I blogged about my SPIN article on barbershop quartets last week, and have since gotten a bunch of e-mails from barbershoppers asking where they could read the article for free. (Barbershoppers are generally a thrify bunch — at the Nashville convention last summer, I remember seeing an hour-long line for the complimentary shuttle bus while a row of empty taxis idled nearby.)
Well, their prayers have been answered — the article is now live at SPIN.com. Use the widget below to get there, or just click here.
(Side note: I love the extras SPIN puts in its digital version, like links to the iTunes songs and MySpace profiles of the bands — quartets, in this case — mentioned in its articles. Web-only magazine content can be gimmicky, but in the case of a music magazine, being a click away from the song you’re reading about is actually pretty useful.)
Back in the spring of 2007, during my semester at Liberty, I noticed that a Liberty student (alias: “BlastCoaster87,” real name: Devin Olson) was producing an awesome monthly series of YouTube videos about the happenings on campus. Even more than Liberty’s official promotional DVDs, Devin’s simple, well-produced shorts portrayed Liberty’s campus life in all its goofy, ultra-religious glory, with a soundtrack of schmaltzy Christian music to boot. I never met Devin at Liberty, but after returning to Brown, I’d watch one of his videos every morning before sitting down to write, to jog my memory and put myself back in the Liberty mindset. I think I’m responsible for half the views by now.
A couple people have told me that I should have filmed a documentary about my time at Liberty. For obvious reasons, that probably wouldn’t have worked (”Kevin, why is that camera crew following you?” “Um, they’re… friends of mine.”). But if I had filmed one, it would have looked a lot like Devin’s videos. See them for yourself at his YouTube channel, or just watch the clip below.
This one is from August 2007, right after I left Liberty, and it’s the first video Devin made after Jerry Falwell’s death. (Hence the extended tribute, and the shot of Falwell’s widow Macel being introduced in convocation.)
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BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Contribute to my e-book!
In addition to its hardcover release, THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE will also be released on March 26 as an e-book for Kindles and Sony Readers and all manner of devices I can’t afford. My publisher has given me the option of including a few bonus features for e-book readers, sort of like the extras that come on DVDs.
I’m taking suggestions from you guys, my blog readers, for content you’d like to see included with the e-version of my book. So far, I’ve thought of adding a deleted chapter, a short list of funny advice for incoming Liberty students, and an article I wrote for Liberty’s campus newspaper about Jerry Falwell.
What else would make a good addition? The e-book format allows us to go beyond the traditional confines of an ink-and-pulp book, so think big! I need all suggestions by next Monday, February 2nd.
It seems that Ted Haggard’s image-rehab climb just got a lot steeper. As reported by the AP last weekend and confirmed by the NYT today, Haggard’s 2006 gay sex scandal — during which the prominent mega-church pastor and president of the National Association of Evangelicals admitted to enlisting the services of a male prostitute (as well as buying meth from him) — didn’t end there.
For those who missed it: Last week, just as Haggard was promoting “The Trials of Ted Haggard,” a new, apparently sympathetic HBO documentary about his fall from grace, a male volunteer at Haggard’s former 10,000-member New Life Church came forward with allegations that he and Haggard had a long-term sexual relationship beginning when he (the volunteer) was in his early 20s. Oops. Since then, the preacher-in-exile has confessed to a relationship with the volunteer that, although “inappropriate,” involved “no physical contact.” (Which leaves what? Phone sex? IM sex? Does it matter?) Last Sunday, New Life pastor Brady Boyd announced to his congregation that the volunteer’s accusations were true, that the church had known about Haggard’s affair for almost two years, and that the church’s directors had been making compensatory payments to the volunteer ever since.
Hush money scandal aside, what I find really interesting (and potentially important) about this new chapter in the Ted Haggard saga is the way in which Haggard’s attempts to realign himself with the “mainstream” (read: heterosexual) evangelical community have been greeted with eye-rolls and laughter — even among the evangelicals who are supposed to believe in that exact realignment. More…
Last summer, Brown gave me a fellowship to conduct a journalism project on a topic of my choosing. After thinking for a while, I settled on something close to home: barbershop quartets. For those who don’t know, I grew up in a singing family. My dad is a rabid fan of barbershop music — which is perhaps best described as a stripped-down, old-school version of college a cappella — and my brother and I were once fans, too.
So when I learned that OC Times, a young barbershop quartet out of Southern California, was making waves in the Barbershop Harmony Society by trying to “modernize” the golden-era art form, I had to check it out. What resulted was a 6-page feature in next month’s SPIN magazine, called “Imperfect Harmony,” that chronicles OC Times’ rise to cult stardom and profiles the group of anti-modernists (called “KIBbers,” for Keep It Barbershop) who are fighting the OC Times phenomenon. The article isn’t online yet, but a clip should be available on this site soon, and you can pick the issue up at newsstands everywhere. It’s the Lily Allen cover, and it looks like this:
The reportage for the piece took place over a three-month period, during which I attended the annual barbershop convention in Nashville and spent Labor Day Weekend in Orlando with OC Times (whose real names are Sean, Patrick, Cory, and Shawn). They’re great guys, and all the barbershoppers I worked with on the article were immensely helpful. I’m really proud of the article, which features amazing photos taken by Bob Croslin.
Shortly after it came out, Cory from OC Times sent me a cell-phone photo of the four quartet members reading the article in an airport newsstand on the way to a show.
You can read more about OC Times at their site, and about barbershop music at the BHS website.
UPDATE: A few exclusive photos from the OC Times shoot (that didn’t make the magazine spread) are now up at photographer Bob Croslin’s blog.
A week or two ago, I got word from my publisher that Barnes & Noble had pick THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE for the 2009 installment of its “Discover Great New Writers” series. Several times a year, a panel of B&N readers convenes to (in the B&N website’s words) “[help] publishers introduce dynamic new literary writers to the reading public, highlighting the most impressive new works published each season.” The 15-22 books the panel picks are then given the literary equivalent of a spongebath — better placement in stores, face-out display, special coverage in a B&N brochure, etc. — and are more likely to sell well as a result. Past Discover authors include literary heroes like Jeffrey Eugenedes (Middlesex), John Grogan (Marley and Me), Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), David Wroblewski (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle), and Joshua Ferris (Then We Came to the End, one of the best books I read in 2008). Rob Kurson, who wrote the wonderful Shadow Divers, and who gave my book an awesome endorsement, was also a Discover pick back in 2004.
Being picked for a major industry award is exciting news, of course, but it’s made even more exciting by this story. About a month ago, before Christmas, I was doing some gift-shopping at my local Barnes & Noble in Ohio when, at the check-out counter, the cashier told me that my B&N membership had expired. It’s not a cheap membership ($25 a year or so), and in 2008, I didn’t buy nearly enough books to make the discounts worth it. So I told the guy that no, I would not be renewing for 2009. He nodded, rung me up, and I was almost out of the store when I felt a pang of conscience. I should really support the book industry, I thought. And my book comes out next year, too. Just in case there is such a thing as universal karma, I might want to be on Barnes & Noble’s cosmic good side.
So I turned around, went back to the counter, and renewed my membership.
The Unlikely Disciple’s official launch date is March 26, so we’re a little more than two months away from publication. January has been a crazy month for book pre-publicity, and I’ve been assured that February will only be busier. Which could prove a little challenging, since I’m trying really hard to maintain some semblance of normal college life this semester. Regardless, pre-publication buzz-building is an exciting experience, and I’m trying to soak it all in.
Here’s what we’ve got so far:
A mention in USA Today’s “Winter Books Calendar,” which compiles lists of upcoming books and provides short synopses and publication dates for each one. My book’s entry is here.
Two pre-publication reviews. One is from Publishers Weekly, who kindly said that “Roose may be young…but he writes like a seasoned veteran.” One is from Booklist, who called the book “level-headed, nuanced, keenly observant” and remarked that I told my story “entertainingly.” Both PW and Booklist are respected trade publications, and both tend to be bellwethers of future reviews, so I’m really excited that they liked the book.
A great long-lead print media line-up. I can’t reveal specific titles just yet, but among the magazines slated to cover/excerpt The Unlikely Disciple are two women’s magazines, two men’s magazines (one of which features tasteful nudity — not mine, mind you), a pop-science magazine, a prominent online magazine, and two widely-read Christian monthlies. And that’s just print. TV and radio pitches are going out right now – thanks to my amazing publicist Tanisha Christie, who has been indefatigable in her pursuit of coverage – so my fingers are crossed.
This site, which is getting more and more complete every day. In the coming weeks, we’ll be rolling out new interactive features like an “Exam Room,” where you can test your skills on actual Liberty University exams. (Sample question: “True or False: According to Acts 20:21, both repentance and faith are necessary for salvation.”) Look for video shorts, an expanded photo gallery, and a cleaner look for this blog. (The answer is “True,” by the way.)
Galleys (basically, advance reading copies bound in paperback and given to media types) went out this month to hundreds of reviewers and booksellers, and I’ve been getting some great feedback via e-mail. Even conservative Christians have written to tell me that they appreciate the conciliatory tone of the book, which warms my heart to an Obama-esque extent.
I hope to use this blog for more than shameless self-promotion, but I’ll be posting periodic updates on how media/review stuff is going. I’ll also be posting reviews (well, the good ones) as they come in on my “Press” page, which you can get to here.
As my friends and family members (and really, anyone who has dealt with me in the past two years) can attest, I’ve been editing this book for a LONG time. For the past six months or so, every time my editor has sent me another set of proof pages, I’ve sighed with relief, thinking that this round of edits must be the last one before the book goes to press. And every time, I’m wrong. As I’ve learned, books have notoriously drawn-out editing processes, and going from draft pages to uncorrected proofs to first-pass pages to second- and third-pass (and sometimes fourth-pass) pages to an actual ink-and-pulp book can take years.
Today, in what’s called the “blues” proof stage of book editing, I made my last edits — actual last edits — to THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE before it goes to press. The book comes out in ten weeks, and I’ve had eight or ten whacks at these pages, so it’s really late in the process to be making edits. However, in the event that the author/editor finds last-minute typos (which I did — small ones, like “New Yok” instead of “New York”), the publisher can pay the printer to fix individual mistakes before the book is printed.
So the final tiny mistakes have been fixed, and after two-plus years of writing, I am officially done with this book. At least until reprint edits are due…
By the way, in case you’re wondering how typos can survive a two-year editing process, they can — even in big, important places. Seen here is the Advance Readers Copy of my book, which featured a very unfortunate typo on the spine.
I'm a senior at Brown University, a freelance journalist, and the author of "The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University," which comes out in March, and is available for pre-order on Amazon.com , BN.com , and Borders.com , or at your local bookseller. I grew up in Ohio, went to a boarding high school outside of Philadelphia, and now live in Providence, Rhode Island, where I spend my time studying English Lit and playing Wii Mario Kart. Mostly the latter.
