Former Picador publisher Gwyn Jones joins Greyhound Literary as associate agent
thebookseller.com – Tuesday April 11, 2023
Philip Gwyn Jones, formerly publisher at Picador, has joined Greyhound Literary as an associate agent, starting today (11th April).
Gwyn Jones, who joined the literary Pan Macmillan imprint in June 2020 from Scribe UK, departed the company by mutual agreement last year to be succeeded by Mary Mount.
During his time as publisher of Picador he led commemorative activity and new publishing around two major anniversaries – Picador’s 50th and Picador Poetry’s 25th – and the imprint saw several titles top the bestseller lists and compete for literary prizes.
A look ahead to the inaugural Bournemouth Writing Festival
greatbritishlife.co.uk – Tuesday April 4, 2023
The inaugural Bournemouth Writing Festival (April 21-23) offers more than 60 activities designed to improve and progress people’s writing – and how to get published! A mix of free and paid-for events, involving over 70 experienced writers and professionals, have been carefully curated to foster inspiration, networking and stimulate creativity, whatever your experience level is.
Held in venues within Bournemouth town centre, including St Peter’s Church and Art University Bournemouth’s Palace Court Theatre in Upper Hinton Road, television and film screenwriters, best-selling authors, poets, journalists, publicists, writing coaches, editors and publishers will be sharing their advice through talks and practical writing workshops.
Books: As demand for sex fiction hots up, UK bookshelves will soon be heaving under weight of steamy titles
inews.co.uk – Tuesday March 28, 2023
Readers can expect a stream of erotic fiction, memoir and relationship guides to appear in book shops, and for titles to have a greater focus on inclusivity than traditional mainstream offerings
Things are about to start hotting up between the covers for British bookworms after publishers predicted bookshelves across the country will soon be heaving with steamy titles.
A host of offerings centering on sex, relationships and intimacy is due to be released in the coming months to cater for readers starved of physical closeness and affection during the Covid-19 pandemic and seeking escape from the bleakness wrought by the cost of living crisis.
Readers can expect a stream of erotic fiction, memoir and relationship guides to appear in book shops, and for titles to have a greater focus on inclusivity than traditional mainstream offerings – which have typically focused on heterosexual monogamous relationships – publishers, literary agents and authors have revealed.
Sheppard leaves DHH to establish new literary agency
thebookseller.com – Wednesday March 15, 2023
Hannah Sheppard is leaving the DHH Literary Agency to launch a boutique agency with a focus primarily on commercial adult fiction and children’s fiction from middle grade through to YA. The Hannah Sheppard Literary Agency (HSLA) will be opening to submissions from 14th March 2023.
While at DHH, Sheppard worked with authors Dee Benson, Sarah Bonner, Abi Elphinstone and Chris McGeorge among others, and will continue to represent the majority of her client list at her new agency. With HSLA, Sheppard aims “to consciously build a community of authors who celebrate diverse and joyful representation and also commits to opening the agency’s virtual doors to aspiring authors for a monthly Zoom drop-in to help demystify publishing”.
Grammarly expands beyond proofreading with AI-powered writing
engadget.com – Friday March 10, 2023
Grammarly announced today that it’s (unsurprisingly) diving into the generative AI fray. GrammarlyGo is an upcoming set of auto-composition features to help the AI proofreading software keep up with the many companies adding the ChatGPT API (or different generative AI backends) to their products.
GrammarlyGo can use context like voice, style, purpose and where you’re writing to determine its approach. So, for example, it can spit out email replies, shorten passages, rewrite them for tone and clarity, brainstorm or choose from one-click prompts — all while adhering to your company’s voice or other provided context. In addition, since Grammarly’s desktop service can pop up in any text field on your computer, its generative writing could be slightly more convenient than competitors (like Notion or Gmail’s Smart Compose) that require you to visit an app or website. The company says GrammarlyGo will be enabled by default for individuals, and you can toggle it in settings.
Leicestershire MP accuses James Bond publishers of censorship over classic novel rewrites
leicestermercury.co.uk – Tuesday February 28, 2023
Andrew Bridgen has hit out at rewrites to the classic James Bond novels, claiming it is “censorship”. The MP for North West Leicestershire has added his name to the vocal critics to the move, but publishers have defended their decision.
Mr Bridgen, who is still suspended by the Conservative Party for spreading misinformation on Covid-19 vaccines, spoke out after it emerged that Ian Fleming Publications were making alterations to classic Bond novels ahead of the 70th anniversary of Casino Royale’s publication this spring.
Blake Friedmann literary agency launches second online open week for writers
thebookseller.com – Tuesday February 28, 2023
The Blake Friedmann Literary Agency will run a week dedicated to demystifying publishing and agenting, and supporting writers seeking representation. From Monday, 6th March, the agency will share agent blogs on a variety of agenting and publishing topics. It will also run book giveaways across its social media accounts until 10th March.
The aim is to offer insights into what an agent does, how to navigate the submission process to find an agent, and how an author and agent work together. There will also be a focus on understanding the publication process, earning income as an author through rights sales, as well as getting into the agenting or publishing industries.
Andlyn founder Andrew-Lynch joins Curtis Brown
thebookseller.com – Thursday February 23, 2023
Davinia Andrew-Lynch, the founder of boutique agency Andlyn, has joined Curtis Brown.
Andrew-Lynch ran Andlyn for seven years, representing mainly children’s content and adult commercial fiction across all genres. Among her clients are Annabelle Sami, Malcolm Duffy, Bex Hogan, Faye Brann and Adam Douglas-Bagley.
Prior to this, she worked as a film and TV agent and freelance editor. She also helped to co-create the FAB Prize alongside Faber Children’s. The prize aims to discover Black and minority ethnic authors and illustrators.
As she joins Curtis Brown, Andrew-Lynch is looking to grow a list of commercial adult fiction alongside her existing list in children’s and YA. She will be based in London, joining the Curtis Brown team at their new offices on Regent Street.
These authors are using ChatGPT to write books and sell them on Amazon
nypost.com – Wednesday February 22, 2023
Until recently, Brett Schickler never imagined he could be a published author, though he had dreamed about it. But after learning about the ChatGPT artificial intelligence program, Schickler figured an opportunity had landed in his lap.
“The idea of writing a book finally seemed possible,” said Schickler, a salesman in Rochester, NY. “I thought, ‘I can do this.'”
Using the AI software, which can generate blocks of text from simple prompts, Schickler created a 30-page illustrated children’s e-book in a matter of hours, offering it for sale in January through Amazon’s self-publishing unit.
Brian Cox and Salman Rushdie lead backlash against 'absurd censorship' of Roald Dahl's classic books to remove 'offensive' language - as 'woke' publishing censors are accused of 'McCarthyism'
dailymail.co.uk – Monday February 20, 2023
Sir Salman Rushdie and Brian Cox have led an angry backlash against 'absurd censorship' of Roald Dahl's classic children's books after 'woke' publishers removed 'offensive' language and are accused of 'McCarthyism'.
Cox, who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, said the censorship is a form of 'woke culture' which wants to reinterpret everything.
Rushdie, who was stabbed, losing the sight in one eye, for protecting free speech and 'attacking Islam', said the changes were 'absolute censorship'.
The intervention comes as hundreds of changes have been made to the beloved children's books, including no longer referring to Augustus Gloop as 'fat'.
Other characters have had their genders changed and words like 'mad' and crazy' have been removed by sensitivity readers.
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