Amanda Hocking, 26-year-old self-publishing wunderkind, earns a New York Times Magazine profile describing her road to a $2 million deal with St. Martins for rights to her ten novels including My Blood Approves and Hollowland.
Amanda Hocking Gets the Times Magazine Treatment
Rethinking Art
What is the function of the art critic, anyway? According to Barry Schwabsky at The Nation, it is not “making or breaking” an artist, but rather “opening up perspectives without … belaboring them.” For the critically minded among you, here’s a Millions review of A.O. Scott’s new book Better Living Through Criticism.
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Ice Cream Etc.
Recommended Reading: Chris Powers on the short fiction of John Updike. Pair with James Santel on Updike’s Collected Stories.
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Soda Series
Tonight at 7pm in Prospect Heights’ Soda Bar: the 10th installment of the Soda Series. Short readings followed by conversation from Roberta Allen, Robin Grearson, John Haskell, and Kirsten Kaschock. The conversations will be moderated by John Dermot Woods and Greg Gerke. The Series also has a Facebook page.
I haven’t read any of Hocking’s books, so maybe I shouldn’t talk, but it disappoints me that her plots/characters/etc seem solely based off what would make her books more popular or gain more money–or that’s the impression I get from the article, anyway.
I’m glad that digital self-publishing has helped jump-start the careers of writers, but I don’t look forward to having to sift through less-than-desirable reading material in the future.
Shit always floats to the top.