Bournemouth Writing Festival announces 2025 line-up
buzz.bournemouth.ac.uk – Friday January 17, 2025
Bournemouth Writing Festival have announced their line-up for this year’s festival.
The festival takes place from 25th-27th April 2025 at a range of venues in the area.
It features a range of free and ticketed events, aims to inspire writers to write with practical and hands-on events, workshops, talks, writing activities and networking opportunities.
The three-day festival is a carefully curated selection of self-published, published and writing professionals who share their knowledge and advice to writers of all ages and experience levels.
Amongst the professionals attending, there are best-selling authors like Alex Stone (The Good Patient), BAFTA award-winning playwright and screenwriter John Foster (Emmerdale) and creative collaborator and Curator for Wilkswood Reggae Festival, poet Kim West.
The Good Literary Agency founders 'heartbroken' to close agency after funding bid 'fails'
thebookseller.com – Thursday January 16, 2025
The Good Literary Agency (TGLA) will close at the end of March with all staff, including agents, being made redundant.
Co-founders Julia Kingsford and Nikesh Shukla said they had tried to save the business but “failed” to be awarded additional funding they applied for. The founders said that, despite cutbacks and a restructure, they had taken the "heartbreaking" decision to close the agency.
All book contracts and all future earnings will revert to their authors and TGLA said it will work with publishers to transfer them over the coming months.
Amandeep Singh and Kerry-Ann Bentley, who joined as literary agents in 2023, and agency assistant Arden Jones are among those being made redundant.
TGLA was founded as a social enterprise agency for British writers from under-represented backgrounds in 2018. It was launched with an initial three years’ worth of funding by Arts Council England as part of their Ambition for Excellence programme and later became an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.
South Warwickshire Literary Festival launches annual writing competition
stratfordobserver.co.uk – Wednesday January 15, 2025
THE COUNTDOWN to the South Warwickshire Literary Festival has officially begun with the launch of this year’s writing competition.
Open until Friday March 28, the competition allows writers from around the world to be part of the festival, which is taking place for the fourth time in September.
The writing competition has four categories – fiction, creative non-fiction, flash fiction and poetry.
For each category the winner will take a £75 prize, while a commended entry will win £25.
New Imprint Listing: Old Pond Publishing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday January 15, 2025
Specialist UK publisher of agriculture, trucking and machinery books and DVDs, ranging from titles about tractor and haulage brands to practical farming and humorous books.
How To Know If Your Idea Is a Novel or a Screenplay, and Why Thrillers Make Great TV
crimereads.com – Wednesday January 15, 2025
I’m a TV writer by profession, and when I’m not staffing a show, I develop TV series adaptations with the goal of selling one to a buyer. My favorite novel genres to adapt are mysteries and thrillers because I love suspenseful, propulsive storytelling and because thrillers make damn good TV.
TV shows demand action and surprises that compel a viewer to keep watching, and since suspense novels are built around twists, with chapters that end on cliffhangers, they lend well to adaptation. In the Age of Streaming, where thousands of TV shows across 400 networks compete for attention, it’s incredibly difficult for a series to gain traction, but a delicious thriller can quickly amass an audience.
If I spark to a novel, I develop my “take”—a 20-minute pitch on how I would adapt the book into an on-going series. When pitching a series, the most important question I need to answer is Why Now? A thriller novel with a strong hook and a juicy twist is great, but one that has something to say, that sparks discussion around a timely, compelling theme, is undeniable. Think Big Little Lies, with its examination of domestic violence among the elites, or Codename Villanelle (the source material for Killing Eve), with its rare depiction of female obsession.
Details announced for the 2025 Bournemouth Writing Festival featuring around 100 events
news.bournemouthone.com – Monday January 13, 2025
Details have been announced for the third Bournemouth Writing Festival, to be held over the weekend of 25th to 27th April at various locations in Bournemouth town centre.
The three days will feature around 100 events and activities (some free) to inspire writers of all ages, backgrounds, abilities and experience.
There will be talks, walks, panels, workshops, informal networking breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and literary agent 1-2-1s.
Writing on the Beach will return as well as a Words for Wellbeing Chillout Zone at the Russell Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, and special evening events from the Outsiders Project and Bourn Jammy.
Closing the festival on the Sunday night will be Making Waves, a showcase for new and emerging writers hosted by Arts University Bournemouth.
What's next for kids' books
thebookseller.com – Sunday January 12, 2025
As we look ahead into 2025, the ongoing realities of global instability and economic uncertainty are not going away any time soon. Adaptation will be essential as we navigate these persistent issues, demanding resilience and innovative solutions from individuals and communities alike.
In the creative realm, we are witnessing a significant shift toward authenticity. There is an increasing desire among audiences to trust the true identities of those who created the work – writers, artists, illustrators and actors.
In a time where digital imagery and AI often raise questions such as: is that real, did it actually happen or is it fake? The importance of knowing the voices behind the work becomes paramount. As a result, we can anticipate a celebration of transparency and trust in creative expression. What that means is a striving towards building an artist’s name, audience and credibility to own the copyright so they can be recognised as the original creator of their work across all platforms.
In today’s screen-filled world, we are not just selling books, we are promoting the act of reading itself. We advocate for its transformative power in shaping young minds, fostering empathy and enhancing mental health. This is a responsibility we cannot take lightly. It is one that requires all the creativity and collaboration between agents and publishers to create new formats with retailers who are confident in how to sell these non-traditional formats.
We need to get bold. We need to push the boundaries of what a book can be. Here is how I think this might look in the year to come.
Ulysses Press, Spot Gloss Media Form Bluestone Books
publishersweekly.com – Sunday January 12, 2025
The owners of the independent publisher Ulysses Press and the book packing and publishing company Spot Gloss Media have banded together to form Bluestone Books. The new company “will specialize in popular culture, practical nonfiction, and concept-driven children’s titles," per an announcement. Its first list of nine titles is planned for this summer, and the founders hope to release 25-30 books annually.
Bluestone is the brainchild of Keith Riegert, CEO of Ulysses and one of the cofounders of Perfect Bound, an online marketplace that connects publishers and printers while also providing title management services. Spot Gloss was formed late last year through the merger of Hollan Publishing, owned by Holly Schmidt, and Castle Point Publishing, run by Bruce Lubin. The company develops books in a range of adult categories as well as titles for the children’s and Christian markets, and Schmidt and Lubin have worked on dozens of titles that have been published by Ulysses over the last 20 years.
BookTok shaped a new generation of readers, authors. What happens if TikTok is banned?
eu.usatoday.com – Sunday January 12, 2025
It doesn’t matter if you’re off social media or chronically online enough to know what “faerie smut” is – if you’re a reader, you’ve probably heard of BookTok.
Reader communities are nothing new. But BookTok isn’t your grandma’s book club or the Facebook fan page of your mom’s generation – in fact, it gave online book communities of days past a run for their money by boosting book sales and birthing an entirely new generation of readers.
But on Friday, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments to determine whether it should block a law requiring TikTok to cut ties with the Chinese government or be banned Jan. 19.
What happens for booklovers if it all goes away?
S&S Launches Audio Imprint Simon Maverick, Helmed by Jason Pinter
publishersweekly.com – Friday January 10, 2025
Simon & Schuster has thrown its weight behind Simon Maverick, a new audio-first imprint featuring content from self-published authors. Jason Pinter, former publisher of Polis Books, quietly joined S&S on November 4 to become the imprint’s VP and editorial director.
In a statement, S&S described Simon Maverick as “the first-ever audio imprint launched by a Big Five publisher dedicated to shining a light on works from talented, diverse, and emerging independent authors.” The imprint aims to publish more than 50 titles in 2025, and has so far acquired around 35 titles. Moving forward, it anticipates publishing 50–100 audiobooks annually, mostly audio originals alongside projects that originate in print.
“We are looking for existing books that have already found a readership, that are not in audio yet, and we’re also looking to establish relationships with authors,” whether published or unpublished, Pinter told PW. He estimated that the launch list is a 50/50 mix of audio-first work and titles that appeared in print, and he expects that ratio to shift toward all-new audio content as the imprint progresses.
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