---

He who wills great things must gird up his loins;
only in limitation is mastery revealed,
and law alone can give us freedom.
Goethe, "Natur und Kunst" (trans. David Luke)

My Amazon Addiction...
From the day their book first lands in stores, most writers will start spending minutes, hours—nay, days, weeks, months and years—tracking its progress on Amazon.com. Never mind that the online retailer accounts for only about 10 percent of a trade book’s total sales (slightly higher for business books, somewhat lower for children’s). By my count, the reviews and the ranking system on Amazon.com count for about 95 percent of writers’ hopes, anxieties and dreams
· Amazon Epidemic...

You'll excuse me, I hope, for suggesting that the embargo is the absurd practice by which publishers distribute advance copies of newsworthy new books to the media only after individual editors have signed a quasi-legal document denying their right as members of an otherwise free press from reporting or reviewing the contents of such titles. But in the age of the blog, embargos (thank God) are becoming unworkable...
· See Also Embargo Kold River! (If You Can)
· Burning down rivers