The American Idler

Now that the house is quiet after an enjoyable holiday week with lots of visiting friends and family, I was able to (finally) post The Angler #5. Writing the part about New Year’s resolutions made me optimistic about what’s a head for 2012.

I woke early. Not sure why since I didn’t go to bed early. I’ve been staying up late, in part, because I’m reading a good book at bed time: The Longest Crawl by Ian Marchant. I found this book in my Xmas stocking. My first thought was “how have I managed to miss this book in my literary beer wanderings?” Alice spotted the book on the shelves at Books-a-Billion (a remainder warehouse on the South Shore) along with several other beer books which were less ceremoniously procured for my beer library.

The Longest Crawl is in the same mode as Pete Brown’s Three Sheets to the Wind, another of my favorite books. Three Sheets was my pub companion on my first English pub tour, a point elaborated on in my own beer novel, Through a Glass, Foamy (due out sometime in 2012).

Finding this book gives me hope (as a reader) that there are other books out there like this one and other authors writing about their beer and alcohol soaked adventures.
It also inspires me (as a writer) to continue to chronicle my own beer and whiskey adventures since there just might be an audience for such literature.

I was out and about yesterday and dropped into one of my favorite bookstores, BookHampton, in Southampton (locations in Sag Harbor and East Hampton are also recommended). Behind the counter was a sign about buying ebooks. I asked how to buy ebooks from a locally owned, independent bookseller and this is what I found out.

I’m already a fan of IndieBound and use the iPod app to find indy bookstores where ever I go. Turns out there is an IndieBound Reader app as well (iTunes app + other formats). Google ebooks is the service that helps indy bookstores sell ebooks to their readers who read electronically. All you have to do is visit the web site of your local indy bookstore and use their Google ebooks search page. For example I’d search for books with BookHampton’s search page.

One interesting caveat is that Google ebooks don’t work on a Kindle device. Really, this is no surprise. So if you haven’t purchased an ereader already, you might want to steer clear of Amazon’s insular device if you want the freedom of buying from your local retailer.

I’ve been without my (new) computer all week and have been limping along with a semi-functional laptop. Unfortunately, since Apple still can figure out why my brand new machine won’t come on (and they are reluctant to give me a new computer for reasons that I can’t fathom) I won’t be posting The Angler this morning. I’ve written #5 and will post it as soon as I can. (Next week?)

Also, before my computer died, I was updating the Long Island Beer Guide. I had planned to do just a revision to correct some typos and just spiff it up. But I’m starting to think a new edition is in order. I’m discovering lots of new places that should be included. And Spider Bite Brewing Company needs to be added and a proper entry for Port Jeff Brewing should be included (not to mention that the web site entry needs updating, but I need my computer back for that). Major changes! So edition 3 will be coming sometime in the spring of 2012. My plan is to publish a separate New York (City?) Beer Guide at about the same time. ebook editions and print? We’ll see how much time I have for converting the guide into ebook form.

Is localism compatible with the Internet / Social Network? Can it still be local if it’s not brick and mortar? Indy bookstores offer curated collections. My home library is a curated collection of books. The curated collection at Bluestockings (in the East Village) says something about that place, its values, its vision of the world.

Book bar?

I often read a book while sitting at a bar, but a bar is a place of social gathering, where one comes together with one’s friends and neighbors.

How would a book bar work? A reader comes in and sits down at the bar. The bartender says, “What are you interested in reading today?” The reader asks, “What’s on tap?” Joyce. Milton. Proust.

Bartender: “If that’s too heavy for you, we have some lighter reads.”

“That sounds good,” says Reader. “I’ll have a pint of Grisham, please.”

And speaking of the social network, my magazine, The Angler, is now has a Google+ page.

One of the most popular (and well read) posts on my blog is called “starting a nanobrewery.” Even after nearly four years, that one post gets more hits than any other post on my blog. So I thought it was high time to gather all my posts and commentary on the subject on to one page: “How to Start a Nanobrewery.”

I’ll be working on this page for awhile and might even turn it into a book. If you’ve got some suggestions for what to link to or add, let me know.

I’ve spent the morning working on an article for this week’s Angler in response to a couple of pieces I read this week, namely “Amazon’s Jungle Logic” by Richard Russo which appeared on Monday in the New York Times. And then there’s “Support Your Local Bookseller” by Chandra Steele which appeared in PC Magazine (of all places!).

Here’s my distilled opinion: As an author, I want people to be able to find and buy my books. If Amazon can help them read the books that I work so hard on writing, then fine by me. However, as a reader, I like to visit brick and mortar indy bookstores and I don’t want them to go away, so I try to spend most of my book purchasing money on them.

I’ll post my full article on Saturday morning in the Angler #4.

I finally did it. Something I should have done a long time ago. I shut down my beer blog. Now I only have this one. And I’ve changed the name again. For about three years I’ve been itching to write a blog called The American Idler (for reasons which I may reveal in future posts).

I’ve been writing about localism for quite some time. But I’ve been trying to encourage the craft beer enthusiasts of Long Island to go local. What might be a more productive course is to address an audience of locovores and help them get a local beer in their hand.

Thursday evening, I had combed through the text of A Year in Beer for the umpteenth time searching out those pesky typos and pruning dead leaves and branches. I declared victory and decided to release the book to the world.

Getting A Year in Beer ready for publication in ebook form was an involved process that began last summer. I worked on the manuscript for a week or so and was close to having something that was ready to be turned into an ebook. Then I lost my courage. Why bother? The book should have been published five years ago. And it wasn’t obvious to me that the rewards of publishing (which are certainly not monetary) wouldn’t outweigh the time I was spending preparing the text for an indifferent reading public.

As I wrote about in this week’s Angler I almost talked myself out of publishing A Year in Beer. But on Thursday night, as I read through the last quarter of the book, making my corrections, I thought, “This book is worth reading. There’s stuff here that is, at least, entertaining. The book deserves a chance.”

Friday morning, Amazon had approved the ebook file and put it in its Kindle store. The book was published. Now all I had to do was tell people about it. Obviously, Facebook was the way to get the word out. Alice said, “It’s viral. Viral marketing. That’s how things work these days. It’s the best sort of marketing.” We’ll see.

I took the plunge. I decided to join the ebook revolution. After purchasing an ebook reader a few weeks ago, I started warming up to the idea of epublishing. Of course, I still like print books and I’d love to see my titles on actual shelves, but releasing an ebook feels like the right first step to get a few of my books out into the world and see how they fare.

My first ebook is a beer novel called A Year in Beer (available from Amazon). It’s about the stuff that happened to me during my first year as a professional beer writer. I call it a novel because I’ve taken a lot of liberties with the time line and I’ve spiced it up (just a little bit). Also I’ve changed most of the names of the characters. A few I left the same because they are public figures and it would be just too confusing to rename them. The book should be a fun read. It’s light, entertaining, and hopefully funny (at least in a few places). I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Now that I have my own ebook reader, I was able to check for myself the quality of the results when a book of mine is “typeset” for the e-ink screen. I’ve just proofread and checked my first beer novel, A Year in Beer, and it looks great. I’m well pleased with the results.

I believe that A Year in Beer will be available on Amazon soon. I’ll let you know when it shows up and give you the details on how to find it. Also, since I have a book on Amazon, I now have an AuthorCentral page. I already have the link, but I won’t release it until I know the ebook is there and ready.

Also, if you want to read something, I’ve started publishing The Angler again. The second issue just went up on my web site. I did a “soft launch” last week with the first issue. Let me know what you think. I say something about the new format next week.