Mining data through e-readers: At The New York Times, David Streitfeld profiles a few online businesses that track e-reader data, from Amazon and Barnes & Noble down to Scribd and Oyster. One of the article's focuses? How authors might use such data to inform their writing decisions. A HarperCollins digital officer says the publishing house would "absolutely" share such data with its authors, though the publisher would leave creative decisions to the writers. One writer tells Streitfeld, "If you aren't careful, you could narrow your creativity... But the bigger risk is not giving the reader what she wants." Is it?
With a year's end comes year-end lists: Boston Review posts its top 20 poems from 2013, Slate has a slew of year-end book-related lists (we recommend "The 21 Best Lines..." and "The Overlooked Books..."), and Maria Popova recaps a few greatest hits at BrainPickings, from Iris Murdoch and E.M. Forster on love to pages from Elissa Jane Karg's "How to be a Nonconformist". ("Nonconforming boys wear their hair long, and nonconforming girls wear theirs shorts.")
Spending time in your Woodshop this winter? Send us a note and tell us about your workspace and ritual. We've had the good fortune to publish pieces from Sally Deskins, Andy Hobin, and more. We'd love to see inside your Woodshop! Submission guidelines here.