
Alumna launches magazine as ‘safe space’ for writers
temple-news.com – Thursday November 12, 2020

After losing her fiancé to suicide, Jenna Faccenda began wrestling with her life’s purpose.
“Those deep thoughts and how my footprint on this Earth could really be impactful toward someone else,” Faccenda said.
Amid her grief, Faccenda, a 2017 journalism alumna, turned back to her love of writing and ventured to create a community for other artists experiencing trauma. She launched Eclipse Lit, a literature magazine for writers to discuss trauma and heal through their artwork.
With writer submissions open from Oct. 1 through Nov. 15, Faccenda intends to publish her first edition, a collection of short stories, essays and multimedia art from artists around Philadelphia, in March 2021.

New Agent Listing: Chloe Davis
firstwriter.com – Wednesday November 11, 2020

Particularly enjoys reading submissions, especially middle grade adventures and contemporary YA love stories.

Myth and folklore the pick of festive trends in children's
thebookseller.com – Monday November 9, 2020

Children’s books about Christmas, mythology and adventures are among the top titles available from small independent publishers this autumn.
Despite lockdown and an uncertain retail market, many of the smaller children’s publishers are hoping for a boost in sales with their festive titles, which include The Girl Who Stole the Stars by Corrina Campbell, published by Little Door Book, and Leah’s Star by Margaret Bateson Hill (Alanna Max), which tells the nativity story from the point of view of the innkeeper’s daughter. The Salariya Book Company has two Christmas-themed books out this autumn: Little Bear and the Silver Star by Jane Hissey, and Billy and the Balloons by Elizabeth Dale and Patrick Corrigan.

Print Unit Sales Rose 9.5% At the End of October
publishersweekly.com – Sunday November 8, 2020

With sales up in all categories, unit sales of print books rose 9.5% in the week ended Oct. 31, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The top-selling book was The Deep End (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #15) by Jeff Kinney, which sold more than 171,000 copies and helped to drive up sales in the juvenile fiction category by 15.5%.

New Agent Listing: Lori Galvin
firstwriter.com – Friday November 6, 2020

Represents both adult fiction (especially women’s fiction and thrillers) and nonfiction (personal development and cookbooks).

Bookshop.org is what the publishing world has been waiting for
theguardian.com – Thursday November 5, 2020

In publishing we often talk about things that we are “excited” and “delighted” about, so much that sometimes I think the words have lost their meanings. However, when readers, publishers and independent bookshops shared their delight about the new books retail platform, Bookshop.org, launched on Monday, it was the result of some of the most exciting news we’ve had in publishing for aeons.
Following its success in the US, Bookshop.org has arrived in the UK and promises something we have all been asking for – an ethical and transparent platform for buying books that amplifies the uniqueness of independent bookshops, with reading lists curated by humans rather than algorithms.

New Literary Agent Listing: Jim Gill
firstwriter.com – Thursday November 5, 2020

Acts for a broad range of both fiction and non-fiction authors writing for the general-trade market, and is always on the look-out for the original and the excellent.

New Publisher Listing: Viking Dog
firstwriter.com – Tuesday November 3, 2020

A content company based in Los Angeles that creates, publishes and distributes film and book projects.

New Literary Agent Listing: Ariella Feiner
firstwriter.com – Tuesday November 3, 2020

Always open to submissions. In fiction, would like to see crime and thrillers, issue-led books, plot-driven stories, reading group books, high-concept tales, a great elevator pitch, novels with strong female characters, and historical fiction with a twist. In nonfiction, is interested in topics which feel untouched before now or are inspiring, expert-led ideas, mouth-watering cook books, narrative memoir, and empowering female tales.

NaNoWriMo: how to make best use of the annual writing month
theguardian.com – Monday November 2, 2020

If everyone has a book in them, then November is the month that many of those books are conceived. NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, comes of age this year with its 21st birthday, and the concept remains as simple as it was in 1999: over 30 days, write at least 50,000 words of your novel.
Almost 368,000 novels have been completed by participants. There are no prizes or league tables, just the satisfaction of taking part – and the potential creation of something publishable.
There remains some sniffiness over NaNoWriMo in some quarters, usually published novelists who like to point out that some people write all year round. Half the world wants to write, it seems, and that means they think they can. Yes, writing a novel is hard work. And for every author that gets published, hundreds – possibly thousands – fail. But does that mean that we shouldn’t write novels just for sheer enjoyment?
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