-
The Six-Word Memoir
Six words: it's not very long. But for the new book Not Quite What I Was Planning, the editors of Smith magazine asked hundred of writers, both famous and obscure, to boil down their lives to this paltry standard (Nora Ephron offered, “Secret to life: marry an Italian!” and A.J. Jacobs gave them, “Born bald.
-
I Only Wanted to Talk About My Book
A few months ago, a friend asked me to speak at a Jewish literary salon. Having just written a book about my conversion to Catholicism, I felt especially honored. How lovely that my friend had thought to ask me! What a beautiful opportunity to bridge two religions and cultures! More to the point, I'd been reading about the power of book groups as a marketing tool.
-
The Same Old Story
Except for the fashions, the annual announcement of the Newbery and Caldecott Medals is for me what the Academy Awards are for just about everybody else. Every year I get excited, eager to hear what the librarians at ALA Midwinter have deemed the best illustrated book (Caldecott) and “the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children” (Newbery).
-
Writing a Book? Piece of Cake
I write the sports blog Deadspin.com, assembling more than 25 posts a day meant to enlighten, amuse and distract sports fans from the drudgery of their desk jobs. Every day, I write about 7,000 words; this means that every three weeks, I write the equivalent of an extremely long book. Sure, this book would be unreadable, and reviewers would certainly point out that none of the links went anywhe...
-
Another Self-Help Book?
Self-help is such an enormous category in publishing, and within the category, depression is a major subcategory: an Amazon search for the term yields more than 250,000 results. Why would I want to add to the already bulging shelves? I certainly didn't set out to find a niche, but I somehow managed to.
-
Don’t Quit Your Day Job
“Have you seen that commercial yet? With the taco?” This was the mantra of nearly all my friends and loved ones last summer. It came in the form of e-mails and text messages, taps on the shoulder at parties and too many phone calls to count. Turns out what they were referring to was an ad for a wireless company that promised rates so low, “Now we can afford for Mom to quit her...
-
The Year of the Platform
“Branding” was '07's motto. Every author learned he's got to Flaunt the palms and laurels that form Famous folk's distinctive platform. Agents learned how well it pays To inflate clients' résumés. But midlist writers fetched up stranded, Unrecognized, unknown, unbranded. Q1 profits turned to dust When Advance Marketing went bust.
-
Christmas Stories 2.0
Memorandum To: My Esteemed Editor From: Author in Need of a Book Deal Subject: Proposal for Updating Christmas Classics Per our discussion, I am following up on my brilliant idea of retelling Christmas classics. I’m totally hyped on this and hope we’ll be able to make something big happen! Please let me know how you’d like to proceed.
-
Get It?
I was delighted when my second book was sold to a major German publisher, and not just because I'd be paid in euros. My translator was an experienced young man named Diedrich who had previously rendered works by James Brown and Anthony Kiedis. I figured, after a Red Hot Chili Pepper, I'd be a piece of Kuchen.
-
Busted
“A mother of three, Jessica Seinfeld, like many busy parents, used to struggle to get her kids to eat right. In Deceptively Delicious she shares... mouthwatering recipes stealthily packed with unseen vegetables, pureed so kids will never suspect.” —back cover, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food by Jessica Seinfeld.
-
In It Together
What’s the deal in Northern California? Despite the growth of chain superstores and Amazon.com, the book business out here has fared remarkably well over the past 20-odd years. We have a thriving coterie of local publishers; a fabulous cast of smart and experienced sales reps; an enviable stable of local writers; one of the country’s most respected distributors in Publishers Group W...
-
So What's with All the Iranian Memoirs?
Once upon a time (in the early 1990s), I was one of two Iranian woman authors writing and publishing in the West. I know this is hard to believe, given the current wave of novels and memoirs by Iranian woman authors about Iran, or by American authors about Iranian women, or any other variation thereof.
-
How We Compile Our Bestseller List
Our bestseller list reflects nationwide sales of books during the week ended last Saturday. Since we knocked off early last Friday, our figures probably got a bit sketchy as we eased on into the weekend. We gather information from thousands of traditional retail venues such as independent bookstores, national and regional chains, online retailers, mass merchandisers, department stores, gift sho...
-
Truth Seeker
Rhonda Byrne has a secret. I have a secret, too. My book, Strides, is about running. While writing it, I got a little lighter, a little faster. Maybe reading it will help your running and your weight. But I'm not making you any promises. Ms. Byrne is making you promises. Not just about running, either.
-
Shock and Yawn
Of all the ways to win a popularity contest, working in publishing and writing a book called Print Is Dead has to be at the bottom of the list. While the subtitle—Books in Our Digital Age—hopefully puts the argument in a bit more perspective, the title by itself always seems to set people off.
-
Identity Crisis? Not Really
According to my (new) publisher, I used to be a Young Adult writer. This statement has caused one of my bookseller fans so much outrage, she e-mailed me at home, saying, “I am all set to be enraged at 'Formerly a YA author’ on your bio. Like YA was just a phase you grew out of? And now, finally, you’re writing Respectable Literary Fiction?” It’s a problem.
-
The Reluctant Expert
When my telephone rings, I almost always check the caller ID before I answer. If the number and name look unfamiliar, I assume that the caller is probably (a) a prison inmate, or (b) a would-be author seeking advice about publishing a book. Why that pairing? As an investigative reporter, I write frequently about malfunctions of the criminal justice system.
-
Story Time
In PW's September 17 issue, it fell to me to run a review of Jenna Bush's book, Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope (HarperCollins). It's not a bad book, although I doubt it would be noticed, much less published, were it not for its White House author. But what needs to be said about Ana's Story can't be said fairly within a PW review.
-
Quick and Dirty Money?
The PW Daily e-mail subject line “Holtzbrinck Launches Podcasting Business” sure got my attention. After stumbling around for a few years wondering what, if anything, to do with podcasting, at last someone in publishing was taking the plunge. I've been producing podictionary—a podcast for word lovers—for more than two years.
-
Looking for China's Murakami
In what could've been a microcosm of BEA, this year's Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) featured all of the major players: Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins and even Neil Gaiman. We, from the U.S., said gan bei, or “bottoms up,” with Chinese publishers, we overate on 30-course meals, and amid all of the energy and excitement, we seemed to overlook an absent party: the qualit...
Browse archive by date:
