Articles from April 2006

Inviting The Adults To The Plagiarism Party

April 28th, 2006 · 2 Comments

Let us all agree that Kaavya Viswanathan has had a lousy week. The kind of week you shouldn’t have to have during your sophomore year at Harvard. And we don’t know if she’s truly at fault or if it’s a fine mix of circumstances. But it does appear that plagiarism happened. We all know that […]

File Under: Square Pegs

Publishing Updates Made Easy

April 28th, 2006 · Comments Off on Publishing Updates Made Easy

A bit of publishing-industry desk moves and title changes to end this gray, chilly week. Also, we’re in a listy sort of mood. Simon & Schuster remains not for sale. Put your checkbooks away for another day. Jean Feiwel at Holtzbrinck has named her kid’s book imprint Feiwel & Friends. David Graham moves from Canongate […]

File Under: Publishers and Editors

Do You Believe In Magic?

April 27th, 2006 · Comments Off on Do You Believe In Magic?

Well, don’t read the New York Times article on the role of book packagers in creating those books that young girls read like candy. The packager in question, Alloy, also plays a central role in the Kaavya Viswanathan plagiarism scandal. So, yeah, a lot of books are the product of authorial imagination as gently sculpted […]

File Under: The Business of Publishing

In Which Jill Goes Out Of Her Way To Raise Our Blood Pressure, Or You Too Can Write A Book In Three Days

April 25th, 2006 · 15 Comments

You know how the ones you love will push your buttons with little or no effort? That describes Jill Monroe to a “T”. She can, with a single email, get us worked up. By, oh, forwarding us link to “The Magic Formula: How To Plan, Write, Sell, and Promote Your Romance Fiction Novel”. No joke. […]

File Under: The Business of Publishing

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About P and L Statements But Were Afraid To Ask

April 25th, 2006 · Comments Off on Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About P and L Statements But Were Afraid To Ask

Anna Genoese, she of Tor and Anna Louise’s blog, has written of those things that makes our black little heart race: an article on how books do (or don’t) make money. You know it’s a going to be good when the first thing you read about is P&L statements. All we can say is that […]

File Under: The Business of Publishing

When Retirement Leaves You Lazy, Give Away Books

April 25th, 2006 · 1 Comment

You know us and our penchant for feel-good stories (hey, it happened once!). We all worry about what we’ll do with our post-retirement selves. A few friends have noted that “sitting around” is their number one goal, and while we salute sloth, we think it might get boring. Thus we have a solution: spend the […]

File Under: Square Pegs

About Writing Contests and Verb

April 24th, 2006 · Comments Off on About Writing Contests and Verb

Laurel Snyder has asked us, in the most appropriate way possible, to post this exciting news about her upcoming writers’ contest. Because we are highly susceptible to flattery, we are more than happy to get the word about the First Annual Verb Fiction Contest out. Also, we do so love writing contests. Rules, submission information, […]

File Under: Square Pegs

Amazon Goes 2.0 Crazy

April 21st, 2006 · Comments Off on Amazon Goes 2.0 Crazy

Normally, we don’t do this*, but needs must and all that. We dutifully waited for the archived edition of yesterday’s Publisher’s Lunch to be posted because Michael Cader did a bang-up job of reviewing the cool (and sometimes perplexing) new features at Amazon.com. We appreciate this, given our natural laziness. Alas, the good stuff is […]

File Under: Square Pegs

Short, Easy-To-Read Personnel News

April 21st, 2006 · Comments Off on Short, Easy-To-Read Personnel News

We’re admittedly bad at tracking all the editorial movement going on — but who could keep up with all the comings and going? But since we have a nice slew of desk changes, we’ll share a few: Farrin Jacobs has moved to HarperCollins Children’s Books as executive editor. She was previously editor at Red Dress […]

File Under: Publishers and Editors

ReganMedia Comes To LA; LA Shrugs

April 20th, 2006 · Comments Off on ReganMedia Comes To LA; LA Shrugs

In the interest of scientific inquiry, we did a quick poll of our peers to gauge interest in the impending arrival of Judith Regan. Angelenos are, quite obviously, fascinated by celebrity and when a high-profile editor arrives on our fair shore, well, giddy is not too strong a word. Except, and perhaps we can blame […]

File Under: Publishers and Editors