Now that the Summer Publishing Institute is over, perhaps I can reflect here some on what I learned during the book portion of the program. I have to start by pointing out three phrases that kept popping up in lectures.
1. Balancing act
2. Sea change
3. Soup to nuts
Can the whole of book publishing be summed up in that triad of linguistics?
Unfortunately, the book-publishing lecturers didn't provide quite such quotable fodder as did the magazine lecturers. However, here are a few choice words.
"Don't listen to people who say what you want to do won't work."
"An editor is like a midwife."
"Do not put your cleverness in front of the communication."
"'Google' is at risk of becoming generic."
"Publishing is like a lifelong private university."
"Above the fold" can refer to content at the top of a Web site, too.
"[That one] is a slut of a publishing house."
Update: I've had this post (well, the beginning of a post) sitting on my computer for too long just being neglected. Is it laziness? Perhaps just distractions. Certainly the latter, plus the fact that my notes are now more than a thousand miles away, and I won't have them again until next week. I promise that before the end of this week, though, I'll post something good for "Eat, Pray, Love." Then maybe I can get back into my blogging routine. Something about a summer in New York really has had my mind in too many places to concentrate on inward reflection.
