My third book by this author. And I was actually surprised when I saw that. I thought I'd read a lot more by Rosen. Hmms. Not sure what happened there.

Not exactly sure when the book was set, but seemed to be early 2000s, at the very least after 9/11, and before the explosion of ebooks (and, to a certain extent, during).

So, two authors were slowly rising up the book charts. Doing everything 'correctly'. They got a publisher and the publisher is publishing their work. Then shake-up in the publishing world. Consolidation of the big players. Some success, some failure of the small press. 9/11 happened. Economy tanks. 'Luxury' items like books got put aside. And the two authors went down two different pathways.

One, the first point of view in the book, went the ghost writer route. His books had stalled, and he got an offer to ghost write someone else's book. So, needing money, he did. Now he makes $50,000 - $60,000 a year ghost writing but hates himself. And most people around him.

Second point of view is a woman who stuck to her own books. Publishing one or two a year. Has a small but eager fan base of roughly 8000 people (I don't recall why that number is in my head). And is popular at conventions. Probably spends more than receives from her writing, though. Has to work many odd jobs to barely make ends meet. Is happy has own books and own name on books. Has rearranged her goals and desires to 'able to make a living writing'.

First point of view man is named Tom Parker and is best friends of Sherry Hays, the second point of view. There are at least three point of views. If not more. A third point of view would be Diane, a convention goer, though she only 'comes alive' as a point of view a lot later in the process.

It's one of those short books that feels longer than it actually is, though I don't mean that, necessarily in a bad way. Just that a lot is packed into a small package.

The book description on GoodReads is probably good enough. I probably should have just pointed at that and gone on my merry way. Certain issues, though 'Meanwhile, he barely ekes by.' He makes $50,000 to $60,000 a year while living in a location where he was able to buy a house for $20,000. He is not barely eking by. He might not always have much in the way of money, but that's on him - he spends his money stupidly. It's not that he barely ekes by, it's that he gets paid peanuts compared to the other people in the process. His agent, the guy who gets him the ghost writing gigs, gets paid a fortune. The person whose name is on the cover also gets paid a fortune. While he gets a very tiny amount. Still, 'barely ekes by' isn't the way to convey that information.

'Yet she constantly refuses Tom’s offers to get her work ghost writing.' - I believe there was once, maybe twice when Tom actually mentioned ghost writing work. If that. There might not have even been once. There were times when Tom thought about the situation - both how he had asked in the past, and how she might be able to better able to make ends meet through ghost writing, but there isn't a constant stream of him offering ghost writing work, and constant refusal.

Right, so. I'm not sure how to label this one. It's a book about book writing/selling/etc. Stars a straight man, and a lesbian woman (two different people, in case anyone gets confused). Certain amount of romance, though that's intermixed with other stuff. A lot of political ranting. It's not slice of life because a ton of time goes by. Well, at least 4 or 5 years. Book wasn't as interesting or fun as the two other books I'd read by this author.

Hmms. I do not really know what to say about this book. I'd been putting it up for possible next reads and pulling it for a longish while now. So I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. It was good for what it was, whatever that might be. I could have lived without the male masturbation scene(s) (I distinctly recall one, I just don't recall if there were more).

December 21 2015 ( )