Loves Us, Didn’t Get Us

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We start our morning thinking about certain aspects of the writing business. For example, the agent query. You know, where hapless young writers enter the void. We certainly applaud agencies that allow authors to query via email; it makes perfect sense to us (not to mention the number of trees saved!). What makes our skin crawl a bit is when an agency suggests they’ll respond to your email query if they’re interested. This leaves you, the hapless young writer, in a sort of limbo: did they get my email…did they hate my work? You simply don’t know if you don’t […]

Agents

Them’s Fighting Words

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Yes, we really do need to get a life — it just doesn’t appear likely in the near future. We were fascinated by this tale of in-fighting in English PEN. All the usual literary intrigue — editing, censorship, fighting fair — is represented. If the charges weren’t so serious, we’d find this imbroglio tailor-made for a cushy chair and tub of popcorn. Writers’ organisation riven by dispute on free expression English PEN

Square Pegs

So He’s Crazy, What Of It?

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How do you describe something you’ve never experienced? Well, of course you can make things up. But there’s always some “expert” out there willing to explain how you’ve gotten the details all wrong (even those details of societies that died thousands of years before our hypothetical critic was born). So authors sometimes do hands-on research for the sake of veracity. Sometimes for curiosity. Sometimes because they want to live the story. Robert Kurson, author of Shadow Divers had various reasons for approaching his research the way he did. His fans will be relieved that nobody would allow him to dive

Square Pegs

From the Puzzled File

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We are the first to admit there’s a lot wrong with the publishing industry, especially as it relates to royalty accounting (don’t ever corner us at a party after we’ve had too much wine — we really get started on the subject). We also applaud entrepeneurship and looking for new publishing paradigms (do you seek paradigms or are they applied retroactively? Must ponder this later.). But we wonder at the authority of the Instant Book Writing Kit’s author when he offers quotes such as this: “One of the most blatant examples of these unacceptable practices is when the industry forces

Publishers and Editors, Tools and Craft

Let My Information Go Free

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There are generally accepted models for the dissemination of academic information and research. We believe the technical term is “publish or perish.” Leave it up to those crazy scientists to challenge the status quo. As with all things, there is a cost involved with this process (though, as the article hints, less so for the publisher than all others involved). The science community is questioning the paradigm (expensive subscriptions to print journals) for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the public’s inability to review research they’ve paid for. We believe the buying and selling of information

Square Pegs

Chasing The Tail

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We’re not sure what criticism of literary criticsm is called (but we are sure we haven’t had sufficient caffeine to indulge in research). Or if it’s even socially acceptable. One senses the discussion, without careful management, could degrade to the literary equivalent of a barroom brawl (Google Bill O’Reilly versus Jack Mathews for another look at this type of fight). Which, as Daniel Mendelsohn suggests, is one of the reactions Dale Peck seeks by writing deliberately provocative reviews. Mendelsohn’s analysis of Peck’s books, from the title to Peck’s own limitations as a fiction writer, confirm our long-held beliefs about this

Books/Mags/Blogs

We Need A Cheat Sheet

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Seriously, we get information from a variety of sources (not that we’re saying they’re all reliable, but that’s another issue). And, frankly, some of the stuff coming over the transom is cryptic. Yes, we do our best to research, but at the end of the day (moment, really), we have to guess. Like what is “major” non-fiction? Do you always know in advance? Can you be wrong? Is it possible that today’s major is yesterday’s news, what with publishing lag time? We’re so happy that we don’t have to worry about these things. No, that’s Rick Horgan’s job now that

Publishers and Editors

You Are Using Pencil, Right?

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Suzanne Harper has been named Senior Vice President and publisher for hardcovers, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. She’ll be in charge of Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Margaret K. McElderry Books, and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. As always, we refer you to the publisher’s website. As always, said website baffles us. We honestly don’t know where to start looking for information. And we do this for a living — we feel for those of you who are beginners when it comes to publisher’s websites. Simon Says

Publishers and Editors

Can Paper Be Mopped Up?

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We admit it. When we read the first sentence of PW‘s story about Millbrook, we got all tingly. Something about the term “mopped up.” Then we started thinking. Never good. But that’s beside the point. Millbrook Press and Twenty-First Century Books have been sold (or, if you prefer legal mumbo-jumbo, agreed to be sold, pending other legal stuff which we don’t comprehend) to Lerner Publishing Group. The catalog will live on. We can only imagine the sigh of relief from Millbrook and Twenty-First authors. Millbrook Takes Care of the Rest

Publishers and Editors

Stop Us Before We Snap

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We are, by nature, pacifistic. It’s that lazy thing we suffer from. So it’s surprising and painful to discover we’re feeling oozy, icky hatred. Not the hot, passionate kind. This is more the type that will spread and fester. Yes, thanks to a helpful friend, we have finally read an author interview that pisses us off in an ugly way. And we have hours to go before we can drink. A few choice quotes as a preview: They say everyone has at least one book inside them. But is it true? Could we all turn our hands to writing best

Square Pegs
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