Yesterday I taught my first Guardian Masterclass of the year on how to pitch your book. The next is on 23rd February (click Guardian Masterclass for details). A question students always ask is: what exactly do agents want? It is easier to answer than you might think. Of course everyone
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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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This article first appeared in Mslexia Autumn 2012 Finding time to write can be hard, especially when you have to fit it into already packed schedules. Danuta Kean marvels at how women writers get so much done Over the past two months I have written four 2,000-word features (not including this),
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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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I want to play. Nah, not the awful depressing ‘adult’ variety of play that plagues us with requests in our junk mail folder. I want to play like a child. You see I’ve just read Sarah Salway’s piece for the issue of Mslexia I am editing (out in September). It’s
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This article first appeared in Mslexia, issue 53 Sea creatures are replacing vampires as the latest fantasy trend. Danuta Kean investigates A wave of mermaids and selkies threatens to wash away vampires and angels in popular fiction, as young adults turn from the sky to the sea for literary escape . But
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I hate that word ‘juggling’. Not because it doesn’t describe the frantic activity that consumes the lives of many of us, but because, well, when you juggle, you are usually holding onto one ball at a time. Everyone I know who ‘juggles’ – and I don’t just mean mothers of
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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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ALCS News Autumn 2011 An independent publisher tweeted me the other day. His company had developed a free iPhone app, that had done well, but hadn’t produced a single sale of the book it was created to promote. His tweet summed up the problem that faces bewildered authors and publishers after
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