I'm going to start writing a book soon. I'm trying to be very strategic about this goal. Last Saturday was market research day. I went to Barnes and Noble to research books about politics and books by academics. I wanted to see what was on their front tables. The answer? There weren't any hot books about politics or policy. Some history, a sociology book, but nothing political.
I saw one book by a prominent blogger
, which is now on the best-seller list.
I was surprisingly interested in a book by the Celebrity Rehab guy, Drew Pinsky. In The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America
I wouldn't buy the book, but it was worth a bookstore read. And I thought of it when I read about Lindsey Lohan's latest antics.
Apt. 11d 
My suggestion: Harry Potter and the Importance of a Written Bill of Rights.
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MH,
This is for you if you haven’t seen it: it’s a youtube entitled “Drink Tax Song.” I believe it’s a protest song against a 10% tax on poured drinks in Pittsburgh.
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The publishers pay for certain books to be put on those front tables; it’s part of their marketing budget. So what you want is to find a topic that appeals to the right editor and publisher – or first identify what publisher would be the best for the kind of topic you’re thinking about, and see what other books they’ve published. If you can find the right one, and they get excited about it, they will spend forever trying to come up with a good cover (and title) so that people browsing those tables will pick it up and take it home.
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How about: Industrial relations after sentient machines: Examples for the Island of Sodor.
Thanks Amy. Hadn’t seen that.
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Cute song, but I really don’t get how someone can suggest Onorato was bowing to pressure by implementing the drink tax!
Over the past two years I’ve become convinced that he’s the only one who can really Pittsburgh’s future. Too bad he seems to have his eye on a state office already.
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