The End of Country
by,
July 26, 2011

The End of Country is like many other books that have surfaced in the last five or so years on the scarcity of true wilderness and the abuse of natural resources resulting from corporate greed. Seamus McGraw’s story is frightening, even apocalyptic; after all, Nature’s resources are finite. But it needs to be told and, for many residents in Upstate New York like me, its… [Read More]

Physiographic Love Affairs
by,
July 21, 2011

  I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray, I hear it in the deep heart’s core. W.B. Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,”   Last Sunday, as part of the 9th Works-In-Progress reading at Buffalo Street Books, local writer… [Read More]

A Matchmaking Tool: Publisher’s Marketplace
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July 17, 2011

Swenson Book Development, LLC works to match an author’s project with an agent or publisher. Our success in doing so makes many people wonder how we do it. Drawing back the curtain on the Wizards of Bookery, we reveal one of the methods employed in our toolkit to serve our clients’ objectives. Publisher’s Marketplace is the largest online network of publishing professionals. Our professional subscription… [Read More]

The Summer Without Men
by,
July 12, 2011

Don’t let the jacket copy and title fool you. No chick lit fodder beckons in Siri Hustvedt’s newest fiction: The Summer Without Men (Picador, April 26, 2011). The antics of Mia Fredrickson’s young and turbulent neighbors, the adolescent girls in her poetry workshop, and her mother’s senior circle composed of the wise and nurturing “Five Swans” provides the context for deep intellectual passages and keeps… [Read More]

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
by,
July 9, 2011

By Bethany Dixon I admit it: I judged this book by its cover. The enigmatic title alone would have pulled me in, but what I noticed was a presentation that would seduce any foodie – a robin’s egg blue background behind three perfect tiers of lemon cake, with chocolate frosting hidden between the layers like a secret. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake tells the… [Read More]

Social Networks for Readers: Geek Out, Literati-Style
by,
July 7, 2011

Last week eBookNewser featured an article on ten social networks for readers. It seems online communities for readers are popping up everywhere in response to the e-book boom. Online writing and reading groups are less exclusive now; increased competition and advanced features means better options for reading and developing books across the web. Meaning more opportunities to find a website that complements the books you… [Read More]

Think you should self-publish? Think again.
by,
July 2, 2011

Authors and Publishers and Agents mash it up in new ways as the book business gets remade. The reallocation of risks and rewards happens as self-publishing, e-books, and the current economies of scale with new digital technologies encroaches on the crumbling financial houses of traditional publishing. Agents without advances these days from trade publishers now retool to manage and administrate the self-publishing initiatives of authors…. [Read More]