Jun
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Curmudgeons
June 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Yes, I am jealous of the literati. Especially jealous of anyone who gets to go to this:Â The One Story Literary Debutante Ball
So, if you are reading this and you feel like inviting me next year. “Yes.”
Grumpily I face the fact that I am not (yet) a famous author, so I shall now, grumpily, offer a few items of interest:
Why is Mark Twain’s Autobiography Being Published Now?
By: Dan Fletcher
More than 100 years after the famed American author’s death, Mark Twain’s autobiography can finally hit bookstands.
Twain died on May 23, 1910, leaving behind more than 5,000 pages detailing his life in his own words, accompanied with the instructions that they not be published until a century had passed. Why the delay? Twain never gave an explanation, but scholars speculate it was a tactic to let Twain speak more candidly, both about his own friends and about politics.
And speak candidly he did… (Read more here.)
Also, you may have heard that Garrison Keillor wrote a controversial piece for The New York Times recently indicating that in his opinion the future of publishing is bleak at best. In his words: “book publishing is about to slide into the sea.” My impression is that Keillor is no expert on the book industry and like most everyone else, I would rather hear from industry people on this matter.
Keillor: “Children, I am an author who used to type a book manuscript on a manual typewriter. Yes, I did. And mailed it to a New York publisher in a big manila envelope with actual postage stamps on it. And kept a carbon copy for myself. I waited for a month or so and then got an acceptance letter in the mail. It was typed on paper. They offered to pay me a large sum of money. I read it over and over and ran up and down the rows of corn whooping. It was beautiful, the Old Era. I’m sorry you missed it.”
No one likes a snot, and really, it’s the snottiness of publishing that got itself into this mess in the first place. Sorry guys, and this includes you too Keillor, but evolution is mandatory for survival. So, what do book editors, publicists, critics, and agents think about Keillor’s opinion on publishing? Read their insightful, funny, and sometimes scathing responses here, on flavorwire.