Authors

Nothing makes an author happier than scoring a book deal. But before you sign on the dotted line, it’s important to read through a book contract with a fine-toothed comb.

While it’s a good idea to shell out some money to have a lawyer read the contract, it also helps to educate yourself about these contracts. As a resource guide, Mediabistro’s AvantGuild page has created a list of “The 7 Biggest Red Flags in Book Contracts.”

One red flag to look out for is the “second option clause.” Here is more from AvantGuild: “A ‘second option’ can sound like a dream. After all, that’s the publisher saying it wants a first peek at your next work of art, which is nice to hear when you haven’t started your first project yet. But this can also be a red flag, especially for authors working with smaller publishers. Why? Well, what if a bigger publisher wanted to offer you a more generous advance for that next title? If you sign over your second book option rights, you could miss out.”

In an expletive filled essay at The Daily Beast, novelist Stephen King warned wealthy Americans to pay their “fair share” of taxes before civil unrest deepens in the United States.

Do you agree with King’s bombastic essay? His essay also took aim at Presidential candidate, author and fellow wealthy person Mitt Romney. Check it out:

Mitt Romney has said, in effect, “I’m rich and I don’t apologize for it.” Nobody wants you to, Mitt. What some of us want—those who aren’t blinded by a lot of bullsh** persiflage thrown up to mask the idea that rich folks want to keep their damn money—is for you to acknowledge that you couldn’t have made it in America without America. That you were fortunate enough to be born in a country where upward mobility is possible (a subject upon which Barack Obama can speak with the authority of experience), but where the channels making such upward mobility possible are being increasingly clogged. That it’s not fair to ask the middle class to assume a disproportionate amount of the tax burden. Not fair? It’s un-fu**ing-American is what it is. I don’t want you to apologize for being rich; I want you to acknowledge that in America, we all should have to pay our fair share.

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Blogger Tiana Smith wrote a post judging American book covers. After comparing the American covers of several popular YA books with their foreign editions, Smith concluded: “American versions are slightly more … generic than some of their counterparts.”

Explore the cover pictures on her site–what do you think? Here’s more from Smith’s post: “Usually us Americans are cool with it if you just throw a girl on the cover. We also tend to go for the slightly more feminine, I’ve found.” Many publishing executives agree that book covers are the number one marketing tool in their arsenal.

Several commenters agreed with Smith (pictured, via). Shadow Watchers author Morgan Shamy pointed out that American book covers tend to be “more commercial.” Bibliophile L.T. Elliot slammed them because she feels they don’t convey enough emotion. Writer DL Hammons observed that “our book covers are more conservative and less likely to take chances.”

Just as Rupert Murdoch has taken the stand in the scandalous News of the World phone hacking trial in Britain, a new book is out that claims to tell the story of the inner workings of Murdoch’s News Corporation.

Dial M for Murdoch by Tom Watson and Martin Hickman, reporters for the Independent. According to Penguin UK, the book’s publisher, the book includes new details, ”which have never been disclosed before in public, including the smears and threats against politicians, journalists and lawyers. It reveals the existence of brave insiders who pointed those pursuing the investigation towards pieces of secret information that cracked open the case.”

openDemocracy.net has a review of the book by author Bruce Page. Page writes: “Dial is our best-to-date account of the snoopers, bully-boys, bully-girls and pseudo-hacks sicced lavishly by Newscorp onto anyone whose alleged turpitude might somehow advance its ambitions. And so they are found chasing — as illicit lovers —  a couple actually established as man and wife; assuming that an MI5 officer’s tip has bared orgiastic Nazism to their censorious gaze; discovering rent boys, but without transactional evidence; and generally barking up factitious trees, or ones long since chopped down.”

We all hope the words we spin are genius right from the first draft, but let’s be honest: You can revise a draft easier than you can craft perfection from the start. So instead of pining over every sentence, just write, write write.

“When I find I can’t get the gumption to work on an assignment of some sort, it’s because my perfectionist nature is getting in the way and won’t let me actually start, or continue if I’ve already gotten the ball rolling,” says Denene Millner, author of 19 books, including three New York Times bestsellers.

“I’ve read several interviews and articles in the past that had suggested giving yourself permission to write a crappy draft, even going as far as suggesting that you ask your muse to help you write the worst sentence you possibly can,” she advised. “Once you do that, not only do you see that said crap draft or sentence isn’t the end of the world, but then you’ve officially started. So you might as well keep going.”

Still stuck? Check out How to Conquer Writer’s Burnout and Get More Creative.

This article is one of several mediabistro.com features exclusively available to AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, you can register for as little as $55 a year and get access to these articles, discounts on seminars and workshops, and more.

Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea, is being sued for allegedly making up the stories in his book. Reuters has the story:

The scheme, plaintiffs claim, painted Mortenson as a hero and tricked readers into donating to his charity, the Central Asia Institute. The lawsuit seeks triple the amount of book sales plus punitive damages, asking for an order that everyone who purchases the book be refunded.

The suit also names his co-author Oliver Relin, his publisher and the Central Asia Institute. According to the his website, Mortenson wrote the book after a failed attempt to reach the peak of K2, after which he ended up in an impoverished Pakistani village.

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Happy tax day! We are celebrating with some literary tax tips from a great American novelist.

David Foster Wallace‘s The Pale King was among three finalists that did not win the Pulitzer Prize yesterday.  The 547-page novel follows the obsessive mental adventures of IRS agents, providing a postmodern peek into the labyrinth of rules guiding your taxes.

As the hero suffers through an excruciatingly dull IRS orientation in chapter 27, an official explained the logic behind selecting tax returns for a dreaded audit. The instructor proceeded to tick off red flags in tax returns that could get your work audited. These warning signs follow below…

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For aficionados of classic literature and hip hop music, there is a new game for you. It’s called, “Who said it, James Joyce or Kool Keith?”

Hudson Hongo explains the idea: “One is the most innovative writer of the 20th century, the other is James Joyce. Can you distinguish between sentences written by the Irish novelist and the lyrics of surrealist rapper Kool Keith?”

The ten question quiz will have you scratching your head. Here’s one for you: “I do indeed in greed, explore, meet the patients. Back to brooms with the nurse with the voodoo curse.” Joyce or Keith? You have to take the quiz to find out. Share your score in the comments section.

J. K. Rowling has finally revealed details about her first novel for adults. The Harry Potter author will release The Casual Vacancy on September 27th.

The publisher billed the new book as “Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising.” In a dramatic departure from her wizard series, the book will focus on a parish council election in a small English town that “becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen.”

Here’s more about the book: “When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.” (Via Shelf Awareness)

John Kercher, the father of Meredith Kercher — a British woman whose 2007 murder in Italy caused headlines around the world — has a new book coming out at the end of this month called Meredith: Our Daughter’s Murder and the Heartbreaking Quest for the Truth.

Amanda Knox, Kercher’s American roommate who stood trial and was convicted, then exonerated for the murder six months ago, is working on a memoir for HarperCollins about the experience. The book, which fetched about $4 million, is slated for release next year. Knox’s Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, who was also convicted and then released, has a memoir coming out from Galley Books this fall.

The Sun UK has more about Kercher’s new book: “It has been billed as ‘a father’s story of losing a beloved daughter, and the first account of the torment the family have suffered and their ongoing quest for justice’.”