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Sadly, news surfaced on Sunday that Frederick Busch died of a heart attack on Feburary 23rd. Although he lived in a town called Sherburne, he was at a New York City hospital when he passed away. The Washington Post ran an obituatry that stated “He said he resolved to become a writer in fourth grade, after [...]

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Yesterday afternoon, CNN picked up a Reuters report that Penguin cancelled controversial author James Frey’s two book deal. The article stated that “after writing A Million Little Pieces for Random House, Frey moved with his editor Sean McDonald to Penguin imprint Riverhead Books, which published his second book, My Friend Leonard, last June. Riverhead then contracted [...]

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The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) website maintains a listing of arts related opportunities. Often, these opportunities are juried art competitions, but they also include listings for any activity or service that might be relevant to artistic folks. I just learned about the NYFA’s post regarding book donations to the New Orleans Public [...]

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“I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman where the self-help section was. She said if she told me it would defeat the purpose.” –Dennis Miller “Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.” –Samuel Johnson

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The whole section starts laughing. There are a couple of leering looks, but mostly, mouths drop in amazement. This woman bounds down the aisle, dressed in shiny black supposedly-leather-but-its-really-twenty-dollar-vinyl. Her pants are skintight, laces run up the sides of her boots, and there’s a bolero jacket over a shiny red bra. It’s clear that she thinks [...]

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So many of us think that simply being accepted by a publisher is the end goal. Once we sign the contract, cash the advance, and turn the manuscript in, then we think we’re on our way to the bestseller list and award banquets. Then we realize that about 150,000 titles are published in this country [...]

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Are you a writer who has graced the New York Times bestseller list? Are you interested in a freelance ghostwriting gig? Are you available immediately? Then, Craigslist has the job opportunity for you. (via Gawker)

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I wrote my tongue-in-cheek suggestion about reality television researching literary scandals last night. This morning, I checked my email and there is a note from Geoffrey Knoop, one of the participants in the J.T. Leroy saga. You might have first learned about Knoop when was most prominently interviewed in this New York Times article where he acknowledged [...]

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  James Frey, J.T. Leroy, Nasdijj. These literary frauds recently captured headlines and office gossip around the gin-coolers of publishing houses everywhere. Oprah, feigning ignorance of the book biz, blamed the publishing companies for not checking their facts. The publishing companies pointed the finger at economic realities and said it’s not financially feasible to examine every claim made [...]

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We all know that turning point, the key moment, maybe it’s the climax, maybe we call it the crucial moment, or maybe we just leave it unnamed, but we all know it should be there. That pivot in your story whene a character faces a hinge in his life and nothing will ever be the same. [...]

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Jeff at Syntax of Things always locates the coolest items and yesterday was no different. He found this Reuters report about a letter written by William Faulkner that drew nearly $18,000 at auction on Sunday. In the missive, Faulkner complains about being conned into signing a seven year contract with Warner Bros film studio. Some F. Scott Fitzgerald [...]

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  Bastards. I’m expecting a personal check from Jann Wenner for four U.S. dollars.

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Jay McInerney, literary chronicler of New York City, stood in his large window struggling with a broken shade. He wasn’t actually paying attention to the view–he’d seen it many times before: the wide expanse of water towers and fire escapes, the blossom of Wall Street, and the Twin Towers lurching out of the sea. Focusing [...]

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Max Barry’s entertaining new novel was reviewed by Stanley Bing in Sunday’s Washington Post. Bing liked the novel tremendously. Although he felt the characters were a little hollow, which undercut some of the reader’s emotional investment in their lives, the book was still “laugh-out-loud funny, its humor driven by all the pleasure that a true shock [...]

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