authors news stories on Newser

NY Times Calls Obama Book 'Chick' Lit

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:00:00 CST

A generally gushing review in the New York Times of a book by its own Washington correspondent hit an Internet landmine when it referred to the book as "chick nonfiction," observes New York Magazine . The reconfiguration of the term "chick lit" was no doubt meant to be witty when Douglas...

Martinis, Vinegar: Famed Writers' Favorite Snacks

Sarah Whitmire — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:59:05 CDT

Some of history's greatest writers have relied on "food for thought." For Truman Capote, a daily regimen of coffee, tea, sherry, and martinis was his path to creative greatness. Others kept it simpler: Marcel Proust relied on espresso, while Jesus Land author Julia Scheeres swears by the ultimate motivator: starvation....

Why Parents' Fave New Book Is Go the F*** to Sleep

Sarah Whitmire — Sat, 21 May 2011 06:43:05 CDT

Go the F*** to Sleep snagged the No. 1 spot on Amazon's best-seller list this week—almost a month before it hits bookshelves—and Rebekah Denn thinks she knows why. The 32-page book blends soothing rhymes with sleep-deprivation-induced obscenity, and the Internet-savvy attribute its early success to a viral PDF-sharing...

Hey Kids, Stop Asking Me to Do Your Homework

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:42:29 CDT

Not surprisingly, Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum gets quite a few emails. But perhaps more infuriating than the ones "telling me I'm a moron and the reason print media is dying" are the ones asking her to do some kid's homework. "Not a week goes by that I don't...

Highest-Paid Authors in US

John Johnson — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:47:39 CDT

A tribute of sorts to Harry Potter: JK Rowling isn't putting out new Potter books, but sales of existing ones still put her in the top 10 of the year's highest-paid authors. (She came in 10th with $10 million.) Read the full Forbes list here , but here's the top...

50 Famous Authors Other Famous Authors Hate

Kate Schwartz — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:49:48 CDT

Just because you're in the club, doesn't mean you like all of its members. To wit, Examiner.com lists 50 famous authors that other famous authors really don't like...in their own, well-penned words: Mark Twain on Jane Austen: "Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig...

Racy Teen Bestseller Lifts Whole Pages From Blogger

Emily Rauhala — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:53:15 CST

The 17-year-old author of a critically acclaimed novel about sex and drugs in Berlin's techno scene is drawing fire for allegedly copying large chunks of a blogger's work. The blogger, who goes by Airen, says author Helene Hegemann lifted "entire passages" from his book, Strobo, for her work, Axolotl Roadkill...

Chronicler of WASP Life Louis Auchincloss Dies at 92

Will McCahill — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:00:00 CST

Louis Auchincloss, who chronicled the life of powerful, white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants into which he was born, died yesterday of a stroke at age 92. The Yale-educated Auchincloss left a prominent conservative New York law firm to write, and is best known for the 1960s novels The Rector of Justin and...

How to Create a Kindle Best-Seller: Give It Away

John Johnson — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:38:02 CST

The brave new world of publishing in the age of e-readers had led to this: More than half of the "best sellers" on Amazon's Kindle are actually give-aways. While some are classics in the public domain, many are new titles. Publishers are embracing the idea of free downloads as a...