Want to Strike a Funny Bone?
By G. Miki Hayden
Instructor at Writer's Digest University online and private writing coach
firstwriter.com – Thursday June 4, 2020
My editing client’s (erotic romantic) writing made me genuinely LOL—laugh out loud— which naturally caused me to muse on humor in fiction. The world is going to hell in a handbasket (they lowered workers in handbaskets to set off dynamite while building the railways). But let’s not go all gloomy Gus over our trials and tribulations. Laugh, clown, laugh. Did I mix any metaphors?
New Literary Agent Listing: Natalie Jerome
firstwriter.com – Wednesday June 3, 2020
Has a specific interest in commercial nonfiction across areas of health and wellness, food, current events, culture, music and entertainment as well as looking for vibrant new authors in children’s fiction.
Langlee leaves Kate Nash to join North Literary Agency
thebookseller.com – Tuesday June 2, 2020
Lina Langlee has left the Kate Nash Literary Agency to join the North Literary Agency.
Langlee, whose authors include Christina Courtenay, Sandy Barker, Stephen O’Rourke and Lucy Saxon, will remain based in Edinburgh.
With a background in publishing, Langlee joined Kate Nash as a junior agent in 2018 before winning a promotion last December and being shortlisted for Agent of the Year at the Romantic Novelists’ Association's Industry Awards.
At North, she joins an agency that was set up in October 2017 by four agents based in the north of England and Scotland: Mark Stanton, Allan Guthrie, Kevin Pocklington and Julie Fergusson.
Writing Insights: How Many Pages Should You Write in a Day?
authorlink.com – Monday June 1, 2020
Some writers are worried that they aren’t turning out as many pages as they should, or that they may be writing too fast.
So, let’s look at a reasonable daily output for a typical author. This is how I have answered similar questions on Quora.com.
Let’s do some simple math.
Three Agents Resign After Red Sofa Literary Owner's Tweet
publishersweekly.com – Monday June 1, 2020
The civil unrest in the Twin Cities continues to take its toll on Minnesota's literary community—sometimes in unexpected ways. Thursday evening, the night before protesters set fire to two adjoining Minneapolis indie bookstores and destroying them both, the reaction to a St. Paul–based literary agent’s tweet ended up gutting the boutique agency she owns.
Three agents affiliated with Red Sofa Literary tweeted this past weekend that they have resigned in response to owner Dawn Frederick’s tweet, leaving one subsidiary rights executive besides Frederick still employed there. Frederick's official Red Sofa account on Twitter has been removed.
Frankfurt Book Fair 2020 to go ahead
thebookseller.com – Thursday May 28, 2020
After weeks of speculation the Supervisory Board of the Frankfurt Book Fair decided yesterday (Wednesday 27th May) that the fair will take place as scheduled from 14th–18th October.
However it will be a very different Frankfurt. The plan is to run the event not only on the fair's grounds but also decentralized at locations in the city, and as a virtual event.
Strict safety and hygiene measures will be in place based on the coronavirus regulations of the state of Hesse, whose government together with Frankfurt’s mayor has been, and continues to be, deeply involved in getting the fair on the road.
New Literary Agent Listing: Trevor Dolby
firstwriter.com – Wednesday May 27, 2020
Looking for popular science with a clear relevance to everyday life, narrative history, military history, humour, biography, popular culture, natural history and great memoirs by passionate people whose lives have been well lived.
New Literary Agent Listing: Kenzi Nevins
firstwriter.com – Tuesday May 26, 2020
Represents both illustrators and writers for children's picture books, middle grade, and young adult. Interested in magic realism and mythology.
Bookselling Requires a Great Query Letter & It's Harder Than It Looks
bleedingcool.com – Monday May 25, 2020
The query letter is a single page—usually closer to half a page—whose purpose is to explain who the writer is and what their book is about. As Hodapp says, the letter has one goal: to get the agent to request the full manuscript, "period." It's harder than it looks. Agents receive thousands of letters and only respond to a small fraction.
Hodapp spent time explaining so many ways a query can go right or wrong. She talked about "comps," or comparative titles, the one or two existing books that the author's book is most like. Sometimes authors are afraid to mention comps because they don't think the comparison is close enough, or they mention too many– just another example of a challenge the author has to navigate to get the agent's eye. She also talked about tone, how authors can let emotions curdle a letter into a sort of complaint email, which defies the purpose of trying to get a follow-up. Hodapp frequently presents on writing and querying, and her advice is invaluable.
Unsold book returns in coming weeks could be another blow for publishers
toronto.citynews.ca – Sunday May 24, 2020
As publishers try to deal with the massive disruption to the book industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are bracing for another big blow that could arrive over the coming weeks as more retailers open their doors.
A massive return of books stemming from the two-month run of closed doors at bookshops and retail outlets could be a crushing financial hit for many domestic publishers, particularly the smaller independent variety.
“Publishing has always been a precarious business,” said Sarah MacLachlan, publisher of the Toronto-based House of Anansi Press.
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