Happy Holidays!
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Dec 19 2011
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Bookmas Giveaway, and that includes all of our terrific clients for their clues. I’m hoping everyone enjoyed the contest, and for those who won, the prizes.
Friday’s question was:
I had just finished my very first interview in book publishing. I was nervous, excited and overwhelmed by New York City, tall buildings and the prospect that I’d just discovered my dream job. As with any publisher, when walking through the office there were books and posters everywhere and I couldn’t get enough of seeing what types of books they published and who they published. Some of the authors I was already a fan of, many I’d never heard of. However, what really made the experience was when I got off the train to head home that afternoon I noticed a gentleman walking next to me carrying a book. A book I had just seen a poster of in the offices where I interviewed. I can remember that moment as vividly as if it were yesterday.
What was the book and who was the author?
And the answer is Paper Doll by Robert B. Parker.
Congratulations to Tracy. Please email your contact information to blog@bookends-inc.com and we’ll get your prize out immediately.
As I hinted at Friday, BookEnds has already had our holiday celebration and today the offices are quiet. I’m hoping Kim, Jessica, and Lauren are all at home doing something very holiday-oriented. I’ll likely be baking cookies and making my final shopping lists because, in my mind, there’s nothing quite as much fun as that last-minute shopping.
It’s been a phenomenal year for BookEnds. We’ve had one of our most successful years to date and couldn’t be more thrilled with how our clients are doing, and how we’re doing. We’ve had no fewer than 7 books hit the New York Times bestseller list this year (and I might be missing one or two) and a record number of sales. We welcomed both Jessica Alvarez and Lauren Ruth into the mix and we’ve watched them grow, excel, sign new clients and make new deals. And most important, we’ve had fun. We still love what we do and the clients we work with and we couldn’t be more proud of what’s on our bookshelves.
So to end the year I’m going to raise my glass of warm Swedish Glogg in a toast to you, my loyal readers, to you, my amazing BookEnds agents, and to you, the clients who made it all possible and who I couldn’t be more proud of.
As the Swedes say, “Skol!”
Swedish Glogg
1 bottle red wine
1/2 liter good vodka
10 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
Orange peel from 1/2 an orange
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup almonds
Place spices and orange peel into a piece of cheesecloth and tie shut.
Add all the ingredients to a heavy saucepan and set over medium-low heat until it just reaches a simmer. Do not boil. Simmer for about 45 minutes to allow all the spice flavors to steep.
Once finished, pull out your spice bag and pour the Glogg into a fondue pot or other similar pot with a ladle so you can keep the Glogg warm for guests. Allow the raisins and almonds to float on the top.
Serve with sugar so people can sweeten to taste.
Jessica Faust
And I raise my glass to you, actually a Hazelnut Breakfast Blend K-cup, and thank you for another year of peeks inside an industry of imagination and information. Because you are so busy it is easy to assume that you don’t have time for us hard working and dedicated little guys with our big dreams. ..bunk.
To all of your readers I’d like to say that my correspondence with you has always been enlightening, professional and quick. Thanks… happy holidays, happy last minute shopping and may everyone’s words be the ‘write’ ones.
Have a wonderful Christmas, Jessica!
Thanks for keeping the blog going yet another year. I've learned a lot from you. I hope for more of the same success for you next year!
Have a great Christmas and New Year! *Raising a glass of the mulled wine I wish I had in my hand right now* 🙂
Thanks for the recipe, and thank you for providing a very enjoyable-to-read blog throughout the year. I've found that keeping to a daily schedule is a very, very hard thing, and I appreciate your attention to it.
That said–this whiskey drinker didn't know there was such a thing as a "good" vodka. 🙂
Merry Christmas. Enjoy your last-minute shopping.
Jessoca, I loved this blog and thank you for always being a positive and supportive energy.
From my Italian house to yours … cento di questi giorni … may you live one hundred years …
Have a joyous and peaceful Holiday.
I am so sorry … just what an agent/editor needs … a typo …
Of course you are Jessica 🙂
For an alcohol free alternative – get a bottle of Glögg from the nearest IKEA food store.
Have a wonderful Christmas, Jessica. And hope your 2012 is as successful as this year appears to have been!
Mmm, I just got introduced to Glogg a few days ago! Thanks for the recipe.
And apparently in Iceland it's pronounced "gloogy"? How do you say it?
Thanks for that recipe! My half-Swedish family is coming over on Friday night, and I think I'm going to try it out on them.
Happiest of holidays to you and your wonderful agents (one of which, I'm still waiting to hear back from). Thanks for the recipe. I'm drinking a hot chocolate and Peppermint Schnapps to you and your always wonderful agency. 😉
Merry Christmas, Jessica! 🙂
Bookmas was so much fun; thanks for including me! Happy Holidays – cheers!
Congrats for a fabulous year BookEnds. Cheers to 2012! I look forward to seeing what your agency and blog does in the coming year.
God Jul, Jessica! (And thanks for the glogg post–I miss it from when I spent my junior year abroad in Sverige!)
-Susan
Thanks for another wonderful year of advice, guidance, and fun. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and huge success in 2012.