It’s All a Question of Balance
Sell yourself. Tell the truth. Both very good advice. Both very necessary if you’re trying to get an agent or editor. The difficulty comes in balancing the two objectives. Seth Godin writes about how marketing creates placebos in order to influence your opinions of a product. “The design of your blog or your package or your…
continue readingSmith Criticizes Literary Awards
Zadie Smith “launched a blistering attack on literary prizes,” according to The Telegraph. This article quotes the author as saying literary awards are “only nominally” about the literature and instead are “really about brand consolidation for beer companies, phone companies, coffee companies and even frozen food companies.” Smith is the recipient of several major literary awards…
continue readingForged Biographies
Galleycat points to an intriguing articleabout author Robert Fisk learning of a Saddam Hussein biography that was published under his name. But he didn’t write it. “No, this wasn’t plagiarism,” Fisk writes. “This was forgery. And it was clearly the moment for Detective Inspector Fisk to hunt down ‘The Mystery of the Cairo Forger’.”
continue readingSuper Books
So, with the New York Giants’s Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots, how long before the football books start trickling out? Eli Manning is probably a shoe-in for an “as told to” book. Winning coach Tom Coughlin who was almost fired last season will probably get one of those coach-as-business-mentor books. And I’m…
continue readingSuper Bowl Books
So the Super Bowl is this weekend and I’m torn. I don’t really care for the Patriots so I would be tempted to root against them. Plus, Eli Manning went to Ole Miss and I remember when the Mannings used to pass through the Alumni House when I worked there. So I feel some obligations…
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