Friday, February 13, 2015

Publishing Industry News

This week's publishing news and industry blogs post covers 1/31-2/13.


Publishing News

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America now accepts self-published authors and small press authors.

The Anderson family, Books-A-Million shareholders, makes an offer to purchase all outstanding shares to make the business privately owned. The Board of Directors considers.

Author Harper Lee, who also wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, prepares to publish her second book and is by all accounts very happy to do so, negating any concerns that she might have been hoodwinked or coerced due to declining health.


Industry Blogs

Writer Beware offers a couple of warnings. You know I'm all about my awesome writers' groups, but while most are an amazing tool for writers, there are also writing groups out there that practically wave red flags: Strauss finds a few that are sponsored by vanity publishers. And watch out for editing clauses in contracts; some are fine and some are, uh, not so fine. Strauss explains how to protect yourself. Also some good news, the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy has revised some questionable contract clauses based on feedback from members.

Agent Janet Reid answers questions and offers advice. What do you do if your dream agent is closed to queries? (Why do you have a single "dream agent"? And might as well query anyway.) She explains what a good working relationship between an author and an agent looks like. And don't write your query in any POV than your own.

QueryTracker offers a couple of tips to increase writer productivity, including staying focused with internet blockers and increasing your word count by learning to avoid "helpful" distractions.

Agent Kristin Nelson explains what "uneven writing" (often found in rejection letters) actually means. She also posts another pair of installments in the "How to know if an agent is a good agent" series: Part 1 and Part 2.

Author Kristin Kathryn Rusch muses about how following trends has negative long-term effects on a writer (such as making you no longer enthusiastic about writing). And she also muses about some of the weird misinformation writers collect, in part due to reading older books on writing (don't bother asking a reputable agent if they charge photocopying fees; snail mail manuscripts aren't even a part of the industry anymore).

Agent Jessica Faust reminds you to leave Track Changes on when editing. She also shares her thoughts on cozy mystery vs amateur sleuth vs traditional mystery novels, and the line between them--it's sometimes quite hazy.

On the Books & Such Literary Agency blog, what to do if one of your blog posts goes viral.

On the Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal blog, how Pinterest fits into your social media campaign.

The Visual Communications Guy creates an infographic on How to Use Text (great if you're designing a cover and thinking about fonts!)


What other publishing news have you encountered in the past two weeks?

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