Short Takes
September 27, 2016
The antidote to house porn: “The New Small House”
At the height of the real estate bubble, the average American house was 2,268 square feet. After the crash, it shrunk to 2,100. Now the median single family house is getting bigger. But what if you don’t need or want 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and a Great Room? Then you’ll be interested in “The New Small House,” by Katie Hutchison, a New England architect. She takes you inside 24 small houses, ranging in size from 500 square feet to 1640 square feet. She suggests 10 design strategies. She adds 5 delicious small retreats. And there are 75 photos and 30 illustrations. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle dedition, click here.]
September 19, 2016
December 2: Join me to hear a king of African music.
I haven’t proposed a Head Butler Field Trip in years, but an artist as remarkable and generally distant as Boubacar Traore doesn’t come to New York often. He’ll be peforming at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday, December 2, at 7 PM. Tickets are $65, and include museum admission. For information and tickets, click here. If you’re going, let me know.
September 14, 2016
For sale: Hawaiian retreat
If you love Hawaii and all things Hawaiian — like the rainforest and the Grateful Dead — we are selling our 550 sq. ft. home on one verdant acre for $125,000. Multiple fruit trees, sugar cane, exotic tropical flowers, palms, fairy trail and art studio. Contact: Grace Iurilli at graceinhawaii@gmail.com.
August 31, 2016
So you wrote a book? Here’s how to let the world know.
When I was launching Head Butler Creative Services, I expected to get queries from writers — often first-time writers — with questions about their manuscripts. To my surprise, I’ve often heard from writers who ask, “The book’s done. Now what?” Some want me to introduce them to agents; that’s not what I do. More either have a publisher or are self-publishing and are freaking out at the starting gate — in a noisy, crowded field, how will they get noticed? Fauzia Burke knows. Over two decades, she’s done book PR for Alan Ada, Arianna Huffington, Tom Brokaw, Tana French — and a number of writers I’ve sent her way. Now she’s written a book: “Online Marketing for Busy Authors: A Step-by-Step Guide.” It’s a primer, but that’s what writers who are novices at Internet publicity need. In the spirit of the Internet, it’s interactive; in chapter after chapter, she quizzes you about your goals and the specifics of your book. And then she suggests that you use blogs and social media — the very stuff you may think doesn’t matter — to build your brand and sell your book. Baby steps? If you haven’t taken them, start here. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]