Chris Hammer: 'I am a serial killer. I kill my darlings left, right and centre'
theguardian.com – Sunday September 29, 2019
Chris Hammer’s career as a political advisor was meteoric and very, very short.
Three weeks after he started a job with Labor MP Stephen Jones, he got “this fantastic book deal”. “I was laughing and crying, it was just unbelievable,” he says.
That was a Friday. On the Monday, he resigned. “Stephen was most gracious about it all.”
Shortly after that, the international and television rights to Scrublands, Hammer’s debut novel, were sold. Overnight he had became that rare, elusive thing: a writer who could make a decent living from fiction. Yet even now he has difficulty calling himself an author. “It is even more difficult to say I am a novelist,” he tells Guardian Australia.
Corvisiero Literary Agency Presents Authorpreneur Workshop, 9/28/2019 @ The Oyster Point Hotel, Red Bank, NJ
centraljersey.com – Sunday September 29, 2019
Corvisiero Literary Agency presents its third annual Authorpreneur Workshop – By The River on Saturday, September 28, 2019 at the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank, New Jersey. There will be a full day of classes that will inform participants on everything they need to learn regarding editing a manuscript, pitching to agents and editors, demystifying publishing deals and developing the successful author mindset. The event will conclude with a networking mixer in the Pearl Lounge. Registration is $220. Pitching session with agents and editors, query critiques, first ten page evaluations with an editor and coaching sessions will also be available for an additional fee. Refreshments and a deli-style lunch are included.
A penny a word - you pay
By G. Miki Hayden
Instructor at Writer's Digest University online and private writing coach
firstwriter.com – Saturday September 28, 2019
GMH: What common style mistake bugs you the most?
Phyllis Grann, the first woman CEO of a major publishing firm: The use of unnecessary words.
Writers being paid by the word say that instead of “bang,” they might write “bang, bang, bang” for gunshots. That’s really a joke—sort of. While often the length of a story or article is fixed by guidelines and a flat fee is paid, sometimes writers do get paid by the word, even today. But any writer imagining that adding unnecessary words to a piece is a good idea isn’t the writer who is going to sell the story or article. And that’s the long of way of saying that the best writing is economical writing. How many words should the story or article be? As many as telling the story takes, but not a single word more.
YA Authors You Should Be Following for Writing Advice
bookriot.com – Thursday September 26, 2019
Writing…is hard. I wanted to say something more profound about the exhausting and turbulent life of a writer and the never-ending worry of publishing and judgment, but when it comes down to it, writing is just hard. We do it anyway, though, because it’s some sort of natural instinct to use our words to say something, anything. We still write, even when we don’t want to. Even when I’ve tried to quit writing entirely, I still come back to it.
And oh, how I wish it was this beautiful, graceful moment where you sit at your perfectly messy-while-still-organized desk, take out your fountain pen, and the most profound and perfect words stream out onto the paper. No, it’s a gruesome process, fighting your way back into writing.
Luckily, we’re never in it alone. Personally, I don’t have a ton of writing friends to bounce ideas off of or get inspiration from, and I’m sure it’s the same for a lot of people. But what’s really pushed me out of a deep, dark writing slump is other writers. And thank god for the internet, because I’ve got an endless amount of writing advice to pick through!
After some deep digging, writing prompts, and podcasts, I’ve gathered some of the most helpful writing advice I’ve found, from some pretty spectacular YA authors.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday September 26, 2019
Publishes: Fiction; Poetry;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Publishes a literary journal and chapbooks. For chapbook submissions, send up to 30 pages of writing via online submission system ($12 submission fee).
Authors Guild and AAR back publishers in Audible Captions lawsuit
thebookseller.com – Wednesday September 25, 2019
The Authors Guild and the Association of Authors' Representatives have filed a joint brief supporting publishers' calls for a preliminary injuction to stop their works being included in Audible's Captions programme.
Seven publishers launched a lawsuit last month against Audible's Captions programme, which allows US customers to read along to their audiobooks, arguing the feature is against copyright law. The publishers are also seeking a preliminary injunction to stop their works from being used in Captions.
How Do I Know If I’m Getting a Good Cookbook Deal?
eater.com – Tuesday September 24, 2019
It can feel like everyone in the food world is writing cookbooks these days — big-name chefs, burgeoning Instagram influencers, bartenders with cult followings. They make it look easy, but in truth, the world of cookbooks isn’t as glamorous as it seems, and it’s more important than ever for authors to understand the process and protect themselves before and while writing one.
Eater turned to lawyer Jasmine Moy to learn more about how cookbook deals come together.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Monday September 23, 2019
Publishes: Essays; Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry;
Areas include: Short Stories; Women's Interests;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Publishes fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction by Canadian women. Send prose up to 1,500 words or up to five poems by email. See website for full guidelines.
Bloody Scotland crime writing festival sets out to champion new writers
scotsman.com – Friday September 20, 2019
Scotland has so many book festivals readers are spoiled for choice. But for crime fiction fans, this weekend is particularly special, as Bloody Scotland arrives in Stirling for the eighth time to bring authors and book lovers together at around 40 events over three days.
On Friday night, the winner of the 2019 McIlvanney Prize for Crime Novel of the Year will be announced (see panel, right, for The Scotsman’s reviews of the shortlisted titles). There is also a new prize for debut authors. Bob McDevitt, director of Bloody Scotland, said: “The festival is always looking for new ways to discover and promote new writers… Publishing is a tough old world these days and anything that gives a bit of profile to a new writer is a good thing.”
New York academic to open London's 'first co-working space for writers'
thebookseller.com – Thursday September 19, 2019
American academic Sharon Fulton will launch Clean Prose, "London’s first co-working space designed specifically for writers", next month.
The newly revedeveloped three-floor property will open its doors to founding members on 1st October, before its official launch on 24th October in artistic collaboration with the cultural anthology Postscript to create a unique photoshoot and literary panel.
“Located in the heart of Shoreditch and Old Street at 2 Charlotte Road, the three-storey building offers a different atmosphere on each floor,” according to academic-turned-entrepreneur Fulton.
Fulton, who studied and taught at Columbia University in New York for her PhD and Post-Doc, said: “I finished teaching there in 2016 and tutoring and teaching all over New York, in libraries as well, I wanted to keep teaching literature. I am looking for something but found writing by myself quite isolating. I would write ‘out’ in the Southbank Centre or a library but it’s frustrating because you don’t meet other writers in this way. I love London but there was nothing like this in London. I had this idea of opening a co-working space for writers and wanted it to be more than co-working so I developed this idea of it having more than one storey.”
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