Tilting At Windmills: Becoming (and Staying) A Writer
evesun.com – Sunday November 20, 2022
I recently finished writing a novel. It is an arson mystery called DOE EYES, and I like it a lot. After dotting the last “i” and scribbling THE END on the final page, the next item on my agenda was to send out query letters. For those not in the know, a “query letter” is a missive that provides an author’s credentials; a plot synopsis; a list of potential markets; a projected audience; the word count, etc., to literary agents who list themselves as “Open to Inquiries.”
This procedure is pretty much the same as it was about a million years ago, when I was trying to sell my first mystery, JULIAN SOLO. My quest then was painful, fatiguing, and frustrating (rejection is no fun). Eventually, however, it was rewarding, as my book was accepted by RLR Associates Literary Agency, with whom I remained until they closed up shop. JULIAN SOLO was also nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of American, and it set the stage for my happy marriage to RLR for over twenty years.
Now, however, I am back to square one ... trying to find a literary agent in a shrinking publishing market, where there are less publishers, less bookstores, more competition, and less books.
Conservatives need to stop hiding in the 'woke' publishing industry
americanthinker.com – Friday November 18, 2022
The publishing industry has always swung somewhat left, but in recent years, it has become so far left that even moderate writers are tossed aside. No matter how inadequate their work is, activists posing as authors secure deals lecturing the general public for the sin of being human.
There are millions of conservatives out there who struggle to find modern books they can both learn from and enjoy. There is a huge hole in the industry because agents ignore readers who seek content with traditional values that doesn't just preach at the reader.
New Magazine Listing: Present Tense
firstwriter.com – Friday November 18, 2022
A literary magazine of new writing. Publishes poetry, flash fiction, short stories, and creative non-fiction with a strong sense of place.
New Magazine Listing: Fresh Words - An International Literary Magazine
firstwriter.com – Thursday November 17, 2022
We are open for submissions. We invite poems, short stories, essays, plays, diaries, excerpts from books (published or upcoming submitted by author only), book reviews, interviews and travelogues. Please send all submissions by email. See website for full guidelines.
New Literary Agent Listing: Bea Fitzgerald
firstwriter.com – Thursday November 17, 2022
In books, I’m looking for voice-led, propulsive writing in commercial and upmarket fiction and zeitgeisty non-fiction. While I’m a fan of YA, I’m not the right agent for anything younger, though I’ll be working with the other agents on these titles for any digital opportunities.
Redfern returns to publishing to join Headline
thebookseller.com – Wednesday November 16, 2022
Martin Redfern, currently executive director at Northbank Talent Management, will be joining the non-fiction team at Headline Publishing Group as publisher on 6th February 2023.
Redfern has been a literary agent for nearly six years and is responsible for the agency’s non-fiction books representation. His clients include Iain Dale, Chris Mason, Paul Brand, Brian Cox, Anthony Seldon and Camilla Cavendish.
Before that, as editorial director at HarperCollins and BBC Books, Redfern published authors ranging from Peter Mandelson, John Major and Simon Schama to Jonathan Dimbleby, Dan Snow and Tom Burgis.
UK faces ‘serious loss of writing talent’ due to rising costs, Writers’ Guild survey finds
thebookseller.com – Wednesday November 16, 2022
The UK is facing a “serious loss of writing talent” due to the rising cost of living, a survey conducted by the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) has found.
Of 250 writers surveyed by the trade union, 55% said that rising energy and food costs were impacting their ability to sustain a writing career, with other factors including having less time to work as a writer, or apply for funding, development schemes or other opportunities.
More than two thirds (67%) reported having to rely on their savings in order to manage day-to-day expenditure, while 37% said they had to rely on their partners’ earnings. Moreover, more than 70% of respondents had earned £18,000 or less for their writing work in the last financial year. The majority (over 80%) said they were freelance writers.
10 Tips for Publishing Your First Book
theamericanreporter.com – Monday November 14, 2022
Are you thinking about publishing your first book? If so, you’re in good company!
Every year, thousands of people make the decision to become authors. Publishing a book can be a great way to share your ideas with the world and build your brand. However, it’s not always easy to know where to start. That’s why we’ve put together this list of 10 tips for publishing your first book.
Publishers happy ever after as sales of romantic fiction keep on climbing
sundaypost.com – Sunday November 13, 2022
One of Scotland’s best-selling novelists will celebrate nine million sales this week as publishers report surging sales of romantic fiction.
Publishers from around the world will join Jenny Colgan to mark the multi-million copy milestone spanning her 30 happy-ever-after novels, which have been translated into 26 languages and enjoyed by fans around the world.
Publishers suspect readers are seeking uplifting, heartwarming escapist reads more than ever with romantic fiction, in particular, enjoying a huge uplift and love stories accounting for 26% of the titles in the Sunday Times best-sellers’ chart, up from 18.6% last year.
I tried writing with AI. The results were surprising
fastcompany.com – Friday November 11, 2022
Prolific author Herbert Lui says that amid a lot of incoherence, and even occasional insensitive and even hateful text fragments, there was one particularly exciting response.
“Don’t like to write, but like having written,” is a quote that has stood the test of time for writers. I’ve written my own book Creative Doing, I write at my blog every day, and I’ve led teams of writers and editors for years, so I actually really enjoy writing. However, I totally understand where the pain comes from. It’s an expensive pain, which is why ghostwriting can be such a lucrative endeavor; just a couple of weeks before I wrote this, Business Insider interviewed a ghostwriter that earned over $200,000 in 2021 writing tweets for venture capitalists.
Ghostwriting isn’t the only solution; there are plenty of others. One of the most exciting ones is the rise of AI writers. One of the latest named Lex, made by Nathan Baschez, has over 26,000 people signed up for it in its launch week. Lex is the latest in many other AI writing software, including Copy.ai, Snazzy AI, and ShortlyAI, all powered by the GPT-3 natural language processor. There’s even AI writing for programmers; over 90 million people use GitHub Copilot.
It’s a trend that’s been developing for years. K Allado-McDowell has coauthored two books with GPT-3, Almira Osmanovic Thunström at Scientific American prompted GPT-3 to write an academic paper, and Vauhini Vara wrote a story about her sister’s death, a topic she couldn’t bring herself to write about for years.
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