Varuna launches publisher and agent program
booksandpublishing.com.au – Tuesday November 9, 2021
Varuna, the National Writers’ House has launched a program to connect Australian writers with the publishing industry.
Pitch Me! provides the opportunity for writers ‘to cut through the complex business of literary representation and to have their work assessed by agents and publishers’.
‘Finding a way into the industry and creating those opportunities to have your work reviewed for publication can be hard, and an obstacle for many talented writers,’ said Varuna creative director Amy Sambrooke. ‘The intention of Pitch Me! is to create opportunities for writers who have already been selected for a highly competitive Varuna Fellowship, who have completed a draft manuscript, and who are now looking for editorial feedback and connections in the publishing industry.’
Meet SoCal’s Newest Indie Publishers
pasadenanow.com – Sunday November 7, 2021
On October 15, 2021, I released my second book with local indie publishing house, GoldScriptCo. On that Friday, GoldScriptCo threw me a book release party at Mantra Coffee Company and B&B in Azusa (the very same spot of my first book launch nearly two years ago when Black Was Not A Label made its way into the world) for my newest baby: Count It All Loss, a chapbook of poetry. Serendipitous? Yes. Honestly, in more ways than one.
You see, I had no plans to publish a book this year. I didn’t have a manuscript and between work and pandemic fatigue, I haven’t been doing as much creative writing as I’d like. Despite this, GoldScriptCo and I collided in such an uncanny way that I’ve come to identify it as nothing less than divine. I became friends with one of GoldScriptCo’s founders, Alexa Johansen, through one of my students at the start of this year. Alexa and I talked poetry and writing and I soon learned she was working on a chapbook. We had scattered communication over the next few months and I didn’t get to really meet her until June when she was releasing said chapbook, a lovely collection of poetry titled Dear Girl.
Writing competition: Win professional coaching and be published in The Herald
heraldscotland.com – Sunday November 7, 2021
IS the pen mightier than the sword? Without a doubt. More people have attached themselves to Sir Walter Scott, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Burns, Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton and Charles Dickens than ever embraced Attila the Hun! The sword might threaten into submission but the pen leads us willingly into all sorts of worlds and adventures for sheer pleasure.
Mighty Pens must be even mightier then – but never more so than when partnering The Herald in a great new writing competition. So, are you looking for something to do as the winter draws in? Well, the last writing competition jointly presented by The Herald and Mighty Pens was so successful that we could not resist creating another chance for readers to become writers.
Sebes & Bisseling Literary Agency opens first UK branch
thebookseller.com – Thursday November 4, 2021
The Sebes & Bisseling Literary Agency will open a London branch in 2022, marking its first UK presence.
The new outlet, which follows branches in Amsterdam and Stockholm, will open on 1st January 2022 in response to the agency receiving a higher volume of fiction written in English.
Agency founder Paul Sebes said: "After a branch in Amsterdam and a second in Stockholm, this is a logical step. Both the Dutch and Scandinavian branches are doing very well, and we have been getting so many manuscripts originally written in English – not just from English-language countries but also from other parts of the world – that starting a London branch made sense.
Harper UK to Buy Pavilion Books
lunch.publishersmarketplace.com – Saturday October 30, 2021
Harper Collins UK will acquire Pavilion Books, including six of its imprints: Collins & Brown, Pavilion, Portico, Robson, National Trust and Pavilion Children’s. Pavilion owner and publisher Polly Powell will keep two imprints, Batsford and Pitkin, and operate under the name BT Batsford. (That’s the previous name, under which Batsford operated until going into receivership […]
AI Comes to Audiobooks
publishersweekly.com – Saturday October 30, 2021
Could this be magic? Over the past decade, audiobook sales, driven by digital audio, have exploded. Sales in 2020 exceeded $1.3 billion, up 12% over 2019. The percentage of Americans 18 and older who have listened to an audiobook is now 46%, up from 44% in 2019. One thing hasn’t changed, however: the arduous production process for audiobooks.
But what if it could be done in a fraction of the time, weeks instead of months? And what if it could be done for a fraction of the cost, hundreds of dollars instead of thousands?
Introducing AI-enabled automated audiobook creation.
GoodNovel Academy launched to provide free courses to writers who wish to create popular webnovels
wistv.com – Monday October 25, 2021
GoodNovel, a leading online literature platform providing global users with great reading and writing experiences, has launched GoodNovel Academy as an online community for the cultivation, creation and incubation of original authors by the platform. GoodNovel Academy offers free writing courses for authors at all levels, to provide the keys to writing bestselling webnovels.
GoodNovel Academy's goal is to help aspiring writers to create a popular webnovel from scratch. The initial launch consists of five free online sections, with more to follow. The sections start with the construction of a single sentence, and then guide writers through the processes of brainstorming, creating a premise, characterization, world-building and plot summary, all the necessary tools to craft a thrilling, intricate and appealing story. To suit the preferences of different writers on the platform, audio and video versions of the courses are also available.
The courses at Academy are designed by professional and experienced frontline GoodNovel editors, guaranteeing pragmatic methodologies as the foundation of a productive writing career, as well as continuous improvements regarding crafts and techniques.
How Amazon Changed Fiction As We Know It
esquire.com – Tuesday October 19, 2021
During my interview with literary historian Mark McGurl, I glanced out the window to see an Amazon truck rumbling down my block. It was a fitting metaphor for our conversation about Everything and Less, McGurl’s provocative new literary history about how Amazon has reorganized the universe of fiction. “Amazon has insinuated itself into every dimension of the collective experience of literature in the United States,” McGurl writes. “Increasingly, it is the new platform of contemporary literary life.”
PFD to launch Queer Fiction Prize
thebookseller.com – Thursday October 7, 2021
Literary agency Peters Fraser + Dunlop is launching the PFD Queer Fiction Prize, with author Okechukwu Nzelu among the judges for the inaugural award.
The prize will have three separate categories for Adult, YA and Children’s Fiction.Three winners will receive representation at PFD and guidance for completing their novel. The recipients of the prize will be announced in June 2022.
Azumah Nelson to open National Creative Writing Day
thebookseller.com – Monday October 4, 2021
Novelist Caleb Azumah Nelson is to open the seventh iteration of the National Creative Writing Industry Day, as the event returns to a live physical event this year.
The author of Open Water (Viking) will deliver a keynote speech to aspiring writers at Manchester Metropolitan University at a conference hosted in partnership with Comma Press. The event will also include a panel discussion on "The Paths of Northern Writers" with editor of award-nominated Aurelia Magazine Kya Buller, Desiree Reynolds and 2021 BBC National Short Story Award shortlistee Richard Smyth.
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