New Literary Agent Listing: Maeve MacLysaght
firstwriter.com – Thursday August 28, 2025
Looking for strong commercial genre concepts with beautiful prose in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and graphic novels for all age ranges. She is drawn most to stories with big, campy stakes but surprising emotional cores, lovably immoral characters, queer coded villains, and people kissing while things explode.
Layoffs Hit Bloomsbury US Children’s Division
publishersweekly.com – Wednesday August 27, 2025
Bloomsbury US has eliminated five positions in its children’s division, a Bloomsbury representative has confirmed. According to multiple literary agents, who spoke with PW on condition of anonymity, the positions cut included an editor, creative director, associate publicist, designer, and an employee in the production department; in addition, at least one planned title was cut.
In a statement, the company called the cuts “part of a strategic shift toward publishing a more curated list,” adding: “Bloomsbury US is a strong and thriving business, and these changes were limited solely to the children’s division. These decisions were not taken lightly for the affected individuals and the broader organization. We are committed to supporting impacted employees and ensuring they receive the help and resources needed.”
What Nobody Tells You About Rejections By Book Editors
medium.com – Wednesday August 27, 2025
Not long after I moved from the New York area to Alabama, I went to a bookstore event where I met a local writer who recently had failed to sell his first novel. He thought he knew why no publisher had bought it.
“New York editors don’t like books about the South,” he said.
I was incredulous, and not just because I’d met a lot of those editors while covering the publishing industry as a journalist.
Editors “don’t like books about the South”? Was the writer talking about the region that had produced William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Alice Walker?
Our conversation was taking place two hours south of Monroeville, Alabama, where Harper Lee and Truman Capote grew up. A famous resident of our town was Winston Groom, the author of Forrest Gump, a novel the bookstore displayed steps from where we stood. About 30 minutes away, the faculty of the University of South Alabama included the novelist Jesmyn Ward, who had won a National Book Award for her Salvage the Bones and would soon earn her second, making her the only woman and only black author to win that prize twice.
To my mind, all of that didn’t prove that “New York editors don’t like books about the South.” It proved — if anything — the opposite.
An Exclusive Look Inside the Essential Literary Magazine Granta
earlybirdbooks.com – Monday August 25, 2025
Granta magazine was founded in 1889 as The Granta, a student literary journal at Cambridge University. It published works by such great authors as A.A. Milne, Michael Frayn, Stevie Smith, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.
In 1979, the magazine switched from being a student publication to the literary quarterly that it is today. Each issue includes the best authors discussing one aspect of daily life. Ten years later, Granta Books was founded as an imprint devoted to the same ideals as the original magazine: to publish, in the words of founder Bill Buford, “only writing we care passionately about.”
Granta has remained devoted to promoting new and fresh names in literature and to only publishing the highest quality writing. For an intimate, small press, Granta has an outsized number of prize winners, including 31 Nobel Prize laureates, and a huge cultural impact on the literary scene.
What Are the Best Writing Tools?
vocal.media – Monday August 25, 2025
Looking to write smarter, faster, and better? Whether you are a student, professional writer, content creator, or blogger, the right writing tools can make all the difference.
With so many online tools for writers available, it can be overwhelming to choose the best ones. This guide highlights the top free writing software, from brainstorming ideas to writing a perfect copy.
1. Brainstorming & Idea Generation Tools
Before a single word is written, ideas must be captured and shaped. These tools help with creativity and organization.
Evernote is like a digital notebook. You can create notes, add checklists, save web pages, attach images, or even record audio reminders. Writers often use it to collect story ideas, blog inspirations, or references they stumble upon during the day.
-
Best Features: Syncs across devices, allows tagging for organization, integrates with apps like Google Drive.
-
Why It’s Useful: Writers don’t always sit at a desk. If you think of a story idea while commuting, you can note it down and revisit later.
-
Best For: Journalists, bloggers, and students.
Indie Presses Provide a Haven for Midlist Authors
publishersweekly.com – Sunday August 24, 2025
Independent literary publishing has a proud tradition of nurturing authors who’ve subsequently moved on to success at larger houses. Take Percival Everett, for instance, who published his fiction with Graywolf Press for decades before bringing his prize-winning breakout hit, James, to Doubleday.
But there’s a reverse trend that’s building steam: authors are moving away from corporate publishing to independent. While some are being turned away by the conglomerates that once published them, others say they are switching because they prefer the care and attention that indie presses provide.
Savvy authors and agents, Europa Editions publisher Michael Reynolds says, have long known that smaller publishers typically only put out books they feel strongly about, with the entire staff invested in their success, rather than books “being championed by one lone, intrepid, but increasingly powerless editor at an anonymous corporate imprint.” Europa, which published Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels in the U.S., is one of many independent publishers who have welcomed the growing group of major house midlisters—and, in some case, marquee names—seeking asylum at smaller presses.
Prominent Kids’ Authors Build a Low-Residency MFA Program
publishersweekly.com – Friday August 22, 2025
Three high-profile authors have put their heads and their networks together to dream up a university program tailor-made for children’s and YA creators. Martha Brockenbrough, A.S. King, and David Macinnis Gill are launching a low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Young Readers, headquartered at the University of San Francisco. The first cohort will begin their studies in June 2026, and the application portal is open.
In addition to the three co-founders, inaugural faculty include Tracey Baptiste, Ann Dávila Cardinal, Erin Entrada Kelly, An Na, and Dashka Slater, with additional faculty coming on board in the future. Students and faculty will meet in person each June and January on the University of San Francisco campus. The rest of the time, students will work from home to complete coursework in craft and criticism. Once their two years of courses are complete, they’ll finish their degrees with a fifth residency where they present their work and co-lead a workshop with a faculty member.
“Our agenda will be to make room for all sorts and shapes of stories,” program director Brockenbrough told PW. “I have had so many exciting conversations with people about building something truly epic, and we’re raising scholarship funds to ensure students have every possibility to attend.” The program will actively recruit students from marginalized communities and will nurture inclusive stories, and the co-founders will fundraise with industry partners to reduce students’ financial burdens and defray the $48,000 program cost. Literary agent Barry Goldblatt was the first to step up as a sponsor, pledging $10,000.
New Literary Agent Listing: Kat Aitken
firstwriter.com – Friday August 22, 2025
Represents writers of literary fiction, thought-provoking non-fiction and some poetry, with a focus on fresh perspectives and bold voices. She is always hungry for emotionally intelligent storytelling, taut prose and anything subversive and astute.
New Publisher Listing: Saraband
firstwriter.com – Thursday August 21, 2025
Award-winning independent publisher. Currently unable to accept fiction submissions. For non-fiction submissions, please email your book description, table of contents and a sample chapter together with a brief CV relevant to your writing.
New Magazine Listing: Shoegaze Literary
firstwriter.com – Wednesday August 20, 2025
A digital capsule project that publishes poetry and fiction.
The magazine borrows its name and aesthetics from the eponymous musical genre where artists often perform looking down at their effect pedals.
We aim to support and uplift emerging writers through our digital venue by curating a third space for dreamy, distorted alternate realities.
We publish two times a year. Each issue centers around a theme, and we provide a curated "digital plaza" of inspiration for writers. While we do not pay our authors, we also do not charge a reading fee, and engage in heavy marketing, such as launch parties, readings, unique instagram posts, and community building events.
We are extremely active on email and social and always love to hear from and engage with writers.
Get the free newsletter | Submit a news item or article | Get Writers' News for your website
