NOTE: The following is a post I wrote for Brad’s Reader when I used the Blogger platform. In those days I got very little traffic, so I’m assuming most of you haven’t read this post (if you have, then I apologize). What you read here is just as the original was posted, only I cleaned up some very embarrassing mistakes.

Poets generally live in a different world than the rest of society. That is not necessarily a bad thing. However, there is also a pervasive idea among the poetry community that anything "mainstream" or "popular" is bad because it somehow cheapens a poem. This is where the problem starts to emerge.

Poetry is not as wildly popular today as it once was, that is no secret. Most poets will not make a living writing poems. If a book of poems sells over 2,000 copies, then it’s considered a success. By all signs, poetry has fallen off the radar of the general public.

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As you can see, the newly re-designed Brad’s Reader has officially been launched! This represents a large step in moving away towards the template-like feel the old design had and adding some much needed professionalism to the blog. I hope you all like it.

Please note that there are still a few bugs in the new design. If you happen to come across one, please let me know by using the "contact Brad" link on the right-hand side navigation bar. Be sure to include what the problem is and the page you found it on.

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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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Today is the last day of August, and as the month draws to a close I just wanted to thank everyone for making this month the best so far! I use a few programs to manage this site’s statistics, and all of them were through the roof – I’ve never had so many unique visitors in one month.

That being said, I hope the growth continues for the rest of 2007 and into the new year. Also, if you like what you read here, the best compliment you can give is to refer Brad’s Reader to all of your literature-junkie friends and/or family. And if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to the monthly newsletter, the next one will be mailed on Monday September 3.

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After yesterday’s extremely depressing post about the grim realities of being a writer, I thought I’d try to cheer things up by writing about ways you can create your own brand of success.

All of yesterday’s post concentrated on publishing through traditional channels – getting a contract with one of the large publishing houses and placing your faith in them that they will get your book out to the masses (and it will actually sell). But why place your faith in someone else? You wrote your book. You put your sweat and tears into it. And you’re the one who has the most invested into the book (monetary and otherwise). Why not take control and make your own success?

I’m talking about self-publishing, of course. Before I begin, however, I want to say that this term still has a negative stigma attached to it. But that stigma lies mostly in the traditional publishing world. The great thing is self-publishing doesn’t even have to involve paying a company lots of money to publish your book – it doesn’t have to be that complicated, or that expensive.

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This is a follow-up to my post regarding the YouGov poll that said writing was the job of choice for many in Britain. If you didn’t read the original post, check it out: writing is popular job choice among Britons.

Since then, I came across a book blog posting by John Crace on the Guardian Unlimited website that gives a "reality check" to all of us who aspire to make a living from the written word. In Britain, as in the United States, trying to get published via traditional methods is very, very hard. And just because you’re novel is published, doesn’t mean you can quite your job and write full-time:

Most book manuscripts end up unwanted and unread on publishers’ and agents’ slush piles, and the majority of those that do make it into print sell fewer than 1,000 copies. So while there are a small number of writers making a decent living, something like 80% of published authors earn less than £10,000 per year.

In other words, around 80% of authors earn so little they’d be living in poverty if they didn’t supplement their income in some way (teaching seems to be the most popular route these days). Furthermore, many are still under the impression that once an author’s book is published, he/she can sit back and watch the money start rolling in. No marketing on the part of the author! Yes, more than a few writers still believe this. They believe the publishing house will spend a fortune to market their book. Wrong! If it’s your first book being published, the publishing company is going to spend the bare minimum to get it out onto the market. They save most of their marketing dollars for the big fish.

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About a year ago I was working at a small craft store for the summer in an attempt to ease the financial burdens posed by financing a college education. One of my co-workers was an artist, a very talented painter who not only helped customers in the arts department, but also taught oil painting in a small classroom at the back of the store.

I struck up a conversation with him one day about painting. I made a comment that I had tried my hand at painting, but found it difficult. He laughed, and then told me that anyone can learn to paint. The technical requirements are actually quite easy. He said the hard part is painting something that is inspired and original. In other words, he said you have to have something to say.

That struck me as being true with writing. Anyone can learn to write well. It’s not hard. Once you get a handle on the basic grammar, practice is all it takes (and a lot of reading, as I have maintained in previous posts). But what is really hard, especially in fiction, is to write something that is fresh, creative and "inspired". I have read a lot of fiction that is good as far as mechanics go, but it lacks that inspiration that separates it from great fiction.

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Last week I mentioned that the "new" Brad’s Reader would be unveiled yesterday, and as you can probably see, it didn’t happen. I have been planning a complete makeover of this blog for a while now, and it’s almost complete. There are still a few bugs that I’m working out with my web designer and you should be able to see the new look within a week (hopefully it’ll be just a few days).

The new look on Brad’s Reader will make navigating the blog easier, give it a fresh appearance, better organization, and it’ll get rid of that stale "template" look it has right now. This is all being done because readership is skyrocketing – with August having the highest number of unique visits yet! Thank you for all your support!

When most people think of China, they might think of a large communist country that will soon host the Olympic Games. Or they might think of a country that is a growing trade partner with the United States – especially in light of all the recalls of defective products that have been making headlines lately.

One thing people probably don’t think of about China is literature. But thanks in large part to the internet, reading and writing novels has become the chosen hobby of millions of Chinese youth. In fact, according to a recent article published on Wired, the internet is boosting print sales of novels and even the word "novel" is the number one search term on the Chinese search engine Baidu.

"Novel," the top search term on China’s biggest search engine, Baidu, yields thousands of Chinese literature websites. More than 100,000 amateurs shirk mundane duties to publish their tales of fantasy and love in installments on these platforms. A handful of anonymous web authors have seen their pageviews soar into the upper seven digits. When that happens, print publishers come knocking.

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NOTE: This post originally appeared on the "old" Brad’s Reader that was using the Blogger platform. But since I practically had no readership then, I’m pretty sure not many of you read this post. I did, however, change the post by adding a few things and editing it to make it more "reader friendly" than the original.

In recent years the Middle East is a region of the world that has been plagued by war, poverty and political unrest. With all the negative news coming out of the Middle East, it’s hard to imagine a culture where the arts can flourish – especially poetry. In the western hemisphere, poetry is seen as something that only academics and artists are concerned with, but the mainstream pretty much ignores. But one country in the Middle East is different; it’s a place where poetry is as important as any sporting event.

This article from the New Statesman about poetry in the United Arab Emirates hits closer to home for me, as I went to Dubai in 1999 while in the Navy. It’s a beautiful country with an amazing amount of culture, to say the least, so it’s no wonder that poetry flourishes there.

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