Opportunity for writers and artists
firstwriter.com – Tuesday March 29, 2016
October 2016 will mark the first anniversary of Verbolatry newsletter, and to celebrate there will be a contest for humorous essays and cartoons on writing/publishing.
There are cash prizes to be won and publication in the newsletter. In addition to increasing the newsletter's readership, the organisers hope is that this contest will fill a void in the industry and encourage and empower those writers and artists who work in this under-represented genre to continue creating good writing and art.
ICM Partners Mints Nine Partners: Talent Agency Now Has 47
deadline.com – Tuesday March 29, 2016
ICM Partners has promoted nine agents to partner status, eight in Los Angeles and one in New York. The agents in need of new business cards: Jessica Lacy, Head of International and Independent Film; Dennis Ashley and Robert Gibbs, who have co-headed the West Coast urban music division; publishing agent Alexandra Machinist; television literary agents Erik Horine, Dan Norton and Pete Stone; Co-Head of Television Production Sean Freidin; and motion picture literary agent Doug Johnson.
Call for Submissions
firstwriter.com – Monday March 28, 2016
The Write Idea “A Day in the Life of …(You)” Poem Title Prompt
“… Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner; Morning, Afternoon, and Night.
Two lines for each word above, and a couplet of advice.
Tell us in a sonnet, how you live your life ...”
Write a Sonnet, It doesn’t have to rhyme, or not.
Write two lines for each word-time of the prompt.
The last two lines are your words of advice.
Tell us in a Sonnet, 14 lines, how you lead your life.
Entitle the poem “A Day in the Life of …(You)”.
Winners will be published in LONE STARS.
Short story contest – deadline delayed
firstwriter.com – Wednesday March 23, 2016
The deadline for firstwriter.com's Twelfth International Short Story Contest has been delayed by one month to May 1, 2016, to allow for last minute entries.
Writing a book together was spa and away our best idea
dailyrecord.co.uk – Sunday March 20, 2016
SARAH McMartin and Leigh Ronald like to joke that they formed a book club with a difference.
Instead of getting together each week to read the latest best-sellers, they got together to write one.
The two friends turned their backs on three publishing deals to print their own book are getting rave reviews for their debut novel, Jackman’s Jewels. It has received high praise from everyone from OK! magazine to Judy Murray.
Moneyball for book publishers: A detailed look at how we read
boston.com – Wednesday March 16, 2016
Andrew Rhomberg wants to be the Billy Beane of the book world.
Beane used analytics to transform baseball, famously recounted in “Moneyball,” a book by Michael Lewis. Now Rhomberg wants to use data about people’s reading habits to radically reshape how publishers acquire, edit and market books.
What Big Publishing Consolidation Means for Authors
huffingtonpost.com – Wednesday March 9, 2016
So, the Hachette Book Group is acquiring the Perseus Books Group again, 18 months after its first failed attempt to do so. This time it looks like the deal will stick, though.
If you read industry news deals or press releases, you'll see all kinds of positive spin on deals like these. This is the third major publishing merger in the past three-plus years, preceded by the 2013 merger between Penguin and Random House and the acquisition earlier that same year of Harlequin by HarperCollins. The companies like to talk about expanding their global reach and investing in broadening their lists. And while these corporate agendas sound good on paper, the consolidation of publishing is not good for authors.
The simple truth behind suspenseful writing
bostonglobe.com – Tuesday March 8, 2016
With simple words, suspenseful stories thrill and chill us.
In Stephen King's The Shining, there's a heart-pounding moment when young Danny once again finds himself standing outside Room 217 of the Overlook Hotel.
Despite being warned not to enter, he puts a key into the lock. He turns the knob.
It's enough to make my palms sweat.
Good suspenseful stories elicit strong emotions, even when we know what happens next. Now, a team of academics at Stanford University has identified what prompts those feelings. Surprisingly, it often comes down to the use of simple words and sentence patterns. So simple, in fact, that the team trained a computer program to accurately predict when a written passage will be suspenseful.
One-handed typing improves prose, research suggests
alphr.com – Tuesday March 8, 2016
Nothing highlights someone unused to hammering away at a computer keyboard more than the use of a single digit, hunting down each character slowly and deliberately. But while you may finish your emails first, they’ll have the last laugh. It turns out this is very much like the tortoise and the hare: slow and steady wins the race – at least in terms of quality.
Write For Us: Your Story Matters
goodmenproject.com – Sunday March 6, 2016
Your story matters. Whether you think your life has been a total drag or you think no one will care. You have something to share with the world. We’d like it in writing, please.
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