Literary agents share the magic ingredients they’re looking for in a novel
metro.co.uk – Monday June 20, 2022
What keeps you hooked when you’re reading a novel?
Twists and turns? Great characters? Writing that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside?
Identifying the things that make a good book can be key when it comes to writing your own fiction. But what are experts in the industry looking for in new fiction writing?
We asked Lizzy Kremer, Jemima Forrester and Maddalena Cavaciuti, all literary agents at David Higham Associates, to share their magic ingredients for fiction.
Darley Anderson sheds light on publishing world with virtual open week
thebookseller.com – Saturday June 18, 2022
The Darley Anderson Agency will be hosting a virtual open week at the end of June with Twitter Q&As, pitch contests, Instagram Lives and helpful blog content.
Running from 27th June, the agency will welcome aspiring writers, readers and book fans to give them a glimpse of life at a commercial literary agency through a variety of online events.
The agency said it wanted to shed light on the publishing process, from submission to publication and everything in between, talking all things “entertainment fiction”.
AGNI, BU’s Elite Literary Magazine, Celebrates Its 50th Birthday
bu.edu – Friday June 17, 2022
The latest print edition of AGNI hit subscribers’ mailboxes and bookstores a month late, thanks to a ransomware attack on its Pennsylvania printer. The biannual literary magazine—crammed with essays, poetry, and reviews—battled cultural headwinds even before that delay: while pandemic isolating induced an uptick in reading, other research suggests that almost 60 percent of Americans never crack a book in a given year; pleasure reading of literary fiction especially is nosediving.
If it seems that fate has it in for AGNI as it celebrates its 50th birthday among the nation’s elite literary magazines, coeditor William Pierce makes the glass-half-full case: “I’m skeptical that there was ever a period when 40 percent or even 20 percent read literary work. In the era of Wordsworth, most in England were illiterate.” That even 40 percent of Americans read books actually “cuts against narratives of decline. To me, that’s a shockingly high number.”
The Constellation of Possibilities: An Approach to Writing Historical Fiction
crimereads.com – Wednesday June 15, 2022
The poet David Kirby once said that “only shallow people and charlatans begin with perfect knowledge of what it is they mean to say. An honest writer begins in ignorance and writes his way to the truth.”
The word “truth” is a bit controversial when it comes to historical fiction. Some authors of historical novels claim they only “stick to the facts,” while others acknowledge and celebrate their expansive creative license. When I wrote Oleander City: A Novel Based on the True Story, I did so with the understanding that our notions of “truth” are complex, and that what we accept as historical actuality is often incomplete or misguided. We all know about eye-witness testimony. Even the best efforts at recorded history, such as newspapers, letters, diaries, government records, books, etc., can be specious at best, in many cases mixed with many decades of rumor, myth, ignorance, personal bias, and deliberate manipulation. My first historical novel, The Wettest County in the World (titled Lawless in the movie tie-in edition), taught me a lot about this problem. I learned that in order to create a compelling narrative (the end goal for any fiction writer) I would need to be vigilant and unsparing while researching. I also learned to lean into my personal motivations, which was to seek out the gaps between what I call “the points of light,” or the moments that “really happened.”
But why do it as a novel at all? “If this story actually happened, then why didn’t you do it as non-fiction?”
New Literary Agent Listing: Saskia Leach
firstwriter.com – Wednesday June 15, 2022
Enjoys reading a wide range of genres and is fascinated by stories written from multiple perspectives. She also loves books which feature complex and dynamic characters.
UTA Acquires U.K. Literary and Talent Agency Curtis Brown
yahoo.com – Monday June 13, 2022
United Talent Agency (UTA) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire U.K. literary and talent agency Curtis Brown Group.
Under the terms of the deal, London-based Curtis Brown Group, founded in 1899, will continue to operate under its current name and management, including CEO Jonny Geller. The structure will allow both parries to continue their longstanding relationships with other agency partners in the U.K. and U.S.
Out with the 'chick lit' and in with the 'menopause thriller'? Leading British publisher says it wants more fiction books to reflect experiences of menopausal women after complaints about an over-focus on 'edgy' twentysomethings
dailymail.co.uk – Saturday June 11, 2022
- HarperCollins are creating a new genre they are calling the menopause thriller
- They want stories that ‘change the conversation surrounding menopause’
- It would portray peri-menopausal and menopausal women...who fight back’
- The new genre could spell the end of ‘chick lit’, which targeted younger women
A leading British publisher is ‘actively looking’ for fiction which reflects women’s experiences of the menopause.
HarperCollins wants to print stories that ‘change the conversation surrounding menopause’ following years of young female protagonists taking centre stage.
It comes as the subject is increasingly raised on TV, from Davina McCall’s Channel 4 documentary Sex, Mind and the Menopause to the Netflix political drama Borgen, in which the protagonist grapples with menopausal symptoms.
When Writing a Novel, Forget the How and Focus on the What
lithub.com – Saturday June 11, 2022
Back when we were running How I Met Your Mother together, my writing partner Craig Thomas and I had a sign hanging on the wall of our shared office, one of those little needlepoint samplers you can order on Etsy and personalize to say anything. Ours said, “WRITING’S HARD.”
Because it is. Writing is so hard. And there’s a peculiar amnesia attached to it—the mere fact that it’s hard always, always comes as a surprise. You sit down at your computer expecting a good time, and whammo, it’s work. Why is this so hard? you ask the blinking cursor. It should be fun! After all, every novel, movie, or show you love is, in some way or another, fun.
When you watch or read something great, the fun radiates from within, like heat from a furnace, so much that you assume there must be someone behind the scenes feeding it fun in great shovelfuls. And in a sense you’re right. Fun is one ingredient in the recipe of writing. Unfortunately, the other ingredient is writing. And writing’s hard.
Baldwin and McCalmont launch new scouting agency Zephyr
thebookseller.com – Thursday June 9, 2022
Literary scouts Naja Baldwin and Katie McCalmont have joined forces to launch a new international consulting and scouting agency called Zephyr.
The new agency is based in Soho, central London. It scouts UK and international books for publishers and film and TV companies, and has already signed up its first clients, including Hanser Verlag in Germany, Nieuw Amsterdam, Podium and Fontaine (Park Publishers) in the Netherlands, Polaris in Sweden, Kagge in Norway and Todavia Livros in Brazil.
Baldwin said: “Zephyr is named after the west wind, bringing change, warmth and fresh ideas. This captures the energy we want to bring to our new venture. I can’t think of a better partner than Katie to launch this agency with — she’s an innovative and creative thinker, bold in her ambitions and an absolute joy to work with."
Audiobook publishers record ten straight years of double digit growth
goodereader.com – Wednesday June 8, 2022
The audiobook segment is on a roll with publishers reporting the tenth straight year of continuous double-digit growth. As per data revealed in an Audio Publishers Association’s Sales Survey conducted by InterQ, the segment grew by a healthy 25 percent in 2021 to record revenues of $1.6 billion. There have also been about 76,000 audiobooks published in 2021, which marks a 6 percent rise compared to the preceding year.
The survey also revealed science fiction and fantasy titles were among the most sought after, followed closely by mystery, thrillers, and suspense stories. Romance and fiction made up a close third while revenue from audiobooks for children and young adults too witnessed growth in revenue.
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