So I haven't posted much lately not because there isn't anything new (FYI, I keep hearing that the book is doing really well), but because I downloaded new software that was supposed to make my computer even better, only one of the side issues is that it says that I have no access to my own blog.
Those of you who have met me know that this is exactly the kind of thing that drives me nuts. So I got out my old computer to post this ...
Anyway, I have two book signings coming up:
1) As previously mentioned I'll be at the Preview Gala for Mobile's Christmas Jubilee on Nov. 12 -- and I'm skipping work that day to do it so please don't tell my boss.
2) I'll be at Barnes & Noble in Tuscaloosa on Black Friday at 11 a.m. For all you early-morning shoppers when you need some coffee come on through and we'll set you up for the college football fans in your life.
Get ready for the stretch run of the season everyone because it's going to be quite a ride.
There's not much new with the book, at least that I know of, but it seems to be doing well. I've seen it for sale on the Walmart website, walked into a Barnes & Noble in Florida and found copies, and we're offering it in four different formats (trade paper, EPUB, Mobipocket and PDF) on the Triumph Books website.
By the way, the B&N in Tuscaloosa has more than 50 copies.
What got my attention this week was something on the journalism front from former Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan, who has a new book out: Scribe: My Life in Sports.
I still have to figure out a way to get an autographed copy, but check out two things Bob said during a recent interview for USA Today:
On the teams’ treatment of sports journalists: “As far as writing, it’s very annoying what they’ve done to us. They treat the writers like cow dung. They care not one lick about the print press. They are so close to charging us to get in that it’s frightening. That’s a whole other matter. …They care about television. That’s it. Everything else is a bother.”
What he’d do if he were coming out of college today: “I wouldn’t want to be a beat writer. … I don’t think that’s an enjoyable way to make a living any longer. The lack of access is totally frustrating, and the conditions that I just described about how you’re treated like a total afterthought, who needs that? … What I would probably do — as much as I love to write, and I did and I do — I’d want to get into sports on the other side. I’d want to work for a team or a league and work my way through that rather than being involved in the coverage knowing what I know about what that’s like now.”
I've actually talked to Bob about some of this and I can pretty much guarantee that just about everyone in the business feels the same way. I've long said that the only way I can suggest this as a profession any more is if you can't not to do, which is sad.
