Published Posthumously

The New York Times had a particularly interesting book review last Sunday covering autobiographical books written about the authors’ own deaths.

The clever title, “Deadlines,” draws the reader in, and Meghan O’Rourke doesn’t disappoint, bringing up the insightful questions throughout the article. The piece touched on books such as John Updike’s Endpoint and Roger Ebert’s Life Itself: A Memoir, asking why there has been such an explosion of “death lit” recently.

Interestingly, the New York Times published another article on the very same day highlighting David Rakoff’s final novel, Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish, which he wrote on his deathbed. The book is written in iambic pentameter, something Rakoff had never done before. Joel Lovell paints a touching and inspirational picture of Rakoff’s struggle to finish his novel before his final deadline.

Does literature about death inspire or depress you? Why the sudden influx of books about dying? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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Spring Is Here! As the weather finally warms up after the seemingly endless winter, thoughts turn to sunny days in the park or at the beach with a good book. If you need help picking out your next read, Publishers Weekly has rounded up the most anticipated books of the season, including fiction, non-fiction, travel, and more. Book Riot also shares five new April releases that could make for the perfect outdoor read. Looking for a hilarious book to match that sunny good mood? The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize nominees for the funniest book in Britain were announced this week. Or if you're stuck inside at work, perhaps these delightful pictures of outdoor libraries can tide you over until the weekend. Happy spring!

April Is for Poetry. National Poetry Month is in full swing, and there are so many ways to get inspired and participate. This year the Academy of American Poets is focusing on the role of letter writing in the lives of poets: their website is filled with examples of poets' love letters and poems read as letters. Flavorwire is celebrating with images of incredible handwritten poems by famous authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Emily Dickinson. For a more interactive experience, the Poetry Foundation has a Record-a-Poem feature on their site, which allows people to upload recordings of poems they love. Even the New York Times is getting in on the fun: a software architect at the paper created an algorithm that finds accidental haikus in articles! Still want more? The LA Times' Jacket Copy blog has compiled a number of fun projects, blogs, and events.

Oh, Big Brother. "Teacher Knows If You've Done the E-Reading" is a headline no procrastination-prone student wants to read, but there it was in the New York Times this week. A new startup, CourseSmart, allows professors to track students' reading in their digital textbooks. The major publishers have been tracking data from e-textbooks for years, but CourseSmart puts that data right in professors' hands, allowing them to see not only whether students are reading, but also if they skip pages, how often they open the book, and what they highlight. Is this a little too invasive? Although the professors interviewed were thrilled with the idea, students themselves jokingly bemoaned the "Big Brother" aspect of it. But as the article points out, people are growing accustomed to their data being mined at every turn. Just last summer we did a post on how companies like Barnes & Noble are harvesting data on reading habits from their e-readers. What do you think? Is this an invasion of privacy or just a smart new tool for the digital age? Tell us in the comments.

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Crisis of Creativity or Just History Repeating? With the Jonah Lehrer scandal in full swing, a summer during which the box office has been almost nothing but remakes and sequels, knock-off ebooks, and a unparalleled literary phenom that could be flirting with copyright infringement, it's hard not to ask whether there are any original ideas left to be had. Animator and filmmaker Drew Christie explores this conundrum in a recent NY Times op-doc, "Allergy to Originality." Through a very creative use of various Wikipedia entries (solidly in the Creative Commons), the animated video explores the age-old question of whether a idea can ever be truly unique, or if everything is just an appropriation or amalgamation of previous cultural memes and icons. Is it really Hollywood's fault that we seem to find comfort in reworkings and extensions of the familiar (reflected in booming box office sales)? What do you think? Are there any original thoughts left to be thought?

Before They Were Stars. Ever wondered what your favorite celebrity New York Times columnists were up to before they were granted tenure and guaranteed precious column inches to fritter away? Most of them were actually out chasing down leads and risking their jobs in pursuit of the story. In this great article from The Awl, we learn that before Nicholas Kristoff got a little "White Man's Burden," he gave us stories about the people in crisis instead of preaching to them. Tom Friedman was on the ground in Beirut, and Maureen Dowd, now best known for her politics-lite repartee, authored one of the first long-form pieces to shed light on those in the shadows of the AIDS epidemic. While not heralded far and wide, Dowd's profile of Gay Men's Health Crisis challenged some of the more traditional views held by Times editorial staff, and almost cost her the job. 

The Book Critic's Burden. It happens to all heavy readers at one time or another: you start a book and then realize you're just not feeling it. Most of us ditch it in favor of something more enticing, but what if your job depends on powering through? Getting paid to read and review books may seem like a charmed life, but a reviewer has to read them all—the good, mediocre, and the painfully bad. What's a critic to do? In a recent column, "I Hate This Book So Much: A Mediation," Times book critic Lev Grossman discusses the anxiety and inner conflict he faces when he has to review a book he dislikes. Should he dig in and write that negative review? What if he's missing a point that's obvious to everyone else? How does he face someone whose novel he's dissed? It's a a heavy cross to bear. How do you, dear editors and writers, deal with a despised project?

Of Books and Booze. Writers are notorious drinkers, perhaps none more so than Earnest Hemingway. Did you know that one of Hemingway's favorite drinks was the daiquiri? That may seem a little incongruous with his "man's man" image, but apparently he developed a taste for them during the twenty years he spent in Cuba. So to commemorate his 113th birthday, Havana watering hole El Floridita decided to mix up the world's largest daiquiri in honor of the author's love for the drink and his ties to the island. If you want to pay homage to your favorite author through drink, or make your next cocktail hour a little more literate, here are a few sites that offer authors' favorite cocktails, drinks inspired by books and authors, and drinks from classic literature. If going out is more your style, check out the The Dead Poet on Manhattan's Upper West Side, which is owned by a former English teacher and features an actual lending library.

Some Famous Ghosted Books

Inspired by the recent New York Times scandal-ette involving cookbook ghostwriting, Flavorpill stepped up today to share "10 Famous Ghostwriting Collaborations."

Few (although surely some) will be shocked by the revelations that Francine Pascal (Sweet Valley High), R.L. Stine (Goosebumps), and Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew) had an awful lot of help churning out their myriad books.

Ghostwriting—it's definitely not new, and it's definitely here to stay.

Ghostwriting—The Food, the Bad, and the Ugly

Last week the New York Times got the usually tight-wrapped tongues in our writer-for-hire community wagging with a fairly caustic tell-all article, “I Was a Cookbook Ghostwriter.” After penning the piece—which delivered a considerable amount of dish on several prominent chefs, both named and hinted at—Julia Moskin's career as a ghost might be cooked. Which may be for the best, because it seemed like the clearest message in her article was that she was in the wrong line of work in the first place.

That was the clear conclusion drawn by the experienced ghosting pros in our network of more than 600 writers whom we surveyed over the last few days. They were shocked by Moskin’s initial naïveté and eventual cynicism, disappointed by her characterization of their craft, and amazed that she’d managed to get herself into such disadvantageous situations time and again. (You’ll forgive us for not using their last names when we quote them herein—these ghosts are quite content to remain out of the spotlight.)

Two of Moskin’s points struck a particularly discordant note. First: “Although each project begins as a love affair, it rarely ends that way; disillusion is part of the job.” And second: “When a ghosted book is successful, watching someone else get credit for your work is demoralizing.” These seem like resounding red flags that Moskin should never have gotten into ghostwriting. Says our ghost Emma: “It is not the expectation of a ghostwriter to accept credit; hence the term 'ghost'—i.e., being invisible. Getting credited in a book is an honor, not an expectation.” Adds Melanie, “It takes a special personality to be a ghostwriter. You have to be okay with letting someone else take the spotlight. The satisfaction comes from helping others fulfill their dreams.” And Sheila puts it even more bluntly: “As for credit, the only important place for your name is on the check.”

On the subject of compensation, Michael says, “Don't be a hungry idiot, as the article suggests. Be a smart businessperson.” Ellen confirms that view: “The recipe for a happy ghostwriter? Take one part talent and two parts business sense. Never work without a contract! If you negotiate upfront for a piece of the action, you can feel a lot better about your author’s success. And when a chef pulls a stunt like taking your name off the cover to save his wife’s feelings, ask him how her feelings will be impacted when you sue him.”

These servings of tough love were often leavened with dashes of sympathy. Moskin seems to have had some truly grueling experiences, like being held under armed guard in a compound in Bogotá, or having the culinary star who promised to cater her wedding after she wrote his book disappear without a trace when the time came to do so. But difficult clients come with the territory, and it’s up to the ghostwriter to manage relations and expectations. Says James, “The jobs she’s complaining about show how the relationship can be broken when a ghostwriter does not fully understand how the relationship should work.”

The good news, our ghosts report, is that those execrable clients are the exception to the gruel. And when a ghostwriting partnership does work, it’s a terrific, mutually beneficial collaboration. Bernie, an executive speechwriter, is regularly flown around in corporate jets. Leslie wrote of the deep relationships she develops with her clients, who become her friends. Allen has worked with authors who are “remarkably respectful of my time and talents.”

Ghostwriting, while not new, is gaining popularity and exposure these days, due to the shifting nature of the publishing industry. This is a highly specialized skill in an industry filled with specialized skills, and it’s certainly not for everyone. Says Emma, “Ghosts can be very well paid, and have the privilege of working with some very interesting clients. The reason there aren’t that many ghosts around is because there are very few people who possess the talent, dedication, and ability to do one of the hardest jobs on the planet.”

***

P.S.: It seems we’re not the only ones to have gotten heartburn from Moskin’s piece. According to Eater, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rachel Ray have both made statements denying that they’ve ever used ghosts to write their books.

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Curb your e-thusiasm: While there has been a lot of doom and gloom about the fate of brick-and-mortar bookstores, the New York Times found that independent bookstores are actually having a booming holiday season this year. While everyone was sure that the economic recession, aggressive Amazon tactics, and the popularity of e-books were destined to put a dent in sales, people seem to be walking into actual bookstores to purchase physical books at a pretty good clip. Are print books on your holiday shopping list?

Indiefficient: Though many book lovers will rejoice at the cheerful holiday outlook for independent bookstores, Slate columnist Farhad Manjoo doesn't think indie bookstores are necessarily worth saving. In a criticism of Richard Russo's NYT op-ed slamming Amazon for killing the bookshop around the corner, Manjoo argues that local bookstores are not all that "local" and are also massively inefficient. Buy two books on Amazon, he suggests, instead of one at a indie bookshop for the same price. Do you agree?

LinkedIn lexicon: You may consider yourself a motivated and efficient professional with dynamic communication skills, but unfortunately so does everyone else on the business networking site LinkedIn. The site recently released its list of the most overused professional buzzwords of 2011, with "creative" and "organizational" topping the list. What's on your personal list of annoying professional jargon?

Talk the talk: "Write like you talk" is a classic piece of writing advice, but would you really want to read something that sounds the way most people talk? Men With Pens blogger Taylor Lindstrom always took issue with this advice, until he reconsidered that maybe the problem wasn't with writing like you talk, but with not talking well enough. His advice: always think about your words, even in casual communication, and get in the habit of expressing yourself well all the time. "Write the way you talk," he writes, as long as "you can speak persuasively, eloquently, and clearly."

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Rate your rhetoric: Have you written a spectacular speech this year? Find out how it stacks up against its industry competition by submitting to the 2012 Cicero Speechwriting Awards. The Cicero Awards recognize the best work in the speechwriting word, and Cicero winners receive publicity at major speechwriting events, including readings by GG friend and Vital Speeches of the Day editor David Murray. As the Cicero website puts it, "Not Twitter feeds, podcasts or blogs -- for politicians and CEOs, for military brass and church leaders, for activists and fundraisers, nothing substitutes for the power of a good speech to move audiences to action." Show off your skills by entering today.

Window shoppers: Brick-and-mortar bookstores have had a tough time in this recession, and now they have further proof that they're being undersold by their arch-enemy, Amazon. A new survey reported on the New York Times Media Decoder confirms that many book buyers see a book in a bookstore first, then go online to purchase it. Are these Amazonians shameless, or just saving money in a tough economy?

Platform building: Aspiring authors always hear about the importance of having an audience before their book is published, but how do you start to build that platform? Author Meghan Ward has a list of suggestions on her blog this week, from the helpful (Tumblr, podcasts, teaching, website) to the cheeky (become famous!). Is there anything you would add to her list?

Zombie-telling: In an brilliant confluence of pop-culture obsessions -- smartphones + digital storytelling + zombies -- a new app puts you in the middle of the zombie apocalypse while you're jogging. Zombies, Run! from Six to Start includes audio that sends you on missions, warns you of incoming zombies, and rewards you for your hard work staying alive. Set to release early next year, this app is one step toward the new frontier of interactive mobile storytelling. Will you be running from zombies?

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In defense of adverbs: Though Stephen King said, "The road to hell is paved in adverbs," one writer is coming to the much-maligned part of speech's defense. Atlantic writer Lily Rothaman argues that many famously, fantastically memorable phrases would be duds without adverbs -- would we "give a damn" about Rhett and Scarlett without "frankly"? Where do you weigh in on the adverb debate?

NYPL woes: The New York Public Library has been a vital resource for scholars, writers, and readers in NYC for over 100 years. But with budgets tightening and a large renovation planned, the library is in an unprecedented state of upheaval. Check out the Nation's in-depth article on the changes at America's largest library.

So-so sentences: Is "so" the new "um"? That's the question the Chronicle of Higher Education's Lingua Franca blog is asking, after the New York Times pointed out a pattern of starting sentences with "so" earlier this year. Microsoft employees take credit for starting the "so" phenomenon, but its been picked up by everyone from politicians to NPR (a chronic offender). What do you think about this connector-turned-sentence starter? Is "so" so over?

For the policy wonk who has everything: The gift-giving season is upon us, and you might be debating which books to put on your shopping list. The Guardian has compiled several different lists of the best books to give in 2011, but our favorite is the list of political books. From manifestos to biographies to political thrillers, you're sure to find something on this list for the current events connoisseur in your life.