Author name: Booksquare

Toward the end of the Chicago Sun-Times BEA wrap-up is a thought attributed to Margo Hammond about the astounding success of The DaVinci Code. It seems the book was beyond-belief successful without so much as a review from The New York Times. “How, Hammond wanted to know, could that have happened, and what does it tell us about the relevance (and long-term survival) of book pages today?” Hammond didn’t review the book either. The idea of a gulf between reviewers and readers isn’t new — every week we wrinkle our brow at the choices made by the book reviewers for […]

There is a corner of our soul reserved for vindictiveness. Only our closest friends know about this aspect of our personality. It brings us shame. Sort of. We imagine that John Sutherland felt a smidgen of similar shame as he turned over this paean to the bad review received by the man who reviewed Sutherland badly. Obviously, revenge is too sweet to stop the presses. We’re sure Sutherland volunteered time serving soup to keep his karmic balance. Blood on the page

For the few of you who haven’t discovered the brilliance that is Arrested Development, well, we wish you would. But that’s not what this post is about. In one episode, Tobias discovers he’s a gay icon (well, he doesn’t really cotton to all the implications, but there are a lot of things Tobias doesn’t get about himself) despite the fact that he’s a married, straight guy. In theory. In a case of life imitating TV, author Allison Burnett has discovered he (see how the confusion starts?) has the same problem. We know it’s tough to believe, but…novelists make these people

Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane, answers readers’ questions. Something tells us someone vetted things to ensure the really rude stuff didn’t slip through. We advise you to read through to the end — Ali echoes our recent advice: skip the second book, go straight for the third. Monica Ali: You Ask The Questions AKA Sophomore Slump

We have followed the news from Hollywood this past week with our usual half-asleep-at-the-wheel approach. But there has been a disturbing trend (which may or may not affect National politics…that’s not our area of expertise) we feel needs a little clarification. This is probably only of interest for anyone writing about the movie biz (please do — we can’t work up the energy to relive a single moment of that torture). It is said that you’re not anyone in this town unless you’ve been fired. Apparently, because this is the town that invented failing upward (or refined it, depending on

If you’ve never had the privilege of reading a publisher’s contract, we envy you. That being said, if you’re serious about writing a book — or better, have sold a book, you damn well better know the concepts contained in such an agreement. Or hire a literary lawyer to explain them (unless you have a very contract-savvy agent). Or both. We really advocate both. In fact, we strongly suggest that nobody ever sign a contract without legal advice. In keeping with our education is key mantra, we are providing some introduction to the terminology found in standard contracts. We would

We’re definitely doing the trend pieces today: co-authoring no longers bears a stigma. You can write with a partner and still hold your head up high. We can practically hear all the sighs of relief as partners come out of the closet. Oh sure, other pesky problems remain (must write good book, must sell book, must pose for realistic-but-not-too-realistic joint author photo), but you can now do it with a friend. Provided you don’t kill each other in the process. Author! Author! Novelists find that sometimes, for crafting and polishing prose, two writers are better than one Author pals strike