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:
A group of writers unhappy with PublishAmerica have filed a lawsuit in Maryland against the company. Among other things, the group alleges PublishAmerica charges fees for services that traditional publishers perform at no cost. (Los Angeles Times)
Entrepreneur and Permission Marketing author Seth Godin funded his new book project The Icarus Deception on Kickstarter within three hours.
Looking at recent numbers reported by the Chitika Ad network, Apple's iPad dominates the tablet wars, accounting for over 90 percent of tablet web traffic, followed by Samsung's Galaxy Tab at a distant second. Also, Barnes & Noble's Nook overtook Amazon's Kindle Fire, although each have less than 1 percent of market share. (CNET)
A would-be author, Ray Dolin, traveling the country in hopes of publishing a book called "Kindness in America," claimed a stranger in Montana shot him. The story was picked up by the Associated Press, and published internationally. A local man was arrested and accused of the shooting. Later, Dolin admitted he actually shot himself. (Los Angeles Times)
George Saunders discusses why novelist Donald Antrim's The Verificationist is an underappreciated masterpiece. (Salon)
Michael Chabon explains why he hates the unconscious imaginings that occur during REM sleep: "Dreams are effluvia, bodily information, to be shared only with intimates and doctors." (New York Review of Books)
The Awl details the long decline of the book review.
The Paris Review Daily features famous authors who perhaps shouldn't text while drinking, including Wordsworth.
Father's Day was yesterday, and the New Yorker published a remembrance by Taylor Plimpton of his late father—journalist, author, editor, and Paris Review founder, George Plimpton. (Byliner)
