First appeared in: Mslexia 56 winter 2012/13 Women have broken into the last bastion of macho writing, Science Fiction and Fantasy, and they are changing the market Forget everything you ever thought about Science Fiction and Fantasy (SFF). Forget nerdy boys role playing space heroes or Goth girls dressing as
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First published in the ALCS News August 2012 You have to hand it to the editors of Wikipedia – half of whom are under 28 – youthful rebellion never looked like this. By instigating a 24-hour blackout of the service in January, they became the first generation in history whose
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Creative writing degrees have sprung up like weeds in the literary landscape. At upwards of £9,000 a year, it’s easy to see their appeal to universities: they are nice little earners. For students they offer access to publishing, as well as the chance to concentrate on writing and to benefit
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Cue Entertainment Magazine Faced with flatlining sales, the end of the money-spinning Twilight and Harry Potter series and severe competition from rival media, it has been hard for book publishers to feel optimistic recently. But 2012 began with a glimpse of sunlight through the clouds. Hardback books have been thrown
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A friend of mine is a therapist and says you should always charge clients. If you don’t, she tells me, they take your work for granted and the sessions are a waste of time. I wish somebody would tell this to the myriad events organisers who think professional writers gain
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ALCS News Spring 2011 Six seconds. Count it: one, two, three, four, five, six. That is all it took for Gregory C Coleman to play a drum solo that would change music in ways no one sat in the studio with him 42 years ago could imagine. He was recording
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The Deal Online The UK is a world leader in the creative industries, but digitisation has undermined its competitiveness. The government has responded with the Digital Economy Bill, but this landmark legislation is under threat At the end of October British Secretary of State for Business Peter Mandelson surprised everybody
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“[Opting out of Google] like inertia selling,” claims Anthony Beevor, author of worldwide bestsellers Stalingrad and D Day: The Battle For Normandy. “Why should we have to make sure that they are not selling any of our different translations? My books are available in more than 30 languages, so I have to opt out for every bloody language. When you are talking about 12 titles in each language it is preposterous.”
Mslexia, Summer 2009 Dear Danuta, My book agent tells me that my book has been rejected by the large publishers as ‘too literary’ and ‘not commercial.’ I don’t understand: what is the difference between literary and commercial? Surely being literary is a plus? Diane, King’s Lyn
Daily Mail 9th July 2009 At a publishing event in Berlin recently, one well-known children’s author was chatting to another. They were comparing notes on their next novels when one started laughing. ‘Guess what?’ he said, as a wolfish grin spread across his face. ‘I am in a competition with
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