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.
7 Tips For Writing A Bestselling Science Fiction Novel
femalefirst.co.uk – Monday March 27, 2017
Don’t try to write a best-selling book. Because you can’t. One, if you just try to copy the current set of bestsellers, you’re already behind. If you can spot a trend, it’s because you’re behind it. Two, because no one really knows what things are going to be bestsellers. Publishers spend a lot of money promoting books that they want to be huge that don’t sell, while other books seemingly come out of nowhere and just perch on the top of lists.
‘Writing is not about youth but about spark’
irishtimes.com – Monday March 27, 2017
I’ve noticed recently that letters to young writers are becoming fashionable, for example, Colum McCann’s forthcoming book. But, in my case, I didn’t get my first story published till I was 30 and my first collection launched till I was 37. I wasn’t so much a late starter as a late knuckle-downer. So, this piece is for the not-so-young writers who should still go for it and make an impact on the world. Here are my pearls of wisdom (hopefully not paste):
Eight reasons that even a good book is rejected by publishers
scroll.in – Sunday March 26, 2017
Several years ago, as an aspiring novelist with stardust in my eyes, I used to spend most of my waking hours in Yahoo’s Books and Literature chatroom in the company of fellow aspiring writers. I clearly remember how one of the main topics of conversations used to be the number of rejection slips one had received on that particular day (or the previous week), agents/publishers who had requested a synopsis or proposal, and those who had just not bothered to respond. All of us were united by the looming sense of uncertainty, suspense, and the palpable realisation that the odds were firmly stacked against us.
Today, having spent more than seven years on the other side, first as a consultant and then an agent, I think many writers have wrong notions about rejections. While most books are rejected because of poor quality and incompetence (as they should be), there are several other factors that play a role in publishing decisions. And these affect “good” books too.
The rise of the Irish literary magazine
independent.ie – Tuesday March 21, 2017
A vibrant new wave of Irish literary journals are offering insights into contemporary trends as well as giving new ideas and new writers an audience
'It's no longer about the vanity press': self-publishing gains respect — and sales
cbc.ca – Sunday March 19, 2017
Vancouver-based author Sharon Rowse was thrilled when after years of trying she finally landed a book deal with a New York publisher.
"It had always been my dream to be published," Rowse said.
Her novel, a historical crime story that takes place in her home town, had been "a bit of a hard sell" for the American market.
But reality poured a big bucket of cold water on her dreams when the publisher was bought out, and its mystery section discontinued.
Don’t like the way you write? An artificial intelligence app promises to polish your prose
qz.com – Friday March 10, 2017
I am a professional writer, but I often hate my writing. I wish it was more concise and powerful. And it certainly doesn’t read as smoothly as the work of my literary heroes. Recently, I began to wonder: Could a software program make me better at my job?
The Hemingway App, an online writing editor created in 2013 by brothers Adam and Ben Long, promises to do just that. “Hemingway makes your writing bold and clear,” the site claims, so that “your reader will focus on your message, not your prose.” If you listen to the app’s advice, it will rid your writing of run-on sentences, needless adverbs, passive voice, and opaque words. There’s no guarantee you’ll crank out the next Farewell to Arms—but the goal is to get you closer to Ernest Hemingway’s clear, minimalist style.
Writing poetry in the age of Twitter and Facebook: 'there are no answers, only questions'
list.co.uk – Wednesday March 8, 2017
Poet Christodoulos Makris did something very brave for his assignment at StAnza. With the best intentions in mind, he asked people to send him links to 'anything they found interesting on the internet'. The first question I ask him is the obvious one: did you get sent anything, well, dodgy? 'No,' he laughs. 'Just links to things I wouldn't normally have come across.'
Learning to code can transform your writing, not just your website
thebookseller.com – Tuesday March 7, 2017
I came to coding like a mute. When I went to a conference presenting a new coding language from Google called Go last month, I realised I couldn't understand what was being said. Later I met with Inês Teles, director of London coding bootcamp Founders & Coders, curious to learn how coding could push my own writing project. But I couldn't explain my ideas as my language wouldn't translate into hers.
“What do you want to do with it?” A simple question I was unable to answer. However, I was told that, if you know how to write code, you can pretty much do anything. So I went along and started learning the basics of web development, starting with HTML and CSS. Little did I realise just how much learning code would teach me about language of the other kind.
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