The Doors co-founder and author Ray Manzarek has passed away. He was 74 years old.

We’ve created a Spotify playlist below, linking to his music, interviews and work with poets. The rock keyboardist wrote a few books, including The Poet in Exile: A Novel and his Light My Fire memoir. You can read Entertainment Weekly had this obituary for the rock star:

As a member of the legendary rock band that formed in 1965 in Los Angeles and effectively ended with the death of frontman Jim Morrison in 1971 … [he] wrote a best-selling memoir about his experiences, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors, in 1998. The Doors sold more than 100 million albums worldwide on the strength of hits like ”Hello, I Love You,” “Riders on the Storm,” “Light My Fire,” and “Break On Through to the Other Side.”

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Here are some literary events to pencil in your calendar. To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.

The Monogamy Memoirists Meet Their Match event will feature a book slam, signing, and rooftop cocktails. Check it out on Monday, May 20th at the Roger Smith Hotel starting 6:30 p.m. (New York, NY)

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Bowker launched the Self Published Author site today, sharing advice for indie authors about topics ranging from an overview of self-publishing platforms for your book to writing back cover copy.

Bowker is the US agency that writers and publishers must use to register for an International Standard Book Number (or ISBN) for their book. The new site shares some useful advice about why an ISBN matters and how to get your ISBN. Here’s an excerpt:

If you are publishing a book, you are a publisher. You don’t need a corporate entity to purchase ISBNs. You can purchase them under your own name, or create a name for yourself as a publisher – e.g. “Laura Dawson Publishing”. This name does not need to be registered in any way … There is no such thing as an e-ISBN. ISBNs are ISBNs – some identify physical products in the book supply chain, others identify digital products in the book supply chain. Vendors who ask for information about your e-ISBNs are using incorrect terminology – they simply want the ISBNs of your digital products.

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The Glossary has created a short film incorporating an abridged version of David Foster Wallace‘s “This is Water” commencement speech.

We’ve embedded the project above–what do you think? Follow this link to listen to the address in its entirety.

Wallace originally delivered this speech in 2005 during Kenyon College’s graduation ceremony. Little, Brown and Company reprinted it in a 2009 book entitled This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life.

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Author and Rock Plaza Central musician Chris Eaton traveled far beyond writers to find blurbs for his new book, Chris Eaton, a Biography.

In today’s edition of the Morning Media Menu, Eaton shared advice for making a genuine appeal to a writer, artist or musician when searching for blurbs.

Press play below to listen on SoundCloud. We’ve collected a few excerpts from the interview…

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2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson won the Nebula Award for best novel this year.  Aliette de Bodard took the best short story award for “Immersion”–read the complete story at Clarkesworld.

Below, we’ve collected free samples of all the nominees and winners–the best science fiction books of 2012. Many of these stories are available to read for free online. These are marked “COMPLETE” among the links.  Here’s more about the awards:

The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented by, active members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. Founded as the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 by Damon Knight, the organization began with a charter membership of 78 writers; it now has over 1,500 members, among them many of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.

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Do your photographs keep getting cropped when you post on Facebook? Make sure your author page has the right sized pictures.

A recent infographic from PostRocket will help you calculate the proper dimensions for link images, photographs and profile pictures on Facebook. AppNewser has more details:

PostRocket shared a long list of practical Facebook tips in an infographic, looking at how you can optimize your stories, images and posts for Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm. EdgeRank decides how many people see your posts, so you should follow all these useful tips.

(Via Alma Katsu)

Following days of rumors, Yahoo has acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion. The press release made the new relationship clear: “Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business.”

Tumblr has served as a source of countless book deals and many writers keep work on the site. If you want to know how to build a better page, read our Tumblr Tips for Writers post with writing advice from Tumblr literary outreach Rachel Fershleiser. Here’s more about the deal:

With more than 300 million monthly unique visitors and 120,000 signups every day, Tumblr is one of the fastest-growing media networks in the world. Tumblr sees 900 posts per second (!) and 24 billion minutes spent on site each month. On mobile, more than half of Tumblr’s users are using the mobile app and do an average of 7 sessions per day … The deal offers unique opportunities for both companies. Tumblr can deploy Yahoo!’s personalization technology and search infrastructure to help its users discover creators, bloggers, and content they’ll love. In turn, Tumblr brings 50 billion blog posts (and 75 million more arriving each day) to Yahoo!’s media network and search experiences. The two companies will also work together to create advertising opportunities that are seamless and enhance the user experience.

The literary publisher and calligraphy expert Louis Strick has passed away. He was 87 years old, leaving behind a lifetime of books, art and writing scholarship.

Westport Now published an obituary about his long and varied career. Here is an excerpt:

In the late 1960s Strick began importing calligraphic art supplies, distributed through his Pentalic Company. By making special nibs, pens and instruction books widely available, Strick spearheaded a revival of the calligraphic movement in America;. He also established the Calligraphy Workshop, a school on lower Fifth Avenue. In the late 1970s, Strick purchased the Taplinger Publishing Company, bringing out works of literary fiction as well as volumes on modern art, reflecting two of his passions.

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For your weekend reading pleasure, here are our top stories of the week.

They included how The Great Gatsby changed Haruki Murakami’s life, a steamy book cover that generated strong sales and a viral bookstore sign (embedded above).

1. This Is a Bookshop Sign Goes Viral

2. The Cover That Launched a Thousand iBookstore Sales

3. Why Haruki Murakami Translated The Great Gatsby

4. Author Gives Fake Writing Assignments to Online Cheaters

5. Hyperbole and a Half Author Returns with Illustrated Essay on Depression

6. Free Sites To Promote Your Book

7. Successful query letters for literary agents

8. Bret Easton Ellis Addresses David Foster Wallace Comments

9. Tsundoku: Illustrated Definition of a Book Lover’s Problem

10. Best Writing Music of 2013, So Far