The secrets behind the practice of good writing: Respect the tools of your trade
joannerichards.bookslive.co.za – Thursday May 26, 2016
Imagine you were an artist. Would you sketch the broad outline, and then step back and expect someone else to execute the shading? Probably not.
The same is true of writing. While the big idea is really, really important – the execution is critical.
Harry Potter and the Minotaur’s Rage: how fanfiction got me into writing
newstatesman.com – Wednesday May 25, 2016
My fanfiction was almost uniformly awful, like most of the things I did or liked when I was becoming myself.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday May 25, 2016
Publishes: Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry
Areas include: Culture
Markets: Children's
Publishes picture books, multicultural books, poetry, picture books and information books. Submit by email. See website for full guidelines.
Big Publishing is Not as Big Anymore
flavorwire.com – Monday May 23, 2016
Books by self-publishers and small presses are eating the Big Four's market share.
According to Publisher’s Weekly, a report by the Association of American Publishers’ shows that overall publishing industry sales fell by 2.6% last year when compared to figures from 2014. Now that we have a clearer picture of the industry’s struggles in 2015, we can tell that sales declined in five of the seven major markets. The only industry segments to show improvement, in fact, were adult books and books from religious presses, which increased sales by 2.2% and 1.2% respectively. Overall industry revenue fell from $15.82 billion in 2014 to $15.41 billion in 2015.
Writing a book with your dad is hard. It's harder if your dad is Thomas Keneally
theguardian.com – Monday May 23, 2016
There’s a thick and slightly battered volume on my bookshelf, with a line drawing of a man in a deerstalker hat. The book, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, has an inscription on the cover page. It reads: “To Meg, who has made and will make great fantasies of her own. Love, your father.” The date he has written is that of my 12th birthday.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Monday May 23, 2016
Publishes: Essays; Fiction; Interviews; Nonfiction; Poetry
Areas include: Autobiography; Short Stories
Markets: Adult
Preferred styles: Literary
Send up to five poems, creative nonfiction up to 6,000 words, interviews up to five double-spaced pages, or fiction up to 6,000 words, by post or via online submission system. See website for full details and to submit.
The new digital model that treats books like magazines
thebookseller.com – Saturday May 21, 2016
The digital revolution has been something of an asteroid for the whole publishing industry, but it has presented particularly gnarly challenges to libraries, colleges and schools.
How to transfer collections from the stacks to the screen? How does digital lending work, both practically and financially? Which texts would publishers be willing to digitise, and which would languish in analogue ignominy on the shelves?
What's Next for Hybrid Publishing
publishersweekly.com – Saturday May 21, 2016
In 2012, I cofounded She Writes Press with a clear vision for what our press would be, but without a clear definition. We were creating something that combined self-publishing and traditional publishing, curating the books, and placing a strong value on editing and design, but without author platforms or a particular sales threshold driving our publishing decisions. Because our model is author subsidized, we were decidedly not traditional publishing, but we were not self-publishing either.
Shall I Compare Thee to a Circuit Board? A.I. Bad at Writing Sonnets
nbcnews.com – Friday May 20, 2016
That a rose by any other name would smell as sweet ... just does not compute.
Turns out computers are pretty good at stocking shelves and operating cars, but are not so great at writing poetry.
What makes bad writing bad?
theguardian.com – Friday May 20, 2016
Bad writing is mainly boring writing. It can be boring because it is too confused or too logical, or boring because it is hysterical or lethargic, or boring because nothing really happens. If I give you a 400 page manuscript of an unpublished novel – something that I consider to be badly written – you may read it to the end, but you will suffer as you do.
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