Category: The Book (Page 2 of 2)

So I did my first bit of promotion for POP GOES KOREA this morning. I was asked to join EBS Radio’s Morning Date section, a once a week guest segment where random diplomats and notable people join the program and talk for a bit.

Not sure what I thought of the experience. I think I did not embarrass myself. But for someone like myself who is used to the luxuries of writing, ruminating and rewriting, having to put my thoughts together cogently on the fly is an odd experience (I am sure there are plenty of people out there who can testify that I almost never think when I speak).

Sorry that I cannot link to the program. I would not find it on the EBS website, and I am told that you have to pay for the streaming, so that’s no fun.

I did have one friend email to say that he heard me on the radio, so that was quite nice.

Anyhow, hopefully it will be something of a learning experience, and I will be more witty and succinct when I have my next media run-in. With a little luck, there will be more soon.

Another personal milestone — the first online review of POP GOES KOREA. Kind of exciting to get that kind of feedback, especially from someone who I do not know. And best of all, it is a pretty good review.

POP GOES KOREA is reviewed alongside East Asian Pop Culture: Analysing the Korean Wave (Hong Kong University Press), and the reviewer says:

Both books are highly recommended and complement each other — but Pop Goes Korea is a better starting point for the average reader looking for a basic understanding of Korean pop culture.

Nice.

Oh, my book was also briefly mentioned in a post at Ain’t It Cool, although it was not reviewed. Still, it feels good to be noticed.

At long (loooong) last, it is done — I now have copies of POP GOES KOREA in my hands.

(And there was much rejoicing.)

My first thought — Nice!

My second thought — Don’t let there by a typo on the cover.

My third thought — Dontlettherebeatypoonthecover-dontlettherebeatypoonthecover…

Fortunately, I am pretty sure there are no typos on the cover.

Many thanks to all the good people at Stone Bridge Press for doing such a nice job. Great design, lots of color pictures, and very catchy. And there is a very well done index in the book, to help out any academic types.

It took a long time to get here. Well over a year (two years?) of just pitching the idea to numerous publishers. Then writing the first draft. Then re-writing, answering questions, and all the work needed to get the book into good enough shape to go to press.

Thanks to the many, many people I bothered and pestered, too. A lot of people had to answer a lot of questions for me to write this. I really appreciate everybody’s help very much.

And now, we wait for the reviews…

So… what to do next? Another book? Something totally different? Hopefully I will have something interesting to report here before too long.

(Oh, and so far I have found two typos in the book. Sigh.)

Happy news. I just received the official shipping date for POP GOES KOREA — Nov. 17. Just a couple of weeks from now. Of course, it will take a little time from then for the bookstores and Amazon.com, etc. to get their copies. But the important thing is that POP GOES KOREA will be on store shelves very soon. And in time for Christmas, so be sure to tell Santa.

Apologies to everyone who ordered the book earlier in the year when Amazon.com said it would be shipping in July. But you should be receiving yours soon. Amazon.com now says Jan. 1, but hopefully we can speed things up a bit.

Really looking forward to receiving my first copy…

At long, long last, it looks like I finally finished my book, POP GOES KOREA. I mean, sure I had “finished” it several times before… But there is finished and then there is finished, if you know what I mean. There are so many phases to making a book, it can be a little drawn out and frustrating.

First you finish your writing. Then you finish the editing (or answering your editor’s questions). Then you finish the color insert. And just now, I finished going over the galleys and re-checking everything.

By the way, the color insert looks really great. It took a little work and some back-and-forth, but the final product looks sharp and cool. I like the design concept for the section, and, despite space restrictions, I think we did a decent job at getting a large array of actors, singers and other entertainment icons in there.

Now POP GOES KOREA is off to the indexer, which will likely take a couple more weeks. Then my publisher, Stone Bridge, just needs to prep the book for actual printing.

Current plan calls for the printed book to be ready by November, and on store shelves by December. In time for the Christmas gift season (hint hint).

Not a lot of updates again. And, yeah, I know I sound like a broken record about that. But at least my excuse this time is a little more interesting — I have, at last, received the galleys for POP GOES KOREA. Currently going through them, catching all the errors I can, ponder whether certain items have gone out of date, and trying not to cringe too hard at the writing I do not like.

Actually, I find myself sympathizing with a lot of those celebrity interviews you read in the papers and see on TV — you know, the ones where the actor is asked about his film, and he says something like, “Well, I finished filming over a year ago, so I don’t really remember.”

Although I have been working on the book with some frequency, the bulk of the writing was finished almost exactly a year ago. I have added sidebars and answered questions and tracked down photo credits, but for the most part, I was done last August. Kind of strange to be re-reading things that I wrote one, even two years ago. But at a certain point, you just have to let things go, as imperfect as they might be.

The good thing is, though, that the book is nearly done. With a little luck, it should be on store shelves by September.
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Oh, one more reason I have not been writing much on the blog lately has been some fun projects I have been working on. They have led to a large amount of traveling as of late. I spend so much time in Seoul (and other major cities around Asia) that I really appreciate it when I can head off to the countryside for a few days. Especially when I can check out a part of Korea that I have never visited before.

I might write about some of those trips here soon. Not sure if they fit the theme of this blog, though. Maybe I should ask to guest post of Gusts of Popular Feeling or the Marmot’s Hole, which might be more in keeping with what I have in mind.

Well, we are getting pretty close to the publication of POP GOES KOREA (nee KOREA POP WARS). I am currently grinding my way through a reback of the entire book, which can be a little interesting (to see what an editor did with my words), but is mostly tedious (because of what the editor did with my words).

Once I get through all of this, then I just need to finish off a snapshots section and I am pretty much done. I believe Stone Bridge will send me a copy of the page proofs some time in April, for one last fact check. And then we will be done.

Of the writing, anyway. I gather the marketing department intends on giving the book something of a push, so it could be I get some new publicity responsibilities. Not sure what that might entail, but I will do what is needed to help the book sell.

I think POP GOES KOREA could be on store shelves in May. If not, then June.

I suppose I should be thinking of the next book…

Work on POP GOES KOREA continues, step by step. Whenever I think I have my work done, my lovely editor likes to think up more things to change or add or whatever. Slowly, however, we are getting the book into shape.

Now, the book is not going to hit store shelves until around June-ish, but I do have the cover already. And I guess this is as good a time as any to present it to the world. So, ladies and gentlemen, here is POP GOES KOREA:

Pretty spiffy, no? Kind of a Roy Lichtenstein look going on there, with the color saturation turned way up. Very eye-catching.

In fact, there is even a page for my book over at Amazon.com. I am a little embarrassed to admit that it feels really good to see my work turning up online already. Feels like I have accomplished something semi-substantial for once.

Now, if I can just make sure that the writing is not terrible…

Well, it looks like my book has a new title. No more KOREA POP WARS. The new title is going the be POP GOES KOREA: BEHIND THE REVOLUTION IN MEDIA, MUSIC AND INTERNET CULTURE.

A little less zippy than the old title, I guess. But more accurate. The stories I have been telling turned out to be too good natured to be called a “war.” I think they are still engaging and fun stories, just not so warlike.

But important thing is that my first draft of the book is done. Just submitted the conclusion to the publisher on Saturday evening. I am sure there will be questions and revisions and other changes, but the important thing is that my book is written. So I am pretty excited.

Still many more miles to go before the book hits the shelves. The cover is just being designed now, and the editing has just begun. But early word is that sales response has been “very good,” so that is encouraging.

Not sure if I am going to stick with this blog name or if I will switch to POP GOES KOREA. Would make some sense to switch… but I do have a year’s worth of inertia at this site. I’ll try to figure out how I feel some time soon.