Ready to write a bestseller?

What makes a bestseller? Essentially, selling fast, not necessarily selling long. According to Ruth Franklin in Bookforum:

Orwell called books like these "good bad books," writing that "the existence of good bad literature—the fact that one can be amused or excited or even moved by a book that one's intellect simply refuses to take seriously—is a reminder that art is not the same thing as cerebration."

BookExpo America 2011 officially starts today at the Javits Center, although ramp-up events have been going on all week. See some pics and coverage, such as yesterday’s address by Margaret Atwood, at Shelf Awareness: “Atwood had a packed room laughing at her insights into the book and other literary ‘transmission devices.’”

The Hayden’s Ferry Review blog has collected info on “unusual calls for submissions,” including prose works of 100 words or less for the Postcard Press, as well as other topic-themed publications. Some have reading fees and some are free.