Bookish links 27 Nov: typewriter guides, the perfectability of manuscripts, biographer lives more!

RIASS stuff:

The Art of Truth in nonfiction: an event summary

At Last by Jill Shalvis (and why I'm a sap at heart)'Rating:

Do you avoid books with ugly covers?'Confessions welcome!

'Humour in stories never goes out of fashion' ' Sally Harris, author of Diary of a Penguin-napper

Other bookish stuff:

HarperTeen has launched an ebook imprint for YA short stories and novellas

Using war as a cover to target journalists'Journalists who dig into murky and dangerous corners of the world have become accustomed to being threatened and sometimes hunted by drug lords and gangsters, but now some governments have decided shooting the messenger is a viable option. The C.P.J.'reports'that government officials and their allies are now suspected of being responsible for more than a third of the murders of journalists, a higher proportion than killings attributed to terrorist groups or criminal enterprises.

Top film adaptations of literary classics

and some great graphic novels from 2012

and some international fiction from 2012

An illustrated guide to typewriters!

Mike Shatzkin on publishing mergers and the reasons behind them'As the percentage of a publishers' sales that are made through retail stores decreases, the cost of covering them increases. This has already become an issue as the big publishers view their overheads and come to the conclusion that they can't afford to pay ebook royalties greater than 25% of receipts. Surely, some of the cost basis they see driving that necessity are really print-based (creation and distribution), which makes them calculate what's affordable differently than a more new-fangled publisher that is planning primarily on digital and online distribution.

Editor Cheryl Klein with some words of wisdom from her recent boot camp'Editors have a close-to-inexhaustible faith in the perfectability of manuscripts:' that they'can'and'will'get better, with the application of the right combination of insight, imagination, time, and elbow grease. We acquire this faith through seeing the process happen over and over again, for a wide array of writers and projects. It is a much harder faith for writers to keep, given that they usually dont have the opportunity to see any process but their own, and theyre so deeply personally invested in that and the outcome

On the changes in publishing and what they mean for authors and illustrators'Its become a little too easy for publishing houses to convince authors and illustrators that their creative work is only worth something because the large publishing house is willing to publish it. The worth of creative work is far greater than that. And now may well be the time for authors and illustrators to take stock of what they do well, what they do best, and be open to all opportunities to share their work

The WWI trench talk that has become entrenched in modern English'Lousy, crummy, washed up, fed up and snapshot are just a few examples.

On the evolution of the emoticon'Fahlman still hears complaints that it is a hallmark of lazy writing. His critics tend to raise questions like Would Shakespeare have used a smiley face? Yes, Fahlman says, if Shakespeare were around today, thumb-tapping a screed 'about parking at the Globe Theater, he might say something intemperate. And then he might think twice about it and want to use an emoticon.

On he, she and they in English'But theres no way to get around the cognitive dissonance of an English professor proscribing the use of a plural pronoun to describe a single thing. Its just icky. And I dont want to think that grammar must be sacrificed on the altar of feminism: Shouldnt gender equality help us make more sense rather than less? Say what? This article is an utter load of rubbish. See my angry face: >:(

(image from FlickR commons)

Planning on pitching an agent or editor at a party? Maybe check out these tips first.'They include not butting in on a previous conversation, not being pushy, keeping your pitch short, and looking for cues that the agent/editor is looking to wrap up the conversation.

On the life of the biographer'There are times the giddy dispossession borders on possession, or when an exorcism might seem in order. If you're writing about a recent subject, your datebook comes inevitably to resemble his: lunch with the first wife, dinner with the second. You adopt your subject's drinks, grudges, perfumes, jokes, tics, museums, obsessions as your own. You might consult a therapist regarding his behavior, despite the fact that he and his neuroses have been dead for decades. You misdate your checks ' to the wrong century.

How boredom can result in ideas Its only when youre bored that you allow your mind to wander and indulge your imagination. When I was a kid, I would daydream in a class or Id concoct stories on the walk home from school. Ive always had trouble getting to sleep at night, so will often spend an hour or two in the dark simply imaginingif you want to write or draw or create art and youre stumped on how to come up with an idea, I would suggest going for a walk and simply allowing your imagination to run free

Grieving for the book: stage onedenial'I'm in the curious position of being super-excited about my first novel being published (as a book) next year ' developing ideas for the book cover, the back cover blurb, the marketing and distribution ' while recognising that my future publishing world will be geared in a different direction. Sam Twyford-Moore, in the same conference panel, said that publishing in book form, you may as well print it out and 'put it in a box' (compared with the audience you get online).

Jeff Kinney in Melbourne earlier this year (I do have notes from this event somewhere but, look, a pretty video instead!)