This week the east coast of the U.S. got hit by the dreaded Frakenstorm and two of us were huddling for cover, so this may be a short wrap-up. We sincerely hope that all of our readers made it through the storm safe and sound and we’d like to send out our hope for those of you who are still without power. We hope the power gets turned on for you this week so you can have warm water and refrigeration and light and most of all an internet connection so you can visit The Readventurer and give us more hits. Kidding, kidding.
To start things off, I’d like to throw out a list of really fun, happy-making things. With Frankenstorm behind us and this seemingly never-ending election ahead of us, I think we could all use it.
Book Probe Reviews had an interview with Melina Marchetta this week.
Kathleen Duey tweeted the following (squee!):
To start things off, I’d like to throw out a list of really fun, happy-making things. With Frankenstorm behind us and this seemingly never-ending election ahead of us, I think we could all use it.
Book Probe Reviews had an interview with Melina Marchetta this week.
Kathleen Duey tweeted the following (squee!):
And re-posted this from her archives – about her use of “bad” language in her YA books. It’s an older post, but a great one.
Here's an update from a story we linked to last week about a “lack” of portal fantasy on the market right now: Sherwood Smith review’s Andrea K. Host’s portal fantasy, Stray.
Geeky Gadgets profiled “the invisible book end.” How does it work? And more importantly, will it damage my precious babies?!!
Jennifer Stevenson discusses the possible differences between porn and erotica over at the Book View Café
And finally, the following awesome quote from Nick Hornby’s Shakespeare Wrote For Money made a few rounds this week:
“They’ve been very disorienting, these last few weeks. I see now that dismissing YA books because you’re not a young adult is a bit like refusing to watch thrillers on the grounds that you’re not a policeman or a dangerous criminal, and as a consequence I’ve discovered a previously ignored room at the back of the bookstore that’s filled with masterpieces I’ve never heard of.”
And now that we’re all smiling, here are a few more newsy stories:
Fast Company profiled the “literary incubator” company Paper Lantern Lit founded by former YA editor Lexa Hillyer and YA author Lauren Oliver. Apparently they are setting themselves apart from book packagers by actively seeking talented authors to write their preconceived, pre-plotted, pre-outlined stories. And this is different from book packaging…how, exactly?
Author Steve Webble posted about his experience with having one of his reviews deleted by Amazon this week – a review he posted for a friend’s book. Upon questioning Amazon, they responded by citing a portion of their review policy: “We do not allow reviews on behalf of a person or company with a financial interest in the product or a directly competing product.” We can’t say that we’d be sorry to see less author/author, overly positive, quid pro quo type reviews out there but how far will Amazon actually take this? Will all reviews written by authors be deleted? Will all authors be considered to be producers of a “directly competing product”? From the comments, it appears that a few other authors have had all of their reviews deleted as well.
And I think that's enough newsy stories for this week. Have a great weekend everyone, and be safe! Stop by and tell me about all the news I missed out on while my power was out!
Here's an update from a story we linked to last week about a “lack” of portal fantasy on the market right now: Sherwood Smith review’s Andrea K. Host’s portal fantasy, Stray.
Geeky Gadgets profiled “the invisible book end.” How does it work? And more importantly, will it damage my precious babies?!!
Jennifer Stevenson discusses the possible differences between porn and erotica over at the Book View Café
And finally, the following awesome quote from Nick Hornby’s Shakespeare Wrote For Money made a few rounds this week:
“They’ve been very disorienting, these last few weeks. I see now that dismissing YA books because you’re not a young adult is a bit like refusing to watch thrillers on the grounds that you’re not a policeman or a dangerous criminal, and as a consequence I’ve discovered a previously ignored room at the back of the bookstore that’s filled with masterpieces I’ve never heard of.”
And now that we’re all smiling, here are a few more newsy stories:
Fast Company profiled the “literary incubator” company Paper Lantern Lit founded by former YA editor Lexa Hillyer and YA author Lauren Oliver. Apparently they are setting themselves apart from book packagers by actively seeking talented authors to write their preconceived, pre-plotted, pre-outlined stories. And this is different from book packaging…how, exactly?
Author Steve Webble posted about his experience with having one of his reviews deleted by Amazon this week – a review he posted for a friend’s book. Upon questioning Amazon, they responded by citing a portion of their review policy: “We do not allow reviews on behalf of a person or company with a financial interest in the product or a directly competing product.” We can’t say that we’d be sorry to see less author/author, overly positive, quid pro quo type reviews out there but how far will Amazon actually take this? Will all reviews written by authors be deleted? Will all authors be considered to be producers of a “directly competing product”? From the comments, it appears that a few other authors have had all of their reviews deleted as well.
And I think that's enough newsy stories for this week. Have a great weekend everyone, and be safe! Stop by and tell me about all the news I missed out on while my power was out!
