Articles from April 2008

On Publishing with A Small Press

April 30th, 2008 · 5 Comments

[BS: Yes, kids, another guest post. Must be the Internets way of celebrating Spring. This week, we are delighted to bring you Lucia Nevai, an award-winning author whose novel Salvation is due out from Tin House Books within weeks. Lucia, who delighted us with her line “when we all agreed that Salvation was the book […]

File Under: Wrapped Up In Books

Piracy, Uh, What Is It Good For?

April 28th, 2008 · 7 Comments

What do you fear more: obscurity or piracy? Seems to me most people fear the latter because we’re told that piracy is bad and must be stopped. 400,000 books were published/distributed in the United States in 2007, according to Rachel Donadio’s recent New York Times article (“You’re an Author? Me Too!”). If you’re trying to […]

File Under: Square Pegs

Mentoring: The Writer You Guide Might Be The Future

April 23rd, 2008 · 6 Comments

[BS: Yay! Another guest post. We’re really excited to feature Tara Yellen, author of After Hours at the Almost Home, a look at community and family and what happens when one person disappears from the mix. Tara, however, is looking at community of another kind: the importance of mentoring relationships for writers. Just loved this […]

File Under: Wrapped Up In Books

JK Rowling Is Wrong

April 21st, 2008 · 76 Comments

Last week’s JK Rowling/Warner Brothers versus RDR Books trial made me very uncomfortable. On one hand, I completely support an author’s right to protect copyright. It’s time this nation (world, really) learned serious lessons about copyright — what it is, how it’s applied, fair use (yes, kids, fair use is part of copyright). But there’s […]

File Under: Square Pegs

Memoirs of a Non-Geisha

April 15th, 2008 · 1 Comment

It is with delight that we bring you a guest post from author Jennifer Epstein whose novel The Painter from Shanghai was recently released to excellent reviews. Of course, with every drop of good news, comes, well, a reminder that at some point in the past, another author wrote a book about a woman in […]

File Under: Wrapped Up In Books

NYT Confuses Authors, Computers, Insults Women

April 14th, 2008 · 6 Comments

Philip Parker has won today’s “Worst Person in Publishing” award. I wanted to give him the “Worst Person in the World” title, but, well, I’m fairly certain that’s been copyrighted. Hmm, maybe the ”’New York Times”’ will share the honors, if only due to its continued lack of critical thinking when it comes to covering […]

File Under: Square Pegs

HarperCollins Decides Thursday Is A Good Day For Radical Announcements

April 3rd, 2008 · 15 Comments

There are sacred cows in publishing. Lots and lots of sacred cows. You have the “smell of books” people. You have “the publishing business model ain’t broke” people. And you have the “advances are divine rights” people. Suggest that advances are not written-in-stone obligations on the part of publishers and you’re considered naive. Ill-informed. Nutso. […]

File Under: The Future of Publishing

The Pros and Cons of Writing for a Small Press

April 2nd, 2008 · 31 Comments

The BS family is very excited to have debut author TJ Bennett with us today. I’ve known her for years and am thrilled that someone recognized her talent and published her novel. I asked TJ to talk about some of the challenges and benefits that come from writing for a small press. At the end […]

File Under: Square Pegs · Wrapped Up In Books