Against the violent protestations of many an erudite thought leader, literary agents and the publishers they serve all shove nonfiction authors and their writers toward a prescriptive structure for their books. The mass market demands we break down complex subjects this way, “practically,” with clearly organized advice, spelled out step-by-step. We can’t explain how to change […]

“Legendary” Ghostwriting:   When did ghosting begin? If you ask our editorial intern, Damien, he’ll argue that between 800 and 700 BCE is as good a place to start as any. If you remember your Classics, that’s when Homer penned his great epics. But magical leprechauns didn’t whisper those legends to the bard. Nor did […]

Gone are the days when people in publishing can risk “discovering” unknown writers. The poet Vachel Lindsay was dining at the Wardman Park Hotel in Washington when a busboy summoned his courage and slipped several sheets of paper beside the poet’s plate. Lindsay was obviously annoyed, but he picked up the papers and read a […]

Sure, I buy it—all writers – except for maybe Emily Dickinson – lug egos the size of Volkswagen buses. Even the seemingly insecure, nebbishy ones—here one Heywood Allen of Brooklyn comes to mind. Writing, as with all artistic ventures, self-selects the simultaneously pained and prideful. So how does an ego-driven artiste stomach subsuming ego in […]