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Never one to be outdone by cute reindeer, the bat is back with another round of great podcasts. This time, Bat Segundo speaks with authors Claire Messud and Simon Winchester.

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I’m still recovering from my top secret assignment to help Santa spread literary cheer over this past holiday weekend. But we’ll back up to normal operations tomorrow. I do hope all of you are enjoying a happy and safe holiday season!

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  Imagine… instead of slaving over proposals, outlines, chapter summaries, market analysis… imagine if you could just talk your way into a publishing deal. Richard Price managed to do that very thing. In The Paris Review Interviews, volume I, Richard Price recounts how he pitched Clockers to publishers. “Before I wrote a word of Clockers [...]

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Many authors obsess over Amazon. They worry about their rankings, the reviews, and the overall visibility for their book. However, not everyone is happy about being on the site. The great Bookninja brings news of a writer who is actually demanding that Amazon remove his book from their site. “George Walker, author of Tales from an Airfield, [...]

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Today’s value-minded consumer wants products that exceed expectations. It isn’t enough that the television has a good picture. No, the TV also has to throw off some colored glow onto the surrounding wall. It isn’t enough that the GPS device shows the shortest route to Tifton, GA. No, the gadget also has to tell you [...]

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Syntax of Things continues to spread the word with the 2006 Underrated Writers List. This year, a number of litbloggers contributed their thoughts on 66 writers who deserve more attention. So while you’re completing last minute Christmas shopping, check out this list before you hit the bookstore. Do the guys on the usual “best of” lists really [...]

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A few days ago, I mentioned Miss Snark’s advice on crafting a great hook. Well now, she’s back with a hook-o-meter designed to offer criticism on hundreds of aspiring hooks. Looks like she’s up to #160 of reader-submitted hooks. As always, the Snarkalicious One offers succinct criticism and instruction.

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There is a fantastic quote in the January 2007 issue of Playboy that reveals the determination of a young aspiring author. In the On the Scene section of the magazine, the quote reads, “As things stand now,” a 21-year-old Hunter S. Thompson wrote in June 1959, “I am going to be a writer. I’m not [...]

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The Washington Post reports: “Working entirely on her own, spending her librarian’s salary and later her Social Security checks, Mayme Clayton amassed one of the finest collections of African American history in the world — and stored it in her garage.” This amazing article explains, “By the time she died in October, at age 83 [...]

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I recently had lunch with an agent from one of the major Hollywood agencies. I’ll leave it up to you to guess. Which agency was involved? A) Creative Artists Agency B) International Creative Management C) William Morris Agency You can also determine, keep your eyes on your own paper now, the circumstances that lead to my lunch meeting. What [...]

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  Miss Snark offers advice on writing hooks in query letters.

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  Mississippi author Barry Hannah, the nightwatchman, writes about noir and teaching the genrein the new issue of The Oxford American. “In noir, doom rules the mood. It is perhaps the one consistent noun of the literature, running wild over both the good and the shady. The apt weather is one of destruction, with characters [...]

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  I’ve about had it with a couple of commercials. The shocking car crash thing was pretty cool, and effective… the first 1,256,329 times I saw it. But now, with All State insurance and Volkswagen both machine gunning our airwaves with the nice-drive-in-the-car-oh-my-god!-smashing-screeching-air bag-deploying thing, I really don’t care. Another television commerical element I’m sick of [...]

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You might see an odd advertisement thing pop up on Slushpile.net today. This is something that other sites on the server use but is not part of Slushpile.net. It shouldn’t be showing up here. Please bear with us while we correct this problem.

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