Saint Patrick Centre launches international writing competition to celebrate 20th anniversary
irishnews.com – Thursday February 11, 2021
A CO Down centre which tells the story of Ireland's patron saint has launched an international writing competition to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
The Saint Patrick Centre in Downpatrick is inviting young people to write about issues such as human trafficking and faith.
The International Spirit of Patrick Writing competition is open to young writers aged 16 to 20, as St Patrick himself was trafficked to Ireland, as a young person, around 400AD.
St Patrick is believed to have been trafficked at age 16 and held captive in Ireland for six years before he miraculously escaped, having found God in his isolation and suffering.
How I learned to stop worrying and enjoy writing sex scenes
inews.co.uk – Tuesday February 9, 2021
Around the time I started to go through puberty, I fell in love with Jane Austen’s novels. It may have seemed like an eminently proper hobby – parents and teachers no doubt imagined me chuckling at the gentle Regency satire and dreaming about bonnets and pianofortes. But in reality I was holding my breath, heart pounding, waiting for Frank Churchill to “make love” to Emma Woodhouse in the back of a horse-drawn carriage.
I didn’t know that, back then, “making love” just referred to hands-free flirting. I imagined something much more explicit, in great detail. Thanks to the Netflix series, I’ve just fallen in love with Julia Quinn’s racy Bridgerton universe, but I’m grateful I only had Austen as a teenager. After all, if I’d got my hands on Quinn’s novels in the 90s, I might still be in my teenage bedroom, with the curtains drawn. Filling in the gaps in Austen instead forced me to learn how to invent sex scenes – and eventually helped me to write my first novel, Insatiable.
Exposing Audiblegate
thebookseller.com – Tuesday February 9, 2021
A few months ago, the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi)’s watchdog desk, which which monitors the self-publishing sector, rates the best and worst services, and offers a partner membership to approved services, downgraded Amazon ACX/Audible’s rating as a self-publishing service from "Recommended" to "Caution”.
This was done with a heavy heart. Unlike other publishers, indie authors have good reason to be grateful to Amazon for the tools and platforms that underwrite the author-publishing revolution. That gratitude remains but independent authors know, better than anyone, that Amazon’s publishing platforms are not perfect, and ALLi has always encouraged its members to publish widely through other distributors, aggregators and retailers, and their own websites, as well as Amazon. The ACX platform has been a cause of particular concern for some years, its payment percentages, exclusivity conditions, and licensing terms the worst in the self-publishing sector.
That concern started to intensify in the last quarter of last year, when a company glitch at ACX gave author-publishers a peek behind what had, until then, been a thick curtain of non-transparency.
When do you have enough material to start writing your book?
publishing.artshub.com.au – Monday February 8, 2021
The short answer to this is: you will not know until you try. We assume that writers are the ones who have a drive to write and will turn up at the desk no matter what.
This doesn’t mean that turning up is always easy. Procrastination can be self-doubt in sheep’s clothing. So can the sense that one does not yet have enough material to begin. But ultimately, the only way to know whether you do or don’t have enough material is to start writing.
The fascination with ideas and inspiration is understandable given that without these all-important seeds, a story cannot begin to grow and thrive on the page. Remember, though, the seeds themselves are not the full-grown tree or even the sapling; once you have an idea, you still have plenty of work to do.
Major UK publishers’ ebook sales up 15%
booksandpublishing.com.au – Monday February 8, 2021
In the UK, the top six trade publishers recorded a total 15.5% rise in ebook sales in 2020, the first double-digit percentage bump in seven years, reports the Bookseller.
Collectively, Hachette, Penguin Random House (PRH), HarperCollins, Pan Macmillan, Bloomsbury and Simon & Schuster sold 54.5 million consumer ebooks through UK retailers in 2020, up from the 47.2 million in 2019.
New Literary Agency Listing: The Two Piers Literary Agency
firstwriter.com – Monday February 8, 2021
Literary agency based in Brighton, which represents writers from all over the world and sells their work into the UK, US and international territories. An editorially focused agency that works closely with authors to produce manuscripts that are as strong as they can possibly be before submitting them to publishers.
How to Write a Novel, According to 10 Really Good Novelists
esquire.com – Saturday February 6, 2021
A long, long time ago, back in the first lockdown, you probably told yourself that now – right this moment, in the middle of a pandemic – was the perfect time to conceive, plot, write, revise, rewrite, complete and publish a novel which completely transformed what we thought it was possible to express in the English language.
It wasn't. Obviously it wasn't. You know that now. But even if it turned out a year-long period of isolation and anxiety actually wasn't much good for your inner David Foster Wallace, there's no bad time to start writing. It doesn't really matter if it goes anywhere. Just write something and see where you go.
To help you along, we asked 10 established and emerging writers for the rules of thumb they use to find ideas, to get words onto the page, and to turn an interesting first draft into something more substantial.
Publishing is a $26 billion industry, with self-publishing growing as a popular side hustle
financialpost.com – Saturday February 6, 2021
We have had a long time to think. It’s been almost a year since we’ve been asked to stay at home, take care of our health, and consider the well-being of others. During that period, our minds have been percolating, thoughts have been brewing. Shame to let those great ideas get cold and go to waste. Perhaps it’s time to put virtual pen to paper and turn your concepts into reality, or rather into a book.
Whether it’s a piece of fiction, a collection of poetry, a graphic novel, a self-help volume, a how-to instructional, a biography or other non-fiction genre, your book deserves to be read. Going through the steps of “traditional” publishing can be expensive and time-consuming, so why not consider becoming an authorpreneur?
Class-Action Lawsuit Alleges Amazon Colluded with Publishers to Fix Ebook Prices
tidbits.com – Saturday February 6, 2021
Remember 2013, when the US Department of Justice and 33 states prevailed in an antitrust suit against Apple and five major publishers? Back then, a common complaint from Apple fans was, “What about Amazon?” Our comprehensive coverage in “Explaining the Apple Ebook Price Fixing Suit” (10 July 2013) pointed out that the case was about Apple’s behavior, not Amazon’s, while also explaining Amazon’s instigating role and suggesting that the online bookseller might face its own antitrust charges.
Writing Your Life’s Story
evanstonroundtable.com – Wednesday February 3, 2021
Many years ago a colleague of mine mentioned that his mother had an interesting saying: You should always have more to look forward to than to look back on.
At the time I was in my 50s or even 60s, well past the midpoint of my life. The view out the rear-view mirror was growing ever larger and the road ahead ever diminishing. But there was work, children, volunteer projects – in other words, plenty to keep me busy looking ahead.
Now I’m halfway through my eighth decade and the rear-view mirror is the size of an Imax movie screen and ahead is a TV monitor shrinking by the week.
Yikes.
Still, until incapacitation sets in, I believe that no matter how old, there’s always plenty more to gainfully occupy one’s time.
At the top of the list should be writing a memoir. There are many reasons why it’s important.
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