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.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Monday December 5, 2016
Publishes: Poetry;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Poetry magazine with a voice of "illumination, compassion, humanity, and reason", publishing continually online and sporadically in print when a volume is full. Send submissions by post with SASE or by email (preferably pasted into the body of the email). See website for full guidelines.
Andrew Wylie Makes First Appearance at Guadalajara
publishersweekly.com – Saturday December 3, 2016
The professional program at FIL opened with a keynote address from Andrew Wylie, one of the world’s most renowned literary agents. Wylie spoke about the role literary agents play today, especially as regards international markets. He observed, “The trouble with most literary agencies is that they are local and not global.”
E-books can be sold with reduced VAT, says EC
thebookseller.com – Friday December 2, 2016
European publishers and booksellers have welcomed the decision of the European Commission (EC) to allow VAT to be reduced on e-books, with sales now bound to go up, according to booksellers.
Brussels yesterday (1st December) released proposals for new tax rules, including delivering on its pledge "to enable Member States to apply the same VAT rate to e-publications such as e-books and online newspapers as for their printed equivalents, removing provisions that excluded e-publications from the favourable tax treatment allowed for traditional printed publications".
‘Writing a good sex scene is a skill you hone over and over again’
independent.ie – Thursday December 1, 2016
Is there anything worse than a bad sex scene in a book? (Apart, maybe, from a bad sex scene in real life.) There you are, mentally immersed in this fictional universe, lost in an invented world, and suddenly… a clumsy, clunky, cringy sex scene blunders into view, waving its unmentionables about, and breaks the magic.
Badly written sex scenes are jarring. They’re jolting. They just feel wrong, even more so if the book you’re reading is otherwise well-crafted.
How to write great books for children and young adults
washingtonpost.com – Wednesday November 30, 2016
Almost 20 years ago, a novel about a boy wizard began to fly out of bookstores, first in the United Kingdom, then around the world. By 2007, with publication of the final volume, the seven-book “Harry Potter” series was a global juggernaut. Along with attendant movies, merchandise and theme-park attractions, the series transformed its initially unknown author, J.K. Rowling, into an iconic billionaire — and the children’s book industry into a publishing force majeure.
How did Rowling manage to write novels that connected with so many young and adult readers? And could this magic happen again?
How Reality TV Inspires My Writing
huffingtonpost.com – Wednesday November 30, 2016
Last year, I officially became a cord cutter and canceled my cable subscription. I had enough of spending $100/month wasting time watching mindless television. At first, it was great. I started reading more, going out more and finding new hobbies, but soon enough, I was craving the entertainment of television again.
When I went home to visit my parents, I gorged on Bravo and E! reality TV shows. I could watch an entire season of ‘Real Housewives’ without getting bored for a second; at the end, I actually felt let down that I had to wait months for the next season to come out. And then, I felt guilty for loving this ‘trashy television’ that most of my friends and family - and most of society - considers ‘garbage.’ I realized, though, that it doesn’t only provide entertainment; it also teaches me aspects of storytelling that I try to incorporate into my own writing.
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