Month: May 2015

James Patterson to Launch Publishing Imprint

John Guillen12 Comments

This should surprise no one who knows anything about Patterson.

He writes in several different genres and releases more than 10 books a year. In 2014 he sold 20 million books and released 16 new titles. The guy is a juggernaut in the world of publishing, and I’m pretty sure his publisher will do anything he asks them to in support of his work. The new imprint will be called ‘Jimmy Patterson’, which is perfect because its focus will be on children’s books.

The goal of the new imprint will be to release about a book a month, with a focus on middle grade and young adult fiction. And the best thing I’ve read about this new imprint is that Patterson has stated very clearly that it isn’t about selling more books, (and making more money) it’s about getting kids reading more. He wants to write and publish books that make the reader want to keep turning the page, and then grab another book once they’re finished. Normally I never believe anyone as prolific as he is when they start talking about money, but I really believe it this time. I can’t speak about how he writes his children’s series, but I know that he writes very short chapters in his Alex Cross series that force you to keep reading because you know in two or three pages you’ll be done with another chapter. If his children’s books are written in a similar manner, then I can definitely see kids reading and wanting to read more.

What do you think about Patterson launching his own imprint? I like it.

It’s Happening

John Guillen43 Comments

What’s happening? I can see it in your face that you’re wondering this very question. Well why don’t you let me tell you? I’m starting a YouTube channel! My goal is to get rich and just make videos within a year. Ha! I’m totally kidding. I’m really doing it because I’ve wanted to start a channel for years. Plural. But I’ve never been completely sure about the format. Did I want to talk about books? Did I want to talk about fitness? Did I want to be the next Roman Atwood pulling off pranks? I’m still not sure if I’ll switch it up in the future or stick to my current plan, but I know I want to start now.

I don’t want to give too much away just yet, but I will tell y’all that initially it’ll have a bookish theme to start. And maybe I can have my first video finished next week sometime? I don’t know. I’ve never recorded and edited a video before. But I’d like to get my first one out of the way.

Anyway, that’s all I have for y’all today. But there is one more thing, I’ve been thinking of channel names and I’ve come up with nothing. So why don’t y’all help me out? I came up with the name for this blog in about two minutes as I completed the initial setup almost two years ago, but it’s been a bit more difficult to come up with the name for a YouTube channel.

So, what do you think about this? Think I’ll crash and burn or change the BookTube community forever? Ha! Those are your only two choices. And seriously, think of a name. I’ll pay you after I make my first million. Oh! And most importantly, do you think you might want to watch my videos? Say yes, please.

On this day in 2014 I published Rereading Books.

 

Stick With it

John Guillen79 Comments

During the course of my time on WordPress I’ve discovered that my opinions about many things are often in the minority. Let me just list off a few things that I’m talking about.

I could probably go on and on, but the point that I’m making is that at least I’m honest. It’d be easy for me to just say and do what everyone else does, but why should I? And why does my opinion matter so much? I’m asking because just yesterday I discovered multiple bloggers write posts specifically to talk about my post on book hangovers. They weren’t happy about what I had to say. I didn’t read either of them, but I noticed that they basically went line by line down my post to dispute or disagree with something I said. That’s fine. Go, them. But it really got me thinking about why my opinion is such a big deal, because it shouldn’t be. Imagine going into a grocery store and asking for a stranger’s opinion on something and then immediately disputing what they had to say. It sounds ridiculous.

My opinion is my opinion. Sure I’m more direct than most bloggers on WordPress, but so what? If you don’t like what I have to say, then don’t comment or Like or unfollow if you must (I think someone did yesterday). But don’t sit there and act like I’m attacking you personally. Think of ALL the worse things I could do, but I’m blogging about books.

The point of this is to say that my opinions are my own and yours are yours. I can guarantee that you won’t be changing mine, no matter what you say. And I don’t set out to change yours. We’re strangers over a blogging platform, or did you forget?

On this day in 2014 I published Reading Multiple Books at Once.

 

What’s a Book Hangover?

John Guillen79 Comments

Wrong question. What I’m really asking is if you’e ever experienced one. According to Urban Dictionary, the definition is:

“When you’ve finished a book and you suddenly return to the real world, but the real world feels incomplete or surreal because you’re still living in the world of the book.”

Now consider if you’ve ever experienced one. If you have, you can call the following number because you likely need professional help. Just kidding. There is no number for you to call. Oh well. Good luck.

But really, I like books just as much as the next person. Actually, I probably like them more. I’ve talked about my future intention of getting multiple literary-inspired tattoos. I’ve posted on here around 500 times. I have my little library of books right here next to me. And I have a few series that I’ve loved just like any other person. With all that being said, I’ve never experienced this book hangover nonsense. It’s called being a mature individual, if you ask me. I can imagine a seven-year-old talking about a book hangover (in other terms, of course) or even a 12-year-old. But I can’t see an adult talking about being lost in the world of the book they just finished the night before. That’s what I call an excuse.

In the minutes immediately following the completion of a good book I might think to myself about how great it was or I might write a post on here it if it’s from the Amazon list, but that’s it. I usually forget about the books I read after a short time because I move on to read something else. I could maybe describe the plots of ten books I’ve read because the stories were that great, but I’d need a gentle reminder for just about everything else.

Have you ever experienced a book hangover? I’m seriously hoping this post gets 25 Likes and zero comments.

On this day in 2014 I published World’s Ten Bestselling Authors Since 2001.

 

Reading From Start to Finish

John Guillen43 Comments

All readers are different, right? They like what they like and they dislike whatever they dislike. But sometimes those differences make me scratch my head, like when someone doesn’t read a book from start to finish.

I’ve seen and been told by other readers that they don’t read from start to finish. They’ll start a book and then for whatever reason just skip to the ending. Or they’ll read from the middle outward. Like, huh? I don’t understand the point of doing anything like this. If you don’t like the book you’re reading, then read something else. I don’t see how you can fully grasp a story if you’re reading it in a manner that (in my opinion) simply cannot carry the same entertainment value as it would if it were being read from start to finish.

Perhaps I’m crazy here and people do this kind of thing all the time, but that wouldn’t make it any more reasonable to me. Do you read from start to finish?

On this day in 2014 I published An Agent Represents my Second Book! Whaaaaaat!?.

PS: I asked y’all to pick my next read in yesterday’s post, so go vote if you haven’t done so already! I’ll take votes for one week.

 

Want to Pick my Next Read? #2

John Guillen37 Comments

First, this post is coming way later than normal because once again the weather decided to pound Houston with rain. The city in which I live got something like 11 inches of rain just yesterday! And the power went out around 10:00 last night and still isn’t back on yet. And I have no phone. So, I’m writing this at Fedex.

A long time ago I asked y’all to pick my next read by voting in a poll. I chose five random books from the Amazon 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime List and asked that y’all vote to pick which one I read next. With the power outage of the last 24 hours, I’m finally getting around to finishing that first book y’all picked and decided that I might as well ask the same quetion once again.

So, I’m going to just pick five books from the Amazon list and ask that y’all vote to decide what I read next.

I don’t really know anything about these books, once again. But I decided to include the two choices from my first poll that recieved the most votes but did not win. But I won’t tell y’all which books those are.

So, tell me what I should read next. And feel free to vote and comment to make your case.

I have a lot of comments that I’ll be responding to once I have power back.

Attending Book Expo America for the First Time!

John Guillen14 Comments

Book Expo America (BEA) is this week. And I’m going. I guess I have to go back and look at my Bookish Bucket List to see if attending is on the list, but it definitely should be. This is one of those events that one must attend at some point. Well, I mean any person with an interest in books.

The best part is that I’m “having breakfast” with both James Patterson AND Lee Child on different days! I don’t care what anyone says about Patterson, he’s one of my favorite authors and I get to meet him. And it doesn’t get any better than Lee Child when it comes to crime fiction. I was actually a bit disappointed that more of my favorite authors weren’t attending, but oh well.

It’s great that I’m attending, but I think an event like this would be a great place for bloggers to meet. I don’t know any bloggers who are also attending, but imagine if a group of 10-20 or even more bloggers could get together for the first time after interacting online for months or years. That would be cool. And if anyone happens to be crazy, then there would be plenty of opportunity to escape. But I don’t think any of y’all are crazy. Ha!

 

On this day in 2014 I published Hachette v. Amazon: You’re not going to like my thoughts.

PS: I’m not actually attending BEA, but I wish I was. Have you ever attended? Tell me about it!

It’s That Time Again

John Guillen104 Comments

A few months ago I had a week of guest posts on here. And I’m ready to do it all again.

I have regular readers who I know are pretty interested in what I have to say, but I’ve posted almost every day of 2015! Which means a little change in perspective is probably in order. And I’m looking right at you.

It’s easy. I post about ANYTHING pertaining to books, writing, or publishing on here. Which leaves countless topics for you to discuss in a guest post. And don’t worry about trying to think of a topic I haven’t discussed before because my thoughts were most likely different from what you have to say.

Here are the only rules:

  • No book reviews.
  • No creative writing (poetry, short story, flash fiction, etc.)
  • No lists.

And that’s it! All you have to do is comment that you’d be interested in writing a guest post and I’ll send you an invite before the end of the day. You don’t even have to tell me a topic. I’m aiming for the first or second week of June to have the week of guest posts, which means I’m looking for five posts for each weekday. And of course, I reserve the right not to publish your post for any reason at all.

If you’re curious about what to write about, take a look at the guest posts from my first time doing this.

How to Feel Like Writing Again.

Are Writers Stalkers?.

I’m Going to Slit my Wrists if you Don’t Publish me….

The Wonderful World of YA.

The Buddy System.

Interested? Then leave a comment!

Are Epilogues Necessary?

John Guillen40 Comments

There once was a time in which I wouldn’t even read epilogues. I think it was probably high school. And then one day I decided to continue reading after the last chapter. I have no idea why I never read them in the first place or why I suddenly started reading them later on.

But when I really think about them, are they really necessary? I would guess that more than 90 percent of the books I read have no epilogue at all. Because generally speaking, in crime fiction the case has been solved. And if it’s a case that’ll span multiple books, then there’s still no reason to have an epilogue. I’ve seen authors include the opening chapters of their next books more often than I’ve seen epilogues.

I mean, tell me what an epilogue accomplishes that can’t be accomplished with the final chapter. I guess if it’s something like J.K. Rowling did, then it’s not so bad. But most books or series don’t need that additional information. Or do they?

Do you think epilogues are necessary?

On this day in 2014 I published Ten Most Haunting Male Literary Characters.

 

How Long Have you Been Writing?

John Guillen97 Comments

Simple question.

I’ll say I started writing in May/June of 2013. And I stopped a year later. Ha. But basically that’s true. Anyway, I know some of y’all are in high school with stories to be told later on in your life, but I also know several people on WordPress who have been writing for decades. DECADES.

Which means there’s a mixed bag of writers on WordPress. Some who have accomplished absolutely nothing and others who have more stories or books published than James Patterson. Maybe not, but still. There are some really accomplished people on WordPress and I bet somewhere along the line they’ve come across my little part of cyberspace. Maybe. Wait, James Patterson, are you reading this?! (Let’s see if he responds).

But seriously, I’m just curious to see how long some of y’all have been writing and what you’ve been able to accomplish during that time. Have you been published by a Big 5 publisher? Self published? Maybe you’ve written some collections of short stories or poetry? Or perhaps you’re working on your first major project? Just tell me so I can stand here in admiration.

On this day in 2014 I published 1,000 WordPress Followers and Giveaway!. Currently sitting at 2,813 WordPress followers. Not too shabby.