Booksquare

The way I see it, it’s a great way to save on office supplies — three prominent New York agencies have combined to form a new super-company. Arthur Pine Associates, Witherspoon Associates, and Carlisle & Company will now be known as InkWell Management. Focus will be publishing, intellectual property licensing, brand building, and lectures with […]

It is common knowledge that those who head successful multi-national corporations are excellent writers. After all, they have the time to spend crafting clever sentences and all that crafty stuff that makes for compelling reading. Okay, I’m making all this up. Just as Jack Welch before him, Sandy Weill of Citigroup will author a tome […]

I know it’s mean to make fun other people, but I can’t help myself. Seriously kids, if you’re gonna plagiarize, do it right. This is the age of the Internet and we can discover your secrets easily. Onion Taken Seriously, Film at 11

I think it’s nice that there’s a book out there for just about every unpleasant task we humans must do. For authors, pitching is the root canal of our business (I’ve met very few who consider it to be fun). Agent Katharine Sands, in her book Making the Perfect Pitch, holds an author’s hand through […]

It is inevitable that someday, somebody will invent the perfect e-reader, a handy dandy electronic device that holds umpteen books, is portable, easy-to-read, stylish, the usual (yes, an iPod for word addicts). Sony’s Librie EBR-1000EP takes us to the next level of our e-reader quest. Except for the stylish part, but I have faith that […]

Sally Kim has joined the Shaye Areheart Books/Harmony team at the Crown Publishing division of Random House (bloodlines are so important). Welcome her to her new office in a traditional way: query! They’re looking to expand their list of commercial and literary fiction. Shaye Areheart Books

The Austin Film Festival’s screenplay competition is open for business. Feature screenplay deadline is May 7, 2004. Television (aka Prime Time) is June 1. Check out the website for rules and legal stuff. Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition

It’s time for the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Based on the birds I hear chirping and the endless blue sky outside my window (Southern Californians are nothing if not smug), the coming weekend will be gorgeous…and yet so many will spend their days in the urban village that is the UCLA campus, […]

It is, in my opinion, rare that the Los Angeles Times does a front page story on an author. Even more rare that they do a story on an author moving. Sheesh. Anne Rice is moving out of New Orleans. To the suburbs. What’s the big deal? Oh right…she is New Orleans. Not the suburbs. […]

For those not familiar with my bookclub, we started out with strong intentions of reading the classics (as defined, alas, by a page torn from, well, an airline magazine. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.). We were committed, and, I believe, successful. Certain titles excepted. But we continually itched for the newest buzz book […]