The fantastic fiction app Great Jones Street is shutting down
theverge.com – Sunday December 24, 2017
2017 has been notoriously difficult for digital publishers, and the year has claimed a new victim: Great Jones Street, an app-based fiction magazine that curated a ton of great stories that spanned genres. In a post on Facebook, the app’s publisher, Kelly Abbott says that he will shut the publication down at the end of the year, saying that he ultimately “failed to convince enough readers to support it.”
Children’s book publishers turn to ‘sensitivity readers’
seattletimes.com – Sunday December 24, 2017
Late last year, novelist Keira Drake said her publisher was giving away copies of her upcoming young-adult novel, “The Continent,” a fantasy set in a world where two nations have been at war for centuries. “It’s raining books!” she wrote.
Her enthusiasm was quickly punctured. Online reviews poured in, and they were brutal. Readers pounced on what they saw as racially charged language in the descriptions of the warring tribes and blasted it as “racist trash,” “retrograde” and “offensive.” Drake and her publisher, Harlequin Teen, apologized and delayed the book’s publication.
Philip Pullman: I use coloured pencils to show which key I’m writing in – D minor, at the moment
theguardian.com – Saturday December 23, 2017
The author on the importance of desk height, watching birds and Myriorama cards
I get to my desk (in a very small room at the top of the house) at about 10, and fiddle about with the height of the desk and the chair until I’m comfortable. I have a desk that I can raise or lower according to the state of my aching back. Sometimes I stand at it, and sometimes I have it high up to write at, and sometimes a bit lower to type.
US trade publisher sales flat in first half of 2017, reports AAP
thebookseller.com – Friday December 22, 2017
US publishers' trade book sales were flat for the first seven months of 2017, holding steady at $4,440.2m versus $4,442m for the same period (January - August) in 2016, according to statistics released by the Association of the American Publishers (AAP).
Talking audiobooks
thebookseller.com – Wednesday December 20, 2017
Audio is the "heatseeker" within publishing, and the recent FutureBook Conference was a watershed moment in championing the category. But many issues also surfaced. Expensive recordings, different marketing from print and a new supply chain are just a few; the consequence is that there are as many publishers losing money from audio as there are profitably growing.
Twitter Events Connect Agents and Writers
publishersweekly.com – Wednesday December 20, 2017
It’s a 21st-century twist on the traditional over-the-transom manuscripts: Twitter pitch events. While authors have been making initial connections online with agents for several years, since author Brenda Drake launched the Pitch Wars contest in 2012, Twitter events have exploded in popularity in the last year or two. Besides #PitMad, the Twitter offshoot of Pitch Wars, these days authors and agents can establish a connection via #DVPit (for diverse books), #PitDark (horror/mysteries), #PBPitch (picture books), #KidPit (children’s literature, from board books to YA), #SFFPit (Science Fiction and Fantasy), and other hashtags.
Literary fiction under threat, ACE report concludes
thebookseller.com – Sunday December 17, 2017
Arts Council England has pledged to engage with more bookshops, fund more writers and lobby the government to provide tax relief to independent publishers following a report finding that “the general trend for literary fiction is a negative one”.
Literary fiction writers can no longer live off their books as sales slump
inews.co.uk – Friday December 15, 2017
The idea of the penniless artist shivering and starving in gloomy cellar for years as they pen another great tome has become a reality for the writers of literary fiction, according to research by Arts Council England. The average author now earns less than minimum wage with an annual salary of just £11,000.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Friday December 15, 2017
Publishes: Articles; Essays; Features; Fiction; Interviews; Nonfiction; Poetry; Reference; Reviews;
Areas include: Entertainment; Fantasy; Historical; How-to; New Age; Religious; Sci-Fi; Short Stories; Spiritual;
Markets: Adult; Family; Professional;
Preferred styles: Contemporary; Experimental; Positive; Traditional
A new Online New Age magazine to become a resource for people wanting to research a variety of topics. I'm looking for articles and artwork geared towards those looking for information on all types of new age and spiritual topics.
First edition March 20, 2018
Seeking articles, interviews, inspiration, reviews, fiction, poetry, artwork and photography centred around many New Age topics: Spiritual practices, Tarot, gods and goddesses, How-to, chakras, kabbalah, reiki, healing, mindset work, guides, paganism, wicca, mysticism, plants as medicine, paranormal and psychic phenomenon, etc. See our complete guidelines.
Fan sends 80s Nobel prizewinning book to modern publishers to make an important point about the book industry
independent.co.uk – Wednesday December 13, 2017
A literary fan has conducted a damning experiment.
Writer Serge Volle sent 50 pages of French author Claude Simon's 1962 novel The Palace, set during the Spanish civil war, to 19 French publishers under the guise of being fresh material.
12 outright rejected the book, while seven never replied, despite the fact that Simon won the Nobel prize for literature in 1985, Volle told French public radio on Monday (via The Guardian).
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