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Reuters conducted a question-and-answer session with Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed about the difficult economy and the prospects for the middle class. They even got her update on some of the people featured in Nickel and Dimed. It’s an interesting take on a challenging time.

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Late last week, the New York Times presented a batch of year-end roundups. Critics Janet Maslin, Dwight Garner, and Michiko Kakutani all pick their top books of 2009. And while I certainly have my disagreements with the critics, I do find lists like this helpful for reminding me of books I might have forgotten over [...]

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It’s been a hectic summer and fall for me, full of travel for book research and other adventures here and there. But I recently got a bit of a break where I could catch up on my reading. And I’m pleased to say that I’ve been on a run of really good books lately. First [...]

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When we observe someone who has truly mastered their craft, whether it’s a writer, athlete, musician, or business person, we tend to assume they achieved that level of mastery through a combination of two ways: 1. They worked really, really hard. 2. They were born with some level of natural talent. However, in Talent is [...]

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To us, the bookish sorts, writers of a certain stature can definitely seem famous. But every once in a while, there’s a comment or an article that shows you just how far down the rung of celebrity writers are. Here’s an interesting article about Jon Ronson, author of the novel, The Men Who Stare at [...]

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In bestselling author Anthony Bozza’s new book, Why AC/DC Matters we get the kind of impassioned art criticism that is normally relegated to websites, fanzines, and independent publishers. Now, in the sake of full disclosure, Bozza is a friend and business colleague of mine. So take these comments with a grain of salt if you [...]

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Aspiring authors often get enraged at the lack of true, specific information about publishing. We’re constantly told, “There’s no standard timetable for a publisher to respond.” You can substitute timetable for dollar amount or print runs or book tours or literary groupies or type of wine served at booksignings or anything else you can imagine. [...]

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This is a website about books and publishing, so you would think all the news regarding a major release would focus on Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. However, I think there are enough publishing outlets covering that news event so I’m going to indulge in another one of my passions today. My obsession with guitars, [...]

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I was doing some traveling over the weekend so I didn’t previously hear about the passing of Jim Carroll, author of The Basketball Diaries. Here’s a good overview of his life and work.

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The Oxford American has released a list of the best Southern novels of all time. I’m sure they did this slightly tongue-in-cheek because these kinds of lists always generate endless hours of debate. Yet, it’s hard to argue with their choices. Be sure to keep an eye on the magazine’s site, as they will be [...]

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This is a bit old, from early August, so you might have seen this already. But if you missed it the first time (like me), be sure to check out Malcolm Jones’s examination of noir books in Newsweek. Jones points out how noir is suddenly a hot genre, with respected authors writing about smoking guns [...]

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Agent Kristin has a very detailed, fact-filled post about how to handle your writing income. As she explains, she’s not a financial advisor, so everyone needs to take these tidbits into consideration with their own expert counsel. But still, this is a great post with important details for us all to think about. Oh, and [...]

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This is fairly breaking news… and a shattering blow to guitar geeks like me. The legendary Les Paul passed away from complications from pneumonia. Check here for more details.

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So just in case you didn’t already know this, the Associated Press comes along with an article about Julie Powell and how most bloggers will never achieve that kind of success. It’s easy to look at the attention being focused on the film Julie & Julia and to assume that millions are going to flock [...]

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