Self-Published Author Lands Seven-Figure Deal, Strange World of Fan Fiction, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
6.15.12

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:

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) reports net sales for the first quarter of 2012 are down for adult hardcovers, and up for e-books, with e-books outpacing hardcover revenue by over fifty million dollars. (GalleyCat)

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the strange world of fan fiction (which sprouted the best-selling Fifty Shades of Grey).

GalleyCat details how after multiple rejections by agents, Tracey Garvis Graves self-published her romance novel On the Island in March, sold over three hundred thousand copies, and just signed a seven-figure two-book deal with Penguin Group’s Plume imprint, represented by literary agent Jane Dystel.

Author Nathan Englander reveals his love for the international storytelling series called the Moth. (New Yorker)

Novelist Jonathan Safran Foer will co-curate a retrospective of paintings (and write the exhibition text) at the Fredericks & Freiser gallery in New York City. The paintings are real, yet the artist is a fictional character named S—. The show opens June 21. (GalleristNY)

Mourning fans of HBO's canceled series Bored To Death have a glimmer of hope—there's a rumor the show may return as a ninety-minute movie, with its creator, novelist Jonathan Ames, penning the script. (Gothamist)

Ernest Hemingway's childhood home in Oak Park, Illinois—which for the last eleven years has been owned by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation—has sold to private owners. (Los Angeles Times)

Meanwhile, novelist and writing instructor Susan Straight asks her young students, "What makes a home?" (KCET)

If you're in New York City this weekend, check out the Lit Mag Fair at Housing Works Books.

Happy Father's Day!