“It’s not just the $.99-$2.99 price point and Free e-book specials that have the traditional publishing establishment worried. It’s the .99 cent e-book with the terrible cover and the typos, grammatical errors, and poor story development that have them concerned. If readers are willing to buy these types of books, then traditional publishing truly is lost.”
Read more via Author Discovery Tip of the Week: Promote your Editor! – Authordiscovery.com.
This is just brilliant…
‘Renowned author Dan Brown smiled, the ends of his mouth curving upwards in a physical expression of pleasure. He felt much better.
If your books brought innocent delight to millions of readers, what did it matter whether you knew the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb?
“Thanks, John,” he thanked.
Then he put down the telephone and perambulated on foot to the desk behind which he habitually sat on a chair to write his famous books on an Apple iMac MD093B/A computer.
New book Inferno, the latest in his celebrated series about fictional Harvard professor Robert Langdon, was inspired by top Italian poet Dante. It wouldn’t be the last in the lucrative sequence, either. He had all the sequels mapped out. The Mozart Acrostic. The Michelangelo Wordsearch. The Newton Sudoku.’
Read more via Don’t make fun of renowned Dan Brown – Telegraph.
No surprise, really. ASI have one of the worst reputations in the publishing world, yet for some reason, authors keep going to them.
EXTRACT:
“The Alliance of Independent Authors welcomes the news that three authors have filed suit against self-publishing service provider Author Solutions (ASI), and its parent company Penguin.
Law firm Giskan & Solotaroff, on April 26, filed a class action complaint on behalf of writers Kelvin James, Jodi Foster, and Terry Hardy. The complaints listed in the action won’t come as any surprise to those who follow the behaviour of ASI in recent times: overcharging for services, up-selling editing and marketing packages of poor quality, deceptive practices, poor royalty reporting and nonpayment of monies due. (For a full list of ASI iniquities, see this earlier post.)
The company’s true business is not publishing, the complaint stresses, but selling services to authors. And not doing it well. As we point out in our recent book, ASI is a company about whom we regularly receive the most complaints from a wide variety of authors.”
“The Trust Company unveils all female shortlist for the 2013 Miles Franklin Literary AwardMiles of Reading Challenge to award prizes for best tweet-reviews of shortlisted novelsThe Trust Company, as Trustee, and the 2013 judging panel have today announced an all-female shortlist for this year’s Miles Franklin Literary Award.Regarded as Australia’s oldest and most prestigious literary prize, the 2013 Miles Franklin Award shortlist, announced today at the State Library of New South Wales, features five of Australia’s most talented female authors – including three first time novelists.The Miles Franklin Literary Award was established with proceeds from the estate of My Brilliant Career author, Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, to support and encourage authors of Australian literature.The winner will be announced on Wednesday 19 June 2013 in Canberra at the National Library of Australia, and will receive $60,000 for the novel judged to be of the highest literary merit which “must present Australian life in any of its phases” in line with Miles Franklin’s wishes.Each of the five shortlisted authors will also receive $5,000 in prize money from the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, a long term partner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award.The 2013 Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist is:
Romy Ash – Floundering
Annah Faulkner – The Beloved
Michelle de Kretser – Questions of Travel
Drusilla Modjeska – The Mountain
Carrie Tiffany – Mateship with Birds”
via News.
“Multiple award-winning editor Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for almost thirty years. She was fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and SCIFICTION and has edited more than fifty anthologies, including the horror half of the long-running The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror.Ellen is currently tied with frequent co-editor Terri Windling as the winner of the most World Fantasy Awards in the organization’s history nine. She has also won with co-editor Windling a Bram Stoker Award for The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror #13, and with co-editors Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant a Bram Stoker Award for The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror #17. She has also won the International Horror Guild Award for her anthologies The Dark and Inferno; the Shirley Jackson Award for Inferno and Poe; the Locus Award for Best Editor in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, and the Hugo Award for Best Editor 2002, 2005, and Best Editor Short Fiction 2008 and 2009. In addition, SCIFICTION won the Hugo Award for best Web site in 2005 as well as the Wooden Rocket Award as best online magazine for 2005.”
Read more via LitChat Interview: Editor, Ellen Datlow – LitStack.
Courtesy of Crystal Lake Publishing, who release a new anthology on Monday which contains one of my short stories:
Competition time: to win print and eBook copies of future releases like Fear the Reaper, Children of the Grave or The Outsiders, follow the link to the website and subscribe to the newsletter.
http://www.crystallakepub.com/contact-us.php
via Competition time:….
More info here (French): http://relire.bnf.fr/projet-relire-cadre-legal
~Courtesy of Scott M. Goriscak
Courtesy of Anne R. Allen’s blog:
“Seven Deadly Scams by Lila Moore
These days, writers face a range of scams from mildly annoying to lethal. Deadly scams are ones which can destroy your bank account, your credibility, or your ability to profit from your work. Not all of these scams are perpetrated solely by malicious outsiders: some of these scams only work because the authors themselves are complicit and some of these scams are perpetrated by the authors themselves.Here are the Seven Deadly Scams– and how to avoid them.”
Read more via Anne R. Allens Blog: Beware the Seven Deadly Writing Scams.
A great outcome for creative types…
“Writers Victoria welcomes the release of Creative Australia, the new National Cultural Policy launched by Arts Minister Simon Crean yesterday afternoon.Here’s a quick summary of what the National Cultural Policy will mean for Victorian writers.’
Read more via Writers Victoria welcomes the release of new cultural policy · Writers Victoria.
“Fresh out of ideas on how to help your writing take off? You’re in luck.
We’ve compiled a list of 89 book marketing ideas that will change your life, build your brand, and sell your book. There’s something for everyone on the list.
Best of all, the list is free. Completely free.
Sound intriguing? Read on.”
via 89 Book Marketing Ideas That Will Change Your Life | Author Media.
Geoff Brown -Writer 