Amit Chatwani, a 26-year-old author and blogger, either has the best or worst timing in publishing history. Maybe a little of both. Writer of the popular Wall Street blog Leveragedsellout.com, just published a satirical book entitled “Damn It Feels Good to be a Banker.” Does it NOW, though?

The New York Times reports that Mr. Chatwani wrote the book “a sort of fake how-to guide to understand and join the realm of young investment bankers, as if written by a young investment banker.” But now that banking (and all sorts of other financial institutions) are heading the way of dot.coms in the early 1990s, will this book be thought of as a joke or a bad investment?

Chatwani says he hopes “Damn It Feels Good” will one day be seen as the book that crystalized the moment right before the crash. Or the last hurrah in a bankrupt time…

To read the whole article, go HERE.

Do you have a memoir of sorts (hopefully about a culture that’s NOT imploding) you’d like to share with readers everywhere? Why not enter the New Rivers Press MVP Competition? They’re looking to award the winning memoir a prize of $1000. Now that’s a WordHustler-inspired thought that doesn’t break the bank…

This new wave of thinking means that Hollywood development deals would now be included in the publishing deal, instead of waiting until after the book has been published. Who knows if this film-oriented end goal will muddy the publication process, or bring it to a higher level? Only time (and some well-paid marketing/PR gurus) will be able to tell….

Read the entire article HERE.

Do you have a YA book that’s ripe for publishing (and the cineplex)? Why not send a query letter to Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers? The sooner you send your work out, the sooner you’ll be going straight from your book signing to your premiere. WordHustler wants to help you get a big ol’ piece of the success pie.

The Wall Street Journal has got the scoop on a paperboy, er, man, who’s been taking the New York Times for a ride. Michael Holtet, a 50-year-old Wisconsin man, has been arrested in connection with a scheme he concocted in which he embezzled over $220,000 from the New York Times. It seems Holtet, a newspaper deliveryman, decided to invent thousands of alleged NY Times subscribers, pocketing the money the paper paid him to deliver it each day and recycling all of the superfluous newspapers. Holtet faces up to 20 years in prison.

But hey, at least he recycled the papers…

Read the full story HERE.

Do you have a tale of a conniving bandit that would entertain the masses (though not actually defraud them)? Why not use WordHustler to submit your well-plotted short story to the Southern California Review Fiction Prize? Keep the espionage on the page and it may pay off well in real life.

There were gathered outside in the moonlight, pale faces poking out from underneath dark hoods. The clock was about to strike midnight as the thirsting hoard pushed forwards, long-taloned hands reaching out greedily, trying to grab something just out of reach. Their kohl-rimmed eyes were determined as they licked the crimson, still-wet specks of blood in the corners of their mouths.

Okay, it wasn’t real blood. But last Friday night bookstores around the country really did experience a rush of rabid fans, mostly teenaged girls, who lined up at the strike of midnight to celebrate with vampire-esque joy the release of “Breaking Dawn,” Stephanie Meyer’s fourth installment to her “Twilight” series. The New York Times attended some of these gruesome celebrations and has the full report on this YA series’ ability to draw fans from every walk of life. “Twilight” has just been adapted into a much-buzzed about movie that will be hitting theaters soon, so even more vampire-lovers can get sucked in.

Read the whole article HERE.

Do you have a horror screenplay that contest judges will sink their teeth into? Why not submit your script to the Terror Film Festival? The deadline is August 24^th so you’ll need to pull some graveyard shifts to finish your masterpiece. Don’t worry, WordHustler promises it’ll be bloody worth it.

Records. 8-Tracks. Laser discs. As technology marches on, the accessories constantly evolve. Remember cassette tapes? Neither do most people…unless you’re a lover of books on tape. But now even audio-novels have evolved into books on CD. What does this mean for those beloved little plastic and ribbon beasts? The New York Times was present at a funeral for the hard-working but outdated cassette tape, held at Hachette Publishing. The cassette tape is survived by its older brother, the compact disc, who himself has not been looking well ever since the advent of MP3s.

Read the full article on the New York Times HERE.

Do you have a novel you’d like to one day become a book on tape…er, CD…um, downloaded/read on Kindle/beamed directly into readers’ brains?  Why not take the first step towards glory by sending a query letter to a fiction publisher like Overlook Press? Your words. Their eyeballs. They should meet. WordHustler wants to help! Yay!

The New York Times ran an interesting article about the evolution of reading and how, not surprisingly, youths today read more online than in print. But therein the question lies: is reading a blog the same as reading a magazine article? Does reading comments on your Facebook profile really count? And what about novels? Remember those?

For more laments about the future of literacy (kidding…sort of) check out the article HERE.

Do you have a book you’d like to see being read (in print or online, let’s not split hairs) by children everywhere? Why not send a query and writing sample to Chronicle Books? They publish an eclectic mixture of traditional and innovative children’s books. Wait a minute: eccectic…innovative…hey, that’s just like you! Go to WordHustler and start shaping young minds today!