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
Seriously, back in April when we mentioned Penguin’s promotion to get British men to read, we thought it was a joke. It is with heavy heart that we report it wasn’t. Cash to men who are caught reading. Because men with noses in books are more attractive to women. We can’t begin to speculate on the outcome of this particular promotion. We think the Good Booking concept is supposed to convince men that reading will help them attain the women of their dreams, so read away. Yes, this is a continuation of the “men don’t read” theory. We still don’t
In a weird way, there has been a certain theme to what we’ve been reading and discussing this week. On one level, we have the business aspect of writing (Maud Newton’s article, below, includes a quote from a New Yorker editor who hints that authors don’t know as much about the business part of submitting as they should). On another, we have the connections concept. Newton’s interview with Brigid Hughes explores the MFA route to publication concept — if you finish the right program (and the names are limited), an MFA is practically a signed contract. Yes, that was our
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 admit it (rather shamefacedly): we expected to win our first writing contest. We expected a parade. A party. Angels singing. We got a self-addressed package in the mail. We did very well, but not well enough. Since then, we’ve had some success and some failure. We continue to rend our hair at the sight of a “3” out of five with no accompanying comments. We cherish every smiley face and “good job” anonymous judges have scribbled on our work. And we even move beyond our hurt and disbelief to find merit in the less-than-positive comments. We’ve learned you can’t
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
As a follow up to our discussion about publishing as a business, we’d like to highlight Dan Wickett’s interview with David Poindexter, publisher of MacAdam/Cage. MacAdam/Cage is a small publisher with an unusual policy: they read everything that is submitted. Okay, we’re not being fair — we know full well that other publishers read what is submitted (in fact, we know of publishers whose editorial staff reads all submissions even after the work has come back from the reader “not recommended”). We believe, but cannot be certain, that the point being made here is that MacAdam/Cage isn’t an “agented-only” house
