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:
Melville House surveys Wall Street’s harsh criticism of Amazon following an announcement Thursday of the company’s “skimpy” $108 million dollar profit during the first financial quarter of this year, representing a 23 percent increase in sales. (GalleyCat)
Pavan Arora argues for more transparent sharing of e-book and reader data, such as which parts of a book readers struggled with or which books readers gave up on, to assist with sales. (Digital Book World)
In an opinion piece for the New York Times, Mireille Silcoff examines the print book’s new role as an aid for interior design.
An Orlando-based independent bookstore that opened last month, Bookmark It, is continuing the trend of keeping it local by specializing in books by Florida authors. (Orlando Sentinel)
Novelist Steven Pressfield questions the validity of a degree in creative writing. (Steven Pressfield Online)
The American Scholar offers a list of the ten best sentences in English literature.
A new book on Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education) explores the link between our modern signage and the creators’ utopian philosophy. (Atlantic)
As the British Library prepares its exhibition of comics created in the U.K., the Guardian features stories by Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, and Gillian Flynn adapted into comics.
Flavorwire features the most ridiculous Urban Dictionary definitions of well-known authors, including Virginia Woolf, Mark Twain, and Edgar Allan Poe, among others.