“As far as I’m concerned, the book business deserves to die if for no other reason than that its business model is something out of the 1930s: send a bunch of loser Willy Lomans out as “reps,” people who don’t read and don’t understand the books they sell, and have them place the books on consignment, just as if they were old chairs that you were trying to unload at the local consignment store.”
Category: publishing
Big Publishers Agree To Give Authors Sales Data
“Three major publishers said on Wednesday that they would allow their authors to access book sales data directly online, a move that appeared to challenge Amazon and its continued efforts to woo authors.”
Among The Intellectuals On A Retreat At Tolstoy’s Estate
“And so, having known my two fellows less than the three minutes it takes to gather outside our barracks, we get straight down to it: Tolstoy versus Dostoyevsky – an analysis of the relative strengths and weaknesses of our two beloved giants with particular reference to a suspected solipsism on the part of Tolstoy’s characters.”
The Booker Prize Still Matters
“Say what you like about this prize – and most of the commentariat have done that pretty freely this year – Booker has a record of picking winners … And that brings up another thing: compared with all the other great literary prizes, even the Orange, the Booker is impressively global. This is why its choice matters, why so many readers around the world are exercised by it.”
Moby-Dick – An American Bible?
Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the new book Why Read Moby-Dick?, argues that Melville’s novel, though not an easy read, is “as close to being our American Bible as we have.” This is not just because “the level of the language is like no other,” but also that the book contains the “genetic code” for much of the American mindset.
Why Chuck Palahniuk Writes About Really Gross Stuff
“I always work to the point where I know I’m going to regret what I’ve done on the page. … I operate with a theory that if I can conceive of a thing, I should put it on the page, to the point where I’ve begun to challenge myself and I begin to worry about how my friends will receive it. Because unless I go too far, I don’t feel like I’ve gone far enough.”
How Amazon Book Publishing Is Filling A Void (Let’s Embrace It!)
“If traditional book publishing is failing to provide services that once were standard, someone will inevitably step in to fill the vacuum. There are three major steps in publishing and selling a book, and in each of them Amazon is offering a service that has been neglected by the mainstream.”
Booker List Nominees Are Popular – But Does This Mean Prize Has “Sold Out”?
“While this year’s shortlist has been the best-selling in Booker history, some in the literary world have accused the prize of becoming too populist.”
Author Mistakenly Announced As Book Award Finalist Asked To Withdraw
“An author mistakenly nominated for the National Book Awards in the US but who was allowed to stay on the shortlist has now been asked to withdraw.”
The Secret To Writing Decent Fiction
“It’s a daunting prospect to sit down with the intention of writing a masterpiece. If it has any chance of being realised that ambition is best broken down into achievable increments, such as I will sit here for two hours, or 500 words or whatever”