The Book Lantern

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"We’re going to do something that’s considered impolite in many circles. We’re going to talk about money, specifically the cost of being an unpaid book blogger. The economics of this issue are so often misunderstood, wilfully or otherwise, so perhaps this will enlighten some individuals."

There was a Stacey Jay Kickstarter, and then there wasn't. But don't think this is the end of authors taking the crowdfunding route. It'll soon become a necessity. 

"The “are e-books real books” debate returns to discourse with increasing frequency as Amazon reports record numbers and e-books outselling traditional books be growing margins. The same panic occurs and a million think-pieces are released into the wild documenting the inevitable death of the printed page. Author Patrick Rothfuss sparked the latest hoopla with a tweet declaring “A book holds a story. A kindle holds a story. But your kindle is not a book. Is not. Only a book is a book.”"

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Inspired by the wonderful Linda Holmes of NPR and her list of 50 wonderful things from 2014, I decided to list the pop culture highlights of 2014 that made me happy, and I hope this will provide you with some memories and maybe a few recommendations on this wonderful eve before Christmas. Please share your own highlights with us! 

Team Bibliodaze share the best and worst books of 2014. Come share your thoughts with us! 

Hi everyone!

So our lovely site Bibliodaze has been live since February and will be celebrating its 1st birthday on the 8th of the month next year. We're delighted and humbled by the love and support we've received since we started it and are amazed by the response. We've had Vox Day's supporters spam our comments section, we've become a commonly linked to reference point for why James Frey sucks, and we've been linked to by the Telegraph, Huffington Post & LA Times! Not bad, eh?

As such, we're hoping to keep going strong over the next 12 months with expansions, improvements and so on. 

We really want to hear your suggestions, tips and ideas you think we should be implementing. We're considering a fortnightly newsletter and maybe even a podcast in the future - would anyone be interested? 

We're also looking to recruit more contributors to the site - if you're keen to get on board with us and can promise at least one post a week (review, discussion, rant, we don't mind) then drop us a message! 

Huzzah!

On this month's edition of Anglo-Filles (the podcast I'm on), we (by which I mean my co-hosts - I arrived late) interviewed author of the Young Wizards series - among many other things - Diane Duane! She was a pleasure. Give us a listen.

Part of the media elite, me! 

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll look up some books from Siobhan Curham. 

So, Zoella's best-selling debut novel was ghost-written.

No surprise there, but why are ghost-writers so popular?

In one word, money.

Girl Online by Zoe Sugg (AKA Zoella) just became the fastest selling debut novel of all time, selling close to 80k copies in one week.

It may also have been ghost-written?

Does that matter? I discuss.

On backlash, stirring the pot, the circle of hype and the kick-back of irritation that's become the norm in pop culture criticism. 

I’d been working on this piece for a while & ended up submitting it to The Butter. They sadly said no. Fortunately, I know an editor with way lower standards. Myself. Go me! Enjoy! 

There are few literary awards that authors are less excited or grateful to be nominated for than the annual Bad Sex Awards, the Literary Review’s tongue-in-cheek ode to the most cringe-worthy depictions of the nasty in the past twelve months of fiction. While the ultimate winner of the 2014 prize probably won’t be rushing to put their plaster foot trophy on the mantelpiece, they can at least take pride in being amongst such illustrious company, as past winners include Melvin Bragg, A.A. Gill and Tom Wolfe.

Sadly, none of this year’s shortlist (which includes Haruki Murakami, Michael Cunningham and the most recent Man Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan) are especially heinous, although Flanagan’s attempt includes the sexual deed being interrupted by a dog eating a penguin. We’ve waded through the bad metaphors, questionable word choices and unnerving descriptions of bodily fluids to bring you the absolute worst (and funniest) nominees of the award. Seriously, don’t read this at work. We did warn you.