Who is Kanishka Gupta? A book magician of sorts
uk.style.yahoo.com – Tuesday September 10, 2019
Ever spare a thought for how millions of Indian readers get their hands on a variety of amazing books? A great idea or story still needs to be considered by a publisher to make it to the shelves. A lot happens behind the scenes before a book sees the light of the day, and that's where the role of a competent agent becomes critical.
An aspiring author and a college dropout, Kanishka Gupta met with several disappointments with regards to finding the right publisher for his own manuscript. The agency he opted to go along with turned out to be phony, which left him further exasperated. When he didn't receive much guidance for his manuscript himself, he founded an assessment agency, Writer's Side, to systemise publishing. A one-of-its kind agency, Writer's Side brought immense success to Kanishka, the benefits of which he hopes to extend to authors worldwide. As Writer's Side completes 10 years, he has secured over 500 book deals for his authors. As of 2019, he represents over 400 authors from across the world.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Tuesday September 10, 2019
Publishes: Fiction;
Areas include: Erotic; Fantasy; Romance;
Markets: Adult
Publishes erotic and paranormal romance ebooks. See website for full submission guidelines.
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Tuesday September 10, 2019
Represents children's authors and artists.
How (and Why) We're Celebrating 'World Kid Lit Month' in 2019
bookriot.com – Sunday September 8, 2019
Translations have always been a part of children’s literature. Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales were translations. Pippi Longstocking, Asterix, and The Little Prince are among the world’s most popular children’s titles—in their originals and in translation. But while English language children’s literature boomed at the beginning of this century, the space for new and genre-shaking translations shrank. Translated titles for young readers do continue to appear, of course. But they often adhere to English language publishing conventions, and most come from Western Europe.
Yet in the last few years, publishers have turned with renewed interest to diverse children’s literature in translation. Many new kidlit imprints have launched with a focus on international literature. The publishers are as diverse as Pushkin Press, Archipelago, Seven Stories, and Amazon Crossing. To encourage this process, in September 2016, book activists launched the first “World Kid Literature Month.”
All through the month, we celebrate and promote literature for young readers in translation—particularly from beyond Europe.
My publishing journey
tns.thenews.com.pk – Sunday September 8, 2019
They say that in order to be a writer, you need to develop a very thick skin. Truer words were never spoken. On a number of occasions, we read news about a writer flooded with offers of representation from top literary agents, following which their book gets picked up for millions of pounds in a publishing auction, propelling the said writer into a world of glittering possibilities, movie deals and the prospect of making some more millions. Such things do happen, but they are few and far between. The reality of getting published is often very different and far less glitzy.
For starters, nobody will even look at your work unless it borders on perfection. Don’t get me wrong, writing is still a very subjective market, but agents today require you to submit a manuscript that has been edited as much as possible. And no, they do not suffer typos and grammatical errors gladly. Agents sometimes get more than a hundred submissions a week, so you can only imagine how fierce the competition is and how little a chance unedited drafts stand in the milieu.
Writing with precision is not just a pet peeve
startribune.com – Saturday September 7, 2019
A hawk-eyed reader has delivered me a dose of comeuppance.
He challenged my assertion that there is no such word as “upcoming.” I recently described “upcoming” as an expedient combination of “coming” and “up” — designed to save money on telegraph service, which charged by the word.
“Hawkeye” pointed out that “upcoming” has become a dictionary-approved word. You can look it up.
I did.
Guilty as charged.
It’s just that “upcoming” has been as much of a pet peeve to me as “hopefully” was to the late New York Times columnist William Safire.
Habits of Highly Effective Writers
nytimes.com – Saturday September 7, 2019
Some always outline; others never do. Some write in cafes or Airbnbs; others don’t leave the house. Here’s a peek at the writing habits of authors on this week’s best-seller lists.
Jia Tolentino, the New Yorker journalist whose essay collection, “Trick Mirror,” has been on the list for four weeks, told The Creative Independent that when she got her book contract, “I found that I couldn’t switch into book-writing very easily … in part because I work at home. I needed to physically be totally alone and be in a different place to get going.” So she “started renting upstate Airbnbs for four days at the beginning of every month, as a way to bang out” her rough draft.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Friday September 6, 2019
Publishes: Fiction; Poetry;
Areas include: Short Stories;
Markets: Adult; Children's
Before submitting, you must have read at least one of the publisher's books. You do not need to have bought one -- they can be borrowed from libraries -- but you need to have read one. Prefers email submissions. Send 5-10 poems, 3-5 short stories, a synopsis and one chapter for novels, a representative sample for graphic novels, visual art, or children's books.
Low-pay writing
By James A. Haught
Editor Emeritus, The Charleston Gazette
firstwriter.com – Tuesday September 3, 2019
Moliere said: “Writing is like pr__t_t_tion. First you do it for the love of it. Then you do it for a few friends. And finally you do it for money.”
Unfortunately, many of today’s writers can’t attain the level of a self-supporting h__ker, because markets and communications have evolved into strange new territory.
Ten tips for writing for audio
thebookseller.com – Monday September 2, 2019
As a university writing tutor it can be embarrassingly tiresome to always practise what you preach. But 5,000 words is not a daunting challenge, not an Annapurna, nor even a Munro, except . . .
Except that these 5,000 words must lift themselves from the page and fly from the mouth of a narrator into the ear of a listener. They must convince by their authenticity. They must instantly engage, hold and persuade the listener to join in a secret communion. As a BBC radio producer, the watchword (we didn’t have mission statements or mantras back then) was always "take me there and make me care".
Our duty was to bring the listener on a journey, and make sure they stayed on the voyage until the final second. No small task these days with a magnitude of offerings to tempt us to detour this way and that.
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