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The Ploughshares Round-Down: That Time A Famous Author Failed And Blamed Ebooks

The Ploughshares Round-Down: That Time A Famous Author Failed And Blamed Ebooks

Last year, I was talking to a romance novelist who self-publishes her books. She had decided to go this route after submitting a manuscript directly to Harlequin and not hearing back from them for months. What forced her hand was that she had kids, she had been working part-time, and her husband had just been…

A Checklist of Book Proposal Essentials to Go Through Before You Start Schmoozing Agents

A Checklist of Book Proposal Essentials to Go Through Before You Start Schmoozing Agents

In my wildest fantasies, an editor from Seal Press stumbles upon that personal essay I wrote about the awkwardness of babymaking sex—or the blog post I wrote about landing a husband despite being a crazy cat lady, or that other piece I wrote about my shifting body image—and feels compelled to email me, begging me to write a book…

The Best Story I Read in a Lit Mag This Week: “Fear Itself” by Katie Coyle

The Best Story I Read in a Lit Mag This Week: “Fear Itself” by Katie Coyle

There’s a lot to love about Katie Coyle‘s story “Fear Itself,” published in the most recent issue of One Story. To start, Coyle is so spot-on in her depiction of teenage girls that about a page in, I took out my phone and snapped a quick picture of a line I’d underlined. I sent it…

Five Reasons Not To Feel Guilty About Reading YA

Five Reasons Not To Feel Guilty About Reading YA

One of the many challenges of being a teen is navigating what’s cool and what’s uncool. Are jeans dyed deep blue or acid-washed? Which bands have sold out? Which YouTube video is hilarious and which has been over-shared? It’s way easier to maintain an overall condescending attitude and look down on everything, just in case…

The Self-Publisher Who Changed the World of Baseball: On Fool’s Gold by Bill James

The Self-Publisher Who Changed the World of Baseball: On Fool’s Gold by Bill James

Under review: Solid Fool’s Gold: Detours on the Way to Conventional Wisdom by Bill James (2011, ACTA Publications, 224 pages) Whenever I think of Bill James I think of the following Margaret Mead quote, which probably appeared on the walls of half my high school classrooms, the words arranged on a poster in front of…