Economic Reality for Genre Authors, Oliver Sacks Explores Memory, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
2.1.13

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 average advance these days, for a genre fiction novel, ranges between $2,500 and $10,000." GalleyCat casts a sober eye on economics for genre authors.

Duotrope reports its switch to a subscription-based business has succeeded. (Write, Juggle, Run)

Author and professor of neurology Oliver Sacks explores memory for the New York Review of Books.

In light of the publication of Virginia Woolf's cottage loaf recipe this past week, the Guardian considers other "great literary cooks."

Meanwhile, author and critic Melanie Rehak looks at chef and Baohaus owner Eddie Huang's new memoir Fresh Off the Boat. (Bookforum)

Bel Canto author Ann Patchett and her Nashville bookstore were featured on Super Soul Sunday, a show on OWN—Patchett explains that the idea that books and bookstores are dead is fiction. (Huffington Post)

And with Super Bowl Sunday this weekend, Paris Review Daily discusses gridiron poetics: "Flea flicker. Wildcat. Touchback. Checkdown."

Today is the anniversary of Muriel Spark's birth—the author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, who died in 2006, was born on this day in 1918. (Open Road Media)