• Writing at the blog of Seattle indie press Chin Music Press, Dave Jacobsen builds off my post on publisher branding to show exactly what Chin Music brought to the table when they published Todd Shimoda’s book Oh!  A Mystery of Mono No Aware.  “Neither Todd nor Linda had originally conceived of putting together the book in that way. But it was the book designer who was able to translate just what the author and artist wanted to achieve into a physical product. Interestingly, Josh’s solution also solved an economic problem; namely, that it would have been prohibitively expensive to produce all the artwork in 4-colors, but by limiting full color to those plates at the end, the designer reduced the cost of publishing the book.”

• Vroman’s president Allison Hill is contributing to the Huffington Post’s new book section.  Her first post was about first racy book she’d read, and how it was her first taste of sexuality that wasn’t diluted by the church.  It’s a great piece about the power (and danger) of books:  “My Southern Baptist parents who had dutifully protected my innocence by prohibiting me from watching “The Bad News Bears”, “Grease”, and “Three’s Company”, had never thought to lock up their bookcase the way one would lock up a liquor cabinet.”

• And finally:  This essay by Colson Whitehead is a special kind of genius. What to write next:  “Ist:  Simply add -ist to any oddball or unlikely root word, and run with it. You’d be surprised.” The Imaginationist.  The Inspirationist.  The Intuitionist.  Wow, it really does work!

Have a happy Halloween, y’all.  Have yourselves a safe and thrilling weekend.