This Week in Publishing 10/23/09

This (crazy) week in publishing…

For a rundown of the really big news in publishing this week, please see yesterday’s post.

But there’s more!

Jofie Ferrari-Adler continued his series of fascinating/awesome/cool interviews with publishing people, this time with Twelve editor Jonathan Karp. Among the nuggets: some great anecdotes about CB clients and NURTURESHOCK co-authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, a really interesting take on the author/agent relationship, and the publishing philosophy that led him to create an innovating imprint.

In political book news, LA Times’ book blog Jacket Copy (which is awesome, please check it out) noticed twin Sarah Palin books, one called GOING ROGUE the other called GOING ROUGE, both featuring covers of Sarah Palin staring purposefully off into the distance. Only: ROGUE is subtitled “AN AMERICAN LIFE” and is the actual Sarah Palin autobiography. ROUGE is subtitled “AN AMERICAN NIGHTMARE.” Annnnnnnnnnnnnd…. cue the political anons in the comment section.

The New Yorker’s Book Bench blog linked to a rather fascinating and thought-provoking post in Seed Magazine about how we humans are writing more than ever before, and are verging on a future of potential universal authorship. What I want to know is: if everyone’s busy writing, how are they going to have time for reading?

INDEX//mb left some serious bait for Eric from Pimp My Novel: an argument against book sales forecasting (via @chriswebb). INDEX believes that sales forecasting is at the minimum useless because it ignores the likelihood of unforeseen random events (aka “black swans“), and argues instead that publishers should focus on being agile and responding more quickly to swings in demand rather than trying to be overly accurate with initial forecasts. Your move, Eric.

Meanwhile, the INTERN has wrapped up her stint at a NY publishing house and rounds up what she learned. Very interesting topics from someone on the inside.

In contest news, recently crowned stupendously ultimate first paragraph winner Travis Erwin is having a contest to celebrate Agent Appreciation Day on November 1st. Very nice! And my very excellent client Natalie Whipple is having a Halloween fiction contest. Very spooky!

National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, is coming up, in which people frantically attempt to write 50,000 word first drafts (hear me: FIRST DRAFTS) in one month. Lots of people ask me how I feel about NaNoWriMo, and basically, I agree with agent Kate Schafer Testerman. Some great first drafts of successful novels have arisen out of NaNoWriMo. Remember: Thanksgiving is for ignoring your family members and cranking out a first draft, December is for ignoring your family members and cranking out the first of many revisions that you will probably need until March at least to polish. Cool? Cool.

Even though I don’t rep picture books, I get this question a lot: do you need to find an illustrator for your picture book ahead of time? Editorial Anonymous says: FOR THE LAST TIME: NO! (that’s a direct quote).

You may have been wondering how the new FTC guidelines about disclosing free stuff is going to affect book reviews. My very awesome client Jennifer Hubbard (author of THE SECRET YEAR) recently attended a session at the Kidlitosphere Conference with FTC representative Mary Engle, who clarifies that the FTC should not affect book review blogs. Whew! Jennifer also recapped the conference for Shrinking Violet Promotions.

Jessica Faust at BookEnds checked in with a great reminder for all authors out there: we agents do the things we do for a reason, and if you don’t like or aren’t good at writing queries/synopses or revising: well…… it’s basically your job to be good at it.

In posts about the writing life, Alexander Chee wrote a moving article about taking a writing class with Annie Dillard, which has some truly fantastic writing advice (via John Ochwat), and Cynthia Leitich Smith has a post with advice for debut authors on dealing with nasty reviews.

And finally, the Onion checked in with a local San Francisco author who is at this moment writing very deep thoughts in a Moleskin notebook.

Have a great weekend!