Winners and losers: publishers pick the 2015 books they loved, missed and envied
theguardian.com – Friday December 18, 2015
Which books did well, which were left on the shelves, and which made editors green with envy?
Children’s Publishers Choose Their Favorite Reads of 2015
publishersweekly.com – Wednesday December 16, 2015
We asked staffers at children’s publishing houses to tell us about their favorite children’s book they read this year (new or backlist), and how they discovered it. Our only proviso: it couldn’t be a book that their company had published. See their responses, and happy reading!
Self-Publishing Stars of 2015
publishersweekly.com – Saturday December 12, 2015
In BookLife and Publishers Weekly’s second annual starred reviews roundup, we celebrate the best of the best: the self-published books that received starred reviews in 2015. And we check in with some of the authors of these titles, asking them for writing advice and self-publishing tips for aspiring writers.
Frankfurt Book Fair Considers an Early Start for Agents
publishersweekly.com – Thursday December 10, 2015
Frankfurt Book Fair officials this week confirmed that talks are underway to possibly open rights dealing at the fair a day earlier in 2016.
Although no final decision has been reached, Frankfurt LitAg director Riky Stock told PW that more than 50 agencies have now added their names to a preliminary list of agencies interested in scheduling meetings in the Frankfurt Book Fair Literary Agents & Scouts Centre (LitAg) on the Tuesday before the fair’s official Wednesday opening. Stock said the list will help determine if there is enough interest to make a Tuesday LitAg opening feasible for next year. The 2016 Frankfurt Book Fair is scheduled for October 19-23.
Skrawl Online Screenwriters' Room
By Alexandra Daniel
BoomWriter Media
firstwriter.com – Thursday December 3, 2015
Skrawl, the free online community that turns the storytelling process into a social media experience, will be going Hollywood in January 2016, and it wants to take one talented undiscovered writer along for the ride.
For the first time in decades, the best book ever written about writing is back in print
vox.com – Thursday December 3, 2015
In 1948, an instructor at the University of Illinois strode into a classroom to tell his playwriting students everything he'd learned about writing for the stage and, by extension, the screen. His students were many things — ordinary college kids, men recently returned from the war, women who were the first in their families to pursue higher education. The professor had written a few plays and some screenplays. You probably wouldn't recognize his name. The book, compiled from his lectures and conversations with students, could have been a minor tome.
But it wasn't. The result was (and still is) the greatest book ever written about the craft of dramatic writing — or maybe just writing, period. Published in 1949, it's a uniquely American work, in both its preoccupations and its conception. It perfectly captures a country on the brink of a new world order that it would stand astride with relative confidence and ease.
Awards worth £40,000 available for talented writers across the region
chroniclelive.co.uk – Thursday December 3, 2015
The 2016 Northern Writers’ Awards, with £40,000 to give away to aspiring authors, poets, playwrights and screenwriters, opened for applications this week.
The awards, run by Newcastle-based New Writing North (NWN) with the support of Northumbria University and Arts Council England, are available to writers based in the north of England. They are viewed as the country’s leading talent development programme for writers.
Authors need to 'engage' in the publishing process
thebookseller.com – Tuesday December 1, 2015
Both traditionally and self-published authors need to be “engaged”, traditional publishers have to be open to new voices from different backgrounds, tricky rights issues need to be tackled, but ultimately traditional and indie author communities need to come together.
Smart: 'publishers do invest long-term in authors'
thebookseller.com – Tuesday December 1, 2015
Ebury m.d. Rebecca Smart said that traditional publishers need to “shout from the rooftops” more about the value and investment they provide for authors.
Smart was speaking at The Bookseller's Author Day after several speakers voiced frustration with traditional publishers on a number of points including author care, long-term investment and renumeration. She said that “she did not recognise” the traditional publishers that had been portrayed earlier in the day “but part of that is that we as an industry are not as always good enough at shouting from the rooftops” about the good things publishers do.
Shamsie: 'Publishers not investing in author careers'
thebookseller.com – Tuesday December 1, 2015
Novelist Kamila Shamsie has said that traditional publishers’ focus on the “bottom line value of pounds and pennies” has meant a shift away from building authors’ careers in the long-term and created a lack of diversity and new voices.
Shamsie, speaking at the The Bookseller's Author Day, compared the climate of today to that of the late 1990s, when she began her career, and was told by her then-agent Alexandra Pringle that her publisher would be hoping to invest in her in the long-term.
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