Monthly Archives: December 2006

Year end brings indie bookstore closings; author protests

Posted on December 21, 2006 by Keren

A number of independent bookstores are closing nationwide this year. Publishers Weekly reports:

Nearing the end of 2006, a number of independent booksellers in various parts of the country have announced that this will be their last year in business.

Some cite the rise of internet retailing sites, others blame rising rent costs. But at least one author is up in arms about their plight.

Link to the Publishers Weekly article.

Posted in Articles, Authors, Booksellers |

Title of final Harry Potter revealed

Posted on December 21, 2006 by Mark

The title of the last book in J.K. Rowling’s series was revealed on her website today: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. What this may be referring to is anyone’s guess, but I’m sure there will be no lack of speculation in the months to come.

Several articles on other websites are posted below. The information each covers is the same, if lain out a little differently:

Also, if anyone is interested:

Posted in Upcoming releases, Websites |

Writer demands to be unlisted from Amazon

Posted on December 20, 2006 by Mark

A children’s author has drawn attention to the plight of independent bookshops by demanding that his book abe removed from sale on Amazon’s UK website.

George Walker, author of Tales from an Airfield, was horrified to find that his new title was featured on the site without his permission, following good sales in bookshops.

Full story is available on Guardian Unlimited Books.

Posted in Authors, Booksellers |

Online writing resource of the week: Holly Lisle's Forward Motion for writers

Posted on December 20, 2006 by Keren

Holly Lisle is a fantasy author (two of her books are available for free from the Baen free library) and author of several books on writing.  Her popular website has a large collection of helpful articles, writing FAQs, and some great workshops.

I make a full-time living from writing. I know a lot of writers who would like to do the same. So I’ve written over 100,000 words — all of it available for free in the linked articles to your right — on how I do what I do.

Check it out.

Posted in Articles, Authors, E-books, Resources |

Another interview with author Karl Schroeder

Posted on December 19, 2006 by Keren

Blogger Armchair Anarchist has a fascinating interview with sf author Karl Schroeder up on his blog.

(We’ve blogged about Karl Schroeder before – you can read our post about another interview between him and John Scalzi here)

Asking you to wear futurist and author hats at once, what effect do you think the ongoing democratisation of publishing via the internet, print-on-demand technology, e-books and pod-casts and the Google Universal Library project having on the writing industry?

“Oh, it’ll destroy it. Twenty years from now I don’t expect to be able to make a living writing fiction. You know, this is related to Bruce’s comments about the end of futurism. The end of the SF writer as the primary producer of SF is around the corner. As I’ve said, SF has been appropriated by mainstream culture – it’s not ours any more. Ditto for publishing in general. There was only a brief period in history when one could make a living as a fiction writer, and it’s ending. – Except, of course, for stars like J.K. Rowling. They’ll get richer, the rest of us poorer. Since technology is legislation, there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.”

Link to the interview (via Futurismic)

Posted in Articles, Authors, Newly Released Books, Reading, Science fiction/fantasy |

Regan hits back after sacking

Posted on December 18, 2006 by Mark

Judith Regan, head of HarperCollins subsidiary ReganBooks, was fired on November 15th (view the New York Times or Guardian Unlimited articles for details). WritingNews.org primarily covers fiction-related news; since her firing was mainly related to the canceled publication of the non-fiction book If I Did It, I haven’t posted anything on it before now.

However, the story’s grown a bit: according to an article just published in The Independent, she isn’t at all happy. ReganBooks does publish some fiction, so I’m posting an excerpt here:

Signalling her determination not to go quietly, Ms Regan disclosed that she had hired one of Hollywood’s most feared celebrity lawyers, Bert Fields.

Mr Fields, meanwhile, wasted no time before unleashing his first warning shots. “They’ve chosen war and they will get exactly that,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

Full story is available on Independent.co.uk.

Posted in Publishers |

Deadline: PEN Beyond Margins Awards, Fri. 29.12

Posted on December 17, 2006 by Keren

Publishers and agents may submit five copies of book-length writings by an author of color published during the calendar year under consideration, with an official letter of recommendation. Self-published books are not eligible.

Open to submissions from publishers and agents only.

Link to the PEN website for more information (link via the Poets&Writers, inc. contest calendar).

Posted in Awards, Contests |

Deadline: Meridian Editors' Prizes, Wed. 20.12

Posted on December 17, 2006 by Keren

Meridian Editors’ Prizes
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Meridian’s Spring/Summer issue are given annually for a single poem and a short story. Entries must be submitted electronically. Using the online submission system, submit up to four poems of no more than two pages each or a story of up to 10,000 words with a $15 entry fee, which includes a one-year subscription to Meridian, by December 20.

Link to the Meridian website for more information (link and blurb via the Poets&Writers, inc. contest calendar).

Posted in Contests, Poetry, Short stories |

Lists of recommended titles

Posted on December 17, 2006 by Keren

BooksOfTheYear2006_128.gifIt’s that time of year again, and people’s minds are turning to Christmas presents. And, just in time, the NYT and Guardian have come out with two lists of recommended titles published over the past year:

Posted in Articles, Reading, Reviews |

NYT Review: "How to Read a Novel"

Posted on December 16, 2006 by Mark

The New York Times published an interesting review today on How to Read a Novel by John Sutherland. In conclusion, it notes:

Anyone interested in the way people really read novels ought to turn to Nick Hornby’s “Stuff I’ve Been Reading” columns for The Believer magazine: they’re a real-time, on-the-ground account of one man’s monthly battle to square the number of books he buys with the number of books he actually reads, while fighting off the competing demands of TV, kids and soccer. Cultural anxiety is a good subject for a book; but Sutherland is, perhaps, too much its creature.

View the full story here.

Posted in Reading |