Were you called a nerd when you were a kid? Are you still called a nerd today? If you answered "yes" to either of those questions, then you might be interested in reading two upcoming books on nerds. According to Publisher’s Weekly, American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent and Nerds: Who they are and why we need more of them by David Anderegg will be released this winter.

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Labor Day Weekend is now long behind us and fall is quickly approaching. The weather is getting progressively cooler in many cities around the country. For me, fall means the beginning of the "reading season", as I do a lot more reading during the fall and winter months than any other season.

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Burning books is usually associated with censorship and can be seen as the ultimate act of literary protest. But one small bookstore in Kansas City, Missouri burned hundreds of books for quite a different reason: they were protesting the decline of reading in America:

"We hope to spark a conversation about the importance of books in the face of a marked shrinking in reading trends, and staggering waste streams of actual books," said Prospero’s Books owner, Tom Wayne.

Whether or not burning books is the right way to get the message across is up for debate. There’s no doubt, however, that the act can certainly raise emotions. When I saw the headline of a book burning this morning, I thought "Oh no, here we go again, another attempt at censorship". So I was surprised to read that the book burning was really a protest of the decline of reading. But don’t think that these bookstore owners didn’t try to give the condemned books a proper home first:

Prospero’s has publicized for months that it was looking for a good home for thousands of books, and saying it would burn the books if no one wanted them.

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What company published your favorite book? Better yet, what company published the book you are currently reading? Chances are, you probably don’t know the answer to either question (I certainly don’t), and if you do, I tip my hat to you!

I came across an article written on The Huffington Post that talks about this very subject. Few people know who publishes the books they read – so don’t feel too bad if you fall into this category. Does it really matter who publishes that book you’re reading?

In the grand scheme of things, I’d say that no, it does not matter. Unless you have a personal bone to pick with a specific publisher and refuse to buy any book from their catalog, you’re not going to pay much attention. The more obvious influences on your choice of reading material is author and genre. For example, I’ve read quite a few books by science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson, so if I see he has a new book on the market, I’m more likely to pick it up the next time I’m at Borders. I don’t even know off the top of my head who publishes Robinson’s books.

This is an interesting idea because there’s such a large debate going on over the legitimacy of self-publishers. Some say those authors that publish their own works are only doing so because the failed to get a traditional contract (although not many people are saying this nowadays).

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For most writers, winning an award or contest is a great honor, and for a novice scribe, can really get their literary career moving. Many awards, aside from offering a monetary award, can also be the key to the world of publishing.

But there is one award I don’t think any serious writer wants to even be associated with. It’s the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest sponsored by San Jose State University. Whereas most writing contests look for the best, this contest looks for the worst. It’s the one award where cliches, bad metaphors, incoherent sentences, and overall bad prose can earn you this prestiges prize.

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Once upon a time an aspiring author had to jump through hoops, fire, an army of dragons, and maybe even a few lava fields to get on the road to promote their new book. And even then there was no guarantee that anyone would show up. In fact,  it’s not all that uncommon for an author to hold a book signing and no one comes. Sad, isn’t it?

Thanks to the internet, which is once again proving itself as the "great equalizer", the infamous book tour is now becoming a little easier.

A new website, booktour.com, connects authors and readers alike. Authors can set up their own free page (yes, it’s all free) that promotes their upcoming signings, speaking engagements, and other public events. And readers can sign up to receive news about appearances their favorite authors will be making. But it’s much more than that. Any organization, whether it’s a local college or a public library, can set up author speaking engagements through the booktour website.

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For me, an enjoyable part of going to my local bookstore (aside from being surrounded by books), is the relaxed atmosphere. But according to one article, bookstores may have gotten too relaxed, and now they’re trying to change that.

What’s the problem? It appears that those plush chairs and couches that you can still find in many bookstores might be on the shortlist to get dumped. The problem is, too many customers are lounging away the hours in those chairs, but not "paying their dues" by buying a book or two. The original idea behind installing plush furniture was a noble one:

Just a decade ago, the trend in the bookstore industry was to fit nooks and crannies with big chairs for browsing, which, it was hoped, would spur buying. The idea was to recast the bookstore as a community place or an extension of the home. Out with sterile bookstores where customers stood at attention to check out a book; in with warm, sinking chairs where book lovers could be by their lonesome.

Of course, the Law of Unintended Consequences never fails to make an appearance when least expected:

But now the availability of so-called "soft" seating – overstuffed chairs and sofas – is on the decline at some bookstores, done in by various complications: homeless squatters, overly enthusiastic young lovers, food trash left behind.

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What books do you imagine filling a CEO’s library? Actually, this question can be broadened from CEO to anyone who has reached a high level of success in life. You might be thinking business books, investor guides and other dry writing that would have most of us asleep in seconds. And you’d be wrong.

Many of the most successful people in the business world today have a surprisingly literary library, where non-fiction business books are the rare commodity. According to an article from the New York Times, these high-powered movers and shakers seek something else from their reading material:

Serious leaders who are serious readers build personal libraries dedicated to how to think, not how to compete.

It’s hard to describe the subtle difference that the above passage is trying to convey. A business-oriented book, for example might give successful sales strategies by laying them out in layman’s terms so the reader can easily absorb the main point without much thought. In other words, the point of the book is being spoon fed to the reader.

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I’m going to be honest, I never really thought about this issue much until I came across this article in the Guardian Unlimited. The issue: contemporary fiction authors ignoring the explosive political climate America finds itself in. There aren’t many authors speaking out against the current administration, not to mention all the injustices done by way of eroding civil rights.

Instead, a majority of criticism has come from, of all other people, a former sports broadcaster! Keith Olbermann takes constant jabs at our government on his daily, primetime show, Countdown, asks questions and raises issues that few dare to bring up. I watch the show whenever I get a chance and must admit he does an incredible job pointing out the blunders of the Bush administration (not that it’s very hard to begin with).

Yet, in the United States, intellectuals (ie. authors) are usually thrown into the background and regarded as sideshow entertainment, listened to but not taken too seriously. And novelists just haven’t been that vocal in the American political scene, especially since 9/11:

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If you have kept up with all the hype associated with the Harry Potter books, you might think that the popular series is getting more children hooked on reading. But according to an article in the New York Times, this might be an illusion.

I have written about this before, applauding the Potter series for getting children to read. And in general, I still think this is true. But the long-term effects of Harry Potter on children’s reading habits might be a little  exaggerated:

But in keeping with the intricately plotted novels themselves, the truth about Harry Potter and reading is not quite so straightforward a success story. Indeed, as the series draws to a much-lamented close, federal statistics show that the percentage of youngsters who read for fun continues to drop significantly as children get older, at almost exactly the same rate as before Harry Potter came along.

When talking about reading habits, it’s the long-term that’s really important. Kids can read all the Harry Potter books they want, but if they don’t continue expanding their reading lists and replacing television or the internet with a paperback, the future of the publishing industry itself is looking pretty grim. After all, as future consumers of books, kids are the future of the publishing world.

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