Today is John Steinbeck‘s birthday. In his honor, the National Steinbeck Center is hosting events through the weekend; in related news, the entire country is hosting a massive Great Depression for the next five years or so.
Perhaps a commemorative Mark Twain coin would help?
Minnesota author Bill Holm, called the “polar bear of American literature,” has died. He was 65.
Those Robert Coover appearances at the University of Pennsylvania I mentioned earlier this week are now available online on video and MP3.
Russell Banks says Martin Scorsese‘s film adaptation of his novel The Darling is still moving along.
A healthy selection of works by Wells Tower, including an excerpt from his new collection, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, are online.
The viability of Tao Lin‘s plan to finance his writing by selling shares in his next novel is being disputed in the comments of yesterday’s post. Bright minds who understand finance and publishing better than I do are encouraged to weigh in. (Update: I got played on this. Maybe. Probably. Anyhow, lesson learned.)
Last call: Tomorrow I’ll be at an all-day seminar on fiction writing at George Mason University, put together by American Independent Writers. If you’ll be there, please say hi.
markathitakis.com 
It’s not a question of publishing. It’s a question of Tao’s math. He sold 60% of his royalties for $12,000.
He will lose money if 60% of his royalties comes to more than $12,000.
Say it’s an incredible bestseller and his total royalties are $100,000.
He will have sold $60,000 worth of his royalties to his investors, who will achieve a 500% return on their money.
Instead of having $100,000, he will have $40,000. He will have lost $60,000 for the sake of getting $12,000 now. That means while he made $40,000, he also lost $60,000 minus the $12,000, for a total loss of $48,000.
He will get the best deal if his book hardly sells any copies.
It’s simple math.