Wensink Reveals Amazon Bestseller Royalties, Death of the Boston Phoenix, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
3.18.13

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 Christian Science Monitor reports independent bookstores are strengthening their position in the marketplace.

Busboys and Poets, based in Washington, D.C., is opening its fifth storefront. (Shelf Awareness)

Book Riot lists eight great octogenarian authors.

"One more week on Amazon’s best-seller list and I would have seven figures in the bank, easily. Her cousin had looked this fact up on the Internet, so it had to be true." Author Patrick Wensink candidly reveals how much money he made after breaking into the top ten. (Salon)

Amazon has launched Little A, a literary fiction imprint. (GalleyCat)

With the news last week that after forty-seven years in operation, the Boston Phoenix is shuttering, author Susan Orlean shares memories of growing up as a writer at the venerable alt-weekly. (New Yorker)

Meanwhile, Jack Shafer traces the decline of the once prevalent alt-weekly. (Reuters)

And rounding out the Boston Phoenix coverage, Gawker writes the Boston Phoenix's obituary.

Author Teddy Wayne imagines James Joyce’s Ulysses submitted to a writing workshop. (McSweeney's)