Tracy Chevalier: ‘Writing is a magic trick that still surprises me when I perform it’
theguardian.com – Saturday September 17, 2016
Part of me wishes it were easy to describe my typical writing day. I have heard about them, those smug productive hours when a writer – usually male, it has to be said – sits down each day at 9am with an espresso, writes till 1, makes bouillabaisse, writes from 2 till 5, plays tennis, and after supper sits with a glass of single malt whisky reading over what he’s written that day. That is a scenario I both crave and detest. It will never be that controlled and disciplined for me.
Algorithms Could Save Book Publishing—But Ruin Novels
wired.com – Friday September 16, 2016
JODIE ARCHER HAD always been puzzled by the success ofThe Da Vinci Code. She’d worked for Penguin UK in the mid-2000s, when Dan Brown’s thriller had become a massive hit, and knew there was no way marketing alone would have led to 80 million copies sold. So what was it, then? Something magical about the words that Brown had strung together? Dumb luck? The questions stuck with her even after she left Penguin in 2007 to get a PhD in English at Stanford. There she met Matthew L. Jockers, a cofounder of the Stanford Literary Lab, whose work in text analysis had convinced him that computers could peer into books in a way that people never could.
5 Things You Need To Know About Writing Before Becoming A Writer
huffingtonpost.com – Friday September 16, 2016
Writing is difficult. If I could encapsulate writing I would say that it’s the equivalent of stepping up to the plate and either hitting a 600 foot home run or taking the most embarrassing swing only to find you didn’t come anywhere near the ball.
Some days I sit down and it seems like words I didn’t know I had just keep flowing out of my fingertips, and other days it feels like my brain can’t properly communicate with my hands to tell them what the hell to write.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Friday September 16, 2016
Publishes: Poetry;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Dark; Literary
Open to submissions of dark poetry between October and May 15, annually. Submit up to 8 poems of any length by post with SASE or by email, either in the body of the email or as an attachment.
11 Writing Tips From Joan Didion, Because She Knows A Thing Or Two About It
bustle.com – Thursday September 15, 2016
Award-winning writer, sharp critic, and insightful memoirist — is there anything the author of Slouching Towards Bethlehem can't do? Probably not, which is why you can take writing advice from Joan Didion to heart. After five decades of real-world practice, could you think of anyone better to advise you? I didn't think so.
Authors beware: scam publishers are charging up to $15k for shoddy work
stuff.co.nz – Thursday September 15, 2016
Local writers are paying bogus publishers between $5000 and $15,000 per book to get their work published.
For that, they receive an e-book and a few poorly edited print copies of their manuscript, according to the New Zealand Society of Authors — and then they are asked to pay more money to market it.
"Basically [the 'publishers' are] doing almost nothing, and certainly nothing that gets an author's work out there," says NZSA president Kyle Mewburn, who has noticed an increase in scam complaints in the last year, from one every couple of months to one or two a week.
What is women's writing? Publishing insiders discuss power of female voices
theguardian.com – Wednesday September 14, 2016
Writers and editors explored what it means to be a woman in the literary world at an Emily Books event in Brooklyn: ‘The industry is mostly female, but male-run’
How Dylan Thomas's writing shed inspired Roald Dahl
bbc.co.uk – Wednesday September 14, 2016
Both are world-famous authors who wrote some of their best known works in their sheds. But, as Roald Dahl's centenary is celebrated across the country, his widow reveals how heavily the children's author was influenced by Dylan Thomas's hut when building his own.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday September 14, 2016
Publishes: Fiction; Nonfiction;
Markets: Adult
London-based publisher of quality fiction and nonfiction. Welcomes submissions. For nonfiction, send synopsis, author profile, sample chapter, and brief chapter summaries; for fiction, send synopsis and three sample chapters.
Steve Atkinson: HighTide started on a wave of changes in new writing
whatsonstage.com – Tuesday September 13, 2016
HighTide turns ten this year and the UK's premier new writing festival could not be in better shape. Since beginning in the small market town of Halesworth in Suffolk, they've championed the likes of Adam Brace, Sam Holcroft, Joel Horwood and Nick Payne, often staging debuts from those writers well before theatres like the National, Almeida and the Royal Court pick them up. As co-founder of the festival, director Steve Atkinson has been instrumental in pushing the festival artistically so it now stands as one of the most important new writing events in the UK calendar. Now, after they open at the festival's home of Aldeburgh, HighTide plays tour up and down the country, bringing bright, dynamic theatre voices to the rest of the world.
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