I was going to develop that into a real post by adding something about curiosity and fiction, but forgot that I had set it up so Blogger would publish it automatically. Sorry about that.

I think that post is a good example of something that wasn't worth working on further!

Back9 Network Brings a Postmodern Playbook to Golf

I'm guessing you're already onto this story, as it's being talked about all over the place: Golf's got a new network... and it's called Back9.

The Back9 Network has been in development for a while now - for those of us watching from behind the scenes the wait has sometimes seemed interminable - but creating a new network from the ground up is a massive undertaking, and now that the foundation's been methodically laid out for this multimedia golf lifestyle and entertainmentdestination, we're getting our first look at some of what's to come. 

With its mission, "to offer entertaining and edgy content that fuses the sport of golf with the exciting lifestyle that surrounds it",  Back9 is creating original content, a glimpse of which is presented in their launch video from the PGA Merchandise show a couple of weeks ago.  Clearly, it's the antithesis of elitist, stogy, sedate and other adjectives unflattering adjectives often associated with the game.

We the obsessive readers and writers of golf blogs... the passionate fans and players of a game we know has the potential to bring people together... have long lamented the lack of innovative golf media offerings.  In fact, it's precisely that "creative content deficit" that motivated many of the best independent golf bloggers to start writing about the game years ago.  Back9 Network is built upon that same motivation, and ready to take it to new level.  The network plans to be broadcasting by late spring, and delivery will be multi-platform, providing simultaneous distribution over the Internet and mobile devices. Follow Back9 on Facebook and Twitter for the latest.

Bookstores around the world

Happy valentine's day!

If you are in love with the printed word, you will be delighted to peruse this article about the twenty most beautiful bookstores in the world. Aren't they stunning? I want to go on a world tour.

Golden Age Golf Greetings on Valentine's Day

Golf Greetings is just one of my boards on Pinterest

The early part of the 20th Century is known as the "golden age of golf".  Many of the greatest courses in America were designed during those years by architects like Donald Ross and A.W. Tillinghast.

Apparently, it was also a fine time for the creation of whimsical golf greeting cards, among them this collection of golf Valentines.

Wishing you a romantic day with plenty of chocolate, and flowers... and perhaps even a round of golf with your sweetheart... or not. 

If you're both highly competitive it might be better to bypass the course today and opt for the candlelight dinner.

How I Got Into Publishing, B&N vs Amazon, and Pinterest!

As I mentioned last week, the CBC Diversity Committee blog is up and running. I'll be posting again this week at some point, but last week I posted about "How I Got Into Publishing," check it out here. As Editor Nancy Mercado said on Twitter, it seems that the path to publishing lies in bookselling, as that is how both of us got our start. See Nancy's post here. Coincidentally, we were both booksellers at B&N. I've said on this blog before that I'll always have a soft spot for B&N because I worked there, even when B&N was demonized for putting independent bookstores out of business. It's strange to see B&N depicted as the "good guy" by most in the battle against "evil Amazon." You probably all saw the news from a week or so ago that Amazon made a deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to print books from their publishing arm, and bookstores, including B&N, all announcing that they will not carry those books. For an independent bookseller's perspective, check out Josie Leavitt's post here.

Truthfully (as I've said before on this blog), for the sake of publishing, and books, and the market, I hope that all of these retailers will continue to coexist and thrive, but these are strange times indeed.

***

In other news, it's seemed that Pinterest has become my new social networking obsession. I joined last week, and already have a few boards up, including one for the Books I've Edited. I love Laini Taylor's board for Daughter of Smoke & Bone. And apropos of the CBC Diversity Committee, check out my fellow committee member Stacy Whitman's many boards of diverse children's books. It will be interesting to see if Pinterest sticks around, and how people use it. I'm also using it to tag recipes, products, and wedding stuff. Are any of you on Pinterest? Do you find it useful?

Of Spanish Golfers and an Oversized Arabian Coffee Pot

We've written about weird/wonderful golf trophies several times in the past, touching on the whimsicality of some and the creepiness of others.

One of the most impressive however, has got to be the massive Arabian coffee pot awarded to the winner of the Dubai Desert Classic.

This past week the gigantic carafe was on display again.  Throughout the week, it sat on the sidelines at Emirates Golf Club as a strong field of players battled it out on the course.

In the end it was Rafael Cabrera-Bello who won the pot trophy,  holding off a strong field that included Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer ...among others.  It was the third time... in three years... that a Spanish champion emerged victorious at this event.  You may remember our posts on the victories of Miguel Angel Jimenez and Alvaro Quiros who won in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

This year however, the win was Rafa's, and when the time came to kiss the trophy, he chose to bite it instead.  That's a Spanish thing too,  initiated by another athletic Rafa, tennis star Rafael Nadal.  Many have asked what the gesture signifies, and I don't really know the answer to that.  I just know it's caught on, and now professional and amateur athletes in various sports are doing it... all over the world.

The victory was undoubtedly a huge for Señor Cabrera-Bello who hasn't had a win since October 2009 at the Austrian Open.  It's a stellar start to his season... and the ginormous Arabian coffee pot looks like it was quite a mouthful.

WHITNEY.

new pocket pacy sightings!

The Special EditionPocket Pacys that I gave away at my Dumpling Days Book Launch are starting to pop up! These photos were accompanied by a lovely article published in the Back Bay & Somerville Patch! The article made me blush and I loved these photos!

SENDAK AND COLBERT

I finally got around to watching this. Hilarious! I love that Colbert cut out all of the "private parts" and put them in a bag. And then Sendak said that the state of children's literature is "abysmal."



I love what Sendak says about E-books. "f-them is what I say!" Yeah. Right on.

Ryo Ishikawa's Six Days in the Snow, a Yearly Tradition

From the Arabian gulf to the the American West, last week saw many of the world's top golfers playing in places both arid and sun-drenched.

Such was definitely not the case for Ryo Ishikawa. Instead of a week in Abu Dhabi or Phoenix, the Japanese golfer hit the snow covered hills of Yuzawa, a winter resort in the mountains north of Tokyo.

The intense physical training of cross country camp has become a annual tradition for the Japan's top ranked golfer, and includes a number of rigorous challenges on the snow and in the gym, as well as mental coaching with emphasis on "relaxation of the mind to achieve high performance in tense situations."  That, and fact that this training takes place far from the fairways and greens, might explain the strategy behind Ishikawa's annual pilgrimage. After all, it wasn't long ago that Japan's young gun was described as far 'too intense' and too focused on golf. 

The change of venue will be short lived however, as Ryo now heads back to the US in hopes of earning a place at the 2012 Masters.  Currently ranked 53rd,  he'll need to be in the world's top 50 to assure himself a spot and... starting with the Northern Trust Open next week...  has a maximum of five events in which to do it.


Needless to say, we'll be pulling for him at each one.  Special thanks to awesome Japanese golf girl, @usagihiyoko for the regular Ryo-updates.

Happy birthday, Darles Chickens! (a day late)

"Procrastination is the thief of time" -- I never knew Charles Dickens said that, though it's one of my favorite sayings. He went on to add something I hadn't heard until yesterday: "Collar him!"

Excellent advice that he took himself: he never missed a deadline (even though he had weekly ones for many years) and once even climbed back into a crashed railroad carriage that was teetering on a bridge to get his due-at-the-printers-that-day ms.

The train fell into the river minutes later -- but he got his chapter in on time.

Great idea or bubble soon to burst?

We only hear about the success stories, and with making money so hard for most books from publishers, it has to be even harder if not impossible with self-published books.

Amanda Hocking did it -- though the Guardian thinks hers is just the kind of story that fuels the bubble and creates more suckers. They say the bubble bursting is the inevitable economic end of self-published e-books. This author (you will have to scroll down, he reviews other people's books on his blog, too) made it work -- after 13 years of rejections from publishers!

Most fiction by unknowns probably has little chance, but what about a lively (in writing and design) story about someone interesting to kids, told in an unusual way? What are the chances of that showing up in searches and getting read? Or a true disaster story or true anything people might search for, if the book were well-written, well-illustrated and well-designed -- not as a plain book, but as a truly interactive e-book that was more like a game in places than a typical book? I'd be willing to risk it for two of my mss. ("it" being the time and energy to find an illustrator and a designer, and the money to pay them).

I'm not sure I'd be so willing to deal with the stigma attached to self-publishing, though. Lots of readers share it. And would self-publishing non-fiction now make it harder to place fiction mss. with publishers later?

Of course, if the books sold millions of copies, there wouldn't be any stigma-- but I don't think I'm being unduly modest when I say that's not going to happen in my case. Children's biographies just don't sell in huge numbers (maybe that's why they're hard to place?). Thousands of copies year after year -- relatively small but steady sales to some people who really love the books -- are my goals. Novels are much more unpredictable -- in both directions, and those I wouldn't ever self-publish. Novels (at least, in many, though not all, genres) are popular with publishers and mine might just as well take its chances there.