All Work and No Play...Makes Employees Angry All Day!

After reading this article titled "All Work and No Play is a Bad Idea Says Phone Giant" that was published by The Liverpool Daily Post and is available online for your reading pleasure HERE... I decided that it was absolutely related to Publishing because it's related to ALL work places.

We should all be so lucky to work in an environment that understands and encourages creativity and "play" so fully. I absolutely agree that the best ideas come when you're engaged in some sort of non-related activity! While I don't think we're ready to add on a "play room" as the company mentioned in the original article did, I think we just might be ready to encourage more bright ideas and clear thinking by encouraging our employees to enjoy a little bit of "play time" at work each day.

Bouncy balls and board games aside...we've already got books laying around on every surface. So that's the first step. But then that just might not count since that's definitely a part of the job! We'll have to conduct a survey to find out if reading "on the job" is as fun as reading "off the job!" Should be interesting to see the results of that one...

Reading Marathons Across the Nation:

The popularity of marathons are on the rise. You hear of more and more "regular" people who are training to run in the next marathon. So the fact that there's talk of a nationwide "Reading Marathon" this October (2008) is very interesting. Maybe it will be the start of a new trend that will sweep the nation.

According to "Shelf Awareness", a great daily newsletter that frequents my inbox, a 24 hour reading marathon was organized in February of 2008 by RiverRun Bookstore out of Portsmouth, N.H. The successful run of the event led to a recent invitation for booksellers across the country to organize their own reading marathons this October!

Here's how it works: readers ask friends/family to sponsor to them. Participants read for a full 24 hours. Prizes are given out to participants that raise the highest dollar amounts to donate to local non-profits. The purpose of the reading marathons would be to aid local non-profit agencies in need as well as raising awareness of books and reading!

For more information on the upcoming event you can get in touch with one of the original collaborators, Michele Filgate, at riverrunevents@gmail.com. Should be fun to see how it all turns out! Get in touch with your local independent bookstores to encourage them to participate in the event!

Newest Book Release: 21st Century Advertising for New Home Builders

Watch for LJW Publishing's next release: 21st Century Advertising for New Home Builders. This book by Preston John is the only "handy dandy notebook" new home builders need to get their sales and marketing strategies brought up to date. Concise instructions aid new home builders to take advantage of the unique aspects of the current market.

One Early Reader said, "Builders currently are feeling as though they are victims of the current market. With the press exclaiming so much negativity regarding the current housing market, [it's] a breath of fresh air to read a text focused on creative, positive and effective ways to create one's own results!"

The book is available for order at Barnes & Noble.com as well as Amazon.com. LJW titles are distributed by Atlas Books, a.k.a. Bookmasters.

A writer from New Zealand named Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) once said, "The pleasure of all reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books."

"Each time we re-read a book we get more out of it because we put more into it; a different person is reading it, and therefore it is a different book."

"Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends."

"The oldest books are only just out to those who have not read them."

"What we become depends on what we read after all the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is the collection of books." -Thomas Carlyle

Legal Action in the Book Industry:

On June 23rd, a district court judge denied the plaintiffs' request in the suit against Oregon's minors' access law that would have blocked enforcement of the law until the trial is completed. The judge set the trial for October 3rd, 2008. The Minor Access Law makes it a felony to allow any minor under 13 to view or purchase a "sexually explicit" work. The plaintiff's are 6 Oregon area booksellers, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) in addition to a few other related organizations/groups. The groups filing the suit were disappointed in the judge's decision to leave the block in place until the trial is held, but they were glad the trial was given an early date.

The scheduled trial will judge the constitutionality of the statute that blocks the display and sale of books and magazines that plaintiffs reiterate are "protected by the first amendment."

For more information visit the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE).

Online Destinations for Those Who Love Books and Reading!

There are more and more websites popping up that cater to readers! Here are a few of our favorites:

LibraryThing.com: This site encourages users to input their personal library with reviews of books they've read. It is particularly useful for discovering new titles that you'll like by accessing other users' libraries that have similar reading tastes. You can also easily look up specific works by title and author. And from the publisher's perspective they've got a great early reader review program (and it's free of charge for the initial year or so which is an extra bonus!)

Shelfari.com: Another great site about books with some fun and interesting features for readers. It's easy to meet other readers with similar likes and dislikes and it's just as easy to stay anonymous and just read through the online discussions to get an idea of what you'd like to read next (and what you really DON'T want to read next!) And they've been doing a bit of revamping! We're looking forward to checking it out again soon!

BookSprouts.com: This is an online book club site. While the "book club" function could be incorporated into the more extensive sites, for some the simpler the better. This particular site is a new addition to the crowd and looks like it might be a great choice for those who are looking to arrange a reading group online (or even for those who want to arrange for some easy communication between the members of a longstanding reading group that meets monthly or bi-monthly, etc.) Check it out. It's got easy to use nomination and voting features to ensure that everyone in the group is as involved as they want to be and up to date on the latest info!

This is just a tiny portion of the huge mass of sites available to the avid reader online. Get out there and discover the site that accommodates your specific needs today!

Watch for Reviews of LJW Titles

Review copies of LJW Publishing's two upcoming releases have been sent out so you can be on the lookout for reviews of both 21st Century Advertising for New Home Builders and Meeting Lizzy. The books have been sent out to the big book reviewers in the publishing industry (both print and online publications), but LJW Publishing is just as excited to hear back from early reader review programs. Early reader review programs select random readers in the book's target market and provide them with copies prior to the actual publication date in exchange for reader reviews. It should be interesting! Watch for reviews from readers at LibraryThing.com and FlamingNet.com.