First the bad news, courtesy of Ellis Weiner at The New Yorker: Your book publisher's promotion department has been replaced by an intern, and she has "some excellent ideas" about publicizing your book:
To start: Do you blog? If not, get in touch with Kris and Christopher from our online department, although at this point I think only Christopher is left. I’ll be out of the office from tomorrow until Monday, but when I get back I’ll ask him if he spoke to you. We use CopyBuoy via Hoster Broaster, because it streams really easily into a Plaxo/LinkedIn yak-fest meld. When you register, click “Endless,” and under “Contacts” just list everyone you’ve ever met. It would be great if you could post at least six hundred words every day until further notice.
Now some good news: The Farmer's Almanac invites readers to rename the traditional moons-of-the-month (Harvest, Wolf , and so on). It's too late to submit names for the November contest (vote on finalists here), but there are ten other opportunities to play.
Meanwhile, in sports, compare your scorecard to these "distinctive" names in sports, including UFL receiver Craphonso Thorpe (named for his father, Craig Alphonso) and the NBA's God Shammgod (who only sounds like the love child of Richard Dawkins and Mother Teresa). But wait: no Merkin Valdez? (Via Nancy's Baby Names.)
Also in the sports department: The definitive Venn diagram of baseball team names. I especially like the "tautology" sector (Angels, Phillies). (Via Kottke.)
And in other news:
This list of the 50 most frequently looked-up words in the New York Times (Jan. 1 through May 26, 2009) would make a great SAT study aid. In first place: "sui generis." (Via JC Posner.)
If you're interested in speechwriting, check out the Barack Obama blog at Power Presentations, which analyzes the president's rhetoric. And at Language Log, Mark Liberman explores the cliché-by-president matrix: Is "defining moment" a defining phrase for Obama?
>who only sounds like the love child of Richard Dawkins and Mother Teresa
Ha! lol, as the kids say.
Posted by: mike | October 16, 2009 at 08:52 PM
Nancy - hi! Enjoy your entries SO very much! On this one, can you double-check the link for the Venn Diagram? It seems to link to same article as "distinctive names."
Thanks,
Todd
Posted by: Todd Herman | October 17, 2009 at 05:31 AM
@Todd: Sorry about that! The link has been fixed.
Posted by: Nancy Friedman | October 17, 2009 at 08:28 AM