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A Faithful Grope in the Dark
by Joshua MohrLately people have been asking me why I decided to publish my novel, Some Things that Meant the World to Me, with a small press. Instinctively, my gut wants to lie, stammer some kind of...
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Why we need newspapers: They stand against tyranny
In the 1960s and 70s, Central and South America were rife with dictatorships which used secret police, the military, right-wing death squads and tight control of the media to quash dissent and keep...
View ArticleThe Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
Jonathan Lethem has been hired for David Foster Wallace’s old teaching post at Pomona. (via @maudnewton)“Lots of people in Indiana Jones hats today. I approve.” From @WriterDaniel at this Twitter...
View ArticlePublishing Vocab
Editors, publishers and critics have their own industry-specific lexicon.People in the industry are used to hearing words like “acclaimed” or saying that a book “brilliantly defies categorization,” but...
View Article“In Praise of Editors”
All writers should go read every word of this essay by Maria Bustillos, written on the occasion of editor Carrie Frye’s departure from the Awl.The gist of it: your editor is your friend, not some...
View ArticleGiving Editors What They Want
For emerging writers, submitting pieces to literary magazines can be like hacking through a jungle of confusion with a guess-machete.This piece from The Review Review, titled “What Editors Want,” will...
View ArticleGetting Out of the Slush Pile
Want to get out of the slush pile and onto the pages of your favorite publications?Rumpus contributor Melissa Chadburn has some seriously wise words for you over at her Daily Dot column.One of the...
View ArticleWhat Makes a Good Editor?
In a conversation for the Slate Book Review, author Donna Tartt and her editor Michael Pietsch talk through the experience of editing her latest novel from both sides of the red pen.It’s a fascinating...
View ArticleOne Chance to Make a First Impression
An editor’s first look at a writer’s work is in the query letter. Steph Auteri, writing in Ploughshares, explains how writers can improve their introductions, and why it matters when they try to...
View ArticleWhite People Everywhere
White male editors still dominate publishing and white male authors still dominate bestseller lists. Writing over at Plougshares, literary agent Eric Nelson explores the problem:I have frequently...
View ArticleThe Ageless Problem of Agents
The Paris Review blog discovers that in publishing the “sky is always falling.”Every year is an abysmal year for books and a terrific year for books. Editors no longer edit, except when they do;...
View ArticleWhat Makes Editors Fall in Love?
There is this (correct) notion that the world is speeding up of late, that we no longer have the attention spans to wait for a story to get going. But even decades ago, Elia Kazan, award-winning...
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The Rumpus Interview with Peter Mendelsund
You can, if you are so inclined, easily find someone to tell you how design is important because the product is important. There are magazines, blogs, and podcasts dedicated to convincing you that it’s...
View ArticleThe University Press That Doesn’t Exist
As part of austerity measures, the University of Akron eliminated its university press. The director and two staff members were both let go as part of budget-trimming layoffs. The press focused on...
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The Rumpus Interview with Brian Shawver
By the time I met him, Brian Shawver had already published two novels, Aftermath and The Cuban Prospect. The former, a story of small-town crime and redemption, had just hit shelves, and was praised by...
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The Rumpus Interview with Susan Shapiro
Imagine tracking down a former love after thirty years, only to find that the object of your intense longings doesn’t even remember you. That’s what happens at the start of Susan Shapiro’s poignant,...
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The Rumpus Interview with Dean Koontz
Dean Koontz has sold more than 450 million books, and has added to that pile this winter. His new novel, Ashley Bell, hit stores earlier this month. He’s an author often described in numbers—nine pen...
View ArticleAuthor in the First Person
There’s humor and advice on the long haul of novel-writing in an interview with Porochista Khakpour over at Prairie Schooner. Khakpour describes “problem-solving a chunk at a time,” and pushing through...
View ArticleMen Explain Submissions To Me
The first time I went to grad school, my now-husband, then-boyfriend, Noah, went to all the parties with me. All of the professors and many of the students went up to talk to Noah about writing, asked...
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The Rumpus Interview with Becky Tuch
Becky Tuch wears a lot of hats. The oldest and most well-worn is probably the “writer” hat. Now that she is nearing completion on two different manuscripts, a novel, and a story collection, there’s a...
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