Creative writing graduates will 'never make a living as novelists', says Self
thebookseller.com – Thursday May 2, 2019
Will Self has declared literature to be “morphing into a giant quilting exercise”, suggesting that no current creative writing graduates will make a living from literary fiction.
The author criticised courses during an interview with Radio 4’s “Today” programme on Thursday (2nd May), in a show recorded at the University of East Anglia, almost 50 years since its prestigious Creative Writing MA launched.
Self said: “If you want to do it and you’re not too concerned about making a living in the future then it’s probably a good idea. The paradox is, in the modern university, everyone is encouraged to tailor their courses towards employability but it’s certainly not clear what the pathway is into literary fiction – possibly into genre fiction, or possibly people can use the writing courses just to develop themselves as writers to write video games or something else, that’s a possibility.”
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday May 2, 2019
Publishes: Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry; Scripts;
Areas include: Autobiography; Music; Short Stories;
Markets: Adult
Publishes poetry, essay, and short story collections; drama; memoirs; novellas; full-length novels; experimental work. See website for full submission guidelines. $3 fee per submission.
How to Write a Great Query: Insider Secrets for Success
authorlink.com – Wednesday May 1, 2019
Most writers put a tremendous amount of effort into their content, spending months or years with their manuscripts, agonizing over word choice, scene order, character development. Yet when it comes time to write a query letter, they will often write something off the top of their head, sometimes with a mere hour’s effort, and let this suffice to represent their work. They rush through the letter process so that the agent can get to the book itself, which they feel will explain everything. They feel that if an agent just sees the writing, nothing else will matter, and that a poor query letter will even be forgiven.
This is faulty thinking. For agents, the query letter is all. If it’s not exceptional, agents will not even request to see the writing, and writers will never even get a chance to showcase their talent. For most writers, the query letter—which they rushed through—becomes the only piece of writing they will ever be judged by, and unfortunately, the only chance they ever had.
Cengage, McGraw-Hill Agree to Merge to Become 2nd Biggest US Textbook Publisher
edsurge.com – Wednesday May 1, 2019
Cengage and McGraw-Hill Education plan to join forces in an all-stock merger. The news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, would create the second-biggest U.S. textbook publisher if the deal is approved, with a combined valuation estimated at $5 billion. Pearson, with a market cap of $8.5 billion, would still be ahead of the pack.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday May 1, 2019
Publishes: Fiction; Nonfiction;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Commercial
Welcomes submissions for commercial fiction and nonfiction, either through an agent or direct from authors. Submit by email only. No postal submissions. Response not guaranteed.
Don't ditch the adverb, the emoji of writing
theguardian.com – Monday April 29, 2019
Should we brazenly ditch the adverb? For those who spotted the nerdy linguistic pun in that question, my bias may be already abundantly clear.
But maybe I’m wrong. Plenty of writers offer lexical advice - both solicited and not. The adverb gets people weirdly fired up; many are less fond of it than me. I spent recent months devouring writing about writing as I complete the first draft of my first novel, so the recurring themes are fresh in my sun-kissed skull.
The problem with authors writing fan fiction
theweek.com – Friday April 26, 2019
The internet was abuzz a few weeks ago after author J.K. Rowling revealed that the characters Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald had an "incredibly intense" and "passionate" relationship with a "sexual dimension." Though this unsolicited declaration was especially bizarre and meme-worthy, it was only the latest of several years worth of post-series changes to the Potterverse. Hermione is (possibly) black, Nagini is an Asian woman, wizards don't have indoor plumbing, etc. Since the final book of the original Harry Potter series was published in 2007, Rowling's website Pottermore has become a fountainhead for excess information about the wizarding world. Conveniently, much of that information has fallen into the category of diversity, as if Rowling thought she could retroactively add queer wizards and wizards of color and pretend they were there all along. Perhaps, like the horcruxes, we just didn't know they existed until the end.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday April 25, 2019
Publishes: Fiction
Areas include: Crime; Thrillers
Markets: Adult
Preferred styles: Commercial
Publishes crime and thriller print and ebooks. Send submissions by email.
5 Things I Learned Launching a Little Literary Magazine
bookriot.com – Wednesday April 24, 2019
Little literary magazines come and go. Shi’r was here one decade, gone another. So too Tin House, Souffles, The Partisan Review, and Black Clock. Indeed, author Nick Ripatrazone went so far as to write last year that “Literary Magazines are Born to Die.” He didn’t mean it as a bad thing, but rather that we should recognize they have a life cycle and pay tribute to our literary ancestors.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday April 24, 2019
Publishes: Fiction; Interviews; News; Nonfiction; Poetry; Reviews;
Areas include: Horror;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Dark
Print and online horror magazine publishing fiction up to 12,000 words (online) or 6,000 words (print), dark poetry, and nonfiction, including creative nonfiction, stranger-than-fiction, real life horror, movie and book reviews, and horror community reviews. Submit through online submission system.
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