Why writing diverse children's books is tough
theguardian.com – Tuesday April 12, 2016
What’s the point of having another shoddily-realised feisty girl or two-dimensional token wheelchair sidekick to add to the massive pile of rubbish attempts at diversity? Author Ross Montgomery on why it’s hard to write diverse – but that’s no excuse not to.
Pullman urges publishers to examine their role
thebookseller.com – Monday April 11, 2016
Publishers need to ask themselves what are they offering writers and readers that other agencies cannot provide, author Philip Pullman told delegates at the International Publishers Congress yesterday (Sunday 10th April).
“If I was a publisher I’d be looking very carefully at what we do and what we don’t do," Pullman said. "I’d be asking: what is it that makes me necessary to writers and readers, storytellers and their audience? Could it be done by anyone else? Would it make any difference if it wasn’t done at all?”
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Monday April 11, 2016
Publishes: Essays; Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry
Areas include: Short Stories
Markets: Adult
Preferred styles: Literary
Submit fiction or personal essays up to 5,000 words, or 3-5 poems, via online submission system.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday April 7, 2016
Publishes: Fiction;
Areas include: Fantasy; Sci-Fi; Short Stories;
Markets: Academic; Adult;
Preferred styles: Dark
Publishes Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Dark Fantasy (including their sub-genres). Will consider short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels, graphic novels, academic material. See website for submission guidelines.
Breda Wall Ryan on writing In a Hare’s Eye
irishtimes.com – Wednesday April 6, 2016
When judge Kevin Barry announced my debut poetry collection, In a Hare’s Eye (Doire Press 2015), as the winner of this year’s Shine/Strong Poetry Award at Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival, it marked a new milestone on my poetry journey, a journey begun in childhood. Poetry came to me first at the ear. My mother used to recite narrative poems to us as bedtime stories and I was captivated by their rhymes and rhythms. I can still recite swathes of poetry I learned on the cusp of sleep, that tipping point between the conscious and the unconscious. The marvellous imagery and skewed logic of dreams is one of the places my poems are born. If I held a sure key to that otherworld of the unconscious, I’d go there more often, to bring back embryonic poems. One strand of my poetry explores the borders between the real and surreal, between acquired and personal mythologies. A second strand concerns nature, the environment, and our human mistreatment of the earth.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday April 6, 2016
Publishes: Poetry;
Markets: Adult
Publishes contemporary English language poetry books and chapbooks. Submit via website through online submission system. $15 reading fee.
Let It Go! Improve Your Writing and Free Yourself From Attachment
huffingtonpost.com – Monday April 4, 2016
In writing and in life, it behooves us to remain as free from attachment as possible. Now, you may immediately wonder, “What does that mean? Especially when it comes to writing?!”
Here are a few thoughts to consider. It’s not uncommon for writers to occasionally get attached to certain words, phrases or passages, which inevitably feel essential to getting our message or story across. The problem with such “attachment” is we find ourselves disappointed when we’re told (by editors or agents or publishers or readers), “That part didn’t really work for me.”
There's No One Way to Sell an E-book
publishersweekly.com – Saturday April 2, 2016
As e-books sales soften at the large trade houses, some independent digital (or mostly digital) publishers continue to see their e-book sales grow. Interviews with five independent publishers show a range of publishing practices with the e-books they publish and highlight the ways in which they promote and market their lists. The publishers PW contacted include startup ventures Brown Girls Books and Polis Books, more mature ventures such as Open Road Integrated Media and Diversion Books, as well as Start Media, the acquisitions-driven media content firm, and its Start Publishing division.
Latest VIDA survey charts women in literary magazines
thebookseller.com – Saturday April 2, 2016
The number of women contributors to the Times Literary Supplement dropped slightly in 2015, according to the latest annual survey by research organisation VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. But Granta by contrast saw a small rise in women's writing.
The Book Inside You: The Business Of Selling It
boston.cbslocal.com – Thursday March 31, 2016
There is inherent passion in the written word, but there is also the business of selling it.
Enter Esmond Harmsworth, a founding partner of Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency, which has offices in Boston and New York. He says every agency has a common ingredient – “You have to insanely love books.”
Harmsworth reads at least one full-length book a week, and the first 20 pages of another ten. He generally makes a quick decision.
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