Editr: Interview with Aaron Burch
#2 in this series, in which I try to figure out how editing can be taught and learned. This one's got the editor of Hobart, pictures of liquor and giant guns, and helpful questions an editor might ask...
View ArticleHere’s what we’re going to do:
How to deal with reading snobs: "Have you read the collected works of Dianoga?" Continue reading →
View ArticleThe Gentle Art of Pitching: How to Approach Book Reviewers
A little while back, I asked my friend Matthew Specktor, author of That Summertime Sound and the Senior Fiction Editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, for some tips on writing a good pitch letter...
View ArticleEditr: Julie Riddle
Part 3 of the series in which I try to figure out how literary editing can be taught and learned Last week, I had a long conversation over email with Julie Riddle, the craft-essay editor for Brevity: A...
View ArticleWhat’s the Point?
Ever feel down about writing? Like, what's the point? Five writers give many reasons to press on (and one reason to give up). Continue reading →
View ArticleLukewarm Reviews, or: What Comics Fans Can Teach Us All
Last summer, I started logging the books I read into Goodreads, mostly out of statistical cuiriosity. I wanted to learn some things about my own reading habits, from how many books I read in a year, to...
View ArticleEditr: Jodee Stanley of Ninth Letter
Part 4 of the series in which I try to figure out how literary editing can be taught and learned. In this installment, Jodee Stanley tells me about test editing, her Terminator eye, and much, much...
View ArticleReading Series around Indy
Fairly often, I'll get an email from a friend who's interested in giving a reading in Indy. "What series do you have going on there?" they'll write. "Who should I contact?" If a few people ask a...
View ArticlePLEASE SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER: Dealing with Criticism & Rejection
How do you deal with rejection? How do you remain open to criticism while keeping the paralyzing effects at bay? Continue reading →
View ArticleBook Announcement: The Larissa Stories by Teresa Milbrodt
So happy to announce that our second book will be The Larissa Stories by Teresa Milbrodt. Teresa, the author of Bearded Women, a story collection from ChiZine Publications, is a writer who is equal...
View ArticlePressgang Prize 2013 | Longlist
Right after we launched the collection contest, I had a tiny freakout. What if we didn’t find anything we liked? After all the planning, all the set-up, and alllllll the reading, what if we didn’t find...
View ArticlePressgang Prize 2013 | The Shortlist
God, these are all good. Our readers have enjoyed each of these collections—the wit of Appel, the masterful exposition of Williams, the plainspoken beauty of Winter's prose, and the dueling senses of...
View ArticleBowling Balls in Jewelry Boxes: A Collage Interview with BJ Hollars
B.J. Hollars is the author of Sightings and several other books. Zach and Bryan talked with him in May, and published a more conventional interview in Hobart. Then they went back to the raw data of...
View Article“So, What Do You Write?”
Yesterday, at a coffee shop downtown, my wife and I ran into one of her former students. The last time we’d seen her, she was a gawky seventh-grader with long, light brown hair. Now she was a barista...
View ArticlePressgang Prize 2013 | Winner
We have a winner! Einstein’s Beach House by Jacob Appel A couple adopt a depressed hedgehog; a mother is seduced by the father of her daughter’s imaginary friend; a man kidnap’s his ex-wife’s pet...
View ArticleLarissa Takes Flight
Author: Teresa Milbrodt Description: Armed with a cardboard halo, Larissa is out to save humanity. Or to at least make sense of a world where snakes swallow boyfriends, closet monsters write memoirs,...
View ArticleNotes from a Publisher at the Close of a Contest
1. 378. That’s how many book-length manuscripts were in the submission box at the deadline for the second annual Pressgang Prize. 2. I’ve been dipping into the box since the contest began, and I can...
View ArticlePressgang Prize 2014 | The Shortlist
We’re down to five. Here they are, paired with a quote or two from our readers. (Science) Fictions by James Brubaker “This is the hardest Yes I have ever Yessed.” “Carver and Borges had a baby and it...
View ArticlePressgang Prize 2014 | Winner
After months of reading and arguing and reading and making excruciating choices to narrow it down to five manuscripts and then thinking and thinking, I can finally say that we have a winner. And what a...
View ArticleBook Launch & Reading: Einstein’s Beach House by Jacob Appel
This Thursday night, we’re launching the book that won the inaugural Pressgang Prize, Einstein’s Beach House. Kicking off the festivities will be the author of EBH himself, Jacob Appel. Here are the...
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