So Pete from Big Brother has, according to the Sun, signed a “reported” £1m book deal. Interesting use of the word “reported”. Reported by whom exactly? The Sun? It is one of those words that always sound warning bells to me. Usually it means “uncorroborated”. Obviously the Sun has its
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Bank holidays hey, who needs them? Well, not freelancers, apparently. I spent mine writing about plagiarism, as, at the risk of sounding less than original, this year it has been the new rock and roll. Or was it the new black? Can’t remember which cliché I am meant to use
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Getting an agent these days can be harder than writing your book. I get lots of emails from people who have written their novel or the standard three chapters and a synopsis, but are stuck and don’t know what to do next. I had one such email this weekend and
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Iain Banks has admitted he is delivering his latest novel late after getting addicted to the computer game Civilisation. So bad was his addiction that the author of Complicity and the Wasp Factory was forced to smash up the CD and wipe all records from his computer. Procrastination is an
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The Times 12th August 2006 Danuta Kean investigates a new pitfall for would-be authors DARIN JEWELL IS NOT happy. In fact the proprietor of the Inspira Literary Agency is angry. “I’m not able to help. I am too busy,” he barks down the phone. “I don’t even believe you are
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an Rankin is under no illusions about motives: crime pays. At last year’s Cheltenham Festival he said: ‘Most of us [crime writers] are selling much more than any more “literary” author could hope for, so they can be as snooty as they like.’ Andrew Taylor whose crime novels have received critical plaudits, agrees: ‘At the end of the day, if you want to make a living as a writer, you stand a better chance if you’re writing crime fiction than if you are writing literary fiction.’
