The clip above features a panel discussion with agents and editors about what motivates them and what they look for in books and authors. It’s an interesting discussion, the kind you hope to hear at any conference.
And it reminded me of a book I’ve had for a while, Writing the Breakout Novel: Insider Advice for [...]
Newspaper stand alone book sections are a vanishing species, but news aggregator The Daily Beast just made my week by introducing Book Beast, featuring in-depth coverage of books and authors.
Today, you can see John Patrick Shanley’s Book Bag column, a selection of New & Newly Relevant books, and articles on authors ranging from Linda Fairstein [...]
Writer Ben Percy says he has sometimes sent out a story more than 40 times before it has been accepted. He told me that every time he gets a rejection on a story, he sends it to five more magazines, and claims this is a major factor in his success.
For those of you who aren’t [...]
Last month, I mourned the passing of an era when Milwaukee’s 82-year-old independent bookseller, Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, announced it would close its doors for the last time on March 31. My fond memories of the store range from discovering literary journals on its newsstand to taking my kids for midnight parties to celebrate a [...]
The New York Times reports on the growing strength in self-publishing compared to the difficulties in the traditional publishing industry.
The NYT also reports on the demise of Washington Post’s Book World, leaving only two stand-alone weekly book review sections, published by NYT and the San Francisco Chronicle. Frances Dinkelspiel, blogging at Ghost Word, has some [...]