77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected by author and agent Mike Nappa (Nappaland Literary Agency) takes a hardcore look at editorial, marketing, and sales perspectives on why a book is rejected. His tone is quick-witted and conversational, and he is in no way here to hold your hand and make you feel better about your rejections. He is in-your-face (“Your Writing is Crap”), realistic (“Your Book Costs Too Much to Make”), and the helpful voice of a friend you need (“You Aren’t Able to Significantly Differentiate Your Book from the Competition”).

Nappa follows up each of the 77 Reasons Why with “What you can do about it,” offering two or three tips for each reason. He notes early on that you may not like what he has to say, but he is being as honest as he can. The book begins, “I make it my goal to reject every book proposal you send me in sixty seconds or less.” This may sound arrogant, but keep reading: “The sad part about this goal of mine is that it’s remarkably easy to accomplish. Too easy, in fact.” Nappa himself has had numerous books published, but also received thousands of rejections, so he isn’t taking any kind of industry-moral high road here. He really is talking to readers like the friend they need to guide them through this seemingly mysterious process. This book, he says, is about “learning why we fail – and then turning that knowledge into success the next time around.” Or at least making that rejection less of a bitter pill to swallow.

Given the 77 reasons in here, only a few could be taken as personal – the rest, he points out, are purely business (which might explain why so many find it “mysterious”). Nappa offers a detailed explanation of what happens once an acquisitions editor takes a book on to pitch to the publisher. It’s not pretty, and it explains why some books never make it past that stage. “Remember,” Napa writes, “publishing is an industry – a business that has at its core the innate desire for survival. And, as for any business, survival means profit. A publishing house that doesn’t actively pursue profitability – no matter how noble or sublime its content goals – simply won’t be publishing books for very long.”

Nappa addresses reasons for rejection from three main perspectives: editorial, marketing, and sales. Some of the examples he provides from his years of experience are shockingly funny (as in, someone really did that?). But what may seem like the “right” approach from the writer trying to pitch a book is exactly what knocks that book out within those first sixty seconds of consideration. Nappa warns his readers, “I will always be honest with you in this book. Sometimes that may make you angry with me. I apologize in advance…but please don’t take it personally. I’m just trying to help you by sharing from my twenty-plus years of experience in publishing.”

Nappa welcomes readers to disagree with his advice if they have had different experiences, which is a good reminder that no one “advice” book of this kind is in any way absolute in being right or naming what is wrong. There are as many experiences with publishing as there are writers trying to get published and agents accepting or rejecting those attempts.

While it seems like this book focuses on the goal of writers who want to run with the big dogs in publishing, that might just be because of Nappa’s work experience in the more cut-throat levels of the industry. Many of his best stories (both of failures and successes) come from working with bigger publishing houses. Still, Nappa offers solid advice for ALL writers to consider, whether pitching to an agent or directly to a small, indie publisher, like those listed on NewPages.

I am personally not a writer trying to get published, but found Nappa’s book extremely insightful (in addition to entertaining), just reading about his work as an agent and acquisitions editor, and working in the industry with other major decision-makers. It’s not a book that needs to be read cover to cover; with each reason and advice on what to do about it taking only a few pages each, it’s easy to pick out specific issues of interest.

77 Reasons is available online from Sourcebooks, where you can also see the full table of contents and read an excerpt from the book.

Issue #14 of PEN America features The Good Books, in which over fifty writers — including Yiyun Li, Anne Fadiman, Karen Russell, Gary Shteyngart, David Shields, and many more — choose the works in translation they’d bring to a great global book swap. Several contributions are available for reading online.

From Siglio Press: Torture of Women is Nancy Spero’s fierce and enduring contribution to contemporary art, to feminist thought and action, and to the continuing protest against torture, injustice, and the abuse of power.

This epic artwork, juxtaposing testimony by female victims of torture with startling imagery from the ancient world, is as powerful now as when it was created in 1976. Artistic ingenuity coupled with boldly feminist and political intent, Torture of Women is a public cry of outrage and a nuanced exploration of the continuum of violence and the isolation of pain. It is also a pivotal work by an American artist whose immense impact has yet to be fully examined.

Siglio’s publication, three years in the making, translates the 125 ft. work into nearly 100 pages of detail so that the entirety of Torture of Women—with legible texts and vibrant color reproductions—can be experienced with immediacy and intimacy, providing a unique opportunity to engage this influential but infrequently exhibited work of art. Siglio’s publication of Torture of Women also serves as a centrifuge for conversation, raising provocative questions that cross the borders of art, politics, feminism, and human rights.

With an essay “Fourteen Meditations of Torture of Women by Nancy Spero” by Diana Nemiroff; “Symmetries,” a story by Luisa Valenzuela; and an excerpt from The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World by Elaine Scarry.

$48 Clothbound 156 pages, Illustrated ISBN 978-0-9799562-2-5

Each spring Tamaas, a cross-cultural arts organizaion, hosts a week-long poetry translation workshop at Reid Hall, the home to Columbia University’s Paris study abroad program. Poets of different nationalites and generations, based or sojourning in Paris, are invited by Tamaas to work in pairs with other poets to translate each other’s work.

This poet-to-poet exchange of approaches to translation is a distinctive feature of this cross-cultural workshop, and draws upon participants’ capacities as writers to handle the challenges of rendering poetry in another language. Students and the general public are welcome to attend the closing night reading of translations-in-progress. The fruits of this workshop are published annually, as the volume entitled READ through 1913 Press.

The 7th Annual Tamaas READ Translation Seminar will take place June 21-25, 2011. The public reading will be June 25th at 19h Reid Hall, 4, rue de Chevreuse 75006.

The 2011 Participants include: Oscarine Bosquet, Norma Cole, Jean Daive, Sandra Doller, Ben Doller, Jérôme Game, Liliane Giraudon, Michelle Noteboom, Michael Palmer, and Cole Swensen.

If you’re an educator or program administrator, and at least 50 percent of the children in your program come from low-income families, First Book can help.

Eligible programs receive access to the First Book Marketplace, offering new books at 50 to 90 percent off retail prices. And if you serve a higher proportion of children in need — 80 percent or more — then your school or program may also be eligible for free books through the First Book National Book Bank and book grants through First Book’s local Advisory Boards.

Visit First Book online to learn more.

The introductory essays and Table of Contents to Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing (2011, Northwestern U Press) are available for download. The first essays by the editors are “Why Conceptual Writing? Why Now?” by Kenneth Goldsmith and “The Fate of Echo” by Craig Dworkin.

Poets for Haiti is a collection now available from Yileen Press. From the publisher: “Six weeks after the city of Port-au-Prince was brought to its knees by one of the most destructive earthquakes on record – 18 remarkable writers including Robert Pinksy, Rosanna Warren, and Gail Mazur, joined together at Harvard University campus and demonstrated the power of the spoken word. That benefit reading was a vital and galvanizing event, and this anthology has been created to capture some of the magic that was sparked that night. With stunning artwork by some of Haiti’s most prominent visual artists, the volume is itself a work of art. All proceeds from the sale of this anthology will go to Partners in Health to benefit the people of Haiti.”

Members of the Southern Writers group She Writes, Zetta Brown and Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown, gathered submissions and created an anthology of stories, poems, and recollections in response to the BP Oil disaster in the Gulf. Oil and Water…and Other Things That Don’t Mix features 27 authors, women and men all dealing with the theme: “Conflict…Resolution Optional.”

All proceeds from Oil and Water…and Other Things That Don’t Mix will go to directly benefit MOBILE BAYKEEPER, and BAY AREA FOOD BANK, two charities helping to combat the effects of the spill and help the communities affected.

Authors included in the collection are Jenne’ R. Andrews, Shonell Bacon, Lissa Brown, Mollie Cox Bryan, Maureen E. Doallas, Mylène Dressler, Nicole Easterwood, Angela Elson, Melanie Eversley, Kimeko Farrar, L B Gschwandtner, John Klawitter, Mary Larkin, Linda Lou, Kelly Martineau, Patricia Anne McGoldrick, Ginger McKnight-Chavers, Carl Palmer, Karen Pickell, Dania Rajendra, Cherie Reich, Jarvis Slacks, Tynia Thomassie, Amy Wise, Dallas Woodburn, and contributing editors Zetta Brown and Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown.

Retailers who wish to stock the Oil and Water anthology can contact the publisher directly: editor(at)ll-publications.com

Ben Tanzer’s book 99 Problems: Essays About Running and Writing is available as an e-book, with a twist. On his site, readers who want to download the book have several pay options, or rather amount-to-pay options. “I’d like to pay: $5 – $10 – $20 – a different amount – nothing.” That’s right – “nothing” is an option. Regardless of what amount you pay, or don’t, you’ll get the full-length version of the book. (Kindle users have an Amazon flat rate fee of $5.) The book is also licensed under Creative Commons – a growing culturally conscious way to share works with others. It will be interesting to see how Tanzer’s book does, in terms of readers and payers, and how the new-millennium old question goes, “If you give it to them for free, will they pay for it?” It perhaps even more of interest to writers – even if it’s free, will they read it?

Book Blurb: “Why is it that so many full-time writers seem to be full-time runners as well, and what is it about each activity that seems to fuel the other? In 99 Problems, Chicago author Ben Tanzer tackles this very question, penning a series of essays completed after a string of actual runs across the United States during the winter of 2009, cleverly combining the details of the run itself with what new insights he gained that day regarding whatever literary story he was working on at the time; and along the way, Tanzer also offers up astute observations on fatherhood, middle-age, and the complications of juggling traditional and artistic careers, all of it told through the funny and smart filter of pop-culture that has made this two-time novelist and national performance veteran so well-loved. A unique and fascinating new look at the curious relationship between physical activity and creative intellectualism, 99 Problems will have you looking at the arts in an entirely new way, and maybe even picking up a pair of running shoes yourself.”

Dining in Refugee Camps: The Art of Sahrawi Cooking
Cenando en los Campamentos de Refugiados: Un Libro De Cocina Saharaui
by Robin Kahn

From the publishers site: “A full-color, bilingual, collage journal that documents Robin Kahn’s month cooking with the women of the Western Sahara. As a guest artist selected to participate in ARTifariti 2009, Kahn stayed with Sahrawi families living in refugee camps in Algeria and in the desert of The Free Territories of the Western Sahara. There she created the collages for this publication by combining the sparse materials available locally with photos, recipes, histories and drawings. The result is a 50-page full-color journal that examines the art of Sahrawi food production: how kitchens are improvised, food is procured and prepared, and traditional recipes are innovated from UN rations and international aid. The book is a testament to the daily struggles of Sahrawi women whose role is to provide sustenance, fortitude and comfort inside a compromised society.”

Cover Me
A Health Insurance Memoir by Sonya Huber; Published by University of Nebraska Press

From the Publisher: Growing up in middle-class middle America, Sonya Huber viewed health care as did most of her peers: as an inconvenience or not at all. There were braces and cavities, medications and stitches, the family doctor and the local dentist. Finding herself without health insurance after college graduation, she didn’t worry. It was a temporary problem. Thirteen years and twenty-three jobs later, her view of the matter was quite different. Huber’s irreverent and affecting memoir of navigating the nation’s health-care system brings an awful and necessary dose of reality to the political debates and propaganda surrounding health-care reform.

“I look like any other upwardly mobile hipster,” Huber says. “I carry a messenger bag, a few master’s degrees, and a toddler raised on organic milk.” What’s not evident, however, is that she is a veteran of Medicaid and WIC, the federal government’s supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children. In Cover Me, Huber tells a story that is at once all too familiar and rarely told: of being pushed to the edge by worry; of the adamant belief that better care was out there; of taking one mind-numbing job after another in pursuit of health insurance, only to find herself scrounging through the trash heap of our nation’s health-care system for tips and tricks that might mean the difference between life and death.

Edited by Charles Degelman, Voice from the Planet includes award-winning and new authors from Congo to Hollywood joining forces in Harvard Square Editions’ second volume of Living Fiction. Net proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to the Nobel Prize-winning charity Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Some of the authors whose works make up this anthology are: Alisa Clements, Tom Dolembo, Maya Levantini, Jorge Contreras, Charity Shumway, Stan G. Duncan, Geoffrey Fox, Jonathan Facelli, Phyllis Helene Mattson, Guy Kuttner, Tony Rogers, Lowry Pei, Margot Singer, and J. L. Morin.

Poets on Teaching: “In response to a lack of source works for wide-ranging approaches to teaching poetry, award-winning poet Joshua Marie Wilkinson has gathered ninety-nine micro-essays for poets, critics, and scholars who teach and for students who wish to learn about the many ways poets think about how a poem comes alive from within—and beyond—a classroom. Not narrowly concerned with how to read poetry or how to write poetry, by virtue of their central concern with teaching poetry, the essays in this fresh and innovative volume address both reading and writing and give teachers and students useful tools for the classroom and beyond.” [University of Iowa Press / 1-58729-904-6 or 978-1-58729-904-9]

Carol Smallwood has been quietly creating a name for herself over the years, and I say quietly for a couple of reasons. First, she’s a librarian! With both an MLS and an MA, she has focused her writing on resources for librarians. But I also say quietly because she has edited a couple of phenom publications, taking the back seat to the subject matter, as great editors do. Her latest collection is one not to be missed by any writer who is interested in learning more about publishing venues. That’s right: I said Writer. Not just Librarians.

The book is Writing and Publishing: The Librarian’s Handbook (ALA Editions 2010), but any non-librarian writer who passes this book by because of that subtitle is making a huge mistake. This book is chock full of some of the most practical, hands-on, I’ve-lived-this advice from writers about the most wide array of publishing venues I have ever read in a single collection. There are 46 contributors to this collection, condensed into less than 200 pages. This is my kind of “guide” – it gets directly to the nitty-gritty of each individual topic in 92 (yes, you read me right) essays.

Granted, some of the topics covered are Librarian-specific, such as “MLS, MFA: The Working Librarian Pursuing a Degree in Creative Writing” (Colleen S. Harris), “Partners: Helping Your Hometown Paper Promote the Local Library” (Beth Nieman), and “Children’s Librarians! Use Your Skills to Fill Your Collection Gaps” (Margaret Read MacDonald). Although, I did find the information insightful and even helpful as someone who works closely with librarians to help promote events, build collections, etc. But there are plenty more contributions that seem library-specific, like “Blogging: Writing Op-Eds” (Michale Dudley) and “The Poet-Librarian: Writing and Submitting Your Work” (Colleen S. Harris) that make consideration for the role/career of librarian, but could just as easily be applicable to anyone with any other career. Specifically for librarians, however, is insight in how to participate in these publishing venues either as part of the job to help promote the library/collections, or as a separate activity and the politics of keeping your writing life clear from that of public or institutional jobs and the overreaching restrictions those sometimes have.

The breadth of topics in this collection is most astounding. It’s not just a something-for-everyone collection, it’s an a-lot-for-anyone collection. For librarians who want to do ANY kind of writing, this book is a no-brainer to get, read, and keep in your personal resource library. For others – anyone interested in writing to publish, this is a resource to take a look at. There are plenty of other “publishing” resources out there – but in my recent research for a college-level course in professional writing, finding a book as comprehensive in voices and topics as this one is RARE. I wouldn’t pass up using this as a resource with students interested in publishing. For students? Heck, for anyone trying to step into and make sense of where to get started or different directions to take in publishing.

Here’s just an outline of the content:

Part 1 – Why Write

Part 2 – Education of a Writer
Getting Started
Writing with Others
Revise, Revise, Revise
Lessons From Publishing

Part 3 – Finding Your Niche in Print
Books
Newsletters and Newspapers
Reviewing
Magazines and Professional Journals
Essays
Textbook Writing
Children’s Literature
Writing on Specific Subjects

Part 4 Finding Your Niche Online

Part 5 Maximizing Opportunities

For a more detailed outline of content, visit the publisher’s website: Writing and Publishing

“Readings for Writers is a very different creature from your usual anthology. Yes, everything here has appeared in The Kenyon Review sometime during the past seventy years. That should establish literary merit, aside from the fame of many of the featured authors. But a different principle of selection comes into play: choosing stories, poems, and essays from across the decades to provoke lively responses from writers today, to inspire and challenge.” -David H. Lynn, Editor

Jan Kerouac: A Life in Memory is the first biography of post-Beat novelist and poet Jan Kerouac. Edited by Gerald Nicosia, it contains contributions by Nicosia, Phil Cousineau, Brenda Knight, Aram Saroyan, Brad Parker, John Allen Cassady, R.B. Morris, Jacques Kirouac, Adiel Gorel, Lee Harris, Mary Emmerick, Lynn Kushel Archer, Carl Macki, John Zielinski, Buddah (John Paul Pirolli), and Dan McKenzie, as well as a long interview with Jan by Nicosia and over 40 photographs. The book, 189 pages with color cover and black-and-white illustrations, will be signed and personalized by Gerald Nicosia upon request.

Days With My Father by Phillip Toledano is a photo essay of Phillip’s relationship with his aging father. Full photos and text available online, but also available in paper book format. Absolutely beautiful and worth the time to read/view it all – and share with others.

Kamchatka: Wilderness at the Edge: “Astoundingly beautiful book on one of the most special wilderness and cultural areas on the planet – Kamchatka. This peninsula hangs into the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean off the very eastern end of Russia. It is home to the world’s highest diversity of salmon with huge runs up wild rivers; large populations of brown bear; traditional reindeer-herding cultures; Krontosky Nature Reserve and its Valley of Geysers (a World Heritage Area); and much more.” Available exclusively from Wild Foundation; proceeds from the book to benefit the foundation.

By Igor Shpilenok and Patricio Robles Gil
Edited by nature writer Laura Williams
Full color, 121 pages, 7.5″ square, hard cover, in hard-case gift box.
ISBN 978-1-56373-187-0

Another great holiday gift – UDP basic subscriptions (limited to 200) receive more than 20 books throughout the year, sent directly to your home, including new works of poetry, essays, and artist books by emerging and established writers and artists. The books are all uniquely designed, with frequent use of letterpress, hand-sewn binding, and more, demonstrating “a philosophical curiosity about what makes a book a book” (Michael Miller, Time Out New York).

A film adaptation of Sergio Bizzio’s Rabia, produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Sebastián Cordero, was presented at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Bitter Lemon Press will publish the novel in the US under the title Rage in November 2009.