33 1/3
I am a big fan of the 33 1/3 series of books, and I'm especially a fan of the extremely public submissions procedure the series has maintained. Run by Continuum Press in New York, the series consists of 50+ short, smart paperbacks, each on a single seminal album. The series has ranged from straightforward histories of an album's recording (Springsteen's Born in the USA, Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea) to in-depth interviews with artists (DJ Shadow's Endtroducing...) to fanciful compendia of detail and data (The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs) to fiction inspired by an album (PJ Harvey's Rid of Me).
Over on their blog, the editors of the 33 1/3 series recently issued a call for submissions for the next two years' worth of titles. About 450 writers answered the call, swamping the editors with proposals on albums by 276 different artists, from AC/DC to the Osmonds to ZZ Top.
As the editors make their decisions, a bunch of writers have posted their proposals, and it's a fascinating look at what makes a person a fan of an album, and what makes them want to write on it. They're all very interesting, and they make me feel as if you could write a really good book on, seriously, any album at all. They also make me feel as though the editors at Continuum must have had a pretty fucking tough month.
Psychocandy by the Jesus & Mary Chain
I See a Darkness by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Live at the Star Club, Hamburg by Jerry Lee Lewis
Illinois by Sufjan Stevens
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret by Soft Cell
Buffalo Springfield Again by Buffalo Springfield
Fevers and Mirrors by Bright Eyes
Shaft by Isaac Hayes
Chips From the Chocolate Fireball by the Dukes of Stratosphear
Over on their blog, the editors of the 33 1/3 series recently issued a call for submissions for the next two years' worth of titles. About 450 writers answered the call, swamping the editors with proposals on albums by 276 different artists, from AC/DC to the Osmonds to ZZ Top.
As the editors make their decisions, a bunch of writers have posted their proposals, and it's a fascinating look at what makes a person a fan of an album, and what makes them want to write on it. They're all very interesting, and they make me feel as if you could write a really good book on, seriously, any album at all. They also make me feel as though the editors at Continuum must have had a pretty fucking tough month.
Psychocandy by the Jesus & Mary Chain
I See a Darkness by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Live at the Star Club, Hamburg by Jerry Lee Lewis
Illinois by Sufjan Stevens
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret by Soft Cell
Buffalo Springfield Again by Buffalo Springfield
Fevers and Mirrors by Bright Eyes
Shaft by Isaac Hayes
Chips From the Chocolate Fireball by the Dukes of Stratosphear
posted by Dan at 5:47 PM
5 Comments:
you can also add destroyer's rubies by destroyer to the list. i was of course bummed, but as others have commented, david's is a pretty sane process. i'll be curious to see which proposals made the final cut.
Dan, which proposal was yours? Mine was the Butthole Surfers.
Ken, I had seen your blogs about your proposal, but was never able to find the proposal itself. Is it up somewhere?
Antonio, I hadn't converted mine to html but it's up now at the end of the list.
Thanks for your supportive comment on my DJ Shadow book over a the 33 1/3 blog. David's musing on why my book is doing well seems to imply (at least to me) that he doesn't think it's worthy.
Eliot, though another commenter on the 33 1/3 blog responded to David's musings the same way you did, I'm inclined to disagree. If I were publishing this series, I would certainly not expect any book on DJ Shadow to sell as well as any book on, say, the Beatles -- not because of any lack of worthiness on the book's part, but simply because perhaps a thousands times more people know about the Beatles than about DJ Shadow.
I think it is to David's credit that he published the book anyway, and books on other semi-obscure artists as well -- because it's quite likely that Continuum's sales department begged him not to. The series (and the writers) are being rewarded for that gamble, because it turns out that in fact the books on obscure artists are selling quite well.
At any rate, I don't think David meant to slight your book.
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