4 Ways to Always Have Fresh Writing Ideas
forge.medium.com – Thursday January 28, 2021
Often, when people say, “I don’t know what to write,” they really mean one of two things: They haven’t spent enough time formulating their ideas, or they’re trying to write something they don’t really believe in.
Many years ago, I started writing fiction — or rather, I tried to start writing fiction. My attempts never amounted to anything, and for years, I didn’t understand why. It wasn’t until I read an essay on writing by Arthur Schopenhauer, the German pessimist, that it finally clicked. “There are above all two kinds of writers,” he wrote: “those who write for the sake of what they have to say and those who write for the sake of writing. The former have had ideas or experiences which seem to them worth communicating; the latter need money and that is why they write — for money.” (I think “money” can be substituted with “any external rewards” here.)
You know writing from that second category when you see it — whether it’s a news feature, a personal essay, or a blog post. It’s the kind that seems pointless, devoid of energy or care, as if the writer was not considering at all what the reader might want or need to get out of it. When I read this kind of writing I think, Why write this at all?
Agent Fired from Literary Agency for Using Parler and Gab
newsweek.com – Wednesday January 27, 2021
The president of a literary agency based in New York City said Monday on Twitter that one of the agency's employees was terminated after her use of conservative social media sites Parler and Gab was discovered.
Colleen Oefelein, who identified herself on Twitter as an associate literary agent with the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, appeared to confirm her termination in a tweet on Monday morning.
"Well thanks Twitter and @JDLitAgency," Oefelein wrote. "I just got fired because I'm a Christian and a conservative."
New Literary Agent Listing: Imogen Morrell
firstwriter.com – Tuesday January 26, 2021
Looking for immersive, brilliantly plotted upmarket and literary fiction with a twist. In nonfiction, she’s looking for proposals that find unexpected ways to talk about interesting things (architecture, food, nature, politics, history, identity) from academics, critics and journalists who are writing their specialist subject for trade publication. She also accepts submissions for narrative nonfiction, essay writing and food writing.
New Agent Listing: Faith O'Grady
firstwriter.com – Wednesday January 20, 2021
If sending fiction, please limit your submission to the first three or four chapters, and include a covering letter and an SAE if required. If sending non-fiction, please send a detailed proposal about your book, a sample chapter and a cover letter. Every effort will be made to respond to submissions within 3 months of receipt.
New Agent Listing: Paige Terlip
firstwriter.com – Tuesday January 19, 2021
Represents all categories of children’s books from picture books to young adult, as well as select adult fiction and nonfiction. She is also actively building her list of illustrators and is especially looking for author-illustrators and graphic novel illustrators.
Want to Write a Book This Year? These Tools Can Help
wired.com – Monday January 18, 2021
2020 WAS NOT the year I wrote my first book—but it was the year I started thinking about it. And in typical freelance writer fashion, I decided to take advantage of my position and get some advice on how to go about it from people much more accomplished than me under the guise of researching this article. Here’s what I managed to learn.
A Way to Take Notes
Apparently books don’t spring fully formed from the ether. You kind of have to work on them, brainstorming different ideas, doing research, and taking notes before you can really get started. News to me, but oh well.
Chris Bailey, author of The Productivity Project and Hyperfocus, and all-around productivity guru, is obsessive about taking notes for his books. He has legal pads stashed around his home, carries a small notepad when he walks around town, and even has a waterproof notepad in his shower. If he can’t commit his thoughts to paper, he uses Simplenote.
Epic fantasy writer Brian McClellan, author of The Powder Mage series, is a little less over-the-top about note-taking, but he also prefers the paper approach and carries a notepad with him—or at least tries to. Whenever he leaves it in his car, he “whips out” his smartphone and uses whatever notes app came preinstalled.
Both writers stressed that what tool you use for taking notes doesn’t matter as much as the act of doing it. Notes can be anything from a cool word or an idea for a magic system to transcribed conversations or annotated historical documents. But, whatever form they take, they’re likely to be the base of your book.
New Magazine Listing: ARTmosterrific
firstwriter.com – Monday January 18, 2021
An online platform and community by and for African undergraduates. It runs on five sections, all different and independent from one another: Virtual residence where 3 college writers are mentored to complete a book of art; the African Prize for Undergraduates awarded every year to an African undergraduate; the Biannual Chapbook that works as an anthology, exploring thematic issues in society, the Online Issue/Mag (Prose, Poetry, Essay, Photography), and the Community (with webinars, Book Chat, Bookstore, Physical Conference, etc). Check our submission page for detailed information on each section, and feel free to subscribe to our newsletter.
Editorial Calendar
Issue Submission (January — February)
Virtual Residence (March — April)
Chapbook Submission (May — June)
Funso Oris Prize / African Prize For Undergraduates (June — July)
ISSUE SUBMISSION (August — September)
CHAPBOOK SUBMISSION (October — November)
Dates and time for community programmes, such as the book chat, webinar, undergraduate-led auditorium conference, are subject to factors.
A literary publication that features fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and photography for everything that makes you sleep, keeps you awake, breaks your heart and repairs it. Everything that rusts and unrusts you. Send us your flaws and strengths, awesome and bizarre, brilliant and outrageous. However, please note that while we accept all submissions, we are especially on the lookout for works by African undergraduates. Send us your terrific work anyways!
New Literary Agent Listing: Tasneem Motala
firstwriter.com – Monday January 18, 2021
Handles Middle Grade and Young Adult. Not currently accepting submissions from white people.
Amazon.com and 'Big Five' publishers accused of ebook price-fixing
theguardian.com – Saturday January 16, 2021
Amazon.com and the “Big Five” publishers – Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster – have been accused of colluding to fix ebook prices, in a class action filed by the law firm that successfully sued Apple and the Big Five on the same charge 10 years ago.
The lawsuit, filed in district court in New York on Thursday by Seattle firm Hagens Berman, on behalf of consumers in several US states, names the retail giant as the sole defendant but labels the publishers “co-conspirators”. It alleges Amazon and the publishers use a clause known as “Most Favored Nations” (MFN) to keep ebook prices artificially high, by agreeing to price restraints that force consumers to pay more for ebooks purchased on retail platforms that are not Amazon.com.
The lawsuit claims that almost 90% of all ebooks sold in the US are sold on Amazon, in addition to over 50% of all print books. The suit alleges that ebook prices dropped in 2013 and 2014 after Apple and major publishers were successfully sued for conspiring to set ebook prices, but rose again after Amazon renegotiated their contracts in 2015.
JK Rowling’s drama with the man who discovered her is one of many rows writers have had with their agents
inews.co.uk – Wednesday January 13, 2021
When authors become successful, they usually spend a good deal of their launch-party speech thanking their literary agent for believing in them when they were starting out and for finding them a publisher, and listing them high on their novel’s page of acknowledgments.
The agent’s role as a writer’s champion and negotiator can often result in close relationships that last years – but also intense disputes when an author moves on.
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