The sentimental publishers of “The Sentimentalists”
By Frank Moher Okay, so I was set to go all crazy right-wing on Gaspereau Press and suggest that its federal funding should be pulled because of its refusal to capitalize on its Giller Prize victory. Johanna Skibsrud’s The Sentimentalists won the $50,000 award on Tuesday night, and immediately her Nova Scotia-based publisher, who handcraft [...]
Why I won’t listen to Canada Reads 2011
By Steven W. Beattie Thirty seconds. That’s the approximate amount of time it took after the announcement of the 40 titles in contention to appear on the 2011 edition of the CBC’s “Canada Reads” program for Twitter to explode with tweets from authors, publishers, friends, and fans, all of them advocating for one title or [...]
The Write Huff
By Rachel Krueger An infinite number of bloggers on an infinite number of netbooks blathering for a handful of years have produced an entirely new face for marketing. Whereas widely-spread opinions could once only be held by those with credentials, now anyone with dial-up can wax judgmental about any old thing. And it’s driving some [...]
The Terrifying Tale of Textbook Tammy
By Eric Pettifor I was chatting with a friend about the high cost of textbooks, and he recalled a young woman of his acquaintance from his university days who made some extra cash by selling photocopies of textbooks. I didn’t ask how she did this. Did she hang around on campus wearing a big raincoat [...]
Not so fast, Google
By Brian Brennan The CBC called. Would I like to go on the radio and talk to Donna about the Google book settlement? Hey people, you’re talking to an Irishman here. Of course, I would like to go on the radio and talk about the Google book settlement. I would like to go on the [...]
So that’s a Secret?
I must have been emitting some negative juju today as the universe has returned the negative vibe by crippling my first post. I was writing spontaneously, sort of, with my only guideline being a few notes I scribbled down on the back of an envelope while sitting on the bus. I typed them in, hit [...]
Note to true-crime writers: Watch your backs
By guest blogger Brian Brennan The Robert William Pickton murder trial has started in New Westminster Supreme Court with 350 media types from around the world accredited to cover the case. Most of these reporters — including two former Vancouver prostitutes blogging for the so-called “citizen journalism” website, orato.com — are filing for same-day or [...]
Publish the damn book
By Frank Moher Rupert Murdoch has spoken, and now O.J.’s book and TV interview are gone. The Juice has been squeezed out. And everywhere, of course, newly-minted moralists proclaim that The Right Thing Has Been Done. Not since Mel Gibson’s drunk driving arrest has so much fatuity been heard in one 24 hour period. Of [...]
The Streyn is showing
By Frank Moher Here at backofthebook.ca we’ve done a rigorous scientific study and determined that Mark Steyn has used the personal pronoun “I” precisely 1,546,784 times since beginning his “Books” column for Maclean’s. We’d provide documentation of our rigorous scientific study, but this is the internet, so we don’t have to. But if, say, our [...]
We are not The Walrus. (Or Maclean’s. Or, god-save-us, the Western Standard.)
By Frank Moher Does a magazine’s title determine its chances of success? It doesn’t seem to. The Walrus, having weathered that not-paying-freelancers-on-time thing, seems to be doing all right, despite being named . . . The Walrus. And despite being . . . dull. (The Walrus reminds me of nothing so much as The New [...]
twitter
facebook