Category: News (Page 6 of 10)

Leif Enger, author of Peace Like a River, the best-selling novel described by The Boston Globe as “…a miracle well worth witnessing,” spoke at the Baylor Art & Soul conference Friday night.

After a laughter-filled lecture, Enger answered questions from the audience, and then signed his book (I don’t normally put much stock in signed books, but I bought a copy and waited in line to chat with him and get a copy signed; who knows, maybe someday he’ll be heralded as a Hemmingway.)

Enger’s Tight Prose and Overt Spirituality
Having chatted a bit with him personally, I can say Enger is a kind soul with a loving spirit; this is coupled with tight prose to produce the honest, overt spirituality that laces his writing.

Enger’s Peace Like a River (Grove Press, 2002) is the winner of the 2001 Book Sense Book of the Year Award; was named one of Time Magazine’s 2001 Top Five Books of the Year; and was named best book of the year by The Christian Science Monitor, the Denver Post and the Los Angeles Times.

What is amazing is that a book which so overtly talks about God, prayer, and Christianity should be so well accepted in the larger ABA marketplace.

A Writing Vampire
When asked how ‘Cowboy Poetry’ entered into the book, Enger said:

I’m a writing vampire – anything I hear goes into the book.

He then goes on to tell the tale of writing one early morning when his four year old came in, still in his feet pajamas, and asked him how the writing was going. Then his child said “The problem is, you don’t have any cowboys. Add some cowboys; that will fix it.”

And so Cowboy poetry entered Enger’s novel!

On Humorous Writing
Leif recommends Charles Portis, author of True Grit, as one of the funniest writers he knows.

On The Writing Life
Enger early on in his lecture said:

At most I’m a storyteller, which is a confusing occupation.

Enger says Peace like a River took 5 years to write.

Though Peace Like a River is billed as Enger’s debut novel (his first solo effort), it should be noted that writing with his brother Lin under the pen name L.L. Enger, Enger co-wrote five mystery novels with Pocket and Simon & Schuster in the early 1990s.

He now writes 500-1000 words a day. He reads to his wife each day; he says his wife is a good first listener. Enger says there is an advantage of having his wife critique his work, as she is not also a writer, and so is not caught up in the psychology of critiquing someone’s book who is also your critic, as is sometimes the case in writing groups.

On The Benefit of a Good Listener
Enger was 100 pages into a novel at the beginning of this year. He got an inspiration and wrote for a day on a totally different concept, and read it to his wife. “This is the novel you should be writing,” she told him. Enger dumped those hundred pages and recognized the wisdom from his wife. Enger started writing early this year on the new novel, and hopes to be finished by June.

David Long (right) works the Baker Books/Bethany House Booth

Phyllis Tickle
Phyllis Tickle, author of more than 2 dozen books and as many essays, spoke on Theology, the Writing Life, and Me – The Business of Compiling a Contemporary Breviary. A breviary is a liturgical book that helps you with fixed hour prayer. Raised Presbyterian, Tickle entered Anglicanism at an early age and has long practiced fixed hour prayer (praying the ‘hours’ in a sort of lay-monasticism).

On the Reality of Publishing
Tickle said:

Religious publishing is a field that requires dirty hands and an open heart and if you forget it you’re in trouble. No publisher is going to publish a book that does not have an audience.

Publishing Trends Act as A Conduit
Phyllis Tickle said publishing trends act as conduits for the re-introduction for many ancient aspects of Christianity, from praying the hours, keeping the Sabbath, fasting, & even tithing as spiritual disciplines.

Art & Soul Conference Floor

Influence of the Self-Help Movement
Phyllis Tickle also traced much of current religious book sales to the history of the self-help movement.

Alcoholics Anonymous developed a program in 1937 that had two hallmarks: a structured self-help program, and the talk of a Generic God. This movement began the self-help wave when in 1959 AA began to publish their Blue Book title including these principles.

Fast-forward to today. Now Americans are trained to go to bookstores to get solutions to what is wrong instead of the pastor’s study. I’m personally not sure this is a good thing, but I do find the trend interesting and Tickle’s observations ring true.

Sustained Growth in Religious Literature for Next 10 to 15 Years
Tickle was introduced as a Futurist among other things, and her many decades in the publishing industry may lend some authority to her forecasts.

Tickle said religious book sales are booming, and have been for years.

Baker & Taylor (the Library distributors) in 1992 posted a 92% increase in religious material. Ingram in 1995 reported a 246% increase in religious material! Since then each year has shown double digit growth.

Will it hold? Yes, she thinks so. Tickle predicts this growth to last for at least for the next 10-15 years..

Tickle explains that:

… we are in a cultural upheaval, at the end of modernity and denominationalism. Until the dust settles on these issues religious books will boom.

She said she’d be amazed if we solve it in less than 15 years.

Books Taking Place of Pastor’s Study
She also found troubling the rise of anti-clericalism. She hopes for the return of the priestly role, and an increase of pastoral role, and a return to the era when you can take things to the pastor’s study.

Today began Day 1 of the Baylor Art & Soul Conference.

The opening Plenary Session featured Christopher Ricks of Oxford University speaking on “Bob Dylan: Your Prayers Like Rhymes.”

Here is Fire By Nite’s booth.

This is a curious approach.

Joe Vitale’s book “The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or anything else) From the Inside Out” (Wiley, $29.95) hit #2 at Amazon and #2 at Barnes and Noble yesterday.

The latest Potter book – still unreleased – is #1.

His method has been grassroots and (he says) inexpensive:

First: He made an offer few could refuse. Go to http://www.mrfire.com/factor and you’ll see a list of 23 bonuses – “ethical bribes,” Vitale calls them – for anyone who buys his book today. This encourages sales in one day. Many people are buying hundreds of copies to support the author.

Second: He has used allies to win the war. Vitale contacted owners of large lists and asked them to do a mailing for him. Most agreed, knowing it would be good publicity for them to be involved in Vitale’s one-man underground campaign to sell books.

Third: Friends of his posted a creative auction on EBay to sell two million books in one week. Whether he does it or not will have to be seen. See the listing at http://www.JasonMangrum.com/2MillionCopiesSoldOnEbay/

Not sure if he’s footing the bill for the 4 day/3 night Caribbean cruise (worth $800) of if he got someone to donate it.

This technique may work for the nonfiction author who relies on a writing/speaking/consulting triumvirate, but what about the fiction novelist struggling for publicity? Hmmmm…