Baseball guru Bill James asks: “Why are we so good at developing athletes and so lousy at developing writers?”

Amazon is clearly ready to move further into book publishing. The online retailer partnered with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to make a bid over $2 million for four novels by self-published star Amanda Hocking. Though its bid was highest, the offer was rejected. Perhaps publisher insiders don’t yet trust the retailer that made eBooks mainstream.