“The first casualty in the Penguin/Random House merger could be the Penguin Classics and Modern Classics series, and that would be a tragedy.”
Category: publishing
That Powerful (And Power-Deprived) New York Magazine Cover
“An improvised newsroom was soon up and running, with 32 editors, photo editors, designers, and production specialists squeezed around a conference-room table, down the length of which snaked a tangle of power strips, extension cords, and chargers.”
So Out – “Catcher In The Rye”
“The problem is that Catcher in the Rye is no longer a book for cool high school students. Catcher in the Rye is a book for cool high school teachers.”
How To Write A Book In A Month (Many Do!)
“It’s hard to explain the program – and even tougher to describe why anyone would sign up to create 1,667 words a day (that’s the pace you need to maintain to finish on time) – and yet it’s become phenomenally popular, with an estimated 300,000 writers from around the world participating this year.”
How Bookstores Fared In The SuperStorm
“Floor of the bookstore is soaking wet. Books are ok. Must have been 3 to 5 inches in store with the high tide. Not sure of the next step.”
Is The Book Of Mormon Cribbed From The Pilgrim’s Progress?
“The parallel narratives are ubiquitous and systemic, appearing with sustained consistency throughout the entire narrative of the Book of Mormon. Indeed, reading the Book of Mormon is tantamount to reading John Bunyan’s many works condensed into a single volume.”
Canadian Publishing Consolidation? Why Worry?
“None of this means we are writing less, or less well, or that there is less fascinating literature to choose from.”
‘Steal My Book!’ Why I’m Abetting A Rogue Translation Of My Novel
Peter Mountford: “I wouldn’t have known about my Russian pirate translator had I not set a Google Alert for the title of my debut novel when it was published … But in March, the alerts began pointing me to a message board on WordReference.com. There, a user with the handle AlexanderIII, who gave his location as Moscow, was regularly seeking help understanding my unusual word choices.”
New Piece Added to Puzzle of Truman Capote’s Answered Prayers
“A small piece of Truman Capote’s famously unfinished novel Answered Prayers has come to light. The six-page story, ‘Yachts and Things,’ found among Capote’s papers in the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library, is published in the December issue of Vanity Fair.”
Theory Of Novel (Generation Past?)
“This rather boring, seemingly “advanced” idea – that Theory would alter the novel’s very DNA, so that it would no longer be possible to write fiction the same old way – may hold good for writers working in a recognizably high-postmodern fashion. But now comes a wave of fiction that tells a more complicated, less academically consecrated story.”