History may be changing now as profoundly as it changed when Gutenberg introduced print, writes William Cronon, president of the American Historical Association. In a thought-provoking essay, The Public Practice of History in and for a Digital Age, Cronon writes that for "those of us in the humanities, the essence of a university consisted of Read More
Writers and Editors (RSS feed)
Soundtrack of your life
January 5, 2012
"Sean Connors studies the way adolescents understand and interact with graphic novels, the more sophisticated successor to comic books," writes Heidi Stambuck's in The Sights and Sounds of Literature (Research Frontiers, University of Arkansas). Chris Goering examines what happens when English teachers ask students to analyze their favorite song lyrics and relate the lyrics to their personal history Read More
Organizations for writers, editors, and publishing professionals
January 4, 2012
My Writers and Editors website is a little like Fibber McGee's closet, so I created a directory for myself, which I realized might be helpful to others. Here it is: a list of lists with links, by type:
• Agents
• Arts and poetry
• Awards, grants, and Read More
• Agents
• Arts and poetry
• Awards, grants, and Read More
Audio-recording equipment, software, tools and tutorials
January 3, 2012
Newcomers to interviewing often ask about audio equipment, software, tools and tutorials for interviewing and editing. Here are a couple dozen links to resources I've found useful:
• Audio Tools (Transom Tools, a showcase and workshop for New Public Radio) Read More
• Audio Tools (Transom Tools, a showcase and workshop for New Public Radio) Read More
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20 great resources for aspiring writers of children's books
December 29, 2011
Want to know how to write and sell a children's book? Children's book publishing works in a different universe from adult publishing. Educating yourself on the basics by exploring the excellent resources of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Go to meetings of local
Read MoreThe interviewee's right to "edit" a transcript or story
December 12, 2011
A reader asked: When I am going to interview (unpaid) interviewees and publish an account of their experiences, do I give them the transcript? Do I have sole discretion about how what I write is written or does the interviewee have the right to revise? What should we discuss and agree to in advance about what's going to happen? Read More
Metadata, explained, with Tweeted examples
November 17, 2011
Today, via Dublin Core, I stumbled on great explanations of the whys and wherefores of "metadata" (data about data): The Role Of Metadata In Video SEO, Part 1: The YouTube Creator Playbook, which starts: "One of the great mysteries among those who don't work inside Google headquarters is how a search engine decides who the cool kids are on the Internet." Read More
Mark Twain on writing autobiography
October 10, 2011
Mark Twain's insights on writing a life story could keep many memoir writers from getting stuck: "Finally, in Florence in 1904, I hit upon the right way to do an Autobiography: start it at no particular time of your life; talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment; drop it the moment its interest threatens to pale, and turn Read More
Connecting the dots: Steve Jobs' wisdom
October 7, 2011
Read Steve Jobs' commencement address at Stanford (2005) to get a sense of what drove him. To quote him: "Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect Read More
E-book fire sales: the death knell for publishers?
September 29, 2011
When Amazon.com and ebook discounts get rock-bottom low, so do returns to publishers, and even more so to authors, writes Michael Jecks in his persuasive blog post, This really is the death knell for publishers (writerlytwitterings, 9-28-11).
In a market rigged against independent bookstores Read More
In a market rigged against independent bookstores Read More