February 5th is Deadline for World Book Night Volunteers

World Book Night, April 23, 2012,  is a community service event that puts books in the hands of those who have limited access to them – veteran hospitals, nursing homes, women’s shelters, food pantries, military bases, and prisons.  Volunteers will collect books donated by publishers for distribution, select  one and hand another a book that they love.

The campaign, modeled on a British book night last March, features 30 titles chosen by booksellers and librarians. It’s a wide range of titles, including Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games and John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. Special paperback editions of the 30 titles are being printed.  Costs are being underwritten by publishers, printers and paper companies.  All 30 authors have waived their royalties

The start of an e-publishing bubble

Ewan Morrison tracks the self e-publishing euphoria of the last five months and argues that we are at the start of an e-publishing bubble.

Reports show that paper book sales are down 54.3% while e-book sales are up by 138%.   Morrison writes, “The revolution will be e-published, and we’re all going to be part of it.”

Money is being made out of thin air: there are seminars, conferences and courses springing up everywhere. Television and radio programs are being made about self e-publishing.

Shirley Holmes and Jane Watson

Journalist Kate Harrad of the UK newspaper, The Guardian, has a lot of fun imagining classical fictional male roles as females.

Can’t you just see Shirley Holmes chatting with her friend, Jane Watson over tea and opium?

Or how about Prejudice and Pride?  “The women ride around on horseback, go where they like, own houses, lead households. The men – or, as they’re more often described, the boys – stay at home, play the piano, and know that marriage is the only realistic aim of their adult lives.”

The Bookstore’s Last Stand

These are trying times for almost everyone in the book business. Since 2002, the United States has lost roughly 500 independent bookstores — nearly one out of five. About 650 bookstores vanished when Borders went out of business last year.

No wonder that some New York publishers have gone so far as to sketch out what the industry might look like without Barnes & Noble. It’s not a happy thought for them.  Without Barnes & Noble, the publishers’ marketing proposition crumbles.

It’s never too late to start a writing career

Think you’re too old to start a writing career? In many industries, there’s an emphasis on youth, on what’s new, cutting-edge, and hip. But many beloved creative writers didn’t find success until their later years.

Raymond Chandler, best known for his mystery novels about hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe, published his first novel, “The Big Sleep, when he was 51.

James A. Michener wrote over forty books during his career, writing until he died at age ninety.

Which other authors started writing late in life?  Read more.

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Literary Gender War……continued

The literary gender war started with best selling writer Jennifer Weiner’s statement that the New York Times does not do a very good job covering women writers.

After a tsunami of indignation swelled across the Internet, Slate.com confirmed the problem: of the 545 books reviewed between July 2008 and August, 2010, 62 percent were by men, 38 percent were by women…and of the 101 books that were reviewed twice in that time period, 71 percent were by men.

Author Teddy Wayne added to the furor with his argument that women writers have it easier than men because of women’s book clubs.

Is there gender bias against male novelists?

Novelist Teddy Wayne takes issue with bestselling authors Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult’s complaint that the “literary” media machine ignores women writers while heaping praise on male writers like Jonathan Franzen.  Weiner calculates, that of the 254 novels reviewed by the New York Times in 2011 — both in the daily pages and the Sunday book review — only 41 percent were written by women.

Wayne believes that, except for the upper echelon of male literary authors like Franzen, Jeffrey Eugenides, Don DeLillo and their ilk, plus a few younger writers like Chad Harbach who have scored much-ballyhooed advances — it’s actually harder for men than it is for women to carve out a financially stable writing career.

Shakespeare saved his life

At one of the lowest moments of his life, DG Strong started doing something he never thought he’d do.  He joined a Nashville Shakespeare Festival program called “Shakespeare Allowed.”

It could also be called “Shakespeare Aloud” because each member of the group reads one speech or line at a time…..aloud.

DG joined the group when he was in the midst of under-employment and depression.  He was amazed to see people jammed into a small room at the local library eager to read Shakespeare.  A whole world opened up to him.

NY Times versus LA Times best selling crime fiction picks

The highest combined position on this East vs. West crime fiction comparison goes to Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James. This is the second week on both lists for James’ historical novel that transplants Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice characters into a world of suspense and mystery. Death Comes to Pemberley is in the #1 spot on the LA Times list and #5 in the New York Times.

The Litigators, by John Grisham takes the second highest combined spot; it’s #7 in the LA Times and #3 in New York. Grisham’s latest novel about a young brilliant, yet burned-out, attorney who joins a shady law firm has been on both lists for eight weeks.

Dating tips from Dickens, Austen & Tolstoy

Maura Kelly and Jack Murnighan got to know each other after Maura  wrote a profile of Jack for the Daily Beast, pegged to the release of his previous book.

They became friends, in part because Maura would ask Jack for advice about her dating conundrums and Jack would tell Maura that she should take a lesson from a novel.

Eventually, Maura began to think, “I should bottle Jack and begin selling him to all my friends.” Then she thought, “Hey, we should write a book!” Read more….

Salon