Self-publishing With Caution: We are big advocates of self-publishing (duh) and in the past we’ve shared articles about easy ways you can promote yourself and your book on a budget. However, there is a flip side to everything, and in this article, author and social media guru Kristen Lamb shares some common errors that self-published authors often make. I particularly like #1, which advises against publishing before your book is truly ready. We’ve come across a fair share of books that could have used another draft or two, or a bit more editorial tweaking before being released into the world. All of this advice is indispensable – not only for writers looking to publish their own work, but for people pursuing the craft of writing in general.
Here We Are Now, Typeface-Makers: I don’t know about you, but when I think about aesthetics in the grunge era, fashion usually comes to mind first – plaid shirts, Doc Martens, ripped jeans, long hair, dark lipstick, chokers, bored expressions and what have you. However, there was another stylistic side to grunge that shaped our cultural memory in a much more subtle manner – grunge typography. This article from The Awl outlines the fascinating history of font usage and design from this era, and like the music itself, it arose from young artists feeling a sense of boredom and antipathy towards existing styles, and choosing to unleash their skills in new ways that hadn’t been seen before. In the art and styles shown in the piece, we see elements of science fiction, punk, steampunk and graffiti, brought together in rough, sometimes ugly but totally unique visions. It also traces how these typographies were used to situate both popular and independent works of art in a very distinct cultural moment – from the font used in the Silent Hill videogame box artwork to covers created for Ray Gun magazine. As one of the artists recalls: ” It was just an expression of pure emotion and design. That’s really what it was all about.” Essential reads!
The Soundtrack of Books: An amazing new project by Brain Pickings contributor Maria Popova called Literary Jukebox pulls daily passages from books and finds an appropriate song to augment their meanings. The possibilities are endless, often surprising and quite perfect: A passage from Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises is paired with a Mazzy Star track, while a Henry Miller passage is accompanied beautifully by a whimsical tune by Charlotte Gainsbourg. Not only does this project get you thinking about ideas from your favorite authors in a different way, but it also exposes you to amazing new music at the click of a button. What a lovely idea.
365 Days of Hand-Lettering: Artist Lisa Congdon has been doing 365 Days of Hand-Lettering on her personal blog, and many of these works illustrate famous and not-so-famous phrases by artists, musicians and writers. (See the Sylvia Plath quote at the beginning of this post.) Congdon has a focused touch, and through simplicity and sensitivity she highlights these quotes in a way that doesn’t detract from the original phrase, but instead pushes it out front and centre delicately and beautifully.