Posts by author
Ian MacAllen
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Isaac Fitzgerald on Almost Live at Mellow Pages
Rumpus co-owner and Buzzfeed Books editor Isaac Fitzgerald sits down with Mellow Pages Library for a podcast discussion. They talk about Fitzgerald’s blog-to-book project Pen & Ink, his career path, and his transcontinental journey to New York to work at…
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Great Book, Amateur Cover
Some of the best self-published books end up with amateur covers. While professional publishers consider every detail of book’s cover, like whether a font should be sans-serif or not base on genre, independent authors lack the experience to do the same. The…
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The Self-Promotional Balancing Act
When does sending an email blast about an upcoming event become spam? Writers are as much publicists as they are authors, and social media hasn’t made things any easier. Over at Beyond the Margins, Randy Susan Meyers explores how much is…
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Amazon vs. Authors: A Rumpus Roundup
More than 900 authors signed a full-page New York Times advertisement scolding Amazon for drawing them into their continuing fight with publisher Hachette. The ad has drawn the ire of self-published authors who see traditional publishing houses as gatekeepers protecting…
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Notable NYC: 8/9–8/15
Monday 8/11: Marie-Helene Bertino, Scott Cheshire, Courtney Elizabeth Mauk, Robin E. Black, and Sackett Street founder Julia Fierro join Books Beneath the Bridge. Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1, 7 p.m., free. Paula Bomer, Michael Kimball, Jamie Iredell, Brian Allen Carr,…
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How Fitzgerald Shaped Hemingway
An early draft of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises focused on Brett Ashley, the woman who serves as a love interest to protagonist Jake Barnes and others. The revised manuscript owes much to F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wrote a letter…
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Artificial Intelligence Writes Fables
A new computer program can write fables, reports the Guardian. The Moral Storytelling System, devised by Margaret Sarlej at the University of New South Wales, chooses a moral and determines a sequence of events. But the resulting stories so far…
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Not All Books Are Novels
People have taken to using the terms “book” and “novel” interchangeably, but non-fiction books are not novels, Ben Yagoda explains over at Slate. The shift might be attributed to the post-modern zeitgeist that blends fact and fiction into a fuzzy…
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Guernica Grows Up
As Guernica approaches its 10th anniversary, the online magazine has hired its first full-time publisher and is planning their first-ever print edition. Tori Telfer over at Bustle spoke to Michael Archer, Editor-in-Chief, and publisher Lisa Lucas, about the magazine’s origins…
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e-Books Threaten Libraries
Libraries have adapted to the modern era by lending out e-books. In many cases, electronic books provide patrons easier access to materials. But a new study says that they also threaten an old system of distribution, reports GalleyCat. The main…
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Cents and Sensibility
While readers today might think of Jane Austen novels as the equivalent of 18th century bodice rippers, money, wealth, and economics played a major role both in their creation and in their narrative. Austen wrote as much for financial benefit…
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Revealing Roxane Gay
On Tuesday, Rumpus Essays Editor Emeritus Roxane Gay launches her second book of the year, Bad Feminist, an essay collection. Kira Cochrane profiles Gay over at the Guardian: For Gay, writing is a way “to think through what it means…