“Peer review is failing to ensure the quality of published research, and new research fails to get into the hands of those who need it, ending up behind journal paywalls after a review process that can take more than year.”
Category: words
The Most Unlikeable Hero in Children’s Literature
Laura Miller: “So she’s kind of creepy and something of a hypocrite. She may be the most unlikable hero in any children’s book, yet children, by the millions, insist on liking her. What’s [her] appeal?” (Miller includes in passing quite a pithy little takedown of Jonathan Franzen.)
Here’s the Internet’s Most Internet Sentence
Matthew J.X. Malady did the research so we don’t have to. (Spoiler: One of the runners-up was “Like us on Facebook.”)
What, Exactly, Is The Authority On “Proper” English?
“It doesn’t mean that it is part of Standard English or any other recognised dialect. Still, if George W Bush can misunderestimate some things and Sarah Palin can refudiate others, then, like, whatever.”
“Fifty Shades” Passes 100 Million Books Sold
“Vintage Books announced Wednesday that sales for E L James’ sexually explicit trilogy have reached 100 million copies and have spent 100 weeks on The New York Times’ paperback best-seller list.”
National Book Awards Data: In 60 Years Women Writers Have Achieved Gender Parity
“In the 1950s, the finalists and winners of National Book Awards were more than 80 percent male. But notice how that percentage has steadily fallen until we reach the current decade – then women pulled slightly ahead.”
Amtrak’s Writers-in-Residence Idea: What Would DFW Do?
Vauhini Vara looks to David Foster Wallace’s great cruise ship essay, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again”.
Booksellers in France Get Naked to Protest Attempted Censorship of ‘Everybody Get Naked!’
“A group of French booksellers and publishers took off their clothes Wednesday to protest conservative politician Jean-François Copé’s call to censor a children’s book from 2011 called Everybody Get Naked! (Tous à poil!).”
Here Is This Year’s Gender Count For Literary Publications
“Turnarounds like the Paris Review’s make it clear that with the right editorial effort, putting more sustainable gender practices into action isn’t too difficult for these magazines at the top of the major market heap.”
Fan Fiction Is Huge. So How Do Publishers Get In?
“Literary publishing’s uneasy relationship with fan fiction has been complicated by the realization that fandom is a huge potential market—one stocked with both prolific authors and enthusiastic readers. But tapping that market is a dilemma few publishers seem quite prepared to engage.”