Sorry for the delay in posting this week. However there are
some chewy big ideas for you to chow down on.
The phenomenal success of the movie The Fault In Our Stars
(adapted from #1 bestselling Y A novel) in its opening weekend seems to have
spurred the critics to write new opinion pieces about Young Adult literature
and the poor sad fools who read it and write it. The Slate article caused much
rolling of eyes within the children’s writing community and a very funny rebuttal from YA author Kathleen Hale.
While this was being shared around...the notion that
‘worthy’ YA was written by men also got an airing and a well articulated smackdown. Read the articles (P.S.A. make sure you aren’t drinking in front of the
keyboard.)
Three YA writers talk about how demeaning it is to have your book consistently compared to Twilight because A) They are female. B) They
write YA and C) They write for girls.
Why don’t the Male writers get the abuse and the
comparisons...Good points backed up with facts.
Publishers Weekly has a great article on How Reality Became The Hot New Thing In YA...and I may just have to check out Scotts latest book
judging by the last comment in this article.
The Amazon/ Hachette discussion goes on and on. Is Amazon really the devil? A measured (lets look at this problem) opinion piece also
from Publishers Weekly.
Jane Friedman has been looking at the future of magazines...
Do they have a print future? What was the last magazine you bought and why? I
confess that all the articles I’m interested in I read online. So Jane may have
some very good advice for magazine publishers.
Every writer wants to get a contract...but recently one
writer got a contract that had her lawyer gasping in disbelief. Please Read This!
(sadly I have heard of this before...)
While on that subject Agent Kristin Nelson is also cautioning about contracts... with anyone!
Agent Janet Reid answers some very interesting questions from a reader on whether you need an
agent...and No you don’t... Great advice
tho.
Agents are always interesting to follow on Twitter. Every
now and again Agents do a #tenqueries which is where they write a twitter
comment for the next 10 Manuscripts they pick up out of the slush pile. These
can be very insightful for what not to do. Just put #tenqueries in the search
box. Also check out Agent advice
on The Worst Ways To Begin Your Novel.
Passive Guy looks at Amazon and PayPal buy buttons and the
changes happening in payments, which outfit is best for you.
How the Indie Authors fared at BEA last week…A good overview of the impact and importance of Indie Authors at the biggest trade book fair.
(Choice of Desserts)
In the Craft Section,
5 reasons my cat should be the writer instead- Victoria
Mixon.
In the Marketing Section,
One page business plans. And Do you really need one – Joel
Friedlander
Joanna Penn on Translation and Self publishing in Germany.
Very comprehensive How To post. Also If you missed her amazing post on knowing your rights....here it is again!
5 mistakes you will make on your way to publishing success-
excellent article!
(After Dinner Mint)
To Finish,
One Non Fiction writer had an idea that wouldn’t fit into
the conventional publishing box. They carefully researched what they could
do...with such a specialised book and then hit on an interesting
idea...serialise it and aim it at different communities. This is a fascinating
journey of a publishing success story.
maureen
