Writers

Facebook Etiquette for Authors

Ru Freeman | Posted 12.21.2009 | Books

Read More: Facebook for Writers, Books, Networking, Self Promotion, Facebook Status, Writers, Book Promotion, Authors, Facebook Promotion, Facebook, Social Networks. Mark Zuckerberg, Books News
Ru Freeman

I realized that we were all descending, en masse, into a vast swamp of self-promotion that is just not becoming of the writerly class. So I have come up with ten-step pathway to grace for writers.

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"Friendly Fire" Author C.D.B. Bryan Dead

AP | STEPHANIE REITZ | Posted 12.18.2009 | Books

Read More: Writers, The New Yorker, Authors, C.D.B Bryan Dies, Books, Friendly Fire, Friendly Fire Author, Friendly Fire Author Dead, C.D.B. Bryan, C.D.B. Bryan Dead, Books News

HARTFORD, Conn. — C.D.B. Bryan, whose 1976 book "Friendly Fire" about the accidental death of a soldier in Vietnam struck a chord with disillusi...

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Disillusionment And The 'Knowledge Economy'

Bob Wells | Posted 12.17.2009 | Living

Read More: Writers, Unemployment, Knowledge Economy, Editors, The Inner Life, Economy, Living News
Bob Wells

S's death has become an example of (or at least a metaphor for) the pained existence of the growing number of people I know and hear about who could be classed professionally as Knowledge Workers.

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Milorad Pavic Dead: Serbian Author Wrote Non-Traditional, Inventive Novels

The New York Times | MARGALIT FOX | Posted 12.16.2009 | Books

Read More: Milorad Pavic Dead, Jorge Luis Borges, Writers, Serbia, Dictionary of the Khazars, Landscape Painted With Tea, Laurence Sterne, Authors, Umberto Eco, Serbian Author, Books, Milorad Pavic, Cervantes, Books News

Milorad Pavic, an internationally prominent Serbian writer whose novels upended the traditional relationship between reader and text, taking the form ...

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The Peculiar Limits of Black Society in New York

Michael Henry Adams | Posted 12.17.2009 | New York

Read More: Socialite, Journalist, Maggie Betts, Dale Dobson, Dr. Joyce Brown and Carl McCall, Emil Wilbekin, Cheryl Riley, Courtney Sloane, The E. T. Williamses, Ludget Delcy, Mr. And Mrs. Spike Lee, The Adairs, Michael Mccollom, Erana Stennett, Moises De La Renta, Willard Winter, Eula Johnson, Nancy Lane, Social Activist, Kirk Shannon Butts, Susan Taylor, The Governor and Mrs. Patterson, Kehinde Wiley, Photographer, David Patrick Columbia, David Levering Lewis, Evelyn Cunningham, Audrey Smaltz, Thelma Golden, Rachel Roy, Alma and Charlie Rangel, Michaela Angela Davis, Curtis Quentin Phelps, Mary Schmidt Campbell, Jason Campbell, Norma Darden, Kim Heirston, Ruth Ann Stewart, Sheila Bridges, New York Times, Joyce Mullins-Jackson, The Cosbys, Cordelle Cleare, Rene Cox, Ray Alexander Minter, Stanley Crouch, Back Designer, Bonnie Morrison, The Chenaults, Montgomery, President Obama, Tamara and Greg Tunie, Malcolm Harris, The Dinkinses, Gordon Chambers, Pam and Bill Perkins, Rainbow Room, GenèVe Jones, Aubrey Lynch, Society, G. Winston James, B. Michael, Lana Turner, Audrey J. Bernard, Harriet Cole, Henry Mitchell, Michelle Obama, Writers, Mr. And Mrs. Chris Rock, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Lowery Stokes Sims, Anthony Bryant, Famous, Clarence Haynes, Sherry Bronfman, The Redheads, Dancers, Nicola Vassell, Tyson Perez, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, Marc Baptist, Kevin Bright, Phyllis Briley. Rocky Baron Boler, Tastemakers, Lou Willard, Town and Country, Susan Fales-Hill, Robin Bell Stevens, Artist, George Faison, The Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Gordon Davis, Hip Hop; Deitch Gallery, Reginald Van Lee, Stephen Burrows, New York News
Michael Henry Adams

Is there really such a thing as 'black society'? Many people certainly used to think so! Imagine, today we have one African American president and ...

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Publishing's Winner's Curse

Nathan Bransford | Posted 12.10.2009 | Books

Read More: Writers, Book Publishers, Books, Frank Norris, Advances, Bestsellers, Authors, Blink, Agents, Malcolm Gladwell, San Francisco, Death Valley, Celebrity Books, Celebrities, Publishing, Publishers, Winners Curse, Books News
Nathan Bransford

If publishers can no longer accurately guess at an audience even for formerly safe categories like adult trade nonfiction, will they continue to gamble so much money on big advances for a small number of books whose success is increasingly difficult to predict?

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Alexander McCall Smith: Prolific Author Keeps Churning Out Novels

USA Today | Carol Memmott | Posted 12.07.2009 | Books

Read More: La's Orchestra Saves the World, Alexander McCall Smith, New Alexander McCall Smith, Writers, Writing, Authors, New Books, Books, The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Books News

Best known for his popular series starring "lady detective" Mma Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's only female private eye, the prolific McCall Smith is al...

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eReaders Through The Eyes Of Thriller Writers

The New York Times | PETER WAYNER | Posted 12.03.2009 | Books

Read More: Lee Child, Kindle, Novels, Reading, Thrillers, Ereaders, Writers, Joseph Finder, Thriller Writers, Writing, Authors, Ebooks, Books, Amazon, John Updike, Fonts, Books News

What do authors think of the new electronic replacements for bound paper? Some are traditionalists who want nothing to do with electronic readers -- o...

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The Story of Another Manual Typewriter's Journey

Carol Hoenig | Posted 12.01.2009 | Books

Read More: Olivetti Typewriter, Barbie, Writing, New York Times, Upstate New York, Smith & Corona, Passion, Long Island, Cormac McCarthy, Pulitzer, Writers, Authors, Books, Typewriters, Manual Typewriters, Books News
Carol Hoenig

When other girls were asking for Barbie dolls, I was wishing for a typewriter, one that would actually tap out a world of my own creation.

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In Defense of the Weenie Roast

Amelia Gray | Posted 11.30.2009 | Books

Read More: Women Writers, Sexism, Writers, Publishers Weekly, Gender Discrimination, Authors, Female Authors, Books, Best Books, Best Books of 2009, Books News
Amelia Gray

Assumptions that the Publishers Weekly Top 10 Books of 2009 emerged from the hazy cigar smoke of an old boys' club are likely misguided.

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Four Reasons You Will Never Get Published

Michael Ashley | Posted 11.20.2009 | Books

Read More: Authors, Publishing, Fastpencil, Writers, Technology, Books News
Michael Ashley

You don't know the right people and traditional publishers don't believe your book will ever sell. Fortunately for you, the publishing industry is in transition and you might have a chance.

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Why Do Writers Write?

Mark Coker | Posted 11.19.2009 | Books

Read More: Future of Publishing, Nanowrimo, Future of Books, Books, Writing, Ebooks, Writers' Brains, Writers, Brains, Brain Chemistry, Dopamine, Self-Publishing, Books News
Mark Coker

Writers are artists, and artists are compelled to express themselves, even if only to an audience of one.

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The Best Writing Tips Ever

The Huffington Post | Amy Hertz | Posted 11.17.2009 | Books

Read More: Howl, Writing Teacher, Writers, Writing Tips, Writing, Meditation, Kaddish, Allen Ginsberg, Poetry, Books News

I've been in publishing for more than 20 years, I've attended my fair share of writer's conferences and workshops, and in my experience, the poet Alle...

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Sick of Sarah Palin's Book? Let's Talk About Writing And The Writers' Writer

The Huffington Post | Amy Hertz | Posted 11.16.2009 | Books

Read More: Writers, Writing, Literary Prizes, Best Writing, Best Writers, Writer's Writers, Slidepoll, William Gass, Paul Bowles, Henry Green, Barry Hannah, Jane Bowles, Stanley Elkin, Raymond Carver, Tobias Wolff, Flannery O'Connor, George Saunders, Alice Munro, Books News

These last two weeks seem to be all about books by non-writers and we felt it was time to change the conversation. We asked writers--colleagues and fr...

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Mary Karr Interview: "Lit" Part II

Huffington Post | Steve Ross | Posted 11.11.2009 | Books

Read More: Writing Memoir, New Books, Mary Karr Lit, Bestsellers, Catholicism, Cherry, Lit, Writers, Melville, Interview, Writing, Authors, The Liar's Club, Mary Karr Memoir, Author Interviews, Books, Mary Karr, Mary Karr Interview, Memoir, Books News

The following is a continuation of a Huffington Post interview with author Mary Karr on her new memoir, "Lit." You can read the first part here. Hu...

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Great Author Interviews With Barbara Kingsolver, Sapphire, and Mary Karr(AUDIO)

npr.com | Posted 11.10.2009 | Books

Read More: Barbara Kingsolver, Barbara Kingsolver the Lacuna, The Lacuna, Writers, Books, Writing, Mary Karr Lit, Precious, Lit, Authors, Npr, Sapphire Push, Sapphire, Radio, Push, Author Interviews, Mary Karr, Books News

NPR has a host of great author interviews every week, and we thought we'd bring you the best of the recent ones. Listen below for three really great o...

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Margaret Atwood, Anne Rice, Kazuo Ishiguro And Others Share Their Writing Tips

Wall Street Journal | ALEXANDRA ALTER | Posted 11.06.2009 | Books

Read More: Anne Rice, John Wray, Writers, Junot Diaz, Books, Writing, Writing Strategies, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Writing Techniques, Nicholson Baker, Edwidge Danticat, Colum McCann, Laura Lippman, Authors, Kate Christensen, Richard Powers, Writer's Block, Orhan Pamuk, Writing Tips, Dan Chaon, Russell Banks, Hilary Mantel, Writing Secrets, Amitav Gosh, Kazuo Ishiguro, Books News

Richard Powers lounges in bed all day and speaks his novels aloud to a laptop computer with voice-recognition software. Junot Diaz, author of the Puli...

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This Writer's Life: Why Write Memoir When Fiction is So Much More Respectable?

Rebecca Walker | Posted 11.19.2009 | Books

Read More: Irene Vilar, Writers, Writing Memoir, James Frey, Writing, Authors, Alice Walker, Books, Memoir, Fiction, Memoirists, Books News
Rebecca Walker

I love the form and feel it is mine the way others feel poetry or the short story is theirs, but memoir is still seen as the first cousin of the tabloid, is it not?

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The Tide Always Comes Back

Jean Carnahan | Posted 11.03.2009 | Books

Read More: Writers, The Tide Always Comes Back, US Senators, Ocean, Authors, New Books, Book Titles, Books, Beaches, Tides, Books News
Jean Carnahan

Conceived on the beach, The Tide Always Comes Back is woven with hope, humor and gentle reminders of what we know to be true.

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The Great Conversation Interrupted. Kindle, Annotated.

Gerald Sindell | Posted 11.02.2009 | Books

Read More: Writers, Amazon Kindle, Margins, Kindle, Reading, Writing, Books, E-Books, Annotations, Books News
Gerald Sindell

When we buy a copy of a book, we own that copy. When we purchase, for almost as many dollars, a Kindle or other electronic version of a book, we have not really bought a copy of the book.

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Going Digital

Jean Naggar | Posted 10.30.2009 | Books

Read More: Writers, Going Digital, Amazon Kindle, Kindle, Reading, Writing, Books, Ebooks, Audiobooks, Digital Reading, Ereaders, Books News
Jean Naggar

As we head at a fast clip into an unimaginable future, we need to keep a clear vision and a firm grip on what had meaning in the past. The desire to shape and share our stories is embedded in our DNA.

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My Failure at SEO: A Writer's Confession about Internet Marketing: Or, Why You Probably Won't Find Me Easily Online

Tamar Chansky | Posted 10.28.2009 | Technology

Read More: Google, Joan Didion, Internet, Writers, Marketing, Malcolm Gladwell, Ann Beattie, Seo, Lynne Sharon Schwartz, Pr, Key Words, Technology News
Tamar Chansky

SEO is stealth, it's sleek; it's all about titles that are short, searchable and to the point. It doesn't cater to the clever book title or site name, it could care less about how erudite you are.

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Australian Author: The New J.K. Rowling?

The Wall Street Journal | DALYA ALBERGE | Posted 10.26.2009 | Books

Read More: J.K. Rowling, Australia, Rebecca James, Writers, Australian Author, Financial Crisis @Y:Business, New Author, Authors, Young Adult Books, Beautiful Malice, Ya-Books, Books, Harry Potter, Book Deals, Frankfurt Book Fair, Books News

In a success story reminiscent of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's, Ms. James is a mother and first-time author who is going from nothing to becomin...

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Philip Roth On The Humbling, The Internet, And Nora Roberts

The Wall Street Journal | JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG | Posted 10.23.2009 | Books

Read More: Literature, Authors, Internet, Nobel Prize, Writers, Nora Roberts, Books, Writing, Modern Fiction, James Patterson, Philip Roth the Humbling, American Fiction, Philip Roth Interview, The Humbling, Philip Roth, Books News

At 76, Mr. Roth continues to explore the themes that have defined his work: the eroding of family ties; man's struggle with depression and loneliness ...

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I'm In Sales

Amy Dickinson | Posted 10.23.2009 | Books

Read More: Ann Landers, Writers, Barbara Walters, Writing, Authors, Book Tours, Selling Books, Bookselling, The View, Books, Whoopi Goldberg, Bestsellers, Memoir, Writing Books, Books News
Amy Dickinson

What I learned during my book tour is that I was dying to have people actually read my book, and if they were going to read it, I was first going to have to sell it to them.

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