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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Written By: Tom Holman Publication Date: Tue, 08/11/2011 - 15:57 The books industry is not doing enough to attract and train staff to take advantage of the surge in ebook sales, this years Digital Book Census survey from The Bookseller has found. The survey of more than 2,200 people, nearly... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 31/10/2011 - 08:00 Yale University Press will be nosing around authors' bookshelves with the publication of Unpacking My Library: Writers and Their Books next month, with authors including Philip Pullman, Jonathan Lethem and Junot Díaz... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This story first appears on FOLIO: sister site, minonline. Meredith Corp. chairman/CEO (since July 2004) Steve Lacy announced that the board of directors approved a $1.02-to-$1.53 per-share increase in the quarterly dividend paid to investors and authorized the repurchase of $100 million of... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new social reading app called Subtext today launches on the iPad with a selection of books laden with annotations from authors and researchers. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 21/10/2011 - 11:35 Vampirates author and long-time children's book publicist Justin Somper has set up Author Profile, a training company aimed at helping authors navigate the media and social networking. Writers including Damian Kelleher,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster, Random House and the Hachette Book Group said they would allow authors to access book sales data online, a service Amazon began providing last year. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-10-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Tue, 11/10/2011 - 07:50 "Grange Hill" writer Phil Redmond is to pen a memoir and novel for Random House imprint Cornerstone. M.d. Susan Sandon acquired world rights in the two books directly with Redmond, who is best known for creating three of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Steinberger of Perseus, which will offer distribution and marketing to authors. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 30/09/2011 - 08:55 Publishers should not be too quick to write off physical products and should encourage competition between a number of digital players to avoid the mistakes the record industry made, the director general of the Entertainment... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 23/09/2011 - 08:35 Marian Keyes is writing a cookery title for Michael Joseph, as the imprint ramps up its spring food publishing list next year by releasing one title every month during the first half of 2012. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 22/09/2011 - 11:01 Faber is to publish a new detective novel from P D James which combines a murder investigation with the world and characters of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, revisiting Darcy and Elizabeth six years into their... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 19/09/2011 - 08:20 Scotland is to hold its first Crime Writing Festival next year, supported by Stirling Council, Creative Scotland and the University of Stirling, and working closely with Stirling's general literary festival, Off the Page.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With the Google Book Search Settlement in tatters, its fragile alliance splintering, and the parties now on a pretrial schedule, the Authors Guild last week expanded its infringement claims by suing a consortium of university libraries over a digital library initiative. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 16/09/2011 - 08:31 Waterstones proposed higher discount, flat rate terms for publishers, put forward in exchange for scrapping promotion fees, could hit author royalties, according to agents and the Society of Authors. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 15/09/2011 - 08:30 The Red Queen author Philippa Gregory is turning her hand to young adult fiction for the first time, after signing a deal with Simon & Schuster. Ingrid Selberg, director of children's publishing at S&S UK, and Jon... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 14/09/2011 - 08:55 Authors including Neil Gaiman and Ian Rankin will collaborate with the public in a short story "Tweetathon" organised by the Society of Authors. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Authors Guild has sued five universities and a library partnership organization alleging copyright infringement over their use of certain digitized copies of... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 01/09/2011 - 15:08 Amazon.com is offering a new feature enabling readers to ask authors questions directly via their Kindle devices. @author is currently on limited beta release, with a handful of participating authors including thriller writer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 01/09/2011 - 14:45 Hodder Children's Books has bought two teen titles from journalist and presenter Dawn Porter. Publisher Emily Thomas did the deal directly with Porter for a "sizeable" sum. The books are described as "epic stories of an... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Wed, 31/08/2011 - 15:01 French authors have given a cautious welcome to last weeks agreement for Google to scan out-of-print or unavailable copyrighted books published by the La Martinière group. Although applauding the US giants wish to respect... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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