My writing day: Maggie O’Farrell
theguardian.com – Saturday December 17, 2016
Most writers’ work happens when they are away from their desks, when they are looking the other way, when they are engaged with some other mundane task. The washing up, the folding of laundry, the school run, the debate with a small child over the merits and demerits of wearing of a coat in December.
This is, at least, what I try to tell myself. The idea that there is a typical “writing day” makes me laugh, with a slight edge of hysteria. Life with children precludes such planning, such routine, such predictability. Last week, for example, my writing mornings were disrupted and erased by, in no particular order: the cat being copiously indisposed on sofa and carpet; my daughter drawing a seascape of swimming lions on top of some notes I had made; one child sent home ill from school; and another requiring lifts to and from concert rehearsals.
A primer on writing from a gifted novelist
usatoday.com – Friday December 16, 2016
Charles Johnson, one of America’s finest novelists (Middle Passage) and foremost thinkers pondering the cosmos of literature, has published a road map to that cosmos as complex, daunting and rewarding as the destination itself. Titled The Way of the Writer: Reflections on the Art and Craft of Storytelling (Scribner, 256 pp., *** out of four stars), this dense little book could just as cogently be called The Rigors of Writing Seriously.
Jill Corcoran Expands into Adult Market
publishersweekly.com – Wednesday December 14, 2016
Jill Corcoran Literary Agency, in an effort to both extend its reach in the children's book market and expand into the adult market, has announced the addition of four new agents.
Lance Person’s literary grail is Austin’s Belle Lutte Press
mystatesman.com – Monday December 12, 2016
Why would a successful attorney quit his job to start a small literary publishing house?
Why would he then scan more than 1,000 submissions before picking a first novel to edit and publish through his newly minted Belle Lutte Press?
Austin’s Lance Person can explain. He’s the attorney who did it.
WME Names 18 New Partners
variety.com – Saturday December 10, 2016
WME has promoted 18 people to partner, across film, television, music, non-scripted television, endorsements, and books.
In New York, Claudia Ballard from the books department, Josh Bider in non-scripted television, and Strand Conover in endorsements were named partners. Shari Lewin, an agent who focuses on endorsement deals for the agency’s country music artists, was also part of the group.
Are small publishers doing all the hard work for the big ones?
theguardian.com – Thursday December 8, 2016
Paul McVeigh and Kirsty Logan are authors you may have heard of. Both of their debuts were published by Salt, an independent publisher. Paul McVeigh’s The Good Son was shortlisted for a bunch of awards, and won the Polari first book prize this year. Kirsty Logan’s The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales won three awards — including the Polari in 2015— and Logan had her next book published with Harvill Secker, a division of Penguin Random House. The same trajectory is likely for Paul McVeigh. It’s a familiar story.
Independent publishers have existed since the 19th century; it wasn’t until the 20th and the 21st that we saw the industry dominated by a few corporations. “The Big Four” publishers – Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Hachette and HarperCollins – have grown big by buying up small publishers. Hogarth, for example, was founded by Leonard and Virginia Woolf in 1917; now it is an imprint at the Crown Publishing Group, which is in turn a part of Penguin Random House – which itself used to be Penguin and Random House before their merger in 2013. Phew.
How I Got Here
mastheadonline.com – Wednesday December 7, 2016
It’s hard really to know where to start, so I guess I’ll start at the beginning. Twenty years ago I was a failed photocopier salesperson who stumbled into the world of publishing strictly by chance. By any stretch of the imagination, I am not supposed to be here. The fact that I am even writing something about magazines for a website is pure fluke.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday December 7, 2016
Publishes: Fiction; Nonfiction;
Areas include: Culture; Historical; Humour; Mystery; Science; Sci-Fi; Women's Interests;
Markets: Adult; Children's; Youth;
Preferred styles: Experimental; Literary; Popular
Publishes unconventional books across a broad range of categories. Query one editor directly (see website for list of interests and specific contact details) by post with SASE or by email. Limit query to one page and include sample chapters if available.
Northern Writers' Awards 2017 open for entries with £40,000 to reward promising work
chroniclelive.co.uk – Tuesday December 6, 2016
Need a bit of financial support as you work on a novel or a poetry or short story collection? The £40,000 Northern Writers’ Awards could be just the job.
Writers from across the north of England are invited to submit their work in progress to organisers New Writing North.
Is making a living just from writing books a literary fiction?
irishtimes.com – Monday December 5, 2016
Rumour has it that there are only 12 writers in Ireland who can make a living from their books alone.
Of course, the figure changes with on the telling – dropping to seven, or rising to 20, perhaps even 30 – and while trying to guess the names of those on this privileged list makes for a good game, I’ve yet to uncover the research on which this supposed statistic is based.
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