Monthly Archives: August 2020

Manuscript

Bloomsbury is now accused of leaking manuscript

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Only a week ago, Bloomsbury India decided to withdraw the publication of the book “Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story” from the authors of Monika Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra. In a statement, the publishing house cited a “virtual pre-publication launch organized without our knowledge by the authors” as one of the reasons for its decision. Bloomsbury India said they planned to publish the book, a factual account based on an investigation and interviews conducted by the authors, in September 2020, but overturned their decision.

Essentially, the publishing house gave in to “liberal” harassment and decided to withdraw the book that was about to be published and was due out in September 2020.

Now the post is accused of something very serious.

A manuscript of the book that was dropped by Bloomsbury has made the rounds on WhatsApp. Several netizens raised questions about how the entire manuscript had been illegally distributed and was not being distributed freely.

A reading of the manuscript indicated that it was the copy that was with Bloomsbury that was circulating freely and illegally on WhatsApp.

The second page of the manuscript makes it clear that this is a copy which is published by Bloomsbury.

Second page of the leaked copy of the Delhi Riots 2020 manuscript: The Untold Story

Interestingly, other than the authors, the publisher, and the publisher, this manuscript in this form would not be available with anyone else. It is obvious that the authors would have no interest in disclosing the manuscript, thus hurting the sales of the book which is now published by Garuda Prakashan.

Thus, this raises the question of whether it was the publishing house that disclosed the copy of the manuscript.

Interestingly, before the manuscript was released on WhatsApp, one of the first portals to access the manuscript was the Left portal, TheQuint.com.

In their report which sloppily attempted to “verify the facts” of the book, The Quint clearly mentions that the book’s manuscript was viewed by them.

Extract from TheQuint report

TheQuint, in fact, specifically mentions that they accessed and scanned the “Bloomsbury draft” of the book.

The question therefore arises as to how TheQuint managed to access a confidential book manuscript in the first place when access to the manuscript was limited to the authors and the publisher. More curiously still, the draft of this book was viewed by TheQuint after the book was published with Garuda Prakashan and the authors served legal notice on the publisher.

The needle of suspicion, according to many, is obviously pointing to Bloomsbury, the publishing house that bowed to liberal pressure and ditched the book in violation of the contract it had signed with the authors.

It is relevant to note that the book ‘Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story’ has been pre-ordered over 15,000 times after Gaurda Prakashan opened the booking platform.



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Speechwriter

McConnell Chief Speechwriter Launches Company: Arboreal Communications

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WASHINGTON–(COMMERCIAL THREAD) – Former Senate Speaker Brian Forest’s speechwriter announced the public launch of Arboreal Communications, a communications company specializing in executive messaging, writing and positioning. The company has previously been selected to help major global brands, government leaders, business associations and nonprofits reach key audiences on a range of issues, including COVID, sustainability and technology.

Company founder Brian Forest was a longtime congressional executive who served as speech editor for Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell and wrote for Minority Whip Senator Jon Kyl. Forest has served numerous directors at the highest levels of business and government throughout his career, which spans Congress, White House, state government, campaigns, journalism, academia, institutions. international and public relations agencies. Most recently, Forest led strategic messages for the National Association of Manufacturers.

“It has never been so difficult to find strong messaging and writing skills or, in a socially remote world, more vital. That’s why customers continue to look to Arboreal to help key audiences “see the forest through the trees”. Arboreal cuts noise with targets Messaging, superior quality writing, and reflected executive positioning“said Brian Forest.

Arboreal’s core offerings are complemented by a wider range of communications services in areas such as media, digital and creative through the continued development of strategic partnerships with agencies and consultants.

Arboreal Communications LLC ™ is a communications company specializing in messaging, writing and positioning executives. Clients turn to us for messaging strategy when they need to be heard, speech writing and content creation when they want to stand out, and executive coaching and visibility strategy when they need to be heard. are ready to own the room. We offer a full range of communication services in addition to these core specialties.

https://www.arborealcommunications.com/

Arboreal (/ ärˈbôrēəl / de or pertaining to trees; arborescent)


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Speechwriter

What is it really like to be a government speechwriter?

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Words don’t come easily to everyone, but speech writers have a head start. James Doughty, Ministry of Work and Pensions wordmaker, shares some trade secrets

Speech writing is a job unlike any other in the public service. It is a work of contradictions. You work alone and with everyone, you are a specialist but also a generalist, you are creative and constrained, you are in the thick of the matter and withdrawn.

It’s a job title that speaks candidly. Yet the cover on the world of the speechwriter is very rarely lifted. For speech writers, like spies, anonymity is the rule. Spies work in the shadows. Speech writers, more specifically, work in the shadow of their masters. Their words are often in the spotlight, but they are not.

Here are five glimpses into the world of a speechwriter and the speechwriting profession and how they add value to organizations and the public service at large.

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What is speech writing anyway?
When a lot of people think of speechwriter, they think of Sam Seaborn from The West Wing. The reality is somewhat different. Consider walking and talking slower in the hallways, more careful research, and searing writing and rewriting.

Essentially, a government speechwriter helps ministers communicate their vision, policies and goals. In a short-burst social media world, delivering a single speech from a lectern to a room full of real people is always the vehicle of choice for doing so. A speech offers the space and time to develop ideas, take the audience on a journey, tell a story – something you just can’t do in 140 characters.

What Happens in Writing a Speech?
It often begins with a first meeting with the minister to fully understand the main points he wishes to make. Then it’s about having detailed conversations with the political teams – often multiple teams, analysts, special policy advisers and press officers. During this process, the speechwriter is the conduit through which ideas flow. They are the lightning rod, capturing every thought, every angle and every idea proposed. It is through the speechwriter that these ideas are then distilled, ordered, reordered, refined and woven into a narrative that makes sense and fits together.

To do this, a speech writer must be able to convey complex information in a straightforward and compelling manner. They have to pull everything together into a cohesive whole that, like a piece of music, comes and goes to hold interest and create contrasts – calm and strong passages, long, flowing passages and short jerky points, poetry and political prose. After extensive collaboration, this is the part where the speechwriter needs quiet solitude, which can be rare in a ministry. I’ve heard that a department has plans for a “speech bubble” – a module dedicated to speech writers.

How do you keep the pen and your cool?
For any speech, there will have been an army of people involved in one way or another, from fact-checking and policy advice to analytical contribution, # 10s and engaging those who have. a powerful story to tell that will bring a speech to life. The speechwriter has to deal with all these different actors and make sure that they are all happy and that the speech beats with one impulse and one purpose.

“A speechwriter can often find himself at the center of some sort of frenzied melee”

In doing so, a speechwriter can often find themselves at the center of some sort of frenzied scrum, especially as the speech date approaches. It can, ironically, be one of the loneliest, most difficult, and skillful parts of being a speechwriter – keeping a firm grip on the pen while surrounded by persuasive and often quite high-ranking officials who are advocating. so that a row is included – or more often than not – excluded.

It’s an interesting place and a test of the nerve. I think it’s always important to remember who the speech is: it’s the boss’s speech – the person who actually needs to stand up and speak it, from whose mouth the words will come out and the person whose name and reputation depend on them. They’re still the best speechwriters, we just play a supporting role.

Because they are the boss, it can sometimes feel like a brutal and murderous profession. You need to be prepared for your carefully crafted lines to be crossed out or rewritten. It’s a healthy part of the process, even if it does wear out the hair a bit. One of my speech-writing colleagues had all but two of the words removed from a first draft of a speech. The two surviving words came at the end: “Thank you”.

What does public service speech writing look like?
Speech writers are an integral part of Whitehall furniture. Each department has a speechwriter-shaped gap to fill, but the way they are deployed and where they are recruited varies greatly from department to department.

Some are based in the press office, some work from home, many work in the ministerial cabinet – from where you actually have much better access to ministers. Some are recruited because they are used to working with a minister. Others worked in the same department for successive ministers. Some are career civil servants who hold the position for a while before moving on. Some came from outside the public service, mainly from journalism. Regardless of their background, many go on to become career speechwriters, choosing to specialize in speech writing as a vocation.

Figures between departments also vary. Some have one, others have entire teams. Some people double the role of speechwriter by being private secretary to a minister. Others have experimented with relatively new approaches that merge functions. For example, within the Directorate of Work and Pensions, alongside my speech writing functions, I also lead a team of communication officers who provide dedicated support to ministers on briefing and communication.

More and more speech writers are diversifying and becoming generalist writers as well, alongside speech writing. They are dedicated to writing and editing key departmental products that require solid and compelling prose, such as green papers or annual reports. In the past, I’ve known departments hiring outside writers to do this. Departments are increasingly turning in-house to the existing talent of their speech writers.

I like the sound of that. How to become a speechwriter?
No formal qualification is required. A flair for writing, an interest in politics and public affairs are important, as are emotional intelligence and the ability to fully absorb another person’s language and tone. I’ve played in the past, so being able to be someone else is a real plus! Resilience and thick skin are also needed to withstand endless deadlines and the strain on a speechwriter.

In terms of training, there are some great short courses for aspiring speech writers. One of the best is a course taught at the Groucho Club in Soho by former Whitehall speechwriter Simon Lancaster, who now writes speeches for some of the world’s top CEOs. Simon has also written a book on speech writing, Speechwriting: The Expert Guide. This is my bible. While it is difficult to teach someone to write well (in my opinion, it is something innate that comes from deep within), there are some rules and recipes that you can do. follow to make sure a speech is as good as it gets. I would recommend it as a good read to anyone who wants their writing to have more impact.

Speech writing jobs are like gold dust, but it’s worth it to survey departments about any upcoming future positions and register your interest. I also run a network of Whitehall speech writers and we are always happy to discuss opportunities with aspiring speech writers. Many large companies now have a speechwriter as an essential part of their professional environment, so it’s worth looking into as well.

One last word
Speech writers add tremendous value to an organization. They write with a bird’s eye view of the organization and the wider horizon. They bring perspective, clarity and purpose, cutting through the complexity of politics and making it resonate with the outside world.

Speech writing is a job of contradictions, but it’s what makes it one of the most interesting, challenging and rewarding jobs in public service.


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Manuscript

John Steinbeck’s dog ate the original manuscript of “Of Mice and Men”

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National Book Lover’s Day, August 9, brings together all the excitement bibliophiles feel for books in one celebration.

  1. Bibliophile – a person who has a great appreciation for or collects books.
  2. The very first books used parchment or vellum (calf) for the pages of the book.
  3. The covers of the books were made of wood and often covered with leather.
  4. Clasps or straps kept the books closed.
  5. Public libraries appeared in the Middle Ages.
  6. Public libraries often tied books to a shelf or desk to prevent theft.
  7. Along with several recent developments, book manufacturers are using digital printing. The pages of the book are printed using toner rather than ink. Thanks to digital printing, print-on-demand opens up a whole new field of publishing. In this case, distributors do not print the books until the customer has placed an order.
  8. More and more people are reading e-books. E-book refers to a book-like publication in digital form. They are generally available on the Internet. However, they can also be found on CD-ROMs and other systems. Read an eBook on a computer or through a portable book display device called an eBook reader, such as a Reader, Nook, or Kindle.
  9. The biggest. The world’s largest book is actually a series of 729 marble tablets in a Buddhist temple in Mandalay, Myanmar, Kuthodaw Pagoda. The tablets, which took eight years to create, constitute the entire religious canon of Theravada Buddhism. They were made in the mid-1800s and stand over five feet tall.
  10. The most forbidden. In 2017, according to the American Library Association, “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher was the most contested and banned book. The New York Times bestseller, the book has been banned in some schools for dealing with suicide. The Harry Potter books have the distinction of being the most banned and contested series of books in the United States during this century.N ° 1 from 2000 to 2009. The challengers took issue with depictions of witches and wizards.
  11. Mark Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” was the first novel to ever be written on a typewriter, according to some. Another dispute that claims and says “Life on the Mississippi”, another novel by Twin, is more likely the first. Either way, Twain, real name Samuel Clemens, was the first to submit a typed novel. Both came out in the late 1880s.
  12. The very first “Harry Potter” was a short story published in Communist Poland in 1972. The Boy Who Lived has, in fact, been living since March 19, 1972, when the literary magazine ycie Bedding published a short story called “Harry Potter”. The author – Jan Rostworowski – was a Polish writer and poet who, as a soldier in the Polish army, spent twenty-eight years in Britain. Source
  13. In the Harvard library, there are three books suspected of being bound in human skin. One of the books in the Harvard Library, Of the fates of the soul, is 99.9% certain to have been linked to human skin. It has been in Harvard’s Houghton Library since the 1930s. The practice of binding books in human skin was not at all uncommon in the 15th century and was made to commemorate the dead, among other reasons. MORE INFORMATION
  14. A monastery in Egypt houses the oldest continuously operating library in the world, established in AD 565. The library of Saint Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai is the oldest currently operating in the world and has the second largest collection of ancient manuscripts and codices, just after Vatican City. More information
  15. Warsaw is the city with the most libraries per capita – with a whopping 11.5 libraries per 100,000 citizens.
  16. The Portuguese Bertrand Chiado bookstore is officially the oldest working bookstore in the world, founded in 1732.
  17. Dorothy Straight wrote her book How the world started when she was 4 years and 3 months old, making her the youngest person in the world to write a published book. MORE INFORMATION
  18. James Patterson, the author of Alex cross and Women’s Murder Club series, was the first writer to surpass one million eBook sales. MORE INFORMATION
  19. The world’s first ebook is The declaration of independence, released in 1971. MORE INFORMATION
  20. Former US President Theodore Roosevelt read at least one book a day. MORE INFORMATION
  21. The titular raven in Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic classic was originally meant to be… a parrot. MORE INFORMATION
  22. John Steinbeck’s dog ate the original manuscript for Of mice and Men. MORE INFORMATION
  23. Dan Brown finds the ultimate cure for Writer’s Block hanging upside down. MORE INFORMATION
  24. Truman Capote considered himself a “completely horizontal author” because he could not think and write without being lying down. MORE INFORMATION
  25. There are “human libraries” around the world where you can consult humans as a living book and listen to their unique life stories. MORE INFORMATION
  26. A 16th century German religious book can be read in six different ways due to the way it is bound. MORE INFORMATION
  27. According to Google, in 2010 there were approximately 130 million books printed worldwide. While it is virtually impossible to count the exact number, the estimate was generated using an advanced Google algorithm that analyzed over 150 metadata related to the world’s books, and eliminating anything that was duplicate or not. by definition, a book.
  28. In September 2017, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased the printer’s manuscript of The Book of Mormon. The book is a handwritten copy of the original dictated manuscript and is said to have sold for a record $ 35 million.
  29. The ten best-selling novels of all time have sold a combined total of just over 1.56 billion copies. Dan Brown’s The “Da Vinci Code comes in at number 10 with 80 million sales, and the classic novel Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes is number one with 500 million copies sold.
  30. Book nerds are known to love the smell of old books, and believe it or not, there’s a word for it. Bibliosmia means the act of smelling books, and for some it is as aromatic as perfume.
  31. The classic of Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham was written as a bet. Seuss bet his publisher $ 50 that he could write a book in 50 words or less. The book contains exactly 50 words.
  32. Ray Bradbury’s famous dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 was originally called Firefighter. The title was deemed too boring and Bradbury consulted a local fire station to find out what temperature the paper would burn. The firefighter made Bradbury wait while they burned a book, then let him know it was burning at 451 degrees Fahrenheit.
  33. There are a number of phrases commonly used in the literature that are in fact wrong quotes or that were never published in the book. The line “Me Tarzan, You Jane” never appeared in any of Tarzan’s books and was probably removed from the 1932 film. Tarzan the ape man. Another startling mistaken quote is Sherlock Holmes’ slogan “elementary, my dear Watson”. The expression never appears in any of the Sherlock holmes stories and is first used by PG Wodehouse in the novel Psmith, journalist.
  34. The 1939 novel Gadsby by Ernest Vincent Wright does not use any words beginning with the letter E throughout the novel. The book was written in the form of a lipogram, which is a kind of writing or pun in which the author deliberately excludes a common letter from the alphabet. While some letters are easier to avoid than others, E, T, and A are the hardest to ignore.
  35. At the turn of the 20th century, a man named Edward Stratemeyer revolutionized the way children’s books were published. He created the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which operated on the premise that negroes produced stories in a short period of time that the syndicate would sell to publishers. Among his most popular series were Nancy drew and The sturdy boys, both of whom were written under the names Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon, respectively.

Sources:

National day calendar

Infinite energy

E Book Friendly

Factinate


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