Struggling as an author? Stop writing only what you want to write

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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500+ Authors Sign Letter Supporting HarperCollins Union’s Strike

More than 500 authors have signed a letter standing with the HarperCollins union as they reach of month of being on strike. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-12-12 18:27:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Kindle Scribe Review: Read and Write on this Pricey Ebook Reader

You can read ebooks, write notes, or mark up PDFs on this new slate, but your wallet will feel a lot lighter. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2022-12-08 14:00:00 UTC ]
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What Running Has Taught Me About Writing (and Vice Versa)

I’m a daily runner. When I run varies, depending on the day’s contours, but I always lace up and head out. Earbuds in, audiobook on, running app ready to track my slow miles along semi-rural roads. Often, I don’t want to go. No matter how much I practice, I find running difficult. When I was […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-08 09:53:23 UTC ]
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Cherríe Moraga on Writing About Queer Motherhood

As a cultivated writing praxis, creative nonfiction allows for a broader panorama of experience than a genre restricted to the empirical. It is one which permits dreams to presage and queer bodies to serve as repositories of memory. With the best of intentions, I believe Waiting in the Wings, my... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-07 09:51:50 UTC ]
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Writing the Historical Mystery Novel: Jane Smiley Explains Her Process

Jane Smiley is a master of plot, with multiple awards for her novels, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle award for A Thousand Acres (King Lear as set on an Iowa farm circa 1979). She’s also distilled her years of teaching and cultural criticism into a superb writing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-06 09:53:58 UTC ]
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Register Today for AAPI Communities in Conversation #12 with Elizabeth Miki Brina, Author of 'Speak, Okinawa'

Brina will appear in conversation with Elizabeth Joseph of New Rochelle Public Library. The live stream is set for Tuesday, December 6th at 1 p.m. ET. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Inaugural Russell Freedman Award Honors Late Author's Impact

The winners of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' inaugural Russell Freedman Award for Nonfiction for a Better World were announced on November 29. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-01 05:00:00 UTC ]
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I’m a HarperCollins author. Here’s why (and how) I won’t cross the virtual picket line.

In days of yore—that is, my childhood in the paper-mill town of Mexico, Maine—a labor strike looked like an ugly affair. Picketing men in steel-toed boots screamed themselves hoarse at every shift change, their righteous anger rising into a sky thick with the sulfurous clouds of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-23 16:38:06 UTC ]
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Children’s authors of colour published in UK rose to 11.7% of market in 2021

BookTrust research shows, however, that the overall picture ‘remains far from representative’ with some writers and illustrators reporting tokenismNew research has found that 11.7% of children’s book creators published in the UK in 2021 were people of colour, up from 5.6% in 2017.Despite the big... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-11-23 06:01:50 UTC ]
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Ada Calhoun and Maud Newton on the Revelations We Gain From Writing

The Miami Book Fair began as a two-day event in November 1984, when a small group of determined individuals—including educators from Miami Dade College, independent booksellers, and librarians—founded Miami Book Fair International. In the nearly 40 years since, Miami Book Fair has grown into one... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-22 09:51:48 UTC ]
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Heartstopper author Alice Oseman: ‘If you don’t have sex and romance, you feel like you haven’t achieved’

The writer and illustrator on turning her ‘weird hobby’ into a bestselling YA series and Netflix hit, the importance of asexual representation and lessons from her fans on love bitesAt 28, the author and illustrator Alice Oseman recently achieved what so many of her peers cannot: she bought a... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-11-19 09:00:53 UTC ]
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How Jane Austen Almost Walked Away From Writing

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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-18 09:54:04 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-11-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Children’s Author Marcus Sedgwick Dies

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[ Book Riot | 2022-11-17 17:42:32 UTC ]
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[ The Guardian | 2022-11-17 13:02:14 UTC ]
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Choosing to Bear Witness: Writing the Story of a Body

My clearest memory of my freshman year of college takes place in the emergency room of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where I was studying English Literature at Boston University and living on the eighteenth floor of Warren Towers, in Tower C, in a room with southern exposure. Despite... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-17 09:53:52 UTC ]
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Authors Guild Applauds Arrest, Indictment of Major E-Book Pirates

Two Russian nationals are now facing criminal charges in the U.S. for their role in running Z-Library, one of the world's most notorious e-book pirate sites before its domains were seized by U.S. officials earlier this fall. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-11-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Sales Continued to Struggle in August

Book sales fell 9% in August compared to a year ago at the 1,367 publishers who report data to AAP’s StatShot program. All segments had declines in the month, with sales of adult books down 9.3% and sales of children’s/young adult book declining 10.9%. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-11-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Book Riot | 2022-11-15 11:31:00 UTC ]
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The first three categories' longlists have been released in the 17th edition of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, based in Abu Dhabi. The post Sheikh Zayed Award Names Longlists: Literature, Children’s Literature, Young Authors appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-11-10 20:55:04 UTC ]
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