Conde Nast magazines like Wired, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair have a new contract that changes the film option agreement (think about films based on articles like Argo, Brokeback Mountain, and Eat Pray Love This article warn writers about some of the pitfalls.
Very good overview article on thinking about your writing career. When the time is right, my clients and I discuss the business aspects of writing. This ranges from our first contact when they’re wondering whether their work is marketable to considering their audience’s needs during editing or rewriting. When the final product is done, we then discuss market trends that will impact their choice of agents and publishers.
Publishing is a business and, as the author, you must consider yourself the CEO of your book. From start to finish—the germ of a book idea to publication (and beyond)—you must take charge. If you make good business decisions, you will surely experience greater success. If not, then, you could be one of the nearly 78 percent of authors who fail.
Writing the Perfect Query Letter with Laine Cunningham, presented by Alice Osborn
Location: Center for Excellence, 3803-B Computer Dr. Suite 106, Raleigh, NC 27609
Saturday, March 9 Time: 1:30-4:30pm
Fee: $55 (Early Bird till March 1st)/$75 after
Registration: Click here
Your query letter is every bit as important as the opening pages of your novel. It’s your first opportunity to show your writing skills to a prospective agent or editor. Make it count! Make it shine! A good query letter should make that editor and agent want to read your material…and it should grab their hearts in the thirty seconds or so they give each query in their pile. In this class, publishing consultant and owner of the Writer’s Resource Laine Cunningham will discuss the three important elements to inject into your query so you can get published. Fiction and nonfiction authors writing books, stories or articles will benefit from this class.
Laine Cunningham’s clients consistently garner attention from the nation’s top publishers and agents. Several of her clients’ books have been shopped around Hollywood and have received film options. She has been quoted on CNN Money, Media Bistro, and The Writer Magazine for her opinion on the end of the Harry Potter series, the “Oprah Effect,” and Sarah Palin’s ghostwriter. She has presented workshops and lectures for The Loft, the nation’s largest independent literary organization; the National Writer’s Union; The Writer’s Workshop in Asheville and writing conferences across the country.
This article from Review Review is probably familiar to those of you who write short stories. Too often authors hear from agents and publishers that their collection is fantastic in so many ways…but they aren’t interested unless the author also has a novel.
I’ve sponsored a writing contest for the last four years. When I first approached the literary magazine that administers the contest, the publisher and senior editor both agreed that short story collections, linked or not, would be accepted and encouraged as submissions.
Last year a collection won first place, and in previous years, collections have placed second, third, or as honorable mention. The Blotter and I are very clear in our support of short stories as viable, living art.
BUILDING AN AUTHOR PLATFORM
When: Saturday, January 19, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Where: Downtown Thai Restaurant, 202 W. Fourth St.
Register: http://www.wswriters.org/creative-seminar
Cost: $30 (members) / $40 (non-members) (lunch included)
Dena Harris and Chris Laney will help you build your author brand in a seminar that could be critical to your writing career. Sponsored by the Winston-Salem Writers.
Shelf Unbound is a magazine that is distributed to booksellers nationwide. They accept books from independent, small and self-publishers, which is can still be difficult to find.
Sipscard is another unique idea that allows authors of short prose to get their work out to a wide readership. From the publishers:
Sips Card puts short fiction and poetry into local coffee shop venues around the country (and in Scotland). We are a publication run by artists, for artists. Each card contains a QR code, loaded with a short story, or set of poems, from a writer meant to last as long as a cup of coffee. The cards include the issue’s author, story title, and website/e-mail.
Quite an interesting look into book sales in India. They’re nearly all pirated copies. And yet the demand is really of note. In one of the poorest countries in the world, books are so important there are whole industries dedicated to providing them one title at a time, one street sale at a time.
Beth Hayden, a social marketing expert, offers ideas on how to sell books with Pinterest.
For book authors, here are 20 low-cost ways to market your books.
GalleyCat’s list of 20 places to market your book for free.
This is a very short essay about one author’s experience marketing her book after a traditional publisher picked it up. Although she’s a children’s book author, the core of her experience is pretty common.
Most important lesson:
Publishing is a business and books are products. Help buyers understand why they should purchase your product over someone else’s.
Writer's Resource/Sunspot Lit 