Category: publishing

“On Friday, while CNN was making constant reference to the Tsarnaev brothers’ attempt ‘to go out in a blaze of glory,’ a micro-meme lit up social media: didn’t Leo Tolstoy have a novel about Chechnyan rebels, called Hadji Murad?” He did, and there are more (and sadder) parallels than one might think.

“Looking through PW’s archives at the top 25 bestselling books of both 1992 and 1982 in fiction and nonfiction (100 titles total), we found 56 books that had Kindle e-book editions. Between fiction and nonfiction, the former fared much better: 39 of the 50 fiction titles had e-book editions, compared to 17 of the 50 nonfiction titles.”

“Collaborative fiction brought to mind Victorian jeux d’esprit, 1970s experiments, wiki novels and fan fiction by gamers. Flash fiction, or micro-fiction, while nice in theory, tends to be a little unsatisfying. Somehow though, combining the two works surprisingly well.”

“Britain has a ‘hideous’ attitude to success, she told the press, with people being ‘quite vitriolic in some cases. I think it’s disgusting, quite frankly. “You’ve already had too much, you can’t have any more. Go away and die now.”‘”

“Over the past decade, more and more writers have begun to set their novels and short stories in worlds, not unlike our own, where the Earth’s systems are noticeably off-kilter. The genre has come to be called climate fiction — ‘cli-fi,’ for short.”

“Today, perhaps for the first time in history, our scientists’ predictions have outpaced the creative powers of our novelists. Even as a form, the dystopian novel seems quaint — our worst fears are already upon us.”

“Some critics have raised concerns about the proposed sale of the Brooklyn Heights Library, saying it resembles the closing of the Donnell Library in 2008. Others are upset about a $300 million plan by the New York Public Library to sell off the Mid-Manhattan branch as well as the Science, Industry and Business Library as part of an effort to finance the renovation and reconfiguration of the library’s main branch on Fifth Avenue.”

“Turkey’s top literary star at the [London Book] Fair is not, as you might expect, the Nobel Prize-winner of Orhan Pamuk – who is notably absent – but Elif Shafak. Shafak … is, along with Pamuk, perhaps the only other Turkish author to truly command a broad English-speaking readership. Yet, considering Turkey’s highly professional publishing industry and it’s [sic] geographic position at one of the flash points of world affairs, it’s time for this to change.”

“The Bay Psalm Book, which was printed in Massachusetts in 1640, is one of 11 remaining copies of a translated version of the Book of Psalms. The book has not appeared at auction since 1947, when it sold for a record breaking $151,000 (£98,990).”

Here’s a scene from a recent literary award ceremony: “The videos featured many extreme close-ups, with no effort to conceal writerly pallor, blemishes or facial tics. … The real writers standing onstage looked very small in comparison. Some shifted from side to side, eyes downcast; others trembled. After each prize was announced, models emerged to give trophies to the winners and iPads to the less fortunate. No one looked very happy about the iPad.”