Here's Why E-Book Sales From Major Publishers Are Plummeting
fortune.com – Monday July 11, 2016
But growing sales of self-published e-books may offset the drop.
Book publishers are winning in their quixotic war against their own electronic books as sales dropped 11% last year, according to a new report from the industry’s leading trade group.
Russell Smith: Why publishers think pink for book covers
theglobeandmail.com – Thursday July 7, 2016
It has just occurred to me that my last four books, all works of fiction, have had an image of a woman on the cover. The books, however, largely represent masculine points of view. One of the books is even called Young Men. It still has a beautiful girl on the cover.
The reason for this repeated imagery is simple and economic: Most readers of fiction in North America are, by a wide margin, women. The books are being marketed to them.
Comedy writing programme announced
theknowledgeonline.com – Wednesday July 6, 2016
A comedy writing programme has been launched by the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (CTBF) to find emerging UK comedy writers.
The Betty Box and Peter Rogers Comedy Writing Programme - named after the producers of the Doctor and Carry On series - is being run in partnership with Big Talk Productions and LOCO London Comedy Film Festival.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Monday July 4, 2016
Publishes: Fiction; Poetry;
Areas include: Short Stories;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Publishes previously unpublished poetry and prose that demonstrates originality, intelligence, courage, irreverence, and humanity. Send 3-5 poems or 1 prose piece up to 3500 words with SASE. No online submissions.
Startup of the week: RedDoor
thebookseller.com – Saturday July 2, 2016
Bridging the gap between traditional and self-publishing, RedDoor Publishing aims to provide a credible platform for authors who are "slipping through the net as traditional publishers become increasingly (and understandably) risk averse." It operates in the same way as a traditional publishing house, except its authors pay for pre-production and first print run of their book.
How to write rollicking rhyming stories
theguardian.com – Friday July 1, 2016
On the day started I writing my first children’s book, Squishy McFluff: The Invisible Cat! I didn’t deliberately set out to write it in rhyme. It just happened.
The first line that popped out was: “As Ava played out in the garden one day, when the air was all foggy, the sky rather grey…” I realised straight away that if I split the sentence, I had a perfect rhyming couplet. That set the scene for the rest of the book, and now I’ve written six of them, each one up to 2,000 words, all written in rhyme.
'In stressed times, we can take comfort in wildlife': why nature-writing is 'exploding'
firstwriter.com – Thursday June 30, 2016
Now in its third year, the Wainwright nature-writing prize has announced its shortlist, spotlighting what one judge called an “exploding” field, as more and more writers and readers are turning to this genre as a balm for the woes of modern life.
Lionsgate UK, Idris Elba Launch Writing Competition; ‘King’s Speech’ Producer Boards Jamie Vardy Biopic – Global Briefs
deadline.com – Wednesday June 29, 2016
Lionsgate UK and Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures are partnering to launch the Write To Green Light competition, designed to discover new creative voices for television in the returnable drama space. Lionsgate’s Zygi Kamasa and Elba will judge the entries alongside a panel of industry experts.
Mybestseller Launches Reading and Writing Platform Sweek
digitalbookworld.com – Tuesday June 28, 2016
Mybestseller announced today the launch of Sweek, a new global and mobile platform that allows readers to read and write both online and off. Writers can post stories that are available instantly at no charge.
Sweek is currently available on Android and the web, and will be available on iOS in July, when it will contain more than 20,000 stories and books.
Publishers need to help foster a love of reading
thebookseller.com – Tuesday June 28, 2016
Publishers need to work harder at creating the need for books as a product, rather than focusing on their brands, delegates to The Bookseller’s Marketing and Publicity Conference have heard.
Speaking during a panel entitled ‘Is our business like show business?: What we should (and shouldn’t!) learn from other industries', Chris McCrudden (pictured), strategy director at Golin PR, said that publishers should “create the need for product before they create the need for brand”, adding that at the moment that there are “lots and lots and lots of little campaigns trying to get you to buy a particular book, but nothing trying to get consumers to buy books in general”.
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