The big idea: should we abolish literary genres?
theguardian.com – Tuesday November 28, 2023
In her Reith lecture of 2017, recently published for the first time in a posthumous collection of nonfiction, A Memoir of My Former Self, Hilary Mantel recalled the beginnings of her career as a novelist. It was the 1970s. “In those days historical fiction wasn’t respectable or respected,” she recalled. “It meant historical romance. If you read a brilliant novel like I, Claudius, you didn’t taint it with the genre label, you just thought of it as literature. So, I was shy about naming what I was doing. All the same, I began. I wanted to find a novel I liked, about the French Revolution. I couldn’t, so I started making one.”
She made A Place of Greater Safety, an exceptional ensemble portrayal of the revolutionaries Danton, Robespierre and Desmoulins, but although the novel was completed in 1979, it wasn’t published until 1992 – widely rejected, as she later explained, because although she thought the French Revolution was the most interesting thing in the world, the reading public didn’t agree, or publishers had concluded they didn’t. She decided to write a contemporary novel – Every Day Is Mother’s Day – purely to get published; A Place of Greater Safety emerged only when she contributed to a Guardian piece about writers’ unpublished first novels.
Bentley and Singh join TGLA as literary agents
thebookseller.com – Tuesday November 28, 2023
Amandeep Singh and Kerry-Ann Bentley have joined The Good Literary Agency (TGLA) as literary agents and both will be building their lists across fiction and non-fiction. Author Arden Jones has also joined as submissions co-ordinator.
Singh has worked in publishing for seven years, beginning her career at Hamish Hamilton before working at Canelo. She became an assistant at The Blair Partnership before joining Ebury, HarperCollins and Penguin Press, where she collaborated on books by Greta Thunberg, Grace Dent and Nikita Gill. She published only debut authors during her time at HarperCollins, including Taz Alam, Oloni and Bretman Rock. She is primarily looking for literary fiction, narrative non-fiction, memoir and essays, as well as poetry, politics, cookery and food writing.
The Reading Agency launches call for submissions for Quick Reads 2025
readingagency.org.uk – Thursday November 23, 2023
The Reading Agency is pleased to announce that it is seeking publisher submissions for consideration for its life-changing 2025 Quick Reads programme.
Quick Reads are short, high-quality books that engage adult readers who lack reading confidence or have fallen out of the reading habit. They play a key role in getting the nation to read, especially those who find reading challenging. The challenge we face today is that one in three adults do not regularly read for pleasure and one in six adults find reading difficult. The titles are written by popular authors using accessible language and plots. And it works; over 5.3 million Quick Reads titles have been distributed since the program began in 2006.
This year, in addition to working with our existing publishing partners, The Reading Agency is also actively seeking submissions from SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) and independent publishers. This new development has been made possible with funding support from The Foyle Foundation. It will enable smaller independent publishers to take part in the programme for the first time by helping to remove some of the barriers that often prevent them from participating.
Northern Writers’ Awards open for entries in 25th anniversary year
newsroom.northumbria.ac.uk – Wednesday November 22, 2023
The Northern Writers’ Awards will celebrate their 25th anniversary year in 2024, with many of the award categories now open for entry until 12 February 2024.
Founded and produced by New Writing North, with support from Northumbria University and Arts Council England, the Northern Writers’ Awards are the largest and longest-running writer development programme of their kind in England, with a reputation for identifying some of the country’s best unpublished writing. Previous winners include Katie Hale, Kit Fan, Benjamin Myers, Okechukwu Nzelu, Andrew McMillan, Helen Mort, Sharma Walfall and Hannah Hodgson.
By supporting writers at an earlier stage than most literary awards – usually before an agent or publisher is involved – the Northern Writers’ Awards offer crucial support for writers at a pivotal stage of their careers, as well as providing a pipeline of new talent to the publishing and broadcast industries.
New Publisher Listing: Howgate Publishing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday November 22, 2023
An international publisher of contemporary military science books with a particular focus on war, ethics, law, technology, strategy, and leadership. Books are designed to study military processes, institutions, and behaviour as they relate to the study of warfare, the theory, and the application of force.
On getting the details right
thecreativeindependent.com – Tuesday November 21, 2023
Author and editor Aram Mrjoian discusses the process of selecting submitted work and developing an editor's eye.
Do you consider yourself a writer first or an editor first?
I found editing through writing. When I was an undergrad in college, I started writing fiction and some creative nonfiction. I was really bad, but continued after I graduated and then eventually got into an MFA program at Northwestern in my mid-twenties, where I started taking my writing more seriously. That’s when I thought maybe I had a shot at this.
In that program, I found editing the way a lot of graduate students do, which is through the university’s literary journal, TriQuarterly. That was my first gig in editing literary work. As a writer, I was a slow study. For years, I didn’t know how to improve my work. But when I went back to grad school, a lot of things clicked very quickly. All of a sudden I wanted to consume as much knowledge as I could to become a better writer. Editing allowed me to do that. When I started reading work that was being considered for publication, it dramatically influenced my own process and my own craft. From there, I fell in love with it. So I’ve been an editor at different literary magazines for the last seven or eight years, and have really enjoyed the community it brings about and what I’ve learned as part of that process.
Submissions for the Bournemouth Writing Prize 2024 are now open
bournemouth.ac.uk – Monday November 20, 2023
Poets and short story writers are invited to submit their entries to this year’s Bournemouth Writing Prize, run by Fresher Publishing at Bournemouth University.
The international writing competition offers the opportunity to win a cash prize and record a reading of your work at BU’s recording studios. All entries will also be considered for inclusion in the anthologies that Fresher Publishing produces each year.
This year’s judges include Ansa Khan Khattak – Editorial Director at Spectre, Antony Dunn – a published poet and Julia Silk – an agent at Greyhound Literary
New Literary Agent Listing: Megan Brown
firstwriter.com – Monday November 20, 2023
I am interested in nonfiction books. Specifically, I am most excited about pursuing projects in Bible study, reference, theology, Christian living and devotionals, spiritual formation, the integration of work and faith, marriage and family, church life, ministry, leadership, evangelism, and missions.
Nonfiction author Kim Cross breaks down how to sell a book proposal
niemanstoryboard.org – Saturday November 18, 2023
A book project is no pursuit for impatient writers. Bringing a book from the page to stores requires a blend of timing, stamina and alchemy: a ripe idea, relevance in the zeitgeist, a confluence of favorable market conditions and editorial partners who have the determination — and means — to help sell it. Journalist Kim Cross waited nearly eight years for these factors to converge before “In Light of All Darkness” would live in the world.
Cross, who is based in Idaho, began nursing the idea of filling in reporting gaps of an infamous true crime case in 2015. She spent the next year or so tracking down archival material, interviewing subjects and mapping out the arc of a propulsive story about the kidnapping of Polly Klaas, a 12-year-old who lived in Petaluma, California, in 1993.
Cross initially pitched the book in 2015 — shortly after the publication of her first book, “What Stands in a Storm” — but didn’t land a deal. After a potential offer fell through, she shifted her attention to other projects. Then, in 2021, Cross found an editor and publisher who felt like a good fit and were committed to publishing the book “with muscle,” as she puts it.
Storyboard talked with Cross about what nonfiction writers need to know about the book publishing process, how a book proposal mirrors and diverges from a magazine pitch, and the roles that each editorial partner plays. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Peek inside a successful book proposal
niemanstoryboard.org – Friday November 17, 2023
Author Kim Cross annotates the lengthy proposal that landed a contract for the book that revisits the 1993 Polly Klaas kidnapping
This is one of two posts featuring Kim Cross on the successful pitch-and-proposal process that led to her new book, ‘In Light of All Darkness.’ In this post, Cross annotates the proposal that landed her a contract after previous pitches fell short. In a companion piece, Cross answers questions about agents, timing and money.
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