How Eleanor Oliphant changed a writer's life, and set the publishing world ablaze: an interview with Gail Honeyman
heraldscotland.com – Saturday May 27, 2017
GAIL Honeyman shakes her head, as if to shrug off the shades of a dazzling but unbelievable dream.
We are meeting in a cafe bar in the west end of Glasgow, where her debut novel, the source of that sense of slight but delighted bewilderment, is also largely set. Her book is entitled Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It is a moving, funny, and by the end, devastating novel, and also a rare thing: a debut novel from Scotland which pitched the literary world into a kind of delirium. Ms Honeyman, 45, wrote the novel while she worked at Glasgow University - she created it, as many aspiring writers do, in snatched parcels of precious time - in the morning, in the evening, on holiday. But when it was complete, and in the hands of her agent, it ignited the publishing world. "It was a massive shock," she says.
5 ways publishers can (and should) influence the rise of AI
thebookseller.com – Wednesday May 24, 2017
The book industry has a key role to play in the development of artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is about to eat the world, decimate all our jobs, hack our brains and eradicate the human race... according to many commentators. Fortunately we have time to avert this potential technical apocalypse, and book publishers and authors are in a good position to step up and play an important role.
Here are the top five areas where publishers can take a part in this key moment of technological and human evolution.
How to Use Satire in Writing
thelondoneconomic.com – Wednesday May 17, 2017
Satirical writing probably seems like a very challenging thing to attempt, especially if you are an inexperienced writer. But, you can use satire in writing once you learn how. Of course, understanding that satire is comedic criticism will more than likely help you in the process?
You will see satirical writing aimed at current news and other broad topics that most people are well-aware of them. It means that before you can start writing whole satire pieces, you will have to ensure that you are up to date on the headlines. Imagine that you will be attempting to write for Saturday Night Live (SNL) as they regularly poke fun at the day’s top stories.
Giles Foden on the art of writing
irishtimes.com – Thursday April 27, 2017
The foreword to The Ogham Stone, UL’s journal of creative writing, explores what language can do and the craft of its featured writers.
Writer seeks Kindled spirit: Six novelists reveal how to self-publish successfully
dailymail.co.uk – Sunday April 16, 2017
The dawn of the digital era means that authors can self-publish their books – and make a fortune. Laura Silverman asks six independent novelists to reveal the secrets of clicking with your readership.
Kameron Hurley: How to Write a Book in a Month
locusmag.com – Monday April 10, 2017
We all want to learn how to write books faster. The pace of the news cycle today has heated up to such an extent that for those of us who aren’t in the 1% of writers, if we don’t come out with a book a year, it feels like the world has forgotten us amid the buzz of ever more intensifying world horror. I’m not immune to this pressure. Juggling a day job, a book a year (writing), a book a year (promoting), and completing various freelance articles like this one takes its toll. Stuff goes out late. It’s pushed out. It squeezes in just under the wire (like this column). At some point when you’re on the writing treadmill, it feels like you’ve gotten so behind that you’ll never catch up again.
Is Book Publishing Too Liberal?
publishersweekly.com – Saturday April 8, 2017
When Simon & Schuster announced in late February that it is canceling Milo Yiannopoulos’s book, Dangerous, many in the publishing industry reacted with a sigh of relief. The six-figure book deal that the right-wing provocateur landed at Threshold Editions, S&S’s conservative imprint, late last year caused a wave of criticism—from various factions of the media, the public, and the house’s own authors. And, though it’s still unclear what ultimately motivated the publisher to yank the book, the fervor that the alt-right bad boy’s deal caused put some on alert. Could other publishers be pressured into canceling books by controversial conservatives? Does the industry have a double standard for authors on the right? Does it matter?
‘Just five more minutes …’: the joy of writing for children
irishtimes.com – Thursday April 6, 2017
There’s something magical about writing for 9-12-year-olds. I have loved books all my life, but it was at this age that I remember most clearly the overwhelming compulsion to keep reading, to find out what happens next, just one more chapter, just five more minutes. It’s the age when you first discover the joys of reading by torchlight under your duvet, the rest of the house quiet, hoping you won’t be caught before your hero escapes from the bad guys.
Writing in the time of great editors
mysanantonio.com – Tuesday April 4, 2017
Editors are the invisible hands that guide publishers and help writers strengthen their craft to achieve greatness. When thinking of greatness, I am reminded of Malvolio’s soliloquy in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” when he says: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em.”
Scrivener & Sons’ editor Maxwell Perkins was one of those born great. He edited Ernest Hemingway’s liberal use of salty language and fear of semicolons, resolved F. Scott Fitzgerald’s hesitation for book titles (Perkins replaced “Trimalchio in West Egg” with “The Great Gatsby”) and hacked off Thomas Wolfe’s purple prose and redundancy.
How to get a job in digital publishing
thebookseller.com – Wednesday March 29, 2017
No doubt you’ve heard many times about how competitive publishing is - and I’m not going to say otherwise. However, as someone ‘on the inside’ who recruits new employees for entry-level roles in the ebooks department at Penguin Random House, it’s part of my job to hold open the door for newcomers. Who might just be you.
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