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Racy Teen Bestseller Lifts Whole Pages From Blogger

17-year-old writer says there's no such thing as originality

(Newser) - 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 ...

Chronicler of WASP Life Louis Auchincloss Dies at 92

Lawyer-turned-novelist succumbs to stroke

(Newser) - 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

Publishers are using free downloads to lure readers

(Newser) - 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...

Google Offers Revised Digital Book Deal

Narrower settlement aimed at overcoming Justice Dept. objections

(Newser) - Google offered a compromise deal with authors and publishers late yesterday, in an effort to overcome Justice Department objections to an earlier agreement and clear the way for distribution of millions of digital books online. Two months ago Justice had blocked a settlement in a lawsuit brought by authors and...

Modern Novels' Shift: We Can Understand Them

Literary writers are re-embracing idea of a good plot

(Newser) - The 21st-century novel is being reacquainted with an old friend: the plot. Today's best writers are abandoning the notion that literary novels need to be all but impenetrable to readers without advanced degrees, writes Lev Grossman in the Wall Street Journal. "The revolution is under way," he says....

Weird Facts About Best-Selling Authors

Dan Brown, pop musician? And more.

(Newser) - Summer's here, and that means it's time for beach reading. Mental Floss compiles some surprising facts about the authors most commonly toted along to the shore:
  1. Dan Brown hasn’t spent his whole life pondering Vatican conspiracies: he was also a musician and pop singer. The name of his second
...

Antitrust Concerns Prompt Google Books Probe

Deal gives Google exclusive chance to profit from texts, say critics

(Newser) - Federal lawyers are looking into whether a Google Book Search agreement with authors and publishers may violate antitrust laws, the New York Times reports. The settlement of a 2005 suit allows Google to put millions of scanned books online, charge viewers to read them, and share revenues with both groups....

LBJ Biographer Aims for Eternity
 LBJ Biographer 
 Aims for Eternity 
glossies
Feb 8, 2009 6:56 PM CST

LBJ Biographer Aims for Eternity

Tireless writer published average of one book every ten years

(Newser) - Lyndon Johnson's biographer takes his work seriously—so much so, he didn't cover LBJ's presidency for 30 years, Newsweek reports. Rising from the tabloid world in the 1960s, Robert Caro first wrote a painstaking biography of New York mogul Robert Moses. Next came a volume on LBJ's youth; Caro even...

Twilight Author 'Can't Write Worth a Darn': King

Horror maven gets vampire books' appeal

(Newser) - Sorry, Stephenie Meyer, but Stephen King isn't among your millions of fans. The wildly successful horror author compared the wildly successful vampire author's Twilight series with JK Rowling's Harry Potter books in a recent USA Weekend interview: "The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and...

Need a Blurb? Meet the Usual Suspects
Need a Blurb?
Meet the Usual Suspects
OPINION
Jan 7, 2009 5:43 PM CST

Need a Blurb? Meet the Usual Suspects

New writers' book jackets reveal the top 10 lazy comparisons

(Newser) - Blurbs for hot new writers' books unfailingly liken them to a handful of known quantities, Chris Rovzar observes in New York. Here are some of the most-abused blurb comparisons:
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald or Edith Wharton. Writing about crumbling, decadent high society? "If you're a boy, you're Scott; if you're
...

Need a Job? Write a Book About Lincoln
Need a Job? Write a Book About Lincoln
opinion
Dec 7, 2008 7:25 PM CST

Need a Job? Write a Book About Lincoln

Honest Abe titles keep coming despite economic bust

(Newser) - Looking for a recession-proof job? Write a book about Abraham Lincoln, Joe Queenan advises in the Los Angeles Times. There are some 15,000 books about Lincoln already, and 50 more coming out next year. “As the very title Lincoln at Peoria suggests, there is literally no Lincoln-related subject...

Widow Opens Up About 'Ratty' Dahl

On eve of Roald Dahl Funny Prize, Felicity Dahl grants an exclusive interview

(Newser) - Tears reach Felicity Dahl's eyes as she walks to the work hut of her famous ex-husband, Roald. She's not alone, either: Director Tim Burton burst out crying when he saw it. "People have strong reactions to this house," said the widow of the acerbic scribe who...

Google Settles Lawsuit Over Book Scanning for $125M

Settlement will make it easier to access out-of-print books

(Newser) - Google has settled a lawsuit concerning intellectual property rights in its book-scanning initiative, Wired reports. Google will pay $125 million to authors who claimed their work was put online without their consent. The settlement also establishes a system where many out-of-print, but still copyrighted, books will be available to buy...

Can't Talk to Girls? 9-Year-Old Has Advice

Soon-to-be-published Greven offers helpful hints on handling the opposite sex

(Newser) - A 9-year-old Colorado boy garnered national attention—and a two-book publishing deal—after penning answers to that age-old mystery: how to talk to girls. Alec Greven offers some helpful hints on the opposite sex via the Christian Science Monitor.
  • Forget the “pretty girl”—one who favors fancy earrings
...

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