Square Pegs

We admit it, we find The Guardian’s exploration of books and the things surrounding them to be so much for fascinating than that of our hometown paper (our new goal in life is to humiliate the Los Angeles Times out of its rather snobby approach to literature…this is a town where jeans and shorts are accepted in the finest restaurants, after all). Or maybe it’s all American papers — we can’t imagine anyone asking point blank if a huge advance makes for uncomfortable writing experiences (even as we rub our hands together with glee when an overhyped author/celebrity falls face […]

PW reports that Morrow has signed Claire Matturro to a second two-book deal. We normally don’t mention these things (after all, authors sign book deals every day), but this particular signing is impressive in that the author has not yet been published. She has, however, been compared to Janet Evanovich. If, of course, Stephanie Plum could survive the rigors of Florida Four Novels Signed Before Debut

We have our doubts that any author will read Alex Keegan’s cautionary tale about the dangers of the Internet to productivity (we believe checking Amazon standings has replaced Tetris as the number one time waster of all time). But we need a little karma boost today, and offer the article as a good deed. We’re not entirely sure how one will go about reading the article and following its advice simultaneously, but we can’t solve all the world’s problems at once. Think Before You Click

We know it’s hard to believe, but there have been moments when we embarrassed ourselves to the point where, had the ground opened up and garbage disposaled us whole, we would have been ecstatic. As it turns out, many authors have moments like this. And, as to be expected, remember every excruciating detail (would that we remembered our wedding as well as our many humiliations). We enjoyed Margaret Atwood’s brave recounting of some her favorite bad times in the MediaBistro excerpt from Mortification, edited by Robin Robertson. Excerpt: Mortification

We briefly considered folding this into our earlier post on how media figures use their positions to sell books. Then, on second thought, we deemed this case sufficiently different to warrant its own post. While we still believe there’s a bit of, um, cronyism involved with the media appearances of political authors, we also find it interesting how these appearances drive the political debate. Except for the part where nobody we know really watches these programs (we admit to catching Meet the Press while we’re on the treadmill) and nobody we know believes an appearance on television elevates a book’s

We don’t follow entertainment industry lawsuits closely because they are, once you start paying attention, all pretty much the same. But recently an item in The Writer (getting to the actual story appears to be an exercise in complexity, so you’ll have to trust us) caught our attention…not so much for what it is, but for a small inaccuracy we found perpetuated throughout the press (this may actually qualify as real research, but we’d have to check). We’d like to bring this to your attention because, as we previously noted, it is very important that writers understand agreements before they

We briefly considered covering the Sean Connery memoir thing, but couldn’t work up the energy. Word on the street is he’s sold his past for a very nice sum. We presume that, like Bill Clinton, Sean will be feverishly reliving his past escapades right up to the moment the book is supposed to go to press. We also hope he writes them himself.

We understand the trials and tribulations of selling one’s book to the public. You’d think the work stopped with finding a publisher to give you money for your blood, sweat, and tears, but it doesn’t. That’s only the beginning. But, as Newsday’s Paul Vitello gently points out, members of the (news) media who pen tomes have an unusual advantage when it comes to hawking their wares: in addition to the shows of all their friends, many in the media have, wait for this, this very own shows where they can sell themselves. Over and over and over. We find it

We know it takes a lot for a venerable publication such as The New Yorker to mention romance (though, given the amount of news about this genre this week, we don’t understand why). Either that or the author has to be married to Larry Ellison. Author Melanie Craft (Man Trouble) built upon her personal experiences in her latest book, yet remains clear-eyed about the genre. We would, however, like to take the article’s (send to us by a Booksquare tipster) author to task. Taking a pseudonym (part of Craft’s novel’s plot) is indeed common among romance authors. And mystery authors.