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Last night Chicagoist, along with about 40 other people, attended "Author's Roundtable: On Authorship, Blogs, and the Changing Literary Landscape" which was moderated by Andrew Huff and featured Chicagoist's own Erin J. Shea as well as Wendy McClure, Kevin Guilfoile, Kevin Smokler and Claire Zulkey.
Although Chicagoist is friends with all but one of the featured authors, it was really insightful to hear the panel talk about their experiences. .. because you know, when we're sitting around drinking beers together we're usually discussing things like Britney Spears' boobs and "Did you see that thing on that website today!?" and not intellectually discussing how the barrier between author and reader is breaking down.. or how creative people aren't sitting on thrones any more.. or what is the future of book publishing.
Our favorite quote of the night was by Kevin Guilfoile. He said "Being a blogger doesn't make you a good writer, just like being 16 doesn't make you a good driver." There was a lot of discussion about bloggers getting book deals and if blogging, along with an abundance of indie publishers, is flooding the literary landscape and making it easy for anyone to write a book. And if so, how good those books are. It was agreed that since blogging is hot right now there will be a lot of bloggers cashing in and writing books, making money on the trend. But that writers, who are really truly writers, will be sticking around and will be here long after the trend has run its course.
One other observation: Kevin Smokler is one funny mofo!
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Good account of the eve, Rachelle -- thought I saw you taking pics. A political blogger might've made things a bit more interesting, but I certainly understand why they chose the panelists they did.
The "smack -- here comes reality" moment of the eve for me was learning that all of the panelists (except perhaps Kevin G) still have "day jobs" despite having been published and made a few sales. Guess I'm kidding myself about my life prospects even after I sell my novel....
Kevin Guilfoile is also quite funny. Great one-liners. Great recap as well.
But keep the dream alive, Steve. They may not be quitting their day job, but I hope that they are at least a little bit closer to being debt-free than they were before.
Forget books. Cinnamon's right. Somebody needs to send the Kevins out on the road.
Wait, no! Give 'em their own TV show called The Kevins!
Oh yeah, Andrew Huff did a really great job of moderating that talk. Lots of interesting questions. And the panel gave thoughtful answers. I have notes on the event over at my site at: http://www.spudart.org/blogs/randomthoughts_comments/3100_0_3_0_C/
Here's a list of blogs that wrote about the roundtable:
My Sore (wished they talked more specifically about how to get a book deal).
Loosetooth (awesome graphic interpretation of the talk)
Fiftyfivehundred (argues that books aren't challenging enough).
Kittyjoyce (debates how technology can skew our views).
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What do you think of these new cars? Do you think its a good one?