E. Mark Windle 30 August 2023. Almost twenty years ago, a book revolution was on the horizon. The advent of Sony e-reading devices in 2006 and the more commercially impactful Amazon Kindle the following year provided a new option for accessing literature. For the consumer, the convenience of having your new or favourite reads deliveredContinue reading “Physical to Digital to Dust. The Future of Books in Our Hands”
Author Archives: E. Mark Windle
The Signs.
E. Mark Windle 26 August 2023. While undertaking some book research a few years ago on Nashville’s soul music scene, I was drawn to a very competent cover of Barbara Lewis’ iconic 1963 recording “Hello Stranger”. The version in question was by Alpha Zoe (Hall), an African American teenager who had just been plucked fromContinue reading “The Signs.”
Redressing the History Books: The Soul of Music City.
By E. Mark Windle, 20 August 2023. Regarding what’s been pretty much an obsession with writing about southern soul music since I started out over ten years ago, House of Broken Hearts: The Soul of 1960s Nashville was undertaken in an attempt to resolve one nagging omission. A fair chunk of my travels has beenContinue reading “Redressing the History Books: The Soul of Music City.”
Physical to Digital to Dust. The Future of Books in Our Hands
E. Mark Windle 8 August 2023 Almost twenty years ago, a book revolution was on the horizon. The advent of Sony e-reading devices in 2006 and the more commercially impactful Amazon Kindle the following year provided a new option for accessing literature. For the consumer, the convenience of having your new or favourite reads deliveredContinue reading “Physical to Digital to Dust. The Future of Books in Our Hands”
Smoke and Mirrors? Ghostwriters, Misunderstood.
E. Mark Windle 18 July 2023 They’ve been around for thousands of years, quite literally. Scribes were used without accreditation to capture oral histories and folklore from their communities and reproduce them in the written form, to copy and embellish existing religious texts, or to take on tasks of ancient senate office. Over subsequent centuries,Continue reading “Smoke and Mirrors? Ghostwriters, Misunderstood.”
Good Fit or Conflict? Client-Ghostwriter Matching in Biography Writing, and When the Relationship Goes Wrong
E. Mark Windle 4 May 2023. It goes without saying that compatibility between ghostwriter and client is a key factor in facilitating the production of a high quality biography. The writer’s remit is to relate a life story that is authentic, believable, and engaging, and reflective of a world according to their client’s perspective. InContinue reading “Good Fit or Conflict? Client-Ghostwriter Matching in Biography Writing, and When the Relationship Goes Wrong”
Just Enough to Hurt Me: The Astors Story
E. Mark Windle 17 April 2023. This week marks the passing of singer Curtis Johnson, founding member of Memphis soul group The Astors. They may be one of Stax’s less instantly recognisable acts (at least to a mainstream audience), but their work is very familiar to, and respected by, the UK and European rare soulContinue reading “Just Enough to Hurt Me: The Astors Story”
The Yorkshire Soul Connection: an Interview with Garry Cape
E. Mark Windle April 2023. When I asked reissue / retrospective soul label owner Garry Cape about the motivating factors for his 2020 return to the soul market with the reactivation of his Hit and Run label series, issues of mortality seemed to be at the top of the list: “I guess it had somethingContinue reading “The Yorkshire Soul Connection: an Interview with Garry Cape”
Life Stories, the Ghostwriter, and Authenticity: Finding Voice and Personality
Writers are obsessed with capturing voice. Whether it’s their own for a self-penned memoir, an imaginary character in fiction writing, or for brand representation in commercial copy, the goal is to tell a story that is believable, relatable, representative of the subject and always deserving of the reader’s attention.
Moral Code, or F**k it? Hancock, the Lockdown Files and the Art of Breaching Non-Disclosure Agreements
E. Mark Windle 4 March 2023 Right, let’s get this straight. The creation and implementation of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is to guard privileged trade or personal information. As such, it is one way of interpreting the UK’s Data Protection Act, which gives individuals and organisations the right to privacy, and control over how divulgedContinue reading “Moral Code, or F**k it? Hancock, the Lockdown Files and the Art of Breaching Non-Disclosure Agreements”