When Goodreads — with a membership now the size of the population of Venezuela — looked at men’s and women’s reading on the big platform, they spotted some interesting distinctions … and similarities.
As self-publishing adds so many more books to the marketplace — and as digital publishing means that nothing goes out of print — can we continue to dodge the issue of what talent might mean in the potential success for writers?
Authors, and particularly self-publishing writers, are asking better questions — and getting straighter answers. As the markets reach pivotal moments, it’s good to slow down, listen, and think clearly.
When asked what authors’ gabby, chatty social-media exposure may do to literature’s traditional writerly mystique, one reader came back with the “disappointment” of a demographic — and why Wikileaks beats Anderson Cooper. Pretty sure this might not be all that generational.
As the Alliance of Independent Authors introduces its new guidance for best author practices in the marketplace, we have an opportunity to look at issues of professionalism, amateurism, and a publishing industry caught between them.
A National Book Award finalist could not hope for more support: In a publishing industry wracked with accusations of “No marketing!” the commitment of Alfred A. Knopf to Emily St. John Mandel’s new “Station Eleven” is a model of what a major house still can and does do.
With the release of “Something of Life,” former Kronos Quartet cellist Jeffrey Zeigler steps into his new career as a solo artist and producer. The sheer bravura and difficulty of this material — “I could barely move my arm” — make it a perfect example of Music for Writers.
A writers’ conference becomes an Indian summer camp in the strange, colorful pause between seasons at Salem, Massachusetts. Authors at Writer Unboxed’s Un-Conference are in a sort of bubble in time, like the weather, this week.
A session on the content of consumer reviews — regardless of the intentions of reviewers — is featured at the inaugural Writer Unboxed UnConference. It’s in Salem, Massachusetts, which Arthur Miller wrote was once “at the edge of the wilderness.”
In his Halloween-release novella, Ghastle and Yule, author Josh Malerman follows his deeply disturbing debut Bird Box with a new demonstration of what makes his storytelling such a horror. Remember, it’s “best read in the evening.”