This week the publishing blogosphere was soul searching as
the news filtered through that Huffington Post was proud to not pay its
writers. When the dust settled over the initial outrage, some great posts about
the problem of free and paying the writer emerged.
Porter pulled together some of the articles and great discussions. Chuck wrote a piece that was full speed ahead, man the torpedoes.
Jami Gold’s post, last week, was prescient about knowing why you are writing for free.
This week Joanne Harris dropped out of attending a literary festival over the restrictive nature of the contract. Festival appearance
contracts are becoming very odd. With Phillip Pulman making a case to pay the
writers for appearances of dubious value to the writer, some literary festivals
have found another way to exact a pound of flesh. Restricting an authors public
movements seems to be going a step too far though.
Writer Beware has been seeing some weird publishing contracts lately with termination clauses popping up with fine print saying the
writer will have to pay costs... even if the writer didn’t terminate the
agreement. Keep an eye on new contract language.
Ellen Oh wrote a heartfelt plea to white writers over how they write coloured characters. At first many writers thought she was saying
white writers shouldn’t write these characters, but Ellen was saying something
different. Be authentic in your writing. It is a great post to mull over.
Today Simon and Schuster launched a new imprint...
specifically aimed at Muslim children’s books. This is a great addition to
their imprint list and a great statement to make to the publishing world.
In the Craft Section,
Scenes as capsules of time- C S Lakin- Bookmark
Creating Author business plans- Janice Hardy
2 great posts from Becca Puglisi- Pacing- and Writing memorable characters- Bookmark both
Hack your readers brains by using senses- K M Weiland-
Bookmark
How to write a fight scene- Christine Frazier- Bookmark
In the Marketing Section,
How authors can use Pinterst- Jane Friedman
10 clever ways to grow your email list- The Book
Designer-Bookmark
To Finish,
If you are on Twitter and you are searching for some
interesting writer accounts to follow then you can’t go far wrong taking a look
at this nifty list that the Expert Editor has put together. A little something
for everyone here.
Maureen
@craicer
