As Black Lives Matter protests take place across the world, the publishing world is rushing to support those ‘ignored by the mainstream’. Who is the mainstream, then?The publishing industry is stilted and archaic. I worked in it for seven years, and left due to reasons I can’t legally talk about. Though, in that time, I was able to enforce and oversee some steps towards sustainable change. At 4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins, I started the Guardian 4th Estate BAME Short Story prize (still going strong, five years later). Staggered by the lack of underrepresented voices, I knew I had to do something, anything to give those voices a way to permeate the industry.It is taken for granted that would-be writers will know what a literary agent is. But most have no idea how to structure a book proposal, or where to send it. This information is possessed by those in the know, and the people in the know often want to keep it to themselves. Let’s talk about literary agents for a second; they are, effectively, tastemakers. Editors trust them to deliver books and authors that adhere to their (sometimes limited) taste. And what happens when these arbiters continue to work within the circles of writers who they already know? The same thing that always happens: books that follow trends, that look the same, that are written by the same kinds of people. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-06-11 09:44:22 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#underrepresented voices
#deliver books
#candice carty-williams
#sustainable change
#4th estate
#book proposal
#follow trends
#literary agents
#literary agent
#publishing industry
#publishing world
The chef and cookbook author is heading up a new imprint to give chefs of color a leg up in the historically insular publishing industry. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-10-04 18:09:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#cookbook
#cookbook author
Carlo Collodi’s version of Donkey Skin, by French author Charles Perrault, will appear in a new collection of Italian fairytalesCarlo Collodi is remembered today for Pinocchio, his 1881 children’s story about a puppet who turns into a real boy, immortalised on screen by Disney. Now another... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-10-01 13:46:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#french author
#nobel prize
#20th century
#real boy
#donkey skin
Book publisher powerhouse Molly Stern started her own company on the premise of using influential creators to surface overlooked talent. Author Gillian Flynn and writer-producer Lena Waithe are curating what could be the next wave of notable authors through their partnership with indie publisher... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2021-09-21 09:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book publisher
#indie publisher
#notable authors
#favorite authors
#lena waithe
Channel 4 has commissioned Candice Carty-Williams to create a drama series based on her hit novel Queenie (Trapeze). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-24 10:55:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Her dozens of works helped broaden children’s literature so that young African Americans could see themselves, their history and their hopes in the pages of their picture books. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-18 06:43:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#picture books
#eloise greenfield
The Authors Guild's virtual panel "Centering Black Voices: Short-Term Progress or Sustainable Change?," held on July 27, offered a wide-ranging examination of the history and potential of the book industry’s continuing struggle to address diversity. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book publishing
#address diversity
#book industry
#sustainable change
#authors guild
Bonnier Books UK has acquired independent Scottish publisher Black & White Publishing as part of its long-term strategy for growth. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-27 19:25:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bonnier
#long-term strategy
Simon Akam says Penguin Random House cancelled his book about the British army, The Changing of the Guard, and demanded back his advance after he refused to let the MoD vet itIn the summer of 2015, journalist Simon Akam was thrilled when Penguin Random House (PRH) imprint William Heinemann won a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-07-23 13:00:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#penguin random house
#publisher dropping
#ernest hemingway
#george orwell
#british army
#simon akam
The RCW literary agency and publisher Knights Of have announced the return of a free children’s publishing workshop for aspiring authors of colour, now in partnership with development scheme Megaphone. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-08 01:37:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#children's publishing
#literary agency
#free children
#launch children
#aspiring authors
#publisher knights
Faber is to publish Black British Lives Matter, a collection of essays commissioned by Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-03 12:11:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#lenny henry
The amendment wasn’t written with African Americans in mind, Carol Anderson argues. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-06-25 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#african americans
The new Black Sands Publishing digital comics app is the latest move by a Black-owned publishing venture that has used social media and crowdfunding platforms to sell its books and to raise more than $1 million over the last year to fund its plans for growth. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-05-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#$1 million
#latest move
Indie Shindig, a virtual event series for booksellers created by half a dozen publishers, aims to raise up to $18,000 for We Need Diverse Books and Binc. Author Gayle Forman and Penguin Books for Young Readers are contributing sales of Forman's new novel to Binc's "Thrive to Survive" campaign. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#young readers
#penguin books
#diverse books
#indie bookstores
#dozen publishers
At a Times Book Festival panel on Black YA fiction, Dean Atta, Morgan Parker, Yusef Salaam and Ibi Zoboi discussed stories of teens making it through. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-18 01:13:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#times book
#yusef salaam
#dean atta
#black life
#ya authors
Deesha Philyaw talks about the long gestation of her collection 'The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,' a Times Book Prize finalist for first fiction. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-06 16:30:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#times book
#church ladies
#secret lives
#long gestation
#black women
#write fiction
The Authors Guild Foundation has reached a deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to publish a collaborative novel edited by the acclaimed novelist Margaret Atwood that will feature the writing of more than a dozen notable authors. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-03-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#authors guild
#houghton mifflin harcourt
An Ivy-educated lawyer, he wrote several books that made him one of the foremost commentators of the 1990s on race and class in the United States. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-02 10:58:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#black america
The Bookseller is to run two new category previews in the second quarter of 2021 as it looks to highlight growing areas of the market and key national celebrations such as Black History Month and Pride. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-09 22:49:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#black authors
The National Literacy Trust's Connecting Stories campaign, championing literacy in diverse communities in need of support, has attracted the support of 18 publishers and 32 authors, including children's writers Sathnam Sanghera, Konnie Huq and Steve Antony. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-18 23:09:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#steve antony
#konnie huq
#including children
BookLife Elite will offer public libraries access to a curated collection of unlimited, simultaneous-use indie e-books, meaning library readers can access the books instantly—no holds lists. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-01-13 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#e-book
#public libraries
#self-published authors