Category Archives: Book Talk

Book Talk

New Site Focuses on Business Books

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Simon & Schuster has launched 250words.com, which professes to be a “publisher agnostic” site focused on business books.

Staffed by five folks from with in S&S’s ranks, they report they will deliver daily a short single 250-word single post sharing some business wisdom or inspiration gleaned from a business book.

250words.com bookshelf

At launch, the seem to already have dozens of posts written. No doubt there will be no shortage of topics and titles to discuss. It’s amazing how many business books get published every year.

This year book publishers are aggressively going after “verticals” or “niches” or “silos” or “walled gardens”, etc. This is a tactic to answer the way people search and buy books these days. It’s something that has been refined by tor.com (one of my favorites) and narnia.com, plus a few others.

I’m anxious to see what the folks at Simon & Schuster make of 250words.com. They are also on Twitter and Facebook, if you want to check them out there.

If 250words.com doesn’t fit the bill for you, I would recommend you check out:

  1. 800CEOread – a blog about business books that I really enjoy. It’s certainly one of the most consistent ones out there
  2. Todd Sattersten – he’s a consultant for writers of business books, but his posts and twitter feed are always on my “to read” list
Book Column, Book Talk, On the Web

Google Explore For Book Lovers

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Last week Google launched a new search feature for their Google+ social network. Basically, it adds groupings, tags, etc. and makes the network all searchable so that you can skim through all of the content generated on Google+.

So what’s the first thing I did? I did a few simple searches through Google Explore to see if I could find any books and book-related content that was of interest. I really wasn’t looking for people “curating” (like pinterest or tumblr), but for real content that harkened back to the days of book blog rings and such.

So I clicked on the “Explore” button up top…

google explore book search

and searched for “Books”. I was thankful for the Google Explore displayed all of the books-related tags that I could follow and check out.

google explore books

Early on I found these not worth following because of all the ads, spam and sales pitches:

  • #free
  • #eBooks
  • #kindle
  • #kindlebooks
  • #author

The rabbit holes I really enjoyed falling down through Google Explore were:

  • #Reading
  • #BookReview
  • #AuthorInterview
  • #BookLovers (the best of the bunch)

google explore book lovers

As you can see, once you click on #BookLovers you’re presented with a whole new slate of sub-categories and tags to click through. As new as the feature is (and as under-used as Google+ is) it’s not hard to quickly separate the signal from the noise and find folks worth following. From there it’s a single-click to add them to a new (or old) circle to keep up with them.

When I next have a few free moments I’m going to click around with category, subject and book genre searches. Hopefully those will yield more leads to books worth reading. So check it out and let me know if you find any bookish folks worth following.

Book Talk, Upcoming Titles

Fight Club Sequel Finished

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Chuck Palahniuk said yesterday that he has finished his Fight Club sequel and sent it to a publisher for review. I’m glad to hear that Tyler Durden is still clicking along with his reboot society sentiment.

All we know at this point is that Palahniuk’s Fight Club sequel takes place 10 years after the big implosion at the end of the first book and that Tyler is stuck in Jack and bored in the suburbs, ready to make a comeback!

Fight Club cover

Though I have to admit that I’m a little bummed that the story is planned as a seven issue graphic novel release and not as a comprehensive novel/novella. Maybe that will change if things take off for Tyler and crew again? Of course, according to a quote in that Guradian article, Palahniuk is stressed about the graphic novel format and the implications it has on story telling. I’m just curious: I wonder how long of a straight-text book a 210 graphic novel converts into? I’ll have to look up some math on that.

I’m anxious to see what impact Durden (and the books) have, on the world.

Book Talk

The Strain on Fox

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Wait!? What!? How could I miss this? The Strain, one of my favorite sci-fi trilogy series, from a couple of years ago, is being made into a TV-mini-series by the author himself Guillermo Del Toro!

Here is the only teaser or trailer-related bit I could find for The Strain, which apparently will be on the Fox network:

The teaser doesn’t show much, but I have complete confidence in Mr. del Toro that this will be as close to the books as possible. So it has to be good, right? This is all Wikipedia as on it, which seems a little out of date.

The Strain Trilogy

The Strain trilogy was a good blend of classic sci-fi, vampires and tech. So if you like two out of those three you may like these books. But if you don’t like vampires, then I’d pass if I were you. All three books were fun reads and the series ended on a pretty big note. So go read the books. And then get ready for The Strain on Fox TV this Summer.

Have any of you read these books?