Publishing and Sundry

Shel Silverstein’s 80th birthday was last Saturday, and since my admiration (okay, uh, general fannishness) is hardly a secret in these quarters, it seemed like as good a time as any to write …

Sometime soon, Julie Bosman will move beats and report on the publishing industry for the New York Times, replacing Motoko Rich (who will now report on the economy.) Bosman’s a familiar face, …

Now I can confess: when I first heard the news that J.D. Salinger died, I was instant-messaging with my editor at DailyFinance and said something to the effect of “not to sound crass, but his …

When THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, the final book in Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy, was published in the UK in October, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy almost …

I suspect reading Motoko Rich’s story on “the Glenn Beck effect” on thriller writers might have caused a trace of discomfort among many writers and publishing industry types. …

When I left GalleyCat a couple of years ago the prospect of covering the publishing industry on a daily basis had become something of a grind. There were other projects to pursue – some …

Can you stop a speeding juggernaut? When it comes to THE LOST SYMBOL, I’m sure many would like to try, but I’m not one of them, as my review of the book in the Barnes & Noble Review …

When a writer signs a deal to publish more than, say, four books, it usually gets some attention in the press. But James Patterson’s new deal, which keeps him with longtime publisher Little, …

Right now is not the time for authors to settle for traditional ways of book promotion, i.e. hoping and praying that their newest book on offer will be noticed and magically sell copies. Publishers …

After receiving a number of requests to make the video of my interview with James Ellroy and Colin Harrison at Book Expo America readily available to the public, the kind folks at …

A few weeks ago I received an unusual package in the mail: a small dictaphone containing a cassette tape of a conversation purporting to be between a young woman and her therapist. It was part of a …

Cara Black has always read from one of her Aimee Leduc novels at Stacey’s Bookstore in downtown San Francisco. But yesterday’s lunchtime reading from MURDER IN THE LATIN QUARTER not only …

Earlier today I was a guest on New Hampshire Public Radio’s lunchtime program Word of Mouth, talking with host Virginia Prescott on the current tumultuous state of the publishing industry. You …

It’s just about common knowledge that getting on the New York Times bestseller list requires any number of variables from healthy pre-orders, selling in great quantities at certain bookstores …

I’m not sure if it’s ironic or fitting that Carolyn Kellogg, who is not attending the O’Reilly Tools of Change in Manhattan because she is based in Los Angeles, might have the best …

By now the news has pretty well made the rounds, but the morning after it’s still damn sad that Sara Nelson, editor in chief of Publishers Weekly since 2005, was laid off yesterday, the very day …

As Quercus, the most recent UK publisher to get in on the ground with genre fiction, faces cutbacks and shortfalls, their former editorial director moves to Atlantic Books to start up a brand-new …

Andrew Wheeler has the clearest summary of what some call Black Wednesday (I prefer Bloodbath Wednesday myself), which now encompasses more layoffs at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Simon & Schuster …

I am about to pick my jaw up from the floor, but here’s the summary of a press release Random House CEO Markus Dohle just sent out:

• The Random House Publishing Group, under the leadership of …

_(This is the sixth and last part in a multi-part series examining publisher

imprint brands in an informal, opinionated manner. Part I, focusing on

Macmillan, is here, and Part II, focusing on Simon …

_(This is the fifth in a multi-part series examining publisher

imprint brands in an informal, opinionated manner. Part I, focusing on

Macmillan, is here, and Part II, focusing on Simon & …

_(This is the fourth in a multi-part series examining publisher

imprint brands in an informal, opinionated manner. Part I, focusing on

Macmillan, is here, and Part Ii, focusing on Simon & …

_(This is the third in a multi-part series examining publisher

imprint brands in an informal, opinionated manner. Part I, focusing on

Macmillan, is here, and Part Ii, focusing on Simon & …

(This is the second in a multi-part series examining publisher imprint brands in an informal, opinionated manner. Part I, focusing on Macmillan, is here; others will follow.)

It’s been about a …

It is not news that the publishing industry is in flux and in dire need of some new directions and definitions. It is not news that there will be more changes, more angst, more doom, more gloom, and …

Read on at Vulture to find out.

They called it Black Monday for a reason. 150 people on the editorial side of the Los Angeles Times, taking a buyout or waiting for the axe to fall. Today some of the names of those leaving have …

The name Bennett Cerf conjures up a lot of different things. There’s the guy who edited book after book of jokes, puns and other funnies, and by virtue of growing up with those books, …

I can imagine the mood at Random House this morning is akin to an entire coop of non-kosher chickens running around with their heads cut off now that CEO Peter Olson’s departure has been …

One of these years I do hope I can swing a trip over to London in time for the Book Fair, which kicked off earlier today. Then again, considering how crap the US Dollar is against the Pound, this may …

Publishers Marketplace reports that Janet Silver, Houghton Mifflin’s former publisher, will join  Nan A. Talese/Doubleday as editor at large. As per Doubleday Broadway president Steve …

I have my issues with Portfolio, Conde Nast’s business mag, for all the usual reasons, mostly wondering if it will actually survive beyond a year. But then it publishes pieces like Lloyd …

The saga of PFD has rightfully dominated UK publishing trade press, what with a new managing director, a failed buyout, mass agent exodus lamely disguised as firings, and a new agency, United Agents, …

November 7: HarperCollins reports on a “lousy quarter”, as last year’s sales fell 6% and earnings dropped 21% in the first quarter, and in the

period ended September 30 this year …

At a book party last night, I was talking to an agent about this very subject and she brought up an interesting point: that unlike literary agencies, who at least generate considerable revenue stream …

Having spent the past week in Canada, I’m all the more aware of how the Canadian dollar has strengthened to the point where it’s now just about on par with the American dollar – but …

Last Sunday, the Denver Post’s Robin Vidimos looked at the time-honored practice of blurbs – and found that they have surprising effectiveness:

Cathy Langer, lead buyer for the …

For such a major change to the way paperback bestsellers are computed by the New York Times, the chatter’s been fairly quiet thus far. I first heard about it when I read Ed Gorman’s blog …

    On my recent trip to the UK for the Harrogate/Let’s Drink Heavily Festival I read Lemons Never Lie, a Hard Case Crime reprint by Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark.  …

A selection of frivolous news links. Because it’s too hot to think of anything serious.

Parents beware! Our preteens might be reading about S-E-X. Or shopping, which may be worse, seeing as …

I’m still stuck in the black hole of looming deadlines, but some things are too crank-inducing to pass up, like Malcolm Gladwell’s recent post on the whole Kaavya Viswanathan thing (which …

I did promise I would stop using a particular term to describe these guys’ penchant for making deals with each other, if only because hey, if it works, why not continue?

The Dead Room author …

I have more to say about this news over at Galleycat, but the announcement that Random House will be launching a new line of trade paperbacks specifically for crime fiction makes me happy. Though the …

Normally I do revolving door stuff at Galleycat but since this is specifically geared to the mystery world, it belongs here.

In any case, word comes through the transom that Weber will be leaving her …

Though for most authors, going to the London Book Fair is actively discouraged (for good reason, because everybody is running around selling foreign rights or getting into heated debates about the …

I’ve been posting a lot more on this over at Galleycat but — partly for my own record-keeping, also because I know it impacts a number of people who read this blog — it seemed like a …

Research, appointments and various other unimportant things will keep me away for much of today. But it’s probably a good time to remind one and all that I’m still holding the fort (and …

The Bookseller reports on a new Dutch thriller that, frankly, I’ll have to read now:

Bitter Lemon Press has bought world English rights in De eetclub (The Dining Club) by Dutch crime writer …

Sadly, Dick Donahue’s forecast piece and Rosemary Herbert’s bookseller spotlight on the mystery world for PW are behind subscription firewalls, but I’ll do my best to offer up some …

Well, not exactly a makeover, but they are changing things around a bit, according to a report by the Bookseller:

Headline has appointed a specialist crime and thriller editor for the

first time as …

So I start reading this article in the Rocky Mountain Collegian about this aspiring writer. And it sounds interesting enough: young guy, trying to improve his craft, writes a novel, blah blah blah. …

So remember earlier this year there was this tie-in book called THE KILLING CLUB, which Michael Malone wrote in the voice of a character from the ABC soap ONE LIFE TO LIVE? It did so well — NYT …

If you are a child of a certain age (and, I guess, from a certain continent) you grew up reading ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN novels and having your mind blown to smithereens by how stoopid a villain Bugs Meany …

The Southeastern Booksellers’ Association — which is changing its name — reports that booksellers are vastly underwhelmed by the fall season’s offerings:

On the trade show …

One of my favorite independent mystery-dominated small presses, Bleak House Books, has been bought out by Big Earth Publishing, as reported last night by Publishers Weekly:

Big Earth Publishing has …

The problem with not living in Canada anymore is that I’m hopelessly out of the loop on what’s happening in my country — CBC lockouts? Government scandals? Igloos? It’s all a …

courtesy of Laurie King, talking about book promotion:

The funny thing is, nobody really knows what works when it comes to selling a book. Because everything publicity-wise is done …

A couple of bigtime publisher changes that will affect the mystery world:

First, as I blogged over at Galleycat last week, John Cunningham, once the Publisher of St.Martin’s Minotaur, has moved …

Recently I was having a conversation with my brother about the current dark times — an understatement, to be sure. And somehow, the year 1973 kept popping up over and over. The mood of the …

It’s too bad this guy’s still in transit because lord knows he (along with this guy) will get a huge kick out of this news:

Hodder & Stoughton is delighted to announce the …

The New York Sun (amazingly, making this article available free to non-subscribers) profiled HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman yesterday, and their hook is that she “invented the author …

At the Edinburgh Book Festival, a new prize is trying to rejuvenate interest in the short story — and they hope it will attain the prestige of the Booker Prize:

The short story, once the stock …

It all started after browsing through Amazon UK, which is notorious for putting up listings almost 2 years in advance (for example, see this for Steve Hamilton’s forthcoming standalone — …

In just a few short years, Selina Walker has pretty well established herself as one of the top editors of crime fiction in Britain. Now Transworld has promoted her and in their minds, made this …

I was just about to post about the Washington Post’s apology for Marianne Wiggins’ review of John Irving’s new novel on my own, but David Montgomery beat me to it. In a nutshell: …

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that yesterday’s post provoked lots of chatter, and that I’m not exactly done with the topic.

The expectation, I believe, is that when a mystery …

And because writers are an obsessive lot — phoning Ingram, checking Amazon, comparing their recent advances to others, wondering what the hell royalty statements really mean — I thought …

It seems that anonymous agent blogs are the new new thing — there’s Brooklyn-based Miss Snark, and now Agent 007 has come along to dish the dirt about what it’s like to be an …

Now this is a marketing strategy to embrace. Always on the lookout for innovative ways to raise awareness for books, M.J. Rose — marketing doyenne, blogger, and primarily the author of books …

In short order I’ve become  a big fan of the stylings of Miss Snark, a literary agent with lots to say. Currently on her mind is why the vast majority of non-fiction books aren’t …

Never mind that Steve Paulson’s profile for the Independent on Sunday bears more than a passing resemblance to one from a few years ago in a major US-based magazine, but it does offer the …

On the one hand, you have to hand it to James Patterson. He wants to give back to the reading community by giving money to those who find “original and effective ways to spread the excitement of …

Poor Norman Mailer. He isn’t writing anything much of note anymore so he has to resort to incoherent blogging or bashing reviewers, as Page Six reveals:

NORMAN Mailer has finally gone …

Paul Guyot got things started by talking about how cool it is to share ideas with writer friends, but now the discussion has turned a little thorny, thanks to a question posed by his friend Alex …

Doug Johnstone hates blurbs and he’s happy to tell anyone in the near vicinity just how much:

This irritation comes in two incarnations. Firstly there is the

uncredited puff by someone in the …

Mark Bazer is mad as hell and he can’t take it anymore. He’s decided to go with the open letter option, bringing his gripes to the masses. Why? Because he wants a paperback copy of THE DA …

Good news first… Over at Deadly Pleasures news that the Maccavity Nominations have been released:

Best  Novel

The Killing of the Tinkers, by Ken Bruen  (St.  Martin’s …

So I’ve caught a really strong whiff of the buzz that Doubleday, especially editor Jason Kaufman, is trying to drum up for its Next Big Thing. THE TRAVELER, the “debut thriller” by …

My thoughts about most of the mystery/suspense panels appear over at BEA Lunch. I would have liked to get to some of the author signings but alas, I seemed to have been chained in that tiny little …

By design, today was more of a “take it easy” day. No rushing from panel to panel, party to party. A bit more down time. And a lot of walking. Lots and lots of it.

But then, this is …

Jesus, what an insane day. And the book room opens tomorrow so Javits, which is already too big and crowded, will only get worse.

Anyway, in a nutshell, because others did a better job of …

If I’d been better prepared I would have done something similar to my “Girl’s Guide to Edgar Week” for BEA but instead, some bullet points:

• Pre-show articles courtesy of the …

So my first instinct upon seeing this linked on Publishers Lunch was to immediately rack my brain for ideas in order to enter ASAP. Because every Manhattan-bound girl could use an extra 20 grand. But …

It’s all Jaime’s fault; an end-of-weekend conversation somehow devolved into one of our all-time favorite subjects: the merits of Canadian-born YA writer Gordon Korman’s early work. …

Tod Goldberg’s latest manuscript is out to editors and he’s finding new ways to drive himself crazy over the process:

Today, my agent sent me a list of editors who currently have my new …

Crime Spree editor Jon Jordan writes about what he likes and doesn’t like about Advance Readers Copies — commonly known as ARCs:

Things that help:

Information on the author; this can …

So first: yes, I sat down last week and read through THE WASHINGTONIENNE. Well, I started out with good intentions but eventually I did have to resort to skimming, bouncing around between pages and …

Recently I received what might be the most speechless-inducing email I’ve ever received:

Hello Sarah.

 

I found your blog online.  I have a manuscript that fits into the …

Though Book Expo America is still over two weeks away, I can’t be the only one to grapple with the most important question of all: what do I wear?

Luckily, PW’s BEA Roundup from earlier …

So say you’re a midlist writer. Your previous book was published with a small press, garnered nice notices, but never made it to paperback. A few years later you write a bigger novel, larger in …

So yesterday was a banner day for one simple reason: my very first page proofs. There’s something incredibly exciting about looking over something you wrote as it’s meant to be seen in …

A long long time ago, when the blogosphere was young, I used to spend too much of my time reading the wit and wisdom of a young investment banker named D-Nasty. And every time I would, a little voice …

And of course, my first thought was this: what will it mean for the thumbnails?

The resignation was first reported by LA Observed, who then say Wasserman’s last day as LATBR editor-in-chief is …

Over at Book Angst 101, Mad Max Perkins has posted yet another cautionary tale about how even when things seems very right at first, they can go south real fast. Meet “Keith,” a young …

MacMillan has long been one of the UK’s big publishers; from a crime fiction standpoint, they used to have a healthy imprint until cutbacks and editors jumping ship decimated things …

How else to explain this oddity in today’s Grey Lady?

If Dan Brown needs any help with

the sequel to his mega-best-selling

“Da Vinci Code,” the would-be assassin

of Pope John …

Since 1969, Irish artisans — writers, musicians, and the like — have enjoyed various tax exemptions. The problem is that over the years, various superstars like U2 and “instant …

PW Daily reports that Pope John Paul II’s passing has inspired a frenzy of reader and publisher interest:

Perhaps the most unusual project has longtime pope-watcher Greg Tobin writing an …

One of my major goals this year is to meet La Weinman in real life. While we were both at Bouchercon in Toronto, we never crossed paths (synchronicity: we did independently draft our respective …

Publishers Weekly reports that New York is Book Country, the annual festival held in the city during the fall, may be no more:

In news that’s unlikely to shock insiders but will probably come …

Not only has THE DA VINCI CODE spawned knockoffs, rebuttals and much envy, now the parodies are coming out of the woodwork:

When Dan Brown’s labyrinthian thriller “The Da Vinci Code” burst …

So like the entire world, I bet, I read this NYT profile of Dan Brown and what the success of THE DA VINCI CODE is doing to his life. But this really struck me:

There are hints that the …

(Today is all about the London Book Fair, which began yesterday and ends tomorrow. Scroll down for earlier posts, and check back for more LBF-related news throughout the day.)

I said in my previous …

Yesterday’s Publisher’s Lunch Deluxe dispatch includes a very intriguing item:

In a typical fair encounter, [Michael Cader] shared a cab at the end of the day with team from …

Tod Goldberg seems to have a habit of running into Very Strange People. Or at least, blogging about them. After one recent incident (which is hilarious), he asks a very telling question:

I’ve …

From an October 31, 1997 article by “Morgan Cast” for Salon:

The concept of a salary pie chart is rendered absurd by the disparities in salaries paid those who work different jobs …

OK, likening book tours to war zones is only partially accurate, but in any case, Carole Goldberg at the Hartford Courant turns the floor to several authors who tell all sorts of interesting stories. …

The more I blog, the more I realize that the publishing biz is rife for complaints like almost no one else. But as Agate publisher Doug Seibold points out in this new article for The Book Standard, …

About this time last year I wrote a long screed expressing my undying love for trade paperback originals, and hoped that there would be more of them. I won’t repeat myself again, since my views …

Are you a fan of Iain Banks? Were you hoping he’d come to the US to tour for his latest SF work THE ALGEBRAIST? Well, your hopes will be dashed because Banks can’t leave the country, as …

As only one of my all-time favorite comedians ever is writing a memoir:

Could a book be called deadpan or button-down? It could, if Bob Newhart’s writing it.

The …

As promised last week, the author survey on advances in the crime fiction world — be they of first novels or later novels — is now ready to go. The link will stay up on the right-hand …

If you check the bookstores over the course of this year, you might find there’s a glut of female-centric anthologies about pretty much every topic under the sun. Weren’t anthologies dead? …

This week there’s been a veritable font of information about what’s really happening in the publishing world. Much of it is not for the faint of heart, but it’s all incredibly …

So you walk into a bookshop and are immediately assaulted by thousands of books you can choose from. What’s a person to do? Thankfully, Benjamin Rainbird, writing for the satirical website Rum …

For a story that might make some people angry, others nod their heads in resignation, but also make people realize that yes indeed, good books will eventually find a home, read the New York …

So after Margo “Book Babe” Hammond interviewed Atwood and insinuated that maybe, just maybe, this whole “tour at a distance” remote arm might just be a bunch of hooey, the …

The brothers Goldberg have been covering the just-reported news that Steve Wasserman, book editor of the LA Times, may be leaving to explore other options. Lee isn’t all that sorry to see him go …

Jennifer Weiner recently pitched the New Yorker a piece for its Talk of the Town section. Sadly, they passed, saying someting about “how they recently did a story that had elements in common …

Not long ago, I contemplated writing an article about why major book awards — think the National Book Awards or Canada’s Giller Prize — really need to emulate more celebrity-esque …

Sheil Land Associates is one of the UK’s most prestigious literary agencies, but they’re taking a serious hit as key personnel are jumping ship.  The Bookseller reports that Luigi …

Keeping with today’s apparent crime & justice theme, Court TV analyst Jonna Spilbor writes a thought-provoking essay about why Amber Frey’s new book pisses her off — and the …

In an interview yesterday with Mediabistro’s David Hirschman, new PW editor-in-chief Sara Nelson dishes on the magazine’s new direction, online competition, and where PW fits into the …

To the fine folks at HarperCollins,

Please don’t take this as a personal criticism. After all, I have enjoyed many fine books you have published by many fine authors. Some of them I even count …

Mad Max Perkins (who seems to be off to a good start if you judge the attention some of his authors are getting) posts a thought-provoking treatise on reclaiming what’s become a dirty word in …

Karin Gillespie, who launched a new series of Southern-set novels last year with BET YOUR BOTTOM DOLLAR, has relaunched her blog as a promotion and marketing-focused one for writers. It’s off to …

After racing through the fifth Harry Potter book, Francisca Solar, a 21 year old journalism student from Chile, suffered withdrawal. So she wrote her own followup and posted the 33-chapter, 756 page …

This story’s been making the rounds of the ‘sphere (I picked it up from Mobylives) and I can’t help but shake my head at it:

An employee of book chain Waterstone’s has …

Mad Max Perkins points to Publishers Weekly’s piece on the rising stars of the publishing industry and riffs on it in humorous fashion. The chosen editors, movers and shakers are:

Tim Duggan, …

I stole the subject header from Richard Wheeler, a longtime author of Westerns and newbie blogger. Wheeler (who Lee Goldberg also linked to, which was how I saw it in the first place) postulates that …

With the surprising announcement that former NY Post and NY Observer publishing reporter Sara Nelson will take over as editor-in-chief for the trade rag, now various places–the New York Times …

One of the most delightful new additions to my blogroll is Bob Tinsley’s The Short of It, devoted to all things short fiction. Not only are his reviews of stories, available both in print or …

Question of the day: will this book sell like hotcakes or sink like a stone? And will the publisher’s marketing campaign manage to be anything other than any variation on a theme of crassness?

As Publishers Marketplace first reported late last night:

Harry Potter fan sites have been abuzz this month with speculation that an announcement about the release of the next book was …

It’s a slow news day, no question. Though I could start a protracted rant about “outsourcing” book edits or cackle in glee over the meltdown that is L’Affaire Kerik, or yet …

Memo to the New York Times: so you love bloggers and want to write about them every single day. But honestly, it’s been annoying for months, and articles like this (“Look ma, bloggers with …

As first reported by Publisher’s Lunch, UK uberagent Jonny Geller is crowing about a “DA VINCI CODE-style” manuscript written by an editor-turned-writer whose name is heretofore …

I can’t really be bothered to go through the whole history of Jessica “The Washingtonienne” Cutler for those not up to speed, but this article from last summer should provide enough …

Jervey Tervalon will likely be better known in a few months as the co-editor (along with Gary Phillips) of the anthology The Cocaine Chronicles. But he’s also published several novels, although …

Remember Caleb Carr? He wrote this book called THE ALIENIST about 10 years ago which sold like hotcakes and lots of people loved because it was a serial killer thriller set in 1890s New York with a …

A new initiative by UK broadcaster David Freeman called “Book Bites”  invites authors to read from their own work, as he believes that the best person to promote a book is the author. …

David Freeman recently launched an initiative called “Book Bites” where writers could make short video clips to talk about their books. Galley Cat spent the last few days browsing the site …

As reported at the Bookseller:

Orion fiction publisher Jane Wood is to relinquish her management role

to work across the group as editor-in-chief from 1st January. She will

be succeeded by Jon …

Even before the Sharp v. Patterson lawsuit made headlines, I’d
decided to do a little sleuthing into the people who give Patterson the help he
needs on his books. Even though it’s only been fairly …

As I said last week,  I’m getting the peanuts ready for opening arguments in the civil trial of Christina Sharp vs. her ex-lover James Patterson. Yesterday, the New York Daily News printed …

Mad Max Perkins, the pseudonymous blogger and editor at a major publishing house, recently conducted a survey of a handful of other editors about what to expect if you’re a midlist author. The …

Anthony Bonanza decided to try his hand at selling books one time, but unfortunately for him, he really wasn’t cut out for the job:

wo middle-aged ladies wandered in to a branch of a …

So some people watched Game 7 and started rejoicing, getting smashed, the usual things. Others saw dollar signs and book deals, as Publishers Marketplace reports:

Jennifer Joel & Sloan …

So Ana Marie Cox (that’s Mrs. Lehmann to some of you) has finally scored the big book deal:

“Wonkette” Ana Marie Cox’s novel DOG DAYS, a comic tale about what happens inside …

Biba Caggiano is a Sacramento-based chef who’s authored a number of cookbooks. The problem is, her agent, the now MIA Maureen Lasher, decided to negotiate six-figure advance deals for two more …

Although the issue of why authors would hire someone else to write their work is a complex and important issue, more fascinating to me is what prompts someone to ghostwrite in the first place. One who …

I’m not surprised to see that yesterday’s Michael Gruber post provoked the beginnings of an interesting discussion, with David Montgomery one of the ones in the fray. He’d posted …

One of the things I’ve often hoped would happen in this nascent litblogging world is that more industry types–editors, agents, publicists, and the like–would get blogging and add …

I’m a bit late on this but Cabana Boy Duane Swierczynski, who was an unfortunate last-minute no-show at Bouchercon, is riding some serious momentum of late. His first book, SECRET DEAD MEN, will …

It’s time to make a shameful admission: I am hopelessly, utterly addicted to Cecily Von Ziegesar’s GOSSIP GIRL series. I’m not totally sure how this happened, but when the first two …

Normally, when perusing Publisher’s Marketplace for the latest deals (and there are so many good ones posted lately that there’ll be more on that tomorrow), my thoughts range from …

The folks at Kirkus Reviews have decided, presumably in the interest of making more money at the expense of self-published and print-on-demand suckers, that they will start a new section called …

So John Scalzi and some buddies of his were sitting around the bar at Noreascon and devised more realistic terms for book deals as a complement to what Publisher’s Lunch uses:

$0 to $3,000: A …

The Glasgow Daily Record (that bastion of proper journalistic integrity) reports on a recent survey conducted which concludes that girls judge a man’s desirability by his reading habits: …

While we’re on the subject of CHECKPOINT, the book–or more specifically, Leon Wieseltier’s rant that led off the New York Times Book Review last weekend–led Terry Teachout to …

Colleen Lindsay, the publicity director for Del Rey, reveals some of the dos and don’ts about author publicity over at the Mupsimus, which covers the science fiction in a similar way to what I …

Demonstrating further evidence of the quickie nature of the true crime industry, this news just came over the transom:

Steven Long’s untitled true crime account of Lori Hacking’s murder, …

As mentioned before, Booksquare spent last weekend at the Romance Writers of America convention in Dallas. (For another wrapup, including some dishery on why exactly James Patterson was in attendance, …

As the drama unfolds further surrounding Norma Khouri’s fabrication of her life in order to create the bestseller FORBIDDEN LOVE, Neil Levy, writing for The Age, reflects on the history of …

You know, I realize that there are all sorts of people, and all sorts of ways to get published. But this, frankly, seems a bit much:

Think you could write a book about your lousy love life?

Suzanne …

One of the current bestsellers in France is a book on how to do the least amount of work while still staying productive. Bonjour Paresse (Hello, Laziness) is a hit–except for the author, whose …

Lots of good folk have been talking about publishing-related issues of late. Originally, I was going to make one long post, but it got too unwieldy so I’m splitting it into 3 parts:

First, …

Meanwhile, the always-erudite Booksquare educates on the matter of rights reversion, jumping off from a recent PW article (subscription only, natch) about Silhouette’s decision to flood the …

Staying in the dark can have dire consequences at the agent level as well. Lee Goldberg linked to another PW article about what happens when agents demand “interminable” rights for a book, …

Some interesting responses are rolling in about both Laura Miller’s NYT essay and my own take on the whole matter. First, Bookdwarf chimes in from a bookseller’s point of view:

Working …

Laura Miller’s essay in this week’s NYTBR, already linked here, has provoked considerable commentary in some message boards I frequent (and will, I bet, be a fairly hot topic tomorrow …

Figured this was in the offering, even if I hadn’t had any prior knowledge:

Former NYC chief medical examiner Michael Baden and criminal defense attorney Linda Kenney’s REMAINS SILENT, a …

LIT WARS: WHEN CRITICS ATTACK

In the left corner: Dale Peck, Hatchet man and guerilla book critic;

In the right corner: Stanley Crouch, cranky jazz critic who doesn’t take harsh words very …

Nicholas Clee, the Editor of The Bookseller (who also contributes a weekly column to the Guardian Review) will be stepping down from his position this fall:

Nicholas Clee, Editor of The Bookseller, …

As reported today at Wonkette, and also by Publisher’s Marketplace:

The former Senate aide, who serviced inside-the-Beltway players and blogged about it Jessica Cutler’s THE …

And its….[drum roll]….HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE? Ehhh….I dunno about that one, JKR. Then again, who am I kidding, I’m going to nitpick any sort of news I hear …

Although I have a sneaking suspicion this may sell very well:

Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld’s romantic comedy MR. VIBRATOR, whose young, single heroine invents a (quite complimentary) …

As chick lit writer Claudia Pattison offers some, er, choice advice for would-be writers:

Author Claudia Pattison, author of Wow! and Fame Game, believes we all have potential. And she should know. …

The weekend is almost upon me (thank god) but before taking Friday off, some more choice goodies to tide you all over:

Alexander McCall Smith is now officially suffering from hypergraphia. How else …

Unless we are totally mistaken (and that’s certainly within the realm of possibility) today marks the final Washington Post book review by deputy editor Chris Lehmann, who’s moving on to …

Literary agent Simon Trewin, in the Independent on Sunday, offers a well-needed reality check for writers who think that simply being published means they’ve hit the jackpot:

We are in a …

It seems all too timely to link to these two interviews just as I’m about to dash off to conduct one of my own (more information on that at some time in the not-too-distant future), which …

Even as many folks are still recovering from their post-BEA hangover, it behooves me to mention the little sister convention which took place last weekend–Book Expo Canada. The Toronto Star was …

As reported today by Publisher’s Lunch, Susanne Kirk, vice president and executive editor of Scribner, will retire at the end of June and relocate permanently to Mississippi, where she had been …

Reading Robert McCrum’s latest column left me in a curious state of bewilderment. He segues from the Orange Prize win to scratching his head about the now-utterly-infamous New Yorker article …

(NB: yes, my subject headers are bordering on the ridiculously simplistic. But they get the point across, no?)

Remember Sarah Crichton? Once rumored to be in the running for the New York Times Book …

Jeez, every which way you go, there’s another profile of Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, the two guys who have co-written what looks to be the biggest success this summer. This time, the Globe …

I think it’s been reported in other places but whatever the case, magician, actor and all-around smartass Penn Jillette (whom most folks know as the tall & talkative half of Penn and Teller) …

So it seems my screed about comparing getting a book deal to the job hunt has led to some interesting counter-arguments over at Dan Green’s The Reading Experience and The Literary Saloon, which …

Because as promised, Mark delivers with a doozy of a report on the Book Babes’ panel this morning. Ron, too, was stirring the pot, and all shall be captured on BookTV’s broadcast at 4:30 …

Commenting on the details of the deal just brokered by Kate Lee, Kevin Wignall makes a very interesting point:

”…stories like this must be very disheartening for would-be published authors who feel …

Such is the title of Sara Nelson’s new column in the New York Post–I, foolishly, hadn’t realized she’d even left the New York Observer, but am happy to see she’s covering …

Barely a week after the now-infamous “Talk of the Town” piece in last week’s New Yorker, Kate Lee has, apparently, made her first fiction sale, according to Publisher’s …

And god, where does the time go? It’s practically summer, and some part of me thinks it’s still, I dunno, February or something. I don’t get it. Anyway:

Oh my gawd, Patrick Anderson …

Oh, those Minots (as in MINE-it, not the French pronunciation.) So many siblings, so many writers all trying to tell the same tortured family history in a different way. Not surprisingly, they fight a …

And I must, absolutely must start off with the stabbing death of literary agent Rod Hall, who represented a whole host of people via his eponymous agency. The police have no leads as of yet.

And yet …

If what Gawker says is true, then Chris Lehmann, deputy editor of Book World, will jump ship to become a features editor at New York Magazine. No word on when this job change would happen, though …

No doubt some folks will pounce eagerly upon this news and expound at length, but I’m just going to report that Gregory Rabassa, who’s translated a whole host of literary giants, is now …

So it seems that La Rowling trolls chat rooms. Who’d have thunk it?

JK ROWLING is so secretive about the plots to the Harry Potter books that she keeps notes in a shoebox in bank vault.

But …