Art Imitating Lit 3

I find it very interesting how these ideas for Art Imitating Lit come to fruition. What seems to happen is that I have a general idea which floats around in my head, sometimes for weeks on end, and then suddenly I will read something on a blog which will release the idea, sort of like Arthur when he pulls the sword out of the stone. Ok, maybe I'm pushing it with that analogy. But you get my drift.

My latest story was inspired by the intelligent, witty, passionate, and no-holds-barred author M.J. Rose, who as well as having written many successful novels, also has a great blog aptly named Buzz, Balls & Hype, where she provides great insight and inside information on the book publishing industry. One of her more recent blog entries struck a chord with me. In the post she bemoans the sad state of the publishing world, specifically how authors are not getting more creative and ingenius with their approaches towards marketing their books. Near the end of her post she writes: Authors aren't getting advice from anyone about what to do when their book is coming out. Why can't we figure out a way to educate authors so they can do the most for their books? Anyone have a good joke? This is getting really depressing.

Well, I sure hate to see M.J. sad. And so I made it my mission to try and cheer her up. No, I don't have any answers; I'm not a marketing expert. I'm just a smart-assed cartoonist, so I do what I can.

So here ya go, M.J. I hope this brightens your day!

I didn't have enough time to colour the entire strip because I wanted to get it posted PDQ. So please excuse the rushed style. Also, my hand was starting to go into spasms near the end of this!

Enough chatter. Enjoy the strip.

Comments

[R J Keefe]

Thanks so much! Not only is the strip great fun, but I was just sitting down to round up likelies for my Saturday Loose Links!

Larry King is fantastic. So is "Are You My Type?"

[Bob Row]

Now I understand why you noted my Gutenberg: He's your superheroe! I can't believe you are still not hired by some lit magazine. Your hig-brow stories are so funny both in dialogues as in drawing! I really enjoy reading your blog.

BTW: I just added a Dan Brown to my page: http://www.geocities.com/bobrowcartoons/Brown.html
Hope you'll like it.

[patricia]

Good one of Danny Boy!

Thank you for the kind words, Bob. And yes, I really dig Gutenberg. He's a bit of an obsession with me, not unlike my slightly unhealthy obesssion with Jonathan Franzen. Perhaps a future strip with Franzen and Gutenberg duking it out? Hmmm.....

Re: lit mags. I've had some recent opportunities to reprint that 'Lethem & Chabon' strip in a couple lit mags, so who knows? And hey, if the New Yorker ever wanted to print some of my stuff, I wouldn't say no to Bob Mankoff....

[iliana]

This is a classic! Loved it.

[Pete]

Nice job, especially the little dig at the Lit Blog Co-op.

[David]

Lovely as always.