Here are a few stories to read this Monday morning.
- Most of the portmanteaus on this list were rather obviously combinations of two words, and at least one (Wi-Fi) should not be on this list (they got the etymology wrong).
- This list of 10 myths of crime fiction is fascinating.
- Speaking of which, here’s a list of common mistakes made in medical dramas.
- I am surprised anyone didn’t know these movies were based on kid’s books.
- A freelance writers shares her experience with an AI writing assistant. It _really_ sounds useful. (Oh, and it has been renamed: https://www.jasper.ai/)
- This piece on the Bridgerton reprint covers missed a huge part of the story – Amazon’s puritanical rules on romance book covers. (There’s a really interesting/aggravating story here, but I don’t have the time or energy to cover it.)
P.S. Speaking of retailers driving creative decisions, I seem to recall a 19th century British catalog retailer which could decide which books would be commercially successful based on whether it ordered the books it ordered for its catalog. This in turn drove content decisions at publishing houses.
I can’t remember the name, though. Does anyone know who I am talking about?
Not a catalogue but a circulating (subscription) library – Mudie’s
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Edward_Mudie
Ah thanks!