Wednesday Book News: 9 Links for your Morning Coffee Break
Good morning, beautiful people! Can you believe it’s already Wednesday? According to the WSJ, Borders has just filed for bankruptcy protection. I’ll tweet any new news as it comes in. This morning’s links are mostly oldies (in internet time–a lot of them are from late January/early February) but goodies. If you’re in a rush, make sure you check out Mary’s assistant post, Janice’s query post, and Tom’s post on Celebooks–that should cover...
Read MoreGreat Authors Are People, Too–Interviews with Ally Carter, Scott Westerfeld, & Eoin Colfer
Ever feel intimidated by the big YA and MG authors out there? I do. Fortunately, there’s YouTube, the great equalizer, to remind me that even the best authors are real people too. Here are a few interviews I’m loving right now. Ally Carter on How to Kill Someone With Spaghetti & Heist Society Scott Westerfeld on writing YA Eoin Colfer on fantasy, writing, and growing up as a reader (This is just a clip; get the rest at Author Magazine.) Have you read Ally, Scott, or Eoin?...
Read MoreCould Writing Negative Book Reviews Affect Your Career?
Earlier this week, I posted about the power of negative book reviews, which generated a lot of discussion in the comments. Livia worries that writing bad reviews can impact a writer’s career: The first was the observation that in other industries, it’s considered unprofessional to talk badly about your colleagues. You don’t see other actors dissing other actors (well okay, sometimes you do, but it’s generally looked badly upon), and you don’t see other painters making lists of...
Read MoreWill Kindle Singles Mean Extra Content From Our Favorite YA Authors?
Kindle Singles are, on the surface, the 21st century answer to pamphlets and novellas. They could also save short stories of the longer variety, the 6,000 to 10,000 word works that are too long for many lit magazines, and are still a bit of a nebulous nellie in the online zine department. But what has me really excited is the extras possibilities. Reading a novel is a big time commitment, and in a good novel the emotional connection–happy, sad, funny–can leave you both elated and...
Read MoreWednesday Book News: 6 Links for your morning coffee break
Good morning, book people! Today is babysitting day in Peta-land, so I’ll spend a good chunk of it catching up. In the meantime, here’s what I’m reading–and loving–over this morning’s cup of coffee. An oldie but a goodie, Michiko Kakutani reviews Alison Pearson’s YA novel, I Think I Love You, about a 13 year old in love with David Cassidy for the NYT. Not writing specific, but The Guardian has an update to their Juliet Jacques series on learning to live...
Read MoreThe Power of Negative Book Reviews
Yesterday, Emily St.John Mandel posted an essay on negative book reviews over at The Millions. It’s a wonderfully well-thought out piece filled with interesting tidbits about famous authors and their bad reviews. This is my favorite: “Richard Ford once responded to a negative review by taking one of the reviewer’s novels outside and shooting a hole through it. The novelist who gave him a bad review? Alice Hoffman. And although Mandel ultimately concludes in favor of negative...
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