Fewer Deals at Amazon Online as Competition Wanes: See Books Feature at The New York Times

Click this link for the Books feature at the The New York Times.

Interesting reading there currently is an article by David Streitfeld, As Competition Wanes, Amazon Cuts Back Discounts, July 4, 2013.

The Real World of Monet : The New Yorker

The Real World of Monet : The New Yorker: - Sent using Google Toolbar

Books and Printing

Nice references about books and printing at About GrubStreetPrinting.com.

Nele Neuhaus Goes From Books-on-Demand to Bestselling Crime Novel Author

Category: Crime Novels, Book Publishing and Books on Demand Success Story

The article that is linked below is in German, but you can easily run it through Google Translate and/or the Bing Microsoft Translator and get the main points.

See Mit wenig Geld zum eigenen Buch.

Sabrina Kessler at the German magazine Wirtschafts-Woche (WiWo, Economic Weekly) tells the tale of Nele Neuhaus, best-selling German crime novelist whose book sales have now reached beyond the two million mark.

Her books are thus far available in 20 countries, though I have yet to find English translations, which one would assume would soon be forthcoming.

The first film based on one of her books is also in the making.

Neuhaus started with book-on-demand publisher Monsenstein und Vannerdat and is now under contract at Ullstein Verlag (Neuhaus, here and here).

We have read three of her books thus far and can say that she is a very talented writer whose success will be matched by very few authors.

Nevertheless, it is a great books-on-demand success story.

Joy's Book Blog Reviews The Fire Island Cookbook by Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen

Book Review: The Fire Island Cookbook by Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen | Joy's Book Blog

Holiday Cookouts and Gatherings Taken to the Next Level: The Fire Island Cookbook by Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen, Foreward by Al Roker, a Book Review by the Recipe Syndicate

Read the book review
The Fire Island Cookbook
where the Recipe Syndicate writes inter alia:

"One [new] cookbook ... could help you take your cookouts and holiday gatherings to the next level.  The Fire Island Cookbook ... includes a complete menu ... for each weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day.  The book includes 14 menus that were influenced by the "World Wine Guys'" ...  contributing editors for Wine Enthusiast Magazine [with] articles and photos that have appeared in Saveur, Wine Enthusiast, and Wine Spectator."

A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith by Darrel E. Berg, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan

I am currently reading the Reverend Darrel E. Berg, A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1965.

In the chapter "Not for Sale", Darrel E. Berg refers to Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer as a role model for his ministry as man morally "not for sale", who turned his back on riches to be a medical missionary in Africa:
"A man who 'has it made' ministers to those who have no claim on him."
-- Darrel E. Berg, A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith

What does it mean to be "not for sale" morally? Darrel addresses not only his own congregation, but the congregations of all churches:

"[W]e need to remember that the greatest testing may come to us after we have gotten what we wanted....Then it is that the King of Sodom comes making his approach, appealing to our selfishness, "Keep the spoil for yourself, keep your money for yourself, keep your prestige for yourself; don't risk it for those who don't deserve it. Keep your schools to yourselves, and your churches, your clubs and your neighborhoods." That is the way the King of Sodom talks, and if we listen to him we sometimes sell all that we are to him.

The great battles are not the military, political or business battles, but the moral battles. Abraham won a surprising victory over the forces of the ancient King Chedorloamer, but it was not more important than his victory over the King of Sodom on the way home. In the conquest, he showed that all that he stood for was unique and sacred and not for sale.

It was important for us to win over the Nazi, but it would be a shame for us to have won that struggle and then fail to win the moral struggle with racial injustice, crime and corruption in which we are now involved. It is important for us to win the battle to make a living, but it is even more important for us to win the battle to be what we are called to be. It was important for Samson to defeat the Philistines, but it was a shame that on the way home he had to fall prey to Delilah. It is important for us to win the argument with the Communists, but it would be sad if we lost our souls to Sodom before we could carry home the trophy."

Indeed, the Nazis and the Communists have by and large been defeated, but are "we in America" losing the trophy on our way home? by filling our coffers more and more at the expense of our neighbors? by opposing health care for all? by keeping our spoils of the battle to make a living only for ourselves?

Crossposted from LawPundit.