Blogroll

Lit Agent Synchronicity – Comparing Your Novel

publishing2Today, both Nathan Bransford and Ask Daphne address the perennial query letter dilemma: to invoke the master/bestseller comparison or no?

Daphne points out that this “kind of shorthand” is how a lot of agents pitch books to editors … but you run the risk of alienating an agent who despises the author whose work you compare yours to.

Nathan, on the other hand, advises the querying author to seek the middle ground between trying to coat-tail on a bestseller and comparing your book to something so obscure that you might stump the agent.

Both are good blog posts, from people who know.  Check ‘em out.

Comfort and Violence

publishing2How’s this for some publishing juxtaposition?

On Friday, Washington Post‘s sextegenarian, Pulitzer Prize-winning “Style” editor Henry Allen tackled a writer and started punching him in the face after the guy tried to deflate a conflict over a story by suggesting Allen “not be such a c—sucker.”  Can’t imagine why that didn’t work.

But if pressroom combat isn’t your thing, perhaps you should relax by reserving a room at New York City’s Library Hotel, where each floor has six book-stuffed rooms organized according to the Dewey Decimal System. 

If they give you a choice between room 800.001 and room 1100.005 for your romantic get-away, definitely pick the former.

He's Not Yet Ready To Turn The Page

publishingDavid Mehegan spans the centuries at the Boston Globe with a great piece on the genesis of books in Christian codices, the prophesied end of books in electronic Kindle-kin, and the psychological relationship between booklessness and physical nudity. 

 

(Given an either/or choice, take my clothes and leave me the books.)

More Philip Roth Wrath

publishingOk, so maybe “wrath” is a strong word to describe JK Evanczuk’s five-point refutation of Roth’s assertion that the novel would end up a cult item within a quarter century, but I was glad to see someone take on the positive arguments in favor of novel survival.  (I satisfied myself with picking apart Roth’s logic.)

Thanks to Dystel & Goderich Literary Management for pointing me to Evanczuk’s blog.

Protected: NaNoWriMo is NaNoWrongMo

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:


The Sky Goes Black

Having just dumped an impromptu mess into Nathan Bransford’s first paragraph contest, I was a bit humbled and very impressed to see this fantastic introduction by Mandy Morgan on her livejournal site.  Her insertion of a mysterious phenomenon into an otherwise familiar setting is quite well-done.