A bit of serendipity
A few weeks ago, Debbie Stier at HarperStudio wrote a blog post that encouraged the bookish among us to seek information in less linear ways. I may be over-channeling Stier’s perspective, but I took her to mean that we’d learn more if we let ourselves be surprised more.
In that spirit, I was delighted to read this weekend the story of a former student (and self-declared nerd) who had chronicled graffiti in the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library. The former student, Quinn Dombrowski, turned her labor of love into a book, Crescat Graffiti, Vita Excolatur: Confessions of the University of Chicago, available for purchase at the school and on Amazon.
You may not buy Dombrowski’s working hypothesis, that the graffiti reflects the character and mood of the university at the time she captured it, but give credit to a world in which a person can conceive, create, publish and sell a book on her own.
Quinn Dombrowski is not unique, and she is probably part of a growing number of independent authors. She’s also testament to Debbie Stier’s call for serendipity. I ordered Dombowski’s book.
Comments
I think you’ve channeled me correctly! I’ve always chased the magic of discovery—it keeps me interested, excited, inspired and enthusiastic. If I have to do one more BEA or go to one more marketing meeting, I feel like I’ll die (not really.....but you know what I mean).
I’m way more excited to stumble into something new (e.g. your talk at TOC about POD).
As an aside, I keep saying that this is the year that self-publishing is going to lose it’s stigma......
And thank you for calling my attention to this book because it looks really interesting and I will definitely check out as a result of your post!
Posted by
Debbie Stier on 04/05 at 04:48 PM
I’m glad I got that part right, then. Admittedly, it is easier to pursue serendipity as a consultant. Everything applies somewhere, and I don’t attend as many meetings these days.
I am sorry to hear the news about folding HarperStudio’s titles back into the parent company’s remaining imprints. I’m sure there are good reasons, both published and not, and the authors will find a home elsewhere within HarperCollins. It just seemed like a friendly outpost.
Posted by
Brian O'Leary on 04/06 at 06:54 AM
Page 1 of 1 pages
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.