In typical cringe-inducing fashion, the New York Times's Style section profiles online magazine The New Inquiry and its raft of twenty-something editors. With its “breathless descriptions,” “frequent descriptions of clothes,” and “required mention of Ivy League degrees,” Gawker describes the article as “an excellent reminder to never talk to a Style section reporter.”
In the past four years, the New York Public Library’s workforce has been slashed by 27 percent, and its acquisitions budget for books, CDs and DVDs has seen a 26 percent reduction. Still, the NYPL is planning a massive renovation of its flagship 42nd street library, Scott Sherman writes at The Nation, which is projected to cost between $250 and $350 million.
Mass-market paperback sales fell 54 percent from last year, according to the Association of American Publishers. Hardcover sales dropped only 18 percent, while e-book sales doubled.
At The Fix, writer and literary scandal-maker Q.R. Markham writes a mea culpa for plagiarizing large portions of his debut novel, Assassin of Secrets (which was quickly recalled by Little, Brown), and compares his addictive tendency to lift other people’s writing to alcoholism.
Longform website Byliner says that it’s going to start selling fiction in addition to narrative nonfiction pieces. Amy Tan’s short story "Rules for Virgins" will be the site’s first fiction offering.
