Bookish links 13 Dec: lovely words, print books make better gifts, querying book pricing/marketing more!

RIASS stuff:

When book cover quotes are the critical equivalent of 'you've had a haircut''In which I look at hilariously useless book cover quotes like hotly anticipated

'It's a place that devours its inhabitants.' An interview with author Melanie Calvert on Tasmanian Gothic and her novel Freycinet

The Story Girl and Anne: or why we need more quiet books

Historical Holiday Blog Hop giveaway: Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper'(open to all)

Other bookish stuff:

Print books are still the way to go as gifts during the holiday season'Its hard to giftwrap an ebook, after all. Of course, give it a year or two, and Im sure well have the iTunes gift card equivalent for books happening.

An interview with Guy Kawasaki'When the dust settles, I hope self-publishing empowers 'everyone' to write a book. The cream will rise to the top. Then the traditional publishers will acquire those titles and sign those authors to future deals. This is the genius of Amazon Encore'Amazon's system of watching what sells well and acquiring the title.'It's also probably the madness behind Penguin buying Author Solutions and the lunacy of Simon & Schuster partnering with Author Solutions after the Penguin acquisition. Why both companies are trying to buy their way into self-publishing astounds me.

Breakup letters from famous authors I am better at dry sadness than at cold anger, for I remained dry eyed until now, as dry as smoked fish, but my heart is a kind of dirty soft custard inside, wrote Simone de Beauvoir.

Comparing the experiences of self-published and traditionally published authors On the whole self-published authors are marginally more satisfied than traditionally published authors, although its worth considering that the goals/expectations of the two groups are probably quite different. Interestingly, the traditionally published authors expressed concerns about their publishers ebook pricing and marketing strategies.

Fifteen unusual words that make writers swoon. Yes to every single one of these.

Adam Manbasch, author of Go the F*ck to Sleep, reflects on his year on the bestseller charts'There was, of course, a fair amount of blowback to 'Go the F*ck to Sleep's' incursion into the cultural mainstream. This was largely in the form of huffy weirdos fulminating on the interwebs. ('I would never read this book to a child.' Yeah, no shit. It says 'fuck' on the cover. And on the back it says 'you probably should not read this to a child.' It would take a very particular blend of literacy and illiteracy to mistakenly read this book to a kid.) They, in turn, were shut down by the nation's grandmothers, who turn out to be a really crass and hip group of people.

Charles Dickens's former home reopened to the public yesterday Doh. I went before the revamp.

The Atlantic Wires YA and MG books of the year Ive barely read any of these, but yay for the Frances Hardinge shout-out. If you havent read her, you really must.

An interview with Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket.'You see failed vocabulary in the adult world so often, and its often because once you reach a certain age youre kind of embarrassed to go look up a word if you dont know what it means. And then you just start using it however it feels right. I think children are less embarrassed to go look up the truth.

The new science of meaning From new research, we now know that most of the simulations people construct while understanding language go completely undetected theyre there even when people arent aware of them.'For example, you might not think that you activate the mouth-controlling parts of your motor cortex when you read'The dog is feasting on that juicy morsel.'But you doSurprisingly, even metaphorical language like this leads people to simulate seeing things or performing actions.

Mmm, bubblebath that smells like a paperback book.

A free short story from fantasy author Tad Williams

Childrens book trends for 2013: