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Amazon launches fan
fiction platform
 Amazon
has launched a new publishing model for authors inspired to
write fan fiction. The new model allows any writer to publish authorized stories inspired by popular Worlds and make them available for readers to purchase in the Kindle Store, and earn up to a 35% royalty while doing so. Kindle Worlds stories will typically be priced between $0.99 and $3.99 and will be exclusive to Kindle. To learn more and get started writing, visit
kindleworlds.amazon.com.
Here’s what authors and licensors are saying about Kindle Worlds:
-
“It’s actually a gift to be able to take someone else’s creation and see whether you can take it in a new direction. Watch every show; read every comic book.
Honour the canon and honour the fans. There is a reason these stories have become so popular. And don’t feel restricted by the universe that has already been created. It reminds me a bit of writing a haiku or a sonnet. There are rules that must be followed, but within those rules, you can go anywhere. Your imagination is the only limit.”
~ Carolyn Nash, writer in Archer & Armstrong
- “I believe Kindle Worlds has the potential to increase writership in much the same way the introduction of the Kindle expanded readership. I am thrilled for the Silo Saga to be a part of this program. It’s a natural fit because for the past year, talented authors have been exploring Silos of their own creation, and I look forward to reading more and to crafting some Worlds stories of my own.”
~ Hugh Howey, World Licensor for the Silo Saga
- “I was intrigued by the opportunity to create something that absolutely had to fall inside a canon that someone else came up with. In one way, it was very freeing to do so. Because the universe itself exists, with all the richness of an already established background and history, I could get right into the meat of the story without having to explain everything to the readers. I did try to make it understandable and enjoyable to a newcomer to the world, however. But there’s a lot I worked to add that will hopefully tickle the fancy of the fans.”
~ L.J. McDonald, writer in The Vampire Diaries
- “It was great fun to play
"What if?" and come up with scenarios that had ties to things that have happened on Vampire Diaries but which took things in a different direction or introduced new characters that could fit into the world of Mystic Falls. There’s probably not a writer fangirl alive who hasn’t
fantasised about being able to write at least one episode of her
favourite show, and I’m no different. While these stories aren’t show episodes, it’s still pretty darn cool to be able to write them with the idea of fellow fans reading them.”
~ Trish Milburn, writer in The Vampire Diaries
The Kindle Worlds Store is now open with over 50 commissioned stories including:
- “Pretty Little Liars: Stained” by Barbra Annino
- “The Vampire Diaries: The Arrival” by Lauren Barnholdt & Aaron Gorvine
- “Shadowman: Salvation Sally” by Tom King
- “The Foreworld Saga: The Qian” by Aric Davis
- “X-O Manowar: Noughts and Crosses” by Stuart Moore
Amazon are calling for storytellers to join Kindle Worlds. Here’s how the self-service submission platform works:
- Choose Your World: Choose a World to write in and read the content guidelines.
- Sign Up and Submit: Sign in (or sign up) with your Amazon account and submit your work using our self-service submission platform.
- Review and Publish: Amazon Publishing will review your submission for compliance with the stated guidelines and we’ll publish your work once approved. Each sale of the Work will result in a royalty to the author.
- Promote and Track Your Work: Post publication, sign into Author Central to track progress on your work.
“Today, we launch the Kindle Worlds Store and the platform that will enable any writer to benefit from writing in one of the Worlds we’ve licensed,” said Philip Patrick, Director, Business Development and Publisher of Kindle Worlds. “We look forward to hearing feedback from readers and writers, and hope to learn and improve as time goes on.”
Amazon Publishing has already secured licenses from:
- Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment division for its New York Times best-selling book series
Gossip Girl, by Cecily von Ziegesar; Pretty Little
Liars, by Sara Shepard; and The Vampire Diaries, by
L.J. Smith
- Valiant Entertainment for
Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, Archer &
Armstrong, Harbinger and Shadowman
- Best-selling authors Hugh Howey for
Silo Saga, Barry Eisler for his John Rain novels, Blake Crouch for his
Wayward Pines Series, and the Foreworld Saga by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo and more
Amazon Publishing is engaged with additional rights holders from different areas of entertainment –
books, games, TV, movies and music – and looks forward to announcing future deals soon. To get started writing works in licensed properties and to view the submission guidelines and instructions, visit the Self-Service Submission Platform at
kindleworlds.amazon.com. For updates on licensed properties and to buy Kindle Worlds works, visit
www.amazon.com/kindleworlds. For regular updates on Kindle Worlds, follow
@KindleWorlds on
Twitter.
Editor's
pick: New publisher and magazine listings in June
The Editor's
pick of new literary
agent, publisher
and magazine
listings added to the firstwriter.com
databases in June:
New Magazine Listing Publishes:
Articles; Features; Fiction; Interviews; Nonfiction;
Areas include: Beauty and Fashion; Entertainment;
Finance; Gardening; Health; How-to; Humour; Lifestyle;
Medicine; Short Stories; Technology; Travel;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Light Publishes
articles, features, and new fiction with a light, humorous
touch. Send complete ms with SASE for return or response.
See website for full details. https://www.firstwriter.com/magazines/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1813
New Publisher Listing
Publishes:
Fiction; Nonfiction;
Areas include: Religious;
Markets: Adult
Publishes books which
address Jewish evangelism; the Jewish roots of
Christianity; Messianic Judaism; Israel; the Jewish
People. Publishes mainly nonfiction, but some fiction. See
website for full submission guidelines.
https://www.firstwriter.com/publishers/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1819
New Literary Agency Listing
Handles:
Fiction; Nonfiction; Scripts;
Areas: Autobiography; Crime; Film; Mystery;
Suspense; Thrillers; TV; Women's Interests;
Markets: Adult; Children's; Youth;
Treatments: Literary
Send query by email only,
with synopsis and first three chapters as Word or PDF
attachments. See website for full submission guidelines.
Film and TV scripts for established clients only.
https://www.firstwriter.com/Agents/agents_details.cgi?RecordNumber=1102
New Publisher Listing
Publishes:
Fiction;
Areas include: Adventure; Fantasy; Historical;
Mystery;
Markets: Children's; Youth
This publisher is committed
to expanding their picture book, chapter book, and
middle-grade fiction lists. Particularly interested in
engaging characters and American subjects. Send query by
email with complete ms (picture books) or synopsis and two
sample chapters in the body of the email. No attachments
or links to websites.
https://www.firstwriter.com/publishers/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1824
New Magazine Listing
Publishes:
Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry;
Areas include: Arts; Culture; Short Stories;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Newfoundland and
Labrador-based journal of arts and culture. Publishes
fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and artwork. Submit to
appropriate email address listed on website.
https://www.firstwriter.com/magazines/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1821
New Publisher Listing
Publishes:
Fiction; Nonfiction;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Experimental; Literary; Niche
Publishes subversive
fiction and nonfiction that challenges the consensus
thinking. Also publishes graphic novels. Send query by
email or by post - see website for full submission
guidelines.
https://www.firstwriter.com/publishers/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1827
New Publisher Listing Publishes:
Fiction;
Areas include: Music;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Niche Publishes
fiction by or about musicians or music. Publishes very few
titles a year. Send query by email or send complete ms by
post with SASE for reply only. https://www.firstwriter.com/publishers/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1828
New Publisher Listing Publishes:
Fiction;
Areas include: Adventure; Fantasy; Historical;
Humour; Mystery; Religious; Romance; Sci-Fi; Short
Stories; Spiritual; Sport; Westerns; Women's Interests;
Markets: Adult; Children's; Youth;
Preferred styles: Contemporary; Literary;
Mainstream Open to
all genres of fiction. No nonfiction or poetry. Send query
by email, with marketing plan and first three chapters
pasted into the body of the email. No attachments. See
website for full guidelines. https://www.firstwriter.com/publishers/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1830
New Magazine Listing Publishes:
Fiction;
Areas include: Horror; Short Stories;
Markets: Adult Horror
magazine focusing on monsters. Send query in first
instance. https://www.firstwriter.com/magazines/details.cgi?RecordNumber=1827
Articles from around the web this month
Reading and Writing  To
be a writer, you also have to be a reader. All my life,
since I first read Go Dog Go, I have been a reader. Over
the years, I moved on to Little House on the Prairie then
Fitzgerald and Hemingway. Once a reader, always a reader.
During my twenties, I became a voracious reader. I lived
in Boston, didn't own a car and took the subway to work.
This was the period when I discovered John Irving, Ann
Beattie, Louise Erdrich, Isabel Allende. The list goes on
and on. I was once reprimanded by my boss for stepping off
the elevator into the office, while simultaneously reading
Lonesome Dove. Apparently, the work day began when those
elevator doors slid open. For the next eight hours, I was
not a reader, I was a number crunching accounting clerk.
It wasn't until recently
that I became a writer...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheila-blanchette/reading-and-writing_b_3378850.html?utm_hp_ref=books&ir=Books
...
Writing and Fear
 It’s
9 p.m. on a Wednesday night, and I’ve just gotten my
three boys to bed. I sit down at my desk with a cup of tea
and open the draft of my new novel. There’s a hazy moon
in the sky and the wind is howling outside my office
window. I can hear the branches of the old maple tree
creaking in the wind, thrashing against the house — the
perfect dark and stormy night.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/writing-and-fear/?_r=0
Publishers circle the next big thing after Fifty Shades of Grey
 London:
A British writer whose debut novel about mothers at the
school gate sparked a seven-way bidding war between
publishers has attributed the overnight success of her
book to striking a chord with women used to negotiating
the politics of female groups.
http://www.firstpost.com/living/publishers-circle-the-next-big-thing-after-fifty-shades-of-grey-866249.html
Secret 'White Glove' deals between Amazon and the Literary Agents
It is my belief that almost
all the innovations that Amazon has brought-to/forced-on
the publishing and bookselling industries over the last
couple of decades have eventually worked to the advantage
of authors and readers.
I am quite sure if I were a
publisher or a bookseller I would feel very differently
about the rise of Amazon to virtual world dominance, but
I'm not. As both an author and a reader I love the many
ways in which they have enriched my life.
There have been rumblings
recently of "mysterious and secret" deals being
done between Amazon and some of the biggest and brightest
literary agents...
http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/47789
HarperCollins Christian Publishing Forms New Gift Division
HarperCollins Christian
Publishing has announced the formation of Zondervan Gift
Books. The company stated, “This newly created team
indicates Zondervan’s intention to place a strong focus
on inspirational gift books, devotionals, and journals.”
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/religion/article/57815-harpercollins-christian-publishing-forms-new-gift-division.html
ICM Partners forms alliance with Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents
 ICM
Partners has struck an alliance with New York-based
Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents, in a deal designed to
strengthen the talent agency's presence in the publishing
world.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-icm-partners-forms-alliance-with-gelfman-schneider-literary-agents-20130618,0,841537.story
BOOM! Goes Archaia - Publishers Merge Into Indie Comics Supergroup
 BOOM!
Studios and Archaia Comics are now one company, according
to a report by Deadline.
BOOM! comes out as the owner, and will continue to run
Archaia as an imprint with its own branding. Archaia
President and COO Jack Cummins will remain in his roles
within the imprinte, a press release revealed.
http://www.newsarama.com/18177-boom-goes-archaia-publishers-merge-into-indie-comics-supergroup.html
Why Big Publishers Think Genre Fiction Like Sci-Fi Is the Future of E-Books
 One of the biggest success stories in U.S. publishing in recent years has been the continued growth of digital book publishing. Last year, total revenue for e-book sales in the United States reached $3.04 billion, a 44.2% increase on 2011′s numbers and a figure all the more impressive when you realize that growth is additive to the print publishing industry. Even more surprising, publishers have focused much of their attention on genres like sci-fi, fantasy, mystery and romance fiction – markets that have traditionally lagged behind “literary fiction” in terms of sales.
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/06/digital-publishing-genre-fiction/
Former Paramount “Book Whisperer” Patricia Burke Joins Gotham Lit Agency Lippincott Massie McQuilkin
 Patricia Burke, long a champion of book-to-film adaptations as an executive at Columbia Pictures, Fox, Jaffe/Lansing and when she headed the Gotham office of Paramount Pictures, has joined the New York-based literary agency Lippincott Massie McQuilkin. Burke takes the post of Director of Dramatic Rights. She had most recently been with Inkwell Management.
http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/former-paramount-book-whisperer-patricia-burke-joins-gotham-lit-agency-lippincott-massie-mcquilkin/
Publishing consolidation continues: Hachette buys Hyperion
 The publishing industry got a little smaller Friday when Hachette announced its plans to buy Hyperion, the adult imprint owned by the Walt Disney Co. Disney, under Disney Publishing Worldwide, will retain its children's books.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-hachette-hyperion-20130628,0,5803976.story
Endless
story ideas are everywhere
By Marcella Simmons
A beautiful Spring morning awaits; you walk outside and sit on the bench in the garden,
listening to the birds chirping from every tree. What are they chirping about? you sigh as they chipper-chatter away. Suddenly a beautiful red
breasted robin lands on a tree limb close by and you watch it as it is watching an insect on a leaf – suddenly the little bird has snatched the bug
in its beak and up and away it goes. Going to feed your babies? you ask as it flies away.
Birds are magnificent creatures. Everyday, you sit in this same garden and you listen to the birds as they tend to their
young in nests hid in the trees in your garden. Have you ever considered bird watching as a hobby? Are you attracted to them in any way? How much do you know about the different species of birds? What
kind live in your garden? Where do they go when it rains, sleets or snows? How do they build their nests and what are they made of? Endless questions such as these can lead to endless story ideas waiting to be cultivated by you, the writer.
You visit this garden every morning, weather permitting. Orson Scott Card couldn't have said it better than this:
"Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see
any." A walk in the garden or the woods or even in the yard for a few minutes each day is a storehouse for stories and articles of all kinds –
even poetry.
Capturing the sounds and smells of a Spring morning is a juicy recipe for a nonfiction article on gardening or a setting for a lovely spring morning for your heroine in your fiction novel or short story.
Take a walk today – take a notebook and pen with you and sit and listen. Write down the things you hear, what you see, smell, and how the
brisk cool spring morning leaves little prickles of chill bumps up and down your arms and legs. Remember –
you are the only one in this garden and it's up to you to show your
readers all these things – otherwise, your words are meaningless. Your words have to convey to the reader that you are there, or have been there –
and know what you see, smell and feel.
Readers can see right through you –
if you make something up that is not believable or real, then that's the moment they stop reading.
If you're in the kitchen, peel an orange –
can you smell the freshness as it enters your mouth? How does it feel as you sink your teeth into the juicy
centre of each slice? Peeling an orange and tasting it isn't much for generating ideas but suppose you wanted to make your own orange juice from real oranges? Can you tell how you would do that? And why?
What is the difference in store bought and freshly squeezed?
As you "walk past those thousand story ideas every
day", reach out and take five or six and turn them into an article, a story or even a poem. The world you live in is your
storehouse of writing ideas. Make use of it...
About the Author
Marcella has been writing professionally since 1988 – with over 700 published
credits in over 300 small press publications nationwide, including several local
newspapers, she continues writing for several publications and websites such as
this one. In 2005, her first book of poetry entitled Bittersweet Morsels,
was published.
Marcella is working on several romantic suspense book projects at this time.
"Writing is a way of life for me. I couldn't imagine 'not' writing. One of
my many passions is writing for children – some of my stories appeared in
Primary Treasure, Christian Educator, The Vision and many others," Marcella
said. "In 1991, I graduated from THE INSTITUTE OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE:
Writing for Children and Teens; WRITER'S DIGEST SCHOOL: Nonfiction Writing;
and ICS School of Short Story/Journalism," she continued. "I enjoy writing
and teaching others how to write".
Marcella leads the
Toledo Bend American Christian Writers group in
Logansport.
She also publishes a magazine for writers called
The Writer's Monthly Review.
Marcella is a member of the American Christian Writers ACW,
Shreveport
Writer's Group
and the Attoyac Writers’ Guild in Center, Texas.
Resources for
writers at firstwriter.com
Go to firstwriter.com
for the following invaluable resources for writers:
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