This is the 199th edition of SHuSH, the official newsletter of the Sutherland House Inc.

There was an interesting piece in the New York Times a week or so ago about James Daunt (above), the incoming chief executive of Barnes & Noble, the most important bookstore chain in the English-speaking world. It didn’t quite get to the nub of the matter. Barnes & Noble has been on death watch. It

While some famous novels have been written in under a month, major works by major authors are often years in the making. From what I’ve gathered online, the average time it takes to complete a novel is six to eight months of solid work. I know journalists who’ve completed non-fiction books in as little as