Author: Scott McKenzie

Interview: Joe McGinniss Jr., Author

It was hard to be objective with this one. I first learned about Joe McGinniss Jr. through the much discussed news item on Publishers Marketplace announcing the sale of his novel to Grove/Atlantic. Then a personal and obviously time-consuming email appeared in my inbox from McGinniss. As opposed to most of the pitches I get that are spewed…

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But What if You Fry Them?

The Arizona Republic reprinted an interesting article about Steve Ettlinger’s Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats. “When Steve Ettlinger donned a hard hat, a head lamp and emergency breathing equipment before his alarming descent 1,600 feet into…

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Great Information on the Countdown to a Book Launch

Mark Sarvas at The Elegant Variation provides a great look into all the things that are on a writer’s plate when it’s about two months away from the book launch.

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Personas from Long Ago

In LA Weekly’s lengthy and detailed article about Laura Albert and the J.T. Leroy hoax, Nancy Rommelmann reveals that Albert was making up cover stories and personas decades ago. And she also explains how the Leroy persona was the perfect creation for the times. “During the cultural relativism of the ’90s, if you wanted to sell…

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Ford Leaves Knopf

  Wow. Richard Ford is ending his seventeen-year relationship with Alfred A. Knopf and moving to Ecco. Big, big news. This article is also useful because, as you know, I’m a bit obsessed by the mystery of sales figures. According to this article, Ford’s last novel, Lay of the Land sold “51,000 copies in hardcover,…

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