RIASS stuff:
You might have noticed that RIASS has been having issues. A server crash took the site down a few nights ago, and I've had a lot of down time since then. Please bear with me while I try to get things up and running again, and rest assured that I'll be moving to another server/CMS soon! (Well, unless the world ends today, of course.)
Unreliable narrators and Emily Maguire's Fishing for Tigers'A curious read redolent of F Scott Fitzgeralds'Tender is the Night.
Nameless narrators and Sarah Brill's'Glory. What are your thoughts on books that avoid naming their narrators?
Dinner parties and Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero'Or why starting a new series is like trying to host a group dinner.
Other bookish stuff:
On editing Alice Munro:'Says her Canadian editor Anne Close:''She'll work on those endings for a long timeMost writers write very ambiguous endings because they don't want to be too obvious. So I'll say, 'What's this mean?' or 'What's that mean?' I'll keep after her until she gets it a little clearer.'
It looks as though 2013 is going to be the year of the paywall'While theres a growing body of evidence suggesting paywalls can workit looks like the battle lines are still being drawn. Paywalls have become a respectable revenue model, but that doesnt mean someone else isnt going to come up with a way to make ads work.'Or how about this for a new rule of publishing in 2013: no business can succeed with a business model entirely based on advertising'and without'some'form of direct payments.
A message from John Sargent at Macmillan There are two reasons we decided not to settle. First, it is hard to settle when you have done nothing wrongThe second reason is the more important one. Since the very beginning, the government's demands have never wavered in all our discussions. They still insist on the two year discounting regime that forms the heart of the agreement signed by the three settling publishersSimultaneous discounting across the major publishers (you could think of it as government-mandated collusive pricing) would lead to an unhealthy marketplace. As we heard of each successive publisher settling, the need to support retailers, both digital and bricks and mortar, became more important.
Whoa, the Chronicle staff go in for some pretty involved pranks
The psychology of online reviews the impact of the early positive facts lingered, leading to enhanced ratings for the brand that was originally misdescribed in glowing terms. In contrast, the stain of negative facts wore off. The brand originally misdescribed in negative terms was given fair ratings by the participants, as if they were able to forget the mistaken negative associations.
Is writing creative? I could write novels without putting down a word during those creative flurries.' To me those flares of creativity are about the story; yes, they are necessary to write a novel, because without them what story do you write'about'but they are not at all necessary to the actual act of writingWriting is not creative.' It's the cognitive summary of the creative process.
The new breed of childrens book author A lot of new authors and illustrators are coming to us with a passion for digital storytelling. Many of them are multi-disciplined and can write, illustrate, code and animate. It's these people who are naturally interested in stories beyond format that we have been signing up. But there is still plenty of room for traditional writers and illustrators. It's been fun pairing up an illustrator with an animator and writers with developers.
Macmillans new Swoon Reads introduces crowdsourced publishing model This pioneering venture will create an online community where writers submit their manuscripts directly to the publisher, and readers participate in the publishing process by reading, rating, and commenting on submissions ' and subsequently by providing notes and input on cover design and marketing for accepted books.
Hosting a book launch soon? Heres a media callout that might interest you.'
Audible is giving away'A Christmas Carol,'read by Tim Curry, to readers as a Christmas gift.
Not bookish, but potentially relevant: Newtown massacre has influenced plans at movie and TV studios The shooting has prompted soul searching of a more personal kind in the entertainment capital. Hollywood's power lunches have been filled in recent days with conversations about hypocrisy, according to people in the industry: Many of those who are liberal leaning and'support gun control'also make their livings selling violent images.'There is also a creeping dread in Hollywood that the industry will be drawn into a governmental crackdown on violent imagery.
A TedTalk with Jarrett J. Krosoczka:
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