Writers' Newsletter
Issue #259
October 2024
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News |
Some of this month's news for writers from around the web.
Cyber Edge Writing Award Welcomes Submissions for 2025 Contest
afcea.org – Saturday October 19, 2024
AFCEA International’s The Cyber Edge Writing Award contest is now open for submissions. Each year, SIGNAL Media invites thought leaders from industry, academia, government and military backgrounds to address a theme within the cyber domain and share their knowledge with AFCEA’s audience.
The theme for the 2025 contest is Cyber Defense for Critical Infrastructure. Since news broke that Volt Typhoon, a criminal hacker group backed by the Chinese Communist Party, has been infiltrating U.S. critical infrastructure networks for the past five years, experts have said that an even larger threat to cybersecurity could be on the horizon. SIGNAL Media is challenging thought leaders to consider this threat and provide convincing solutions.
The panel of industry experts who review the submissions are looking for articles that not only explain the extent of the threat but offer unique suggestions for strengthening critical infrastructure defense and plans for implementation. Whether the articles touch on emerging technologies, training, tactics, techniques, procedures, policies or partnerships, authors should also recognize challenges to implementing solutions and recommendations for overcoming those obstacles.
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So hot right now: literary agents going out on their own
thebookseller.com – Thursday October 17, 2024
The sizzling trend across the British Isles for this autumn/winter? No, it’s not wide shoulders or the return of boho—though we are absolutely here for both of those—it is agents from established larger firms going out on their own.
The exhaustive list of new companies springing up includes (but is not limited to) United Agents duo Seren Adams and Kat Aitken starting up Lexington Literary (see their Frankfurt profile); ex-Darley Anderson colleagues Tanera Simons and Laura Heathfield opening Greenstone Literary; The Marsh Agency joint m.d. Jemma McDonagh kickstarting Jemma McDonagh Associates; Kemi Ogunsanwo launching Seventh Agency after leaving The Good Literary Agency; three-time British Book Awards Literary Agent of the Year shortlistee Amanda Harris announcing she would depart YMU at the beginning of 2025 to start an as-yet-unnamed new company; and Marilia Savvides stepping out from the 42 M&P umbrella to found The Plot Agency.
The trend is so red-hot, other publishing professionals have jumped on board: former HarperCollins Ireland boss Conor Nagle set up The Nagle Agency at the beginning of the year, while just two weeks ago ex-David Fickling and Usborne publicist Carolyn May McGlone launched her Oxfordshire-based May Literary Agency.
Writers' Handbook 2025 - Out Now!
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'New romance,' a growing literary genre and gold mine for publishers
lemonde.fr – Sunday October 13, 2024
The literary niche, targetting an almost exclusively female audience, saw its sales double last year. Publishers are trying to carve out their slice of the pie.
Peppered with erotic scenes, these romantic tales where an innocent girl falls for a man who is often crazy and sometimes violent but where everything ends well, have the primary advantage of boosting French publishing figures. According to the latest GFK NielsenIQ study, this literary genre, known as "new adult romance", accounted for 1.8% of books sold in 2023, or 6 million copies – and generated €75 million in revenue.
After a decline between 2015 and 2020, the segment is now thriving, having more than doubled compared to 2022. The selection is expanding and appealing to its audience – both adult women and teenage girls. One striking aspect of the study is that the market is heavily concentrated on the top 100 bestselling titles.
So much so that five authors – French novelists C.S. Quill, Emma Green (a pseudonym for a writing duo), Morgane Moncomble, Algerian writer Sarah Rivens and US author Colleen Hoover – who all have huge social media fan bases – can flaunt sales of between 200,000 and over a million copies of each of their books. The film It Ends With Us, adapted from Hoover's book of the same name and released in cinemas on August 14, should further boost sales of this bestseller.
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Listings |
A selection of the new listings added to firstwriter.com this month.
New Literary Agency Listing: DunnFogg
firstwriter.com – Wednesday October 16, 2024
A high-profile independent literary agency that specialises in quality and commercial non-fiction and fiction. Set up in 2021, the agency represents numerous award-winning, bestselling and renowned writers and artists.
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New Literary Agent Listing: Isabel Lineberry
firstwriter.com – Friday October 4, 2024
I represent YA and New Adult and am particularly interested in Contemporary Romance, Romantasy and Fantasy. I am always attracted to the character and voice first, so give me romantic tension that has me giggling, a villain who is as charming as they are evil or a group of characters who have me watching their conversations as if it’s a tennis match.
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New Magazine Listing: Riposte
firstwriter.com – Tuesday September 24, 2024
We profile bold and fascinating women who challenge power structures and stereotypes. Our interviews are honest rather than being full of media-trained responses as the women we feature candidly discuss their successes and failures, their work, their passions and perspectives. Essays and features cover a broad range of issues including art, design, music, business, innovation, politics, social justice and environmental issues.
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| Click here for more of this month's new listings > |
Articles |
Some of this month's articles for writers from around the web.
4 Best-Selling Authors Share Their Best Advice for Finally Writing and Selling That Book Swimming Inside Your Head
entrepreneur.com – Saturday October 19, 2024
The hosts of the "Friends & Fiction" web series share hard-earned lessons they've learned living the writer's life.
"The Titanic was sinking so we jumped in the lifeboat and paddled like hell."
That's how New York Times bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews describes the origin of Friends & Fiction, the weekly web series she co-hosts with her best-selling writer pals Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry. Every Wednesday night at 7 pm ET, they chat with authors like Jodi Picoult, Kwame Alexander, and Elin Hilderbrand about their latest works, their tips for writers, and the books they've read that shaped their careers.
In 2020, the four friends had their upcoming book tours abruptly canceled due to the pandemic. They hopped on a Zoom happy hour to commiserate over glasses of rosé and began strategizing best how to reach their readers and support independent bookstores while everyone was stuck at home. As the wine flowed, so did the ideas, eventually manifesting in their wildly popular Friends & Fiction YouTube show and podcast, as well as a Facebook community that has more than 240,000 members.
Since its inception, which featured former host Mary Alice Monroe, the show has branched out with live appearances, an online book club, a thriving merch store, and newsletters in the F&F mix. "We thought we were doing this for ourselves and for bookstores, but the community was sitting there waiting," says Patti Callahan Henry. "I'd like to say we had a plan for all of this, but we basically built a rocket ship on the way to the moon."
Entrepreneur caught up with the four show founders to get their best tips for writers and creators hoping to make an impact. (Sadly, no rosé was consumed during the conversation.) While they each have their own unique approach to their craft, two words sum up their advice: just start!
The Dangers of AI for Writers and How to Use It Wisely
authorlink.com – Saturday October 19, 2024
If you’re a writer still vexed using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in your work, you are not alone. NPR reports that a recent Authors Guild survey found only 13% of writers admitted using AI for activities like brainstorming character ideas and creating outlines. In reality, anyone using the Internet to perform the simplest tasks is actually dancing with AI–consciously or unconsciously.
Whether you are paying a bill, traveling to a new location, or writing the next bestseller, you are interacting with AI. These special algorithms are embedded in every program and device we use, from simple spell-checkers to graphics generation.
And the technology is not going away.
So the question is, how are we writers going to grapple with this monster?
Writers are actually in a powerful position. We are the very ones who can shape whether technology will help or harm us.
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