Bookmarks: Twittering Turkish Publishers, Children's Books, Etc.

So, yes, I'm doing this again.


Writer Phyllis Rose's "extreme reading experiment" and the resulting "bibliomemoir".

"In their obscurity, these books might be dull, bad or even unreadable; they might, in fact, be a total waste of her time," Rachel Cooke writes in The Guardian. "But she also felt certain that, should she embark on such a scheme, she would find herself on the readerly equivalent of virgin snow, for who else would have read this precise sequence of novels?"

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Seems children's books are popular at the Shanghai Book Fair. But beside the old argument that the sector is saturated, there are other challenges. For one, it's easier to create books for older children than younger ones, a chief editor of a publishing house claims.

"Here, artists often draw after the writers have finished stories, and that creates a barrier," says Zhuo Qing of one Children's Publishing House. "But in many other countries, many writers can also draw themselves. And they will consider many details of a book including how it feels when it's touched."

Never thought of that.

Also, it's not just about good writing and storytelling, but understanding what and how children think, says Zhuo. "Some young writers decided to quit after initial trials because they found it is very hard to become famous quickly in this area."


Also:

• Apparently, thanks to Twitter, Turkey's book publishers are finding their voices again. If only they all sounded like @Mangal2, but it's based in London, so ....
• Publishing a book app? Here are three mistakes to avoid.
• Might want to keep an eye out for Suki, an author's tribute to her deceased cat.
• For those who're all "too long, didn't read" about Amazon vs Hachette, here's what Engadget thinks you need to know about the kerfuffle.
• Wanna get published as a photographer? Writer and photographer Michael Ernest Sweet tells you how.