This week's publishing news and industry blogs post covers 2/14-2/27/15.
Publishing News
We knew Nook is splitting off from the rest of Barnes and Noble, and we thought it was taking the college textbook division with it. It isn't--textbooks are splitting off on their own.
The first ten titles from Amazon's Kindle Scout have been selected for publication.
Blogger updates its policies, the upcoming policy change that will make all "adult content" blogs private (starting March 23). This will affect blogs with nudity and sexually explicit material, and many erotica and romance authors and reviewers expect to be affected. Also asking if they will be affected are LGTB bloggers, sex education bloggers, and other bloggers whose blogs have been labeled as "adult content." EDIT: As of 5pm 2/27, Blogger has reversed this decision. (Well, that didn't last long...)
Industry Blogs
On QueryTracker, a couple of writing productivity tips: make a mini-outline, avoid multitasking when writing, and have measurable goals.
Author Nathan Bransford offers 4 tips for handling multiple points of view in 3rd person fiction. He also shares a link digest of several weeks' worth of recent publishing news.
Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware explains editing clauses, what you should look for, and what a good editing clause versus a bad editing clause looks like.
Agent Kristin Nelson explains why Deal Lunch (link to Deal Lunch) should probably be taken with a grain of salt, despite being a very valuable contribution to the publishing landscape. Also, she offers an example of the power of a Kindle Daily Deal.
Agent Nephele Tempest with an assortment of writing links. Plus some more links. I particularly recommend the opportunities for writers for March and April.
Agent Jessica Faust gives advice. Planning on co-authoring? She says the first thing to do is have a written contract, before any work begins. Her fellow agent, Kim Lionetti, posts her goals and wishlist for 2015.
Agent Janet Reid answers questions and gives advice as well. When is it okay to ask questions in a query? (When they're not rhetorical questions.) If you get so much help with your query that it's no longer in your own voice, is that okay? (No. Your voice is one of your selling points, and if the query and sample don't match, it's a bad thing.) What if you're a pantser, but the publisher asks for an outline of your next work? (Don't sweat it; lots of pantsers sell on premise with no outline.)
Reid answers more questions. An agent misses two scheduled calls from an author; is it time to assume they're no longer interested, and find another? (Not necessarily; the agent may be super-busy. But if it really bothers you, personally, probably.) Why do agents sometimes represent genres they say they don't represent? (Because sometimes books fall into more than one genre, and a publisher picks it up as something different from what the agent expected. Let the publisher/agent determine the genre.) When if a book has poor sales when published by a small publisher due to lack of marketing, is it okay to re-shop it to agents/publishers under a different title? (NO. You must tell them it's been previously published.) An agent rejects one work but asks you query with later works. Is it okay to query someone else instead? (Yes; she was just saying she liked your work. It's perfectly acceptable not to go straight to her.)
The Editor's Blog explains how to use lyrics and poetry in text, including what's covered by fair use clauses and where authors can get into trouble.
On the Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal blog, Nancy Lee Badger explains how to be a good guest blogger. Maureen Bonatch explains how to use details well to show a character's quirks but not be overbearing in description. And Sophia Kimble explains how "write what you know" applies to paranormal, when "what you know" isn't the paranormal.
On the Books & Such blog, agent Wendy Lawton explains if you've made fatal submission mistake or not with several common "oops" moments. Agent Janet Grant explains what happens when a bookstore files a Chapter 11 bankruptcy (as the Family Christian Store recently has) and how it affects the industry as a whole, even when no stores close.
Pop Chart Labs makes an infographic demonstrating the various genres and all their subgenres.
The Visual Communication Guy crafts another infograpic on designing with various fonts: "Type-ology 101"
Poets & Writers debuts a tool to hook writers up with readers, helping readers find poetry slams, author signings, etc.
And this might not be exciting news to anyone else, but Pathfinder novels are in the works, with Tor and Piazo working together to make them happen.
How much like Twilight is the infamous 50 Shades of Grey? An infographic compares them.
What other publishing news have you encountered in the past two weeks?
Publishing News
We knew Nook is splitting off from the rest of Barnes and Noble, and we thought it was taking the college textbook division with it. It isn't--textbooks are splitting off on their own.
The first ten titles from Amazon's Kindle Scout have been selected for publication.
Blogger updates its policies, the upcoming policy change that will make all "adult content" blogs private (starting March 23). This will affect blogs with nudity and sexually explicit material, and many erotica and romance authors and reviewers expect to be affected. Also asking if they will be affected are LGTB bloggers, sex education bloggers, and other bloggers whose blogs have been labeled as "adult content." EDIT: As of 5pm 2/27, Blogger has reversed this decision. (Well, that didn't last long...)
Industry Blogs
On QueryTracker, a couple of writing productivity tips: make a mini-outline, avoid multitasking when writing, and have measurable goals.
Author Nathan Bransford offers 4 tips for handling multiple points of view in 3rd person fiction. He also shares a link digest of several weeks' worth of recent publishing news.
Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware explains editing clauses, what you should look for, and what a good editing clause versus a bad editing clause looks like.
Agent Kristin Nelson explains why Deal Lunch (link to Deal Lunch) should probably be taken with a grain of salt, despite being a very valuable contribution to the publishing landscape. Also, she offers an example of the power of a Kindle Daily Deal.
Agent Nephele Tempest with an assortment of writing links. Plus some more links. I particularly recommend the opportunities for writers for March and April.
Agent Jessica Faust gives advice. Planning on co-authoring? She says the first thing to do is have a written contract, before any work begins. Her fellow agent, Kim Lionetti, posts her goals and wishlist for 2015.
Agent Janet Reid answers questions and gives advice as well. When is it okay to ask questions in a query? (When they're not rhetorical questions.) If you get so much help with your query that it's no longer in your own voice, is that okay? (No. Your voice is one of your selling points, and if the query and sample don't match, it's a bad thing.) What if you're a pantser, but the publisher asks for an outline of your next work? (Don't sweat it; lots of pantsers sell on premise with no outline.)
Reid answers more questions. An agent misses two scheduled calls from an author; is it time to assume they're no longer interested, and find another? (Not necessarily; the agent may be super-busy. But if it really bothers you, personally, probably.) Why do agents sometimes represent genres they say they don't represent? (Because sometimes books fall into more than one genre, and a publisher picks it up as something different from what the agent expected. Let the publisher/agent determine the genre.) When if a book has poor sales when published by a small publisher due to lack of marketing, is it okay to re-shop it to agents/publishers under a different title? (NO. You must tell them it's been previously published.) An agent rejects one work but asks you query with later works. Is it okay to query someone else instead? (Yes; she was just saying she liked your work. It's perfectly acceptable not to go straight to her.)
The Editor's Blog explains how to use lyrics and poetry in text, including what's covered by fair use clauses and where authors can get into trouble.
On the Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal blog, Nancy Lee Badger explains how to be a good guest blogger. Maureen Bonatch explains how to use details well to show a character's quirks but not be overbearing in description. And Sophia Kimble explains how "write what you know" applies to paranormal, when "what you know" isn't the paranormal.
On the Books & Such blog, agent Wendy Lawton explains if you've made fatal submission mistake or not with several common "oops" moments. Agent Janet Grant explains what happens when a bookstore files a Chapter 11 bankruptcy (as the Family Christian Store recently has) and how it affects the industry as a whole, even when no stores close.
Pop Chart Labs makes an infographic demonstrating the various genres and all their subgenres.
The Visual Communication Guy crafts another infograpic on designing with various fonts: "Type-ology 101"
Poets & Writers debuts a tool to hook writers up with readers, helping readers find poetry slams, author signings, etc.
And this might not be exciting news to anyone else, but Pathfinder novels are in the works, with Tor and Piazo working together to make them happen.
How much like Twilight is the infamous 50 Shades of Grey? An infographic compares them.
What other publishing news have you encountered in the past two weeks?
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