How Authors Can Make Use of Twitter’s New Vine, the Fate of Barnes & Noble, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
2.6.13

Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today's stories:

GalleyCat lists a few ideas of how authors can make use of Twitter’s new Vine—an app that creates short video loops.

Peter Osnos considers the fate of the last national bookstore chain Barnes & Noble. (Atlantic)

And on NPR, in response to self-publisher Mark Coker's claim that traditional publishing is increasingly irrelevant, Hachette's Michael Pietsch says traditional publishing is actually in a golden age.

Meanwhile, Apple launched Breakout Books, a service of its iBookstore that gathers and displays self-published e-books based on popularity. (Shelf Awareness)

On his blog, Andrew Sullivan details how a Richard Brautigan fan named John Barber created a library in Brautigan's honor—a home to unpublished books. (Dish)

Publishers Lunch has created a new edition of Buzz Books—a free e-book which features excerpts from upcoming releases, including Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, Benjamin Percy's Red Moon, and more.

Mining Amazon stats, the Millions shares the top ten favorite books of its readers for January.

Virginia Heffernan looks at the app Lift, which can be used to improve reading habits. (Yahoo! News)

Edgar Allen Poe ran up gambling debts in an attempt to cover his college tuition; Balzac proofread legal papers—NPR's Monkey See discusses Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors, the new book by Andrew Shaffer.