Mundy launches Lansdowne Literary
thebookseller.com – Tuesday August 1, 2023
Charlie Mundy has launched a new London-based literary scouting agency, Lansdowne Literary.
With a focus on the UK and international reach, it will work across fiction and non-fiction aiming to connect international publishers and film and TV production companies with the most suitable books for their individual lists, across translation and adaptation.
The agency has already secured its first clients, working with international publishers including Arche and Atrium Verlag – both part of W1-Media GmbH – in Germany, and HarperCollins Holland.
New Publisher Listing: Graffeg
firstwriter.com – Tuesday August 1, 2023
Always pleased to receive submissions from new and published authors. Publishes illustrated books on nature, heritage and food. Imprints welcome submissions for children’s books up to young adult reads. Books with the potential of being serialised are also of special interest.
Canadian Writers, Visual Artists and Publishers Lose the Ability to Have Their Rights and Interests Protected as Federal Government Fails to Deliver on its Promise to Fix Canada's Publishing Marketplace
newca.com – Saturday July 29, 2023
- Access Copyright's Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to initiate a significant downsizing and restructuring of the organization due to the federal government's decade-long inaction in fixing Canada's publishing marketplace -
Due to changes in fair dealing provisions in the Copyright Act, since 2012, Canadian writers, visual artists, and publishers - an indispensable part of Canada's culture - have been deprived of over $200 million in unpaid royalties under tariffs certified by the Copyright Board of Canada.
This staggering figure is among the many impacts, including job losses and several educational publishers stepping away from the K-12 or post-secondary markets, that have hit Canadian creators and publishers since amendments to Canada's Copyright Act were enacted in 2012.
The mass, systemic free copying of creators' works by Canada's education sector outside of Quebec since 2012 has led to Access Copyright's total distributions to rightsholders dropping by 79%.
It has also led to the start of the hollowing out of Access Copyright - a key piece of Canada's cultural infrastructure that Canadian creators and publishers rely on to be fairly compensated for the use of their work.
New Literary Agent Listing: Sally Holloway
firstwriter.com – Friday July 28, 2023
I am always on the look-out for authors who can write with authority, wit and originality in the fields of ‘Big Ideas’, popular psychology, contemporary issues, economics and business (though not ‘how to’ books). I also like writers who can explain complex ideas entertainingly or who are able to transport me into a different world, in areas as diverse as popular science, history, biography, literature, popular culture. I would love to find more writers of narrative non-fiction who have important stories to tell, especially investigative journalists.
New Publishing Imprint Listing: 4RV Poetry
firstwriter.com – Thursday July 27, 2023
Poetry books should have at least 20 poems (one per page) that follow a general theme. Full manuscript should be submitted.
New Literary Agency Listing: Looking Glass Literary & Media Management
firstwriter.com – Thursday July 27, 2023
We are a boutique agency with a full-service team of fierce advocates who support all facets of our clients' careers. Our priority is championing authors and books that reflect the diverse world around us. The books we work with leave lasting impressions that inspire growth, thought, and joy in the world.
New Literary Agency Listing: High Line Literary Collective
firstwriter.com – Thursday July 27, 2023
Standing at the cross-section between art and commerce, our agents facilitate thriving, vibrant careers for writers, artists and creators. From the moment we begin working with a client, we establish full-spectrum representation dedicated to each creator’s unique needs. From audience engagement, to career orientation, to strategic long-term management, our holistic guidance charts your most successful publishing journey.
Prototype Publishing announces development programme for writers and artists
thebookseller.com – Wednesday July 26, 2023
Prototype Publishing has announced a development programme for writers and artists, in partnership with New Writing North, as part of the Northern Writers’ Awards.
The Prototype Development Programme will offer extended support and career development to eight emerging writers and artists who have not yet had a book published. According to the publisher, the scheme is being launched in response to the lack of opportunities and mentoring schemes for writers and artists whose work "sits between conventional literary forms".
Funded by Arts Council England, the six-month online programme forms part of a wider project focusing on multidisciplinary and hybrid-genre approaches to writing, including a new prize in partnership with Frieze magazine, which will be announced in the autumn.
Participants will be given learning and personal development opportunities through workshops and feedback sessions, as well as seminars led by curators, writers, publishers, editors and literary agents. There are eight places on the programme, of which three are ring-fenced for applicants from the North of England, and each participant will be paid a bursary of £500.
New Literary Agent Listing: Clara Foster
firstwriter.com – Tuesday July 25, 2023
Looking to represent writers across genre fiction, upmarket, and reading-group, as well as select non-fiction. She is editorially-focused and works closely with clients in the lead up to submission to publishers.
In fiction, she is looking for stories in the upmarket/book-club sweet spot where literary and genre-fiction meet, intensely emotional literary women, and just about anything written with beautiful prose, a high-stakes plot, and/or a folkloric, legendary, or mythical grounding. She loves a romance in any genre—fantasy, historical, mystery, or a combination of all three—and will, no matter how dark a book gets in the middle, always gravitate towards a happy ending.
She is also looking for projects in the YA/Crossover space. Much like her taste in adult fiction, she wants to see clever world-building, emotional (and flawed) characters, and preferably a romantic sub-plot—or main plot. Here however she would like to find writing from authors who push the boundaries even further: new twists on old tropes, high concepts (an idea you can pitch in a sentence), and perspectives we rarely get to see.
In Non-fiction, she would like to find highly practical guides aimed squarely at women with the intention of filling crucial gaps in our collective knowledge.
5 Ways ChatGPT Can Improve, Not Replace, Your Writing
wired.co.uk – Sunday July 23, 2023
It's been quite a year for ChatGPT, with the large language model (LLM) now taking exams, churning out content, searching the web, writing code, and more. The AI chatbot can produce its own stories, though whether they're any good is another matter.
If you're in any way involved in the business of writing, then tools like ChatGPT have the potential to complete up-end the way you work—but at this stage, it's not inevitable that journalists, authors, and copywriters will be replaced by generative AI bots.
What we can say with certainty is that ChatGPT is a reliable writing assistant, provided you use it in the right way. If you have to put words in order as part of your job, here's how ChatGPT might be able to take your writing to the next level—at least until it replaces you, anyway.
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