Hollywood has gobbled up book rights during the pandemic. Here’s why
latimes.com – Wednesday October 7, 2020
Author Rumaan Alam kept his expectations low, even as the film rights to his upcoming book “Leave the World Behind” became the center of a bidding contest among Hollywood studios this summer.
During two brisk weeks in July, the Brooklyn-based novelist kept interrupting his family vacation on Fire Island to field phone calls from agents, producers and executives. Sam Esmail, creator of USA Network’s “Mr. Robot,” was on board to direct a feature based on the socially conscious thriller. Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington had agreed to star and produce. Studios including Netflix, Apple and MGM were making offers.
Alam remained skeptical until that Monday when, while on the beach with his husband and two sons, he got the call from Michelle Weiner, head of Creative Artists Agency’s books department, who was handling the auction, saying they’d scored a deal with Netflix.
“I was waiting for the day when Michelle’s assistant would have to send me, like, a consolation bottle of Champagne,” Alam said. “I was sitting there in the sand kind of dumbfounded.”
New Magazine Listing: Agony Opera
firstwriter.com – Wednesday October 7, 2020
We like things edgy, experimental (be it in language or form), surreal, magic-real, speculative, avant-garde. In short anything out of the box.
We have a soft spot for literature which makes a staunch stand on politics. And by politics, we mean the politics regarding the rights of the 99%, not the other way round. Though, we must admit socialist realism doesn’t excite us that much.
Books by the Banks 2020 writing contest open to adults, teens; entries accepted online until Jan. 4
nkytribune.com – Tuesday October 6, 2020
Despite the postponement of the Book by the Banks 14th annual book festival, the 2020 writers’ contest is still happening.
This year’s contest theme is “Home.” Writers are encouraged to interpret this theme as literally or figuratively as they desire. Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry are welcome.
“Even though we had to move the festival to 2021 due to COVID-19, the board voted unanimously to continue its support of the region’s writers,” said David Rippe, president of Books by the Banks. “The love of writing, reading and books is a yearlong mission for us.”
The contest is open to adults and teens with cash prizes for the top three entries in each category.
New Literary Agency Listing: Bright Group US Inc.
firstwriter.com – Tuesday October 6, 2020
Welcomes submissions from illustrators and authors who are looking for representation. Interested in children’s picture book texts, chapter books and middle grade fiction. Provide an outline with a synopsis and the first three chapters.
Penguin, Bloomsbury, Juggernaut can wait—Twitter is the new fiction publisher
theprint.in – Sunday October 4, 2020
Move over Bloomsbury, Penguin, and Juggernaut — Twitter is now the premier fiction publisher in the era of coronavirus.
When Twitter user Shiv Ramdas wrote a lengthy thread about his brother-in-law buying a truck of rice, his posts received 77,000 retweets and 3 lakh likes within days. That’s how starved people are for a quick, interesting read on social media.
Let’s be honest, it’s practically impossible to get through a 500-page book today when you have to respond to every text, Instagram forward, and see every video on Facebook or Twitter. But fear not, Twitter story threads are the new place to quench that bookworm in you.
And you thought Twitter is only a playground for trolls. After Black Twitter and Dalit Twitter became thriving virtual subcultures, fiction Twitter is slated to be the next big thing.
Anyone can tell a funny, evocative, romantic, or thrilling story on Twitter — 280 characters at a time. All you need is snarky vocabulary, internet inside jokes, and concise sentences. Each tweet becomes a chapter, and each thread, however long you may want it to be, becomes the tale.
How to Find Your Own Writing Style
authorlink.com – Saturday October 3, 2020
The definition of what style in writing represents is often blurry and elusive. While some authors are very distinctive when it comes to their wordiness, syntax, tone, and mood, others seem to stand out by nothing in particular—yet create high-quality works and are inspirational and praised nonetheless.
Finding your writing style can last for a year, two, three, or become a journey that never ends: for some authors, experimentation and adaptation are the most exciting parts of the writing process.
Before getting to work on your voice and tone and coming up with a great book title, the first thing you should do is decide what type of writing you’re the most interested in. This decision will help you direct your attention appropriately once you begin to practice your wordcraft.
How do I pitch to Film Stories and Film Stories Junior magazines?
filmstories.co.uk – Saturday October 3, 2020
We’re opening back up for writing pitches across our magazines – and if you’re interested, here’s some information to help you put together your pitch.
At the end of September, with thanks to an amazing bunch of readers, we were able to secure funding – via Kickstarter – to keep our magazines going until the back end of 2021 at least. As such, it means we can start commissioning writing again.
A few bits and bobs if you’re new to Film Stories. One of the key foundations of our work is to ensure, wherever we can, we lower the drawbridge of opportunity. That we want to provide a point of entry to the industry for those who are otherwise struggling to find one.
As such, we look to give at least two writers their first paid print writing work in every issue of our magazine. Thus far, the youngest has been in their teens, the oldest in their 70s.
Then we have Film Stories Junior, which I’ll come to at the bottom of this post.
I’m asked an awful lot how to pitch, and what kind of things I look for when it comes to Film Stories magazine. I’m very fortunate that so many are interested in what we do, and grateful for that. Hopefully this post, though, will help those wondering how to pitch, and what to pitch. It’s actually a lot easier than you might think.
New Magazine Listing: Cholla Needles
firstwriter.com – Friday October 2, 2020
We look for poetry that reaches readers, with a special emphasis on poetry that readers desire to return to. Each issue contains 10 distinctly different poets, and we are very happy to introduce new writers to our audience in each issue. We have no restriction as to writing style or format, but do expect that the work submitted is ready for an audience. Payment in US is by contributor's copy, and outside the US is by pdf copy.
New Literary Agency Listing: Laxfield Literary Associates
firstwriter.com – Friday October 2, 2020
We are looking for fiction and non-fiction of the highest quality. We are keen to receive literary and commercial fiction. We are also looking for non-fiction, particularly creative non-fiction, travel writing and nature writing. We do not represent poetry, plays or children’s books.
Shercliff launches Suffolk's first literary agency
thebookseller.com – Wednesday September 30, 2020
A new agency, Laxfield Literary Associates, headed by Cassava Republic's Emma Shercliff, is opening in Suffolk and launching a debut novel prize.
The agency, which is billed as Suffolk's first, opens its doors on 1st October. It was started by Shercliff in association with Blake Friedmann Literary Agency, which will handle translation and screen rights.
Shercliff was prompted to launch the agency partly as a response to the Common People report, led by Professor Katy Shaw of Northumbria University, which highlighted the lack of literary agents outside London.
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