Publishing News
Top 10 Lists: For the first time ever, Library Journal has posted a Top 10 books of the year list, complete with Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, Michael Cunningham’s By Nightfall, and the one that has Cyndi jumping up and down, Justin Cronin’s The Passage.
Publishers Weekly announced its own top 10 of 2010, with Franzen (naturally), Michael Lewis’s The Big Short, and Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad — but we were tickled to see Patti Smith’s Just Kids and Lauren Hillenbrand’s Unbroken on the list too. The full list of 100 books comes out in Monday’s issue of PW.
Why E-Books Aren’t Scary: Stephen King weighs in on ebooks in this interview with the Wall Street Journal. Best quote: “I wonder if one or two atom bombs went off, would electromagnetic pulses erase the world’s reading material from the servers where they are stored?”
But Can You Still Make a Living? Check out “Are Writers Powerless to Make a Living in the Digital Age,” an interview with Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget and father of virtual reality. Lanier issues a litmus test: “If somebody can actually get their kids through college writing for screens, for e-books, then the thing is working,” said Lanier. “If they can’t, it isn’t. That’s a crucial initial threshold we have to pass to even have this discussion.” Read more here at Publishing Perspectives.
Resources
Sheila Bender’s Writing It Real magazine and community looks to be a great site for anyone writing personal essays or memoir. You can even sign up for a series of e-prompts to give you ideas. Check out the sample articles.
Contests
2011 Nautilus Awards recognize books, audiobooks and e-books that promote a better world.
Prizes: Gold and Silver awards
Deadline: Jan. 31, 2011
Guidelines & Entry Forms: Click here.
