Finally, A Blow-In We Can Support

By •

Think for a moment about how your read magazines. Hmm, okay, don’t bother as what we’re about to say probably has nothing to do with that. Except for the part where we suspect major personality traits are revealed by how one approaches reading magazines. Like, for instance, ours says that we are easy-going, happy, and ready to face life as we encounter it. Also that we have multiple personalities and should probably cut down on carbs. The husband, before hitting the table of contents, purges his magazines of every single blow-in…those little cards designed to irritate you into subscribing. We, […]

Square Pegs

An Appreciation

By •

I reacted the way I suppose many writers did when they first saw a Gould proof – with disbelief and dismissal. But a writer soon learns to welcome anyone who can offer real insight into the nature of prose, and that Miss Gould could certainly do. I learned from her neatly inscribed comments that even though I was writing correctly – no syntactical flat tires, no grammatical fender-benders – I was often not really listening to what I was saying. That may seem impossible to a reader who isn’t a writer. But Miss Gould’s great gift wasn’t taking writers seriously.

Square Pegs

Reconsidering Procrastination

By •

It is probably not a secret that we rank procrastination right up there with all of our other fine traits. There is something special about leaving tasks until the last possible moment — nothing beats an adrenaline rush. Nothing legal, that is. Or so we’ve heard. But even the fine art of procrastination has its dark side. You know that novel you’ve been meaning to start? The one you’ve been plotting in your head for years? Now would be a good time. No, we don’t know anything about your life, but we do know that things change rapidly. It’s okay

Square Pegs

Following Orders

By •

Never let it be said that when Susan G says jump, we fail to ask “how high?” Oh, wait, we’ve never asked such a question. Lazy, you know. Please pay attention because we’re going to admit a dirty little secret: we think Mrs. Giggles rocks. For the uninitiated, Mrs. Giggles lives in Singapore and writes about romance novels and the romance community. She’s one of the few reviewers out there who doesn’t try to sugarcoat her opinions. She makes grown women cry, in a manner of speaking. We recently wrote (over at Romancing the Blog) that the genre needs stronger,

Square Pegs

On Maturity

By •

In the end, the only useful lesson was a simple one: As a writer, I have to accept the lack of control. Publishing a book is like having a child. You can do everything right — feed him, clothe him, show him Baby Kierkegaard videos — but a bully at kindergarten can still make him eat clumps of dirt. You have to come to terms with that. And you have to appreciate that your child is able to run around the playground at all, and is even having fun on the jungle gym when not being pummeled. Oh, and you

Quote of the Week

This Week’s Agent Phrase: Upmarket Women’s Fiction

By •

If we weren’t so lazy (and the chances of that changing are pretty much nil to none), we’d compile a dictionary of literary descriptions. Or a thesaurus. Or both. Wait, the husband is all excited about folksonomies — maybe that would be the right approach. We may actually have to pay attention the next time he rants and raves. So, Wendy Sherman, publishing alumnus (? — it strikes us that the older we get, the worse our Latin) and recently joined by Tracy Brown, has this agency. She likes brilliant use of language; he likes journalists who go deep into

Agents

On Reminding Us That The Tempest (And Appropriate Refreshment) Is Due Tomorrow

By •

The discourse at reading groups does not often have much in common with the language of scholarship. Prof Currie and a fellow English literature don were once barred from a book club lest they ruin the fun with talk of structuralism and the like. For others, that expulsion might represent a happy revolution. According to Professor John Sutherland, of London University: “People are reclaiming the right to read from pointy-headed academics”. Why the book club is more than a fad: It is a phenomenon that has become a near ubiquitous part of bourgeois life – and it is about far

Quote of the Week

That Which We Fear Must Be Made Metaphorical

By •

We often think that people are afraid to write about sex because it is, at its essence, so primal. Murder, for example, almost always has a reason, a motive. People rarely go off randomly killing. It is rare that violence is committed for the sheer joy of getting off, so to speak. But sex? It not only captures the full range of human emotions and behaviors, but it’s also something we do just for the hell of it. No ulterior scheme. No twisted meaning. No secret desire. It’s just sex. And we have been thoroughly brainwashed to believe that that

Books/Mags/Blogs

Our Kingdom For An Explanation

By •

Harlequin will launch a co-publishing partnership in Brazil with Record Publishing Group, beginning on April 1. The companies plan to issue 100 titles together in the first year. Okay, we don’t really have a kingdom, but we have a blog. Close enough. We look to you, our more intelligent readers, to provide information. As you can see, we have so little to go on, we don’t even have a link to a larger source (yes, yes, yes, we could go through the frustration of the Torstar corporate website, but, well, we’re lazy. And hungry. (Via Publisher’s Lunch)

Publishers and Editors

Advance Notice

By •

There is much grumbling from authors about advances. Generally, it is agreed that the amounts given aren’t big enough. When it comes to advances, one thing many authors neglect to consider is that the map is not the territory. Publishers calculate advances based on a variety of criteria, including anticipated revenue, but, at the end of the day, the success of a book is determined by what it earns. The way things work is that publishers take a lot of risk upfront on each book. They pay an advance against future earnings to the author, they pay to edit, they

Tools and Craft
Scroll to Top