Ed Needham: ‘Top editors’ jobs have all vanished’

The founder and editor of literary magazine Strong Words on his appetite for tales of financial chicanery and why he won’t be returning to Jane AustenEd Needham is the editor of Strong Words, a magazine about books that he writes and edits on his own from his flat in Camden Town, a feat that has impressed novelists such as Sebastian Faulks and Elizabeth Day. A former editor of several magazines, including Rolling Stone, he is a champion of books, from graphic novels to literary fiction, biographies to investigative works.When and why did you set up Strong Words?It’s been going for about 18 months. I did it because the world pulled the rug out from beneath the magazine industry when advertising migrated to digital. The chances of getting another editor’s job at the level I was used to had vanished. I don’t know how to do anything else. I can’t operate a crane or crack a safe. So I thought, what can I do? Just as the technology has come along that enables people to make high-quality magazines with tiny teams, that same technology has destroyed the market. But there’s quite a lot of activity in independent publishing and niche markets. I realised that as long as I keep costs down, I don’t need to sell many copies for it to be a viable business. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-10-05 17:00:51 UTC ]

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From Baby Sitters to a Fairy-Tale Kingdom: PW Talks with Katy Farina

After adapting the first two novels in Ann Martin's Baby Sitters Littlle Sister series into graphic novels, cartoonist Katy Farina has just released 'Song of the Court,' her own original graphic novel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Can a Video Game Express Modernist Values?

AS AN EXPRESSIVE MEDIUM, video games have a strange way of reducing central concepts of modernist art and theory to basic operational elements. The technical specifications of “point of view” that have preoccupied novelists since the turn of the 20th century are crudely literalized within game... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-10-31 17:00:02 UTC ]
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Crime novelists dish on writing about cops in a moment of reckoning

Writers Rachel Howzell Hall, Attica Locke and Ivy Pochoda talked with Times reporter James Queally for a 2020 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books event. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-10-24 16:06:42 UTC ]
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Michelle Obama's editor for bestselling 'Becoming' launches publishing firm

Molly Stern announced Thursday that she is starting Zando, an independent publishing company that will team up with influencers and brands to promote books. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-10-22 20:09:23 UTC ]
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7 Fall and Winter Graphic Novel Releases for Kids and Young Adults

Find fresh new graphic novels like Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel by Jason Reynolds and Danica Novgodoroff for yourself or the young reader in your life. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-10-22 10:37:00 UTC ]
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Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’ Editor Starts Her Own Publishing Firm

Molly Stern, the former publisher of Crown, is starting Zando, an independent publishing company with an unusual marketing strategy. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-10-22 09:00:18 UTC ]
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The Magic of Plot and Catharsis: A Conversation with Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith

LET’S DISPENSE WITH the small surprises up front. The latest outing from Smith Henderson, acclaimed author of what others might call literary fiction — his award-winning 2014 debut, Fourth of July Creek — is indeed a thriller. And it’s not a solo endeavor — he’s teamed up with a friend, Jon Marc... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-10-11 12:30:47 UTC ]
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New indie Hajar Press unveils first authors

Hajar Press, a new independent publishing house run by and for people of colour, has revealed its first six authors, whose books will be published next year.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-09 06:43:19 UTC ]
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16 Brilliant Bi and Lesbian Literary Fiction Novels to Keep You Thinking

Bi and lesbian books from the last two decades for fans of literary fiction, from haunting collections to atmospheric historical fiction like Miss Timmins’ School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-10-02 10:38:36 UTC ]
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Whistleblowers and the cacophonous sounds of America

A year ago today, the Washington Post reported details about a whistleblower complaint filed from someone in the US intelligence community, vague word of which had been swirling below the news cycle for days: Trump had made a “troubling” promise to a foreign leader. The Post’s story accelerated... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-09-18 12:26:23 UTC ]
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The Whiting Foundation has announced its 2020 Literary Magazine Prize awardees.

Today, the Whiting Foundation announced the five print and digital winners for its third annual Literary Magazine Prizes. Since launching in 2018, the Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes seek to recognize, reward, and support publications that actively nurture writers who produce extraordinary... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-16 12:00:53 UTC ]
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Five Win 2020 Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes

The 2020 Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes were announced today and were given to 'Conjunctions,' 'Foglifter,' 'Kweli,' 'Nat. Brut,' and 'One Story.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Literary Arts Emergency Fund will award 3.5 million to 282 literary organizations this year.

Exclusive: the Literary Arts Emergency Fund, launched and administered by the Academy of American Poets, the Community of Literary Magazine & Presses, and the National Book Foundation, has announced that it will distribute $3.5 million in emergency funding to 282 nonprofit literary arts... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-15 19:00:39 UTC ]
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Most diverse Booker prize shortlist ever is also almost all American

With no room for Hilary Mantel’s conclusion to her Wolf Hall trilogy, the six finalists also include four debutsHilary Mantel will not win a third Booker prize with the final novel in her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, after American writers made a near clean sweep of this year’s shortlist.With four... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-09-15 12:21:07 UTC ]
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How Yaa Gyasi Found Religion (in Literature)

“There isn’t much literary fiction that deals with evangelicalism. ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain,’ by James Baldwin, was the first book I read that spoke to that part of my life and it moved me so deeply to see faith rendered on the page with such care and brilliance.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-08-20 09:00:04 UTC ]
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Remember when famous writers used to shill for consumer products?

Ah, yes, the good old days: when novelists lent their faces and testimonials to advertisers hoping to sell tires, or a certain kind of beer, or fancy watches. It’s something you don’t see very much anymore, because we writers have become too principled to participate in advertising campaigns.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-19 17:14:06 UTC ]
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With book tours scrapped, authors are finding new ways to connect with their readers

Chris Bohjalian, Mary Kay Andrews and other novelists have turned to Zoom and Facebook Live to find their audience. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Poets and novelists have been writing about life under COVID-19 for more than a century

From 'islands of pain' to the 'peril of exposure,' writers have captured the fear, emptiness and despair that characterize life during the current pandemic, writes a poet and English scholar. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2020-08-17 12:24:39 UTC ]
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Carty-Williams, O'Leary and Winterson shortlisted for Comedy Women in Print Prize

Novelists including Candice Carty-Williams, Beth O'Leary and Jeanette Winterson are in the running for the Comedy Women in Print Prize (CWIP). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-16 13:06:20 UTC ]
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Reclaim Her Name: why we should free Australia's female novelists from their male pseudonyms

The Women's Prize for Fiction has just published 25 literary works by female authors with their real names for the first time. Could we do the same for Miles Franklin and Henry Handel Richardson here? Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2020-08-13 06:43:53 UTC ]
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