I keep meeting lifelong readers who can’t find anything they want to read. They walk eagerly into bookstores, only to walk out empty-handed in disappointment, having filtered out everything on the shelves. Maybe they see a compelling title, so they pick up a book. But when they flip it open, they’re quickly disappointed: they see obvious fluff, dumbed-down writing, shoddy research, bad typesetting, and often cheap binding. If you’re a reader and this rings a bell, I’m here to tell you: you’re not crazy. You haven’t gotten stupid. It’s not you; it’s the publishing industry. Really. I know because I’ve gotten up close and personal with the publishing industry. And I’m the type of person who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, to a nearly infinite degree. So, for years, I blamed myself for having lost the discipline, drive, or passion to read new books. I assumed it was me who’d changed and gotten worse. But now that I’ve been involved in the publishing industry, I understand that I wasn’t to blame. Readers like me—thoughtful and curious people who know what it’s like to spend time with a really good book—are being neglected by the publishing industry, which has dropped the ball in its old age. They’ve given up on truly serving readers. But I haven’t given up. I believe readers still want to be served and are still open to unexpected new books. I believe it’s still possible for people who enjoyed reading in the past to enjoy reading again in the future. I even believe that some people who’ve never enjoyed reading before can be captivated and delighted by the right type of book—a book that respects their time. If you want to fall in love with reading, I suggest Ask Aristotle. Guaranteed free from fluff, dumbed-down writing, shoddy research, bad typesetting, cheap binding, and every other problem permitted by legacy publishers. Thanks for reading! Ellen |
There are perks to having a philosopher on your team. My co-founder Bill Jaworski is a philosopher. It’s fun to work with him because he’ll say something super insightful, off the cuff, and then I won’t be able to stop thinking about it. Last week, he drew this spellbinding analogy between writing a great book and building the Parthenon: “The Parthenon is supposed to look perfectly symmetrical, the same in all dimensions. But as you approach the Parthenon, the two outer columns are not framed...
An Uber driver with a New York accent who called himself an “Iranian Jew” picked me up from an airport this week. I rarely feel strong emotions when talking to Uber drivers. But this conversation was different. I wrote down what I could remember. “I used to own a deli. I owned it for 17 years and I loved it. Making bagels. Making chicken salad. And it was a great business, because I had a captive audience. My deli was in an office building, so we were the best option for breakfast and lunch...
I've never made a Bucket List before. It seemed too daunting. But this weekend, it occurred to me that I already have a Bucket List in my mind. It doesn't reach every possible corner of existence—but it does cover my big-picture hopes for Altamira Studio. I wanted to share this with you. If you make one for yourself, I'd love to see it. Here's my Bucket List -- goals within the realm of writing & publishing. 1) Achieve a level of product-market fit that's as good as the one in the Simon &...