The 4 Great Myths of Book Publishing
huffingtonpost.com – Tuesday August 8, 2017
Signing a contract with even a brand-name traditional book publisher initially feels like a ticket to Nirvana. You may expect, for example, your new publisher to set you up with a big fat advance, a multi-city promotional tour, your very own personal PR rep and multiple copies of your book on every bookshelf in the nation (and Canada) for as long as you and your book shall live.
But to understand how book publishers really work, study this list of what I call the four great “myths” of traditional book publishing. Then, by all means, proceed to seek out a publisher if that’s your goal but do so with your eyes wide open. Your relationship with your publisher will run much smoother if you recognize its pitfalls as well as its glories.
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Tuesday August 8, 2017
Handles: Fiction; Nonfiction
Markets: Adult
Represents authors in all genres of fiction and nonfiction. Send query by email only. Response in 6 weeks, if interested. See website for full guidelines.
Writing in Someone Else’s World
theatlantic.com – Monday August 7, 2017
My first book was not what I dreamed it would be. I started writing professionally when I was in my late 20s, and while I worked my way up from a freelance music journalist to being an editor at The A.V. Club, the non-satirical wing of The Onion, I had one goal: to use all that experience as a springboard toward becoming an author. I had it all mapped out: After years of sacrifice and honing my craft, I would make my triumphant debut, with a book that might not become a bestseller but that’d be respected for its stunning originality and insight into the human condition.
Instead, my first book was The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook. Yes, that Captain Jack Sparrow. As played by Johnny Depp. From The Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Based not on an ancient myth or literary archetype, but on a Disney ride. Writing a media tie-in, as works officially attached to other properties are known, wasn’t the start I had in mind. But as many professional authors will attest, the path to publication is rarely the expected one. And my experience writing about the famed Disney pirate—as well as my second media tie-in, a project for the Goosebumps movie—made me think twice about my preconceptions about work-for-hire books. Not to mention those who make them.
Guy Intoci Leaves Dzanc Books, Michelle Dotter Named Publisher
publishersweekly.com – Monday August 7, 2017
Four years after joining Dzanc Books as senior editor and one year after assuming the position of publisher and editor-in-chief, Guy Intoci is stepping aside this month. By August 15, senior editor and internship coordinator Michelle Dotter will assume the duties of publisher and editor-in-chief of the small press, which is best known for its literary fiction offerings, although it also publishes nonfiction and, occasionally, poetry.
Digital Staff Writer
holdthefrontpage.co.uk – Saturday August 5, 2017
Insider Media Limited is one of the UK’s fastest growing, regional, B2B multimedia companies with award-winning magazine and online teams, market leading business events, and an expanding portfolio of information products and services.
We are looking for a Digital Staff Writer to produce creative and engaging regional email news bulletins and contribute rolling business news to the Insider Media web hub.
Professional romance novelists can write 3,000 words a day. Here’s how they do it
qz.com – Friday August 4, 2017
Writing is not a sexy business. It’s not a rare butterfly that floats down and gently kisses you on the nose with a brilliant idea that conjures a hurricane of cash. It’s frustrating, and it’s lonely, and for most people, it doesn’t pay.
But one genre consistently makes it work. Romance writers who are able to get published or sell their books through self-publishing are true hustlers. The women who succeed here are not just writers, they’re business people, and they spend hours keeping up with fans online and doing their own marketing, in addition to writing.
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Friday August 4, 2017
Handles: Fiction; Nonfiction
Areas: Autobiography; Biography; Current Affairs; Health; Religious; Self-Help; Spiritual
Markets: Adult
Treatments: Contemporary; Literary
Full-service literary agency based in New York. Represents fiction, memoir, biography, self-improvement, spirituality, and nonfiction on contemporary issues. No screenplays, children’s books, illustrated books, cookbooks, romance, category mystery, or science fiction. Send query by post with SASE or by email, including brief description of the project, relevant biographical information, and any publishing credits. No attachments. Response not guaranteed.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday August 3, 2017
Publishes: Articles; Essays; Features; Interviews; Nonfiction; Poetry; Reviews;
Areas include: Arts; Criticism; Culture; Literature; Music;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Experimental; In-depth; Literary
We accept features, articles, criticism and essays on literary or art-related topics, for instance, essays about authors or artists, styles or periods, places, movements, or some aspect of writing or art. Scholarly papers are sometimes accepted. Book reviews and interviews are welcome.
We occasionally accept previously published nonfiction.
For personal essays, we especially like to some connection to art or literature or to cultural or societal issues.
Special interests include art and literature outside the mainstream, the Beat Generation, Surrealism, and countercultural movements.
We also publish poetry and are very open to experimental poetry and visual poetry.
20 Podcasts About Writing That Will Have You Penning A Bestselling Novel In No Time
bustle.com – Wednesday August 2, 2017
Writers get their inspiration from all sorts of places — real life, current events, favorite books, other writers, their own imagination, and more recently: podcasts. Podcasts about writing have been around practically as long as podcasts themselves have been, (with the longest-running writing podcast on this list airing for the first time in 2005!) and they’re the perfect dose of advice, inspiration, and motivation — especially for working writers on the go. Because let’s face it: while most of us aspiring and/or working writers would love to pause our daily lives in favor of losing ourselves in a writers’ workshop for weeks, months, or even years at a time, for many writers that’s not so realistic. These podcasts — as helpful as a creative writing workshop itself, in many ways — might be the next best thing. (With the added bonus of not having to worry about your GPA and your muse showing up in a timely manner.)
Yes Virginia, There are Publishers Who Don’t Require Agent
authorlink.com – Tuesday August 1, 2017
In 1897, eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanion asked her father if there really was a Santa Claus. Not quite knowing how to answer, her dad suggested she write a letter and ask The New York Sun. This prompted the most reprinted editorial in all English-speaking newspapers to this date: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
Today, as writers, we often ask the same question over and over, thinking like Virginia O’Hanion, that we possibly we know the truth but aren’t quite sure. Only our question is if there are any big publishing houses that take books directly from authors or if an agent must always connect the deal. For years we’ve been told there is no such animal, but then every once and awhile, we hear of an author who made a deal alone.
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