After she was dropped by her agent, Alex Aster turned to a books-obsessed corner of TikTok to gauge interest in her YA novel … and now Lightlark is one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of the yearHaving finally published her first novel, Alex Aster was feeling disheartened. The book had tanked during the pandemic and she had been dropped by her literary agent. Then, on 13 March 2021, she decided to take to TikTok, asking her followers if they would: “read a book about a cursed island that only appears once every 100 years to host a game that gives the six rulers of the realm a chance to break their curses.” One of the rulers must die, the short video revealed, “even as love complicates everything” for the heroine, Isla Crown.Aster didn’t expect much, especially when she checked in a few hours later to see that her post had only clocked up about 1,000 views. Maybe the books world was right, she thought. Maybe there wasn’t a market for Lightlark, a young adult story she had been writing and rewriting for years, to no interest from publishers. The next day, however, she woke up to see her video had been viewed more than a million times. A week later, Lightlark had gone to auction and she had a six-figure deal with Amulet Books. Last month, Universal preemptively bought the film rights for, in her words, “more zeros than I’ve seen in my life”. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2022-08-16 13:32:30 UTC ]
Hilary Mantel died last September at age 70, but a memorial service just this week revealed something of use to those who miss her words. The Guardian’s Saturday Paper will be publishing excerpts from an unpublished project mashing together Jane Austen’s works. “She was having the greatest fun... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-21 16:03:28 UTC ]
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Wolf Hall trilogy author remembered at memorial service at Southwark cathedral on ThursdayHilary Mantel, the celebrated author of the Wolf Hall trilogy, was working on a “mashup” of Jane Austen novels when she died suddenly, her literary agent told a packed memorial service at Southwark... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-20 17:46:20 UTC ]
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In the latest “Craftwork” episode, a deep-dive conversation about literary agents with Carly Watters, herself a longtime literary agent and the co-host of the popular writing podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. Carly is “very online” with a keen understanding of the digital... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-03 08:53:09 UTC ]
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The Women’s Prize Trust hopes to make the first award in 2024, after research showed female writers were far less likely than men to be reviewed or win prizes The Women’s prize is to launch a non-fiction award to sit alongside its long-running fiction prize, in response to research that found... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-08 08:00:10 UTC ]
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Sabaa Tahir, author of the YA novel 'All My Rage,' knows for sure that her fateful Zoom call from the Printz committee came on Tuesday, January 24, because the following day she went to Disneyland with her family; the novel, which tells the story of a working-class Pakistani American family in... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A former assistant to Toni Morrison, Ahearn was the steward of Baldwin’s archives and managed the film rights to his books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-23 05:00:00 UTC ]
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If you're looking to inhale a YA novel — or just read large chunks of it — these YA books that take place in a single day are perfect. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-11-23 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Sabaa Tahir received this year's Young People's Literature prize for her YA novel 'All My Rage'; during her tearful acceptance speech, Tahir noted, "I am the first Muslim and Pakistani American woman to win this award.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-11-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The 2022 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction has been awarded to Khadija Abdalla Bajaber for her debut YA novel The House of Rust. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-11-10 19:36:19 UTC ]
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Unsurprisingly, George Saunders is kind of a chaotic reader. | Lit Hub Ross Gay sings the praises of adult braces, feeling needed, and kissing a very small dog one million times. | Lit Hub Memoir “It is this uneasiness that helped me nurture such a wild and fucked-up imagination—an imagination... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-18 10:30:42 UTC ]
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As Tony Montana would probably say if he were a literary agent: In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the memoir. That’s right! Al Pacino is reportedly in talks to sell his first memoir […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-05 14:49:52 UTC ]
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The uniquely enduring literary agent who worked for years to find a publisher for Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” and over the following decades arranged deals for everyone from true crime writer Joe McGinniss to the creators of the Berenstain Bears has died Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2022-09-04 21:08:59 UTC ]
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Twenty years after publication, the YA novel is the century’s most relevant dystopia—and that’s not even the most interesting thing about it. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2022-08-25 13:00:00 UTC ]
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After she was dropped by her agent, Alex Aster turned to a books-obsessed corner of TikTok to gauge interest in her YA novel … and now Lightlark is one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of the yearHaving finally published her first novel, Alex Aster was feeling disheartened. The book had... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-08-16 13:32:30 UTC ]
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Richard Charkin offers 'a heartfelt apology,' writing that he now finds literary agents 'trusted go-betweens and understanding partners.' The post Richard Charkin: Dear Literary Agent appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-08-10 17:00:17 UTC ]
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Allow a budget of £4,000 to do-it-yourself, from the editing and design through to marketing“A top-of-her-game literary agent tells us she receives about 3,000 submissions a year,” says Joe Sedgwick, the head of writing services at The Literary Consultancy. “Of those, she requests to see the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-08-09 06:00:19 UTC ]
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In 2008, after 13 years together, my literary agent and I parted ways. (To preserve her anonymity, let’s call her Michael Ovitz.) Between 1995 and 2002, Michael Ovitz sold two of my novels, including my debut, Hunger Point. By any measure, our partnership was a terrific success. Michael Ovitz... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-05 08:53:09 UTC ]
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In a changing of the guard, the Association of American Literary Agents has named a new director, with Jennifer Weltz stepping into a role that Gail Hochman had occupied for 20 years. With the move, the Jean V Naggar Literary agent becomes the next president of the board of the professional... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Lio Min's 'Beating Heart Baby' follows two boys who meet online and ultimately grapples with the joys and perils of making public art. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-25 13:00:45 UTC ]
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The first time I read a book about a person who even minorly resembled me, I was 19 and teaching at a creative writing summer camp. My coworker Sophie Lee’s YA novel What Things Mean tells the story of a young Filipina girl named Olive who uses reading to cope with feelings of loneliness and... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-05-06 11:00:00 UTC ]
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