Author: Stew Ross

Posted on

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in

Pachino
A mold of Al Pacino’s face from the Godfather III. Photo (2013). Pollack man34. Creative Commons. Wikimedia Commons.

Remember when Michael Corleone uttered those words in Godfather III?

Aren’t there times when you feel the same way? Every year when you look back and think, “Next year can’t get any crazier than the one I just went through” and then it does—they pull you back in.

Never in my wildest dreams did I know what I was getting into when I began writing the non-fiction book proposal in April 2012 for my walking tour book on the French Revolution. Now here we are, the first two books (Where Did They Put the Guillotine? —Volumes One and Two) have been published in 2014. The third book, Where Did They Burn the Last Grandmaster of the Knights Templar? —A Walking Tour of Medieval Paris, will be published in March 2015 while the fourth book, Where Did They Put the Gestapo Headquarters? will be published in December 2015.

What I really didn’t comprehend at the time was the complexity of taking on all of the publishing components. It has been quite a journey and one that I’m glad I took. I’m not done yet. Now that we have product, we’re entering into the fourth and fifth component of publishing: the distribution and marketing/public relations. Like the music industry, the distribution component is the one that the traditional publishing industry is having a hard time getting its arms around.

Everything’s a process…

Read More Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in

Posted on

Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend

A scene from the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
A scene from the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

I had a hard time deciding on a title for this blog. It could have been several titles and I still would have gotten your attention.

I love Madonna. I love Marilyn Monroe. They were the “IT” girls for their respective generation. In 1953, Marilyn starred in a movie called, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She sang the song, Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Thirty-one years later, Madonna produced and starred in the video entitled, “Material Girl.” Both dance scenes are eerily alike—check them out below. However, approximately 173 years earlier, the French “IT” girl was Marie Antoinette.

The “Other” Woman.

King Louis XV ordered a diamond necklace to be made for his “favorite”—Madame du Barry. It was quite expensive and took many years to find the right diamonds. During this time, Louis died and Madame du Barry was banished from the court (as was the custom with the king’s mistresses).

The Parisian jewelers funded the creation of the necklace out of pocket and so they were anxious to sell the necklace to Louis’s successor, King Louis XVI. There was only one problem. Marie Antoinette hated Madame du Barry and when Louis XVI presented the necklace to his wife, she turned him down. Now, the jewelers were in a fix. Without the sale of the necklace, they would go out of business. Read More Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend