Earning a living as a writer is as likely as winning the lottery. Instead of writing books and persuading others to buy them, find out what people want to write, then do it for themPhilip Pullman: professional writers set to become ‘an endangered species’ due to low wagesI left school with a burning urge to lead the life of a writer: travelling like Byron, feted like Wilde before his fall, creating laughter like Wodehouse and crafting sentences like Nabokov. I had no professional contacts, so I wrote my masterpieces speculatively, and every path I went down ended with a rejection slip or total silence. The perceived wisdom then, as now, was that earning a living as a writer was about as likely as winning a lottery.Then I discovered the secret of marketing: instead of writing things and trying to persuade people to buy them, I would find out what writing services people needed and offer to provide them. So, at the same time as begging publishers and editors for commissions, I made myself available to anyone who might want to write an article or a book but did not feel able to do it for themselves. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2016-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Earning a living as a writer is as likely as winning the lottery. Instead of writing books and persuading others to buy them, find out what people want to write, then do it for themPhilip Pullman: professional writers set to become ‘an endangered species’ due to low wagesI left school with a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen Carver, Guinevere Glasfurd, Brian Needham and Jo McMillan respond to Joanne Harris’s article about horribly low pay in the publishing worldRegarding Joanne Harris’s article (Horribly low pay is pushing out my fellow authors – and yes, that really does matter, 7 December), I guess I’m a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-12-11 17:07:25 UTC ]
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Malorie Blackman advises budding authors to pick up on news stories, but Julia Donaldson warns of pitfalls – and Alan Moore says you should read terrible books as well as good onesThe key to being a good writer? It’s being a good reader, authors including Carol Ann Duffy and Alan Moore have said... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-03-02 15:43:52 UTC ]
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In China we have a saying that reading a banned book on a snowy night is one of the true joys of life. From this, one can well imagine the kind of satisfaction that reading a banned book may bring—like candy locked up in a cabinet, it releases a sweet fragrance into solitary spaces. Whenever […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-23 08:56:19 UTC ]
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The Prisoner’s Throne author Holly Black reflects on the rise of “romantasy” novels, explicit sex scenes, and BookTok. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2024-03-18 21:31:31 UTC ]
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“I grew up working class and money was a factor in everything we did,” says the poet and novelist, whose new book is the memoir “Crying in the Bathroom.” “That’s why I always write about the financial realities of my characters.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-07 09:00:11 UTC ]
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If you’ve been paying attention to local news in the past year, you’ve likely noticed the concerning wave of book bans sweeping the nation. Books by authors of color; books that acknowledge historical atrocities; books featuring LGBTQ+ characters; sex education books for teens; all are under... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-09 19:49:33 UTC ]
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Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, at 50, is not the average age of a debut author. But the public school teacher describes herself as a “literary debutante” with the October publication of “My Monticello.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-09-28 13:06:03 UTC ]
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Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Review of Books published a fairly wild essay by Miguel Esteban who, at the tender age of 14, commissioned a now-famous essay on race in science fiction from Octavia Butler. The whole piece is worth a read (the gall of teenage boys! the grace of Octavia!) but... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-26 13:40:52 UTC ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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Several organizations sent a letter to the Department of Justice on Friday urging it to stop Penguin Random House from purchasing Simon & Schuster. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-01-29 22:12:00 UTC ]
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Author A G Smith has launched Paperchains, a project that aims to publish a book of writing by prisoners, homeless people and members of the armed forces about the coronavirus lockdown. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-29 23:21:12 UTC ]
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Sanjana Varghese had been working as a freelance journalist in London for around a year when the coronavirus pandemic hit. As countries around the world went into lockdown, many organisations froze their commissioning budgets, while others halted business entirely. Several of the pieces... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-21 20:08:07 UTC ]
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In her creative and critical work, Toni Morrison sought to remap the contours of American literature and culture. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2019-08-07 06:00:28 UTC ]
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Helen Hoang has published two hits, “The Kiss Quotient” and “The Bride Test,” with more on the way. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-07-19 14:08:03 UTC ]
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Problems obtaining visas to enter the UK could put off authors from attending the Edinburgh International Book Festival, its director has warned. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-09 05:37:20 UTC ]
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Authors are being told to write under pseudonyms to present themselves as debut writers and feed the publishing industry’s “obsession” with new, marketable voices, Joanne Harris has said. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An interest in ‘how women reframe stories in a feminist framework’ and more was part of the discussion in a Market Focus Indonesia panel at the London Book Fair earlier this month. Editor’s Note: As we look today at comments from women authors, particularly in the Indonesian market, we’d like to... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Artificial intelligence can now write fiction and journalism. But does it measure up to George Orwell – and can it report on Brexit?Will androids write novels about electric sheep? The dream, or nightmare, of totally machine-generated prose seemed to have come one step closer with the recent... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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