“The gilded age of publishing is over, and with it, it would appear, the splashy debut. Gone are the seven-figure advances and the 22-city book tours. And that’s just fine. Writers were never meant to be rock stars, and publishing them as if they could be was absurd. Writers become writers because they are comfortable alone. Out of that silence emerges a kind of music that doesn’t need screaming fans.”
I had a chance to meet Freeman—longtime freelance book reviewer (been there, brother), new editor of Granta, and all-around man of letters—at BEA last spring, and I’m more impressed all the time by the breadth and thoughtfulness of his various efforts. Such as, for example, his ideas about email.
