I stopped doing paper books four years ago, and haven’t regretted it for a nanosecond. Regarding economics, it’s important to remember authors can leverage a *much* higher royalty than print. And with no paper, postage, shipping, warehousing, etc., even with a high author royalty the publisher *also* makes more than with print. My world of writing technical books is […]

Distribution is king. Thursday Cliff Burnstein e-mailed me about Gary Shteyngart’s new book “Vera, or Faith.” He loved it, he wanted to know if I’d read it. I said I had it reserved at the LIBRARY! That Libby told me I’d get it in two weeks. But the very next day, it became available. I’m […]

COWBOY CARTEL This is an imperfect documentary from 2024 but I recommend you watch it. Because the IRS helped bring down the Zetas and now it’s been crippled. All this institutional expertise eviscerated. But you can love “Cowboy Cartel” without being a lefty. Turns out the Zetas, a legendary Mexican drug cartel, are laundering their […]

“Notes to John”: https://shorturl.at/PJFLg 1 This is an utterly astounding book that should be read by everybody. I must admit, I am not a huge Joan Didion fan. I loved “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” but found “Play It As It Lays” flat. As for the vaunted books thereafter, I found them dense and mannered and thought […]