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A Publisher’s Conversation with Authors: How Libraries Really Acquire Books

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  Most authors imagine that getting their book into libraries is simply a matter of the library “wanting” it — or that the publisher can somehow “place” it there. In reality, library acquisitions follow a structured, policy‑driven process that has very little to do with author enthusiasm and everything to do with workflow, reviews, and patron demand. Here’s what actually happens behind the scenes. 1. Libraries Don’t Buy Books the Way Bookstores Do Bookstores browse catalogs, look at covers, and take chances. Libraries do not. Public libraries operate under: Collection development policies Budget constraints Vendor contracts Cataloging and processing requirements Professional review standards Every acquisition must fit those criteria. A library cannot simply buy a book because an author asks them to. 2. Most Libraries Buy Through Vendors — Not Directly From Publishers Many authors assume libraries order from Amazon or from the publisher’s website. They don’t. Libra...
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Why do we need emotions?

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  We tend to think of emotions as messy extras layered on top of rational thought. But from an evolutionary perspective, emotions are not a bug in human design. They are one of the oldest and most efficient survival systems we have. Emotions exist because a purely logical organism would be too slow to survive. Emotions Are Fast Biological Guidance Systems Long before humans developed language or abstract reasoning, organisms needed rapid ways to: detect danger pursue opportunities bond socially protect offspring avoid contamination establish cooperation recover from loss Emotions evolved as coordinated whole-body action programs. Fear prepares escape. Anger prepares confrontation. Disgust prevents poisoning. Attachment keeps infants alive. Loneliness drives reconnection. Grief reorganizes life after loss. An emotion is not just a “feeling.” It is a full-body prioritization system. It changes: attention memory muscle tension breathing heart rate motiv...
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Precerpt from In with the East Wind: A Mary Poppins Kind of Life - Brazil: Gramado

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Gramado While I was working in Porto Alegre, friends insisted on taking me “up the mountain” for a day, a phrase they delivered with the same reverence Californians reserve for “up the coast.” The destination was Gramado, a small town tucked into the Serra Gaúcha, where the air cools, the pines thicken, and Brazil briefly forgets it is tropical. Gramado looks as if a Bavarian architect wandered off course and decided to start over in the Southern Hemisphere. Steeply pitched roofs, half‑timbered façades, tidy flower boxes — the whole place carries a German accent even before anyone speaks. It isn’t a theme park imitation; it’s the lived inheritance of the German immigrants who settled the region generations ago and left their mark in everything from the architecture to the bakeries. And then there was the chocolate. I had been warned, but nothing prepared me for the sheer devotion to chocolate in that town. Shop after shop displayed glossy truffles, molded animals, pralines, bar...
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