Longrigg to retire from MBA Literary Agents after 25 years
thebookseller.com – Wednesday September 28, 2022
Laura Longrigg is retiring at the end of September 2022 after 25 years at MBA Literary Agents as an agent and director of the company.
Longrigg started her publishing career as assistant to Mic Cheetham at Abner Stein, before becoming an editor at HarperCollins, Hutchinson Heinemann and Penguin. In 1994 she joined Jennifer Kavanagh’s agency.
Since 1997 she has been a literary agent at MBA, where her clients have included Clare Morrall, Alex Dahl, Cathy Woodman and Rosanna Ley.
New Book Publisher Listing: Bass Clef Books
firstwriter.com – Wednesday September 28, 2022
A small, independent press based in the heartland of Kentucky, USA. Its mission is to promote contemporary works of writing that would be essential to the growth of creative language crafts from a broad aesthetic choir through a general submissions platform and a Sophomore Book Contest.
New Magazine Listing: The Fortnightly Review
firstwriter.com – Tuesday September 27, 2022
Online magazine publishing reviews, essays and reportage, fiction, and poetry.
So you want my arts job: Literary agent
artshub.co.uk – Monday September 26, 2022
Alex Adsett is a literary agent and publishing consultant with over 25 years’ experience working in the publishing and bookselling industry. She has managed Alex Adsett Literary since 2008, and as an agent or consultant has helped thousands of authors review and negotiate their publishing deals.
As an agent she represents more than 50 authors of all ages and genres, including Melissa Lucashenko, Peter Greste, Isobelle Carmody, and many more. As a consultant, she reviews and negotiates publishing contracts for authors without an agent.
New Publishing Imprint Listing: Schiffer Craft
firstwriter.com – Monday September 26, 2022
Publishes to help energize maker and craft communities worldwide. Dedicated to publishing high quality books and kits that inspire, instruct, and educate. Aims to enrich lives through craft.
Gemma Arrowsmith: My top tips on writing for the radio
comedy.co.uk – Friday September 23, 2022
I've been writing and script editing radio for quite a while now and it's a medium I really enjoy working in. Here are some thoughts and observations I've had about writing audio. I hope they might be useful to you as you write your next audio masterpiece.
Save Our Books campaign urges government to keep UK copyright exhaustion scheme
thebookseller.com – Friday September 23, 2022
The Publishers Association (PA) has written to the new secretaries of state for digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) and business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) to urge them to continue with the UK’s current copyright exhaustion scheme.
The PA, alongside its Save Our Books campaign partners, including the Association of Authors’ Agents, Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society and Society of Authors, want the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to stick to the current regime when it makes a final decision in March 2023.
The IPO consulted on changes to the UK’s copyright exhaustion regime last year, including considering a move to an international exhaustion regime. The Save Our Books campaign fought to retain the UK’s current regime, arguing that the proposed changes “would cause a projected loss of up to £2.2bn to the publishing industry, disincentivise the UK’s thriving book exports, and flood the UK with international copies of books tailored to other international audiences, typically American”.
Loughman swaps Bev James for The bks Agency
thebookseller.com – Thursday September 22, 2022
Literary agent Morwenna Loughman is departing Bev James Management to join The bks Agency.
Loughman has previously worked as an editor at Ebury, Bonnier and HarperCollins with authors including Hilary Mantel, Nigel Slater, Anna Jones, Marie Kondo, Brené Brown and Tim Ferriss, as well as commissioning books such as Body Positive Power by Megan Jayne Crabbe (Vermilion) and Ask Me His Name by Elle Wright (Lagom). She has since worked as a literary agent at Bev James Management.
Loughman said: “I’m over the moon to be joining the brilliant team at bks. I’ve long admired their spirit, warmth and tenacity, which, when combined with their unparalleled industry expertise, makes an unbeatable combination. The fact that they are also some of the loveliest people in publishing is the icing on the cake.”
New Literary Agent Listing: Lucy Irvine
firstwriter.com – Wednesday September 21, 2022
My taste is generally very broad; I represent anything that falls under the Childrens umbrella, from picture books to YA, as well as Science Fiction and Fantasy in the Adult market.
I’m being very selective with the picture books I take on at the moment, but am particularly looking here for funny stories with returnable potential and unexpected twists on popular themes.
My taste in middle-grade books veers towards the commercial; I’m drawn to quick-paced, adventurous narratives with series potential. I love stories set in worlds that pull you in and stay with you long after you’ve finished reading, and am particularly keen to see original worldbuilding and hooky, plot driven narratives.
On the YA side, I love all kinds of genre fiction, from fantasy to historical to romance to thriller. I’m drawn to romances with a twist, and am particularly looking here for diverse voices and protagonists. SFF wise I’m keen to see original world-building, and love anything that genre bends or offers a fresh take on traditional themes.
Adult wise, I accept submissions in anything that falls under the SFF umbrella, from urban to epic fantasy, from space opera to steampunk, but am not the right person for anything too grimdark, or anything with graphic sexual violence.
AI Writing Assistants: A Cure for Writer's Block or Modern-Day Clippy?
uk.pcmag.com – Tuesday September 20, 2022
In recent years, I've watched AI weave its way into our daily lives. It's written and directed movies, acted as a therapist, and visualized alternate realities. But I was curious to learn if AI is now smart enough to be an "intelligent writing assistant."
It's not too far off. As Microsoft points out in its Future of Work report, "AI is good at learning and scaling patterns, meaning for these activities people can instead focus on doing things in new ways and generating novel ideas. For example, someone might write a document by merely listing the ideas it should include. The details can be fleshed out automatically, much like developers use Copilot to flesh out ideas through code.”
But how realistic is that for the average would-be writer? We tried Jasper, Rytr, and HyperWrite to see if artificial intelligence can give our writing an edge.
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