In photo, books: The Emotional Craft of Fiction @DonMaass, The First Cell @the_first_cell, Tge Body Keeps the Score @BesselvdKolk, I’ve heard the Vultures Singing by Lucia Perillo, The Best American Essays 2019 @BestAmEssays. At bedside: The Undying by Anne Boyer.
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A thread on publishing (and more!) based on the NYT summary of the Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster proposed merger and antitrust case. Readers and writers, are you following this story? /1
“During their testimony, Penguin Random House executives said that just 35 percent of books the company publishes are profitable.” That means 65% of authors don’t earn back their advance or make money for the publisher. Most books are a losing “gamble.” /2
“Among the titles that make money, a very small sliver — just 4 percent — account for 60 percent of those profits.” So-called big books carry mainstream NY-based publishers, and most books are set up to be small. The “gamble” isn’t as “random” as Random House portrays. /3
1/ If you're interested in teaching What Happened Was: next fall in a creative writing or gender studies class, DM me. I have lesson plans on my website & am happy to do class visits at no charge if you're teaching the book. #poetry#teachingamleahy.com/teaching/
2/ It's time for fall book orders. Here's a sample from What Happened Was: up at @WhaleRoadReview, in case this chapbook might work for your creative writing or gender studies class. DM me or @harbor_review to request a copy to review for teaching. whaleroadreview.com/leahy/
3/ Here's what What Happened Was: is about. Written in the wake of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony in the Supreme Court confirmation hearing and steeped in the memory of Anita Hill’s testimony thirty years ago, What Happened Was: explores the cumulative effect
1/ THREAD. MFA in Creative Writing at Chapman University. Application deadline: February 1. That's MONDAY! Let me say a few things about our program first, and then I'll provide a CODE for an application FEE WAIVER at the end of this thread. #MFA#gradschool#creativewriting
2/ While some of our MFA students focus on one genre, many write across genres. @tryphena_yeboah published her first poetry chapbook last year with @AkashicBooks, has published stories @NarrativeMag, and is writing a thesis in fiction with thesis director Richard Bausch.
3/ Likewise, @lizharmer published her first novel with @penguinrandom while she was an MFA student here, her second novel is forthcoming in 2022, and she drafted a memoir as her thesis, with me as the thesis director. Lots of our students take a workshop in a second genre.
1/ VOTE: A THREAD. Register to vote NOW because each state as its own deadline for voter registration. Registering isn’t enough, but you can’t vote if you don’t register by your state’s deadline. If you're registered, great--but you also need to actually vote! #RegisterToVote
2/ Visit Vote.gov if you need information on how to register or how to vote in your state. Each state’s voting laws are handled by that state’s Secretary of State. You can contact your state’s office (look on the website) if you have questions. #Election2020
3/ Encourage people you know to register and to vote. Talk with your family and friends, neighbors, coworkers, members of clubs you belong to, and essential workers. You don’t need to mention a candidate to encourage others to take their responsibility as citizens seriously.
1/ Take a look. Sunday was the 30th anniversary of the ADA. What have you done—large or small—to help design the world to be more inclusive? #DisabilityPrideMonth
Yesterday, the president argued that COVID-19 is like car accidents, so we should accept it as a fact of doing business and get on with things. He’s wrong in several ways. Let me explain. #COVID2019#COVID19#caraccidents 1/x
COVID-19 is not like car accidents because we have no prior experience with this virus. It’s new to humans. We don’t have drivers ed for COVID-19. And it’s contagious (more contagious than the flu). Car accidents are contagious only in freak pileups, but COVID-19 always is. 2/x
We don’t have vaccine or safe, effective treatment to mitigate COVID-19. (In fact, some people in that tiny study of hydroxychloroquine couldn’t finish the study because they moved to ICU or died. They weren’t counted.) We’re in a COVID-19 blizzard with whiteout conditions. 3-/x