From Delight and Pastime or Pleasant Diversion for both sexes consisting of Good History &c &c (1697) as quoted in Humour, Wit and Satire of the Seventeenth Century collected and illustrated by John Ashton:
“If you ask why borrowed Books seldom return to their Owners? this is the Reason one gives for it : Because ’tis easier to keep ’em, than what is in them.”
Ain’t that the truth.
I want to start this week’s writer link soup with two author success stories from the Shooting Stars blog: Sarah Wylie and Mary Lindsey. Check them out; their story could be your story someday!
At the suggestion of her son, Becky Levine digs into the metaphorical Professor Umbridge, while Kelly Morgan of Distracted By The Internet gives us an intriguing peek into her writing process.
Heather Singh writes in her Composition Book about the Top Ten highlights from the Novel Writing Retreat at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, while John over at BookFox gives into the “evil meme” and presents his list of the Top Eight books that have influenced him. I may give into this fad myself soon.
Les Edgerton advises writers to avoid “as” and “-ing” phrases, while Lydia at The Sharp Angle discusses how to use micro-themes to bring energy to your writing.
Juliette Wade at Talk To YoUniverse explains how to let your characters use their social skills, and Liesl at Writer Ropes and Hopes kicks off her Contradictions series (a very clever idea, by the way) by navigating between showing and telling.
And big THANKS to Jade Smith for including my “In Defense of Coffee Shop Writers” in her latest link wave!
We have some interesting links from publishing biz pros this week. By the way, subscribed yet? Check out the sidebar and sign up!
The Author magazine editor’s blog attacks some intriguing issues for writers: the great discipline it takes to write without an outline, ending a story before the readers expect it to end, and how the lowest of lows proves that there is a high within us. Good reads!
Rob Asghar explains, in a special and snarkily funny piece for the Huffington Post, seven lessons for aspiring authors: Go Rogue! Definitely worth the click.
Eric at Pimp My Novel explains the epistemology of publishing in five easy minutes, while the Moby Lives blogs addresses something near and dear to my heart as a religious scholar who focused on Islam during my heady days at the University of Virginia: better textual analysis of early copies of the Qur’an.
Alan Rinzler of The Book Deal asks “Is a bestseller hiding in your academic papers?” and offers some insider tips for preparing and delivering a winning pitch.
Finally, Moonrat at Editorial Ass answers the following ass-tastic questions:
Enjoy!
Oh, we have a big ol’ bunch o’ literary agent links this week, my friends.
FYI: Jessica at BookEnds will not consider representing you for an up-front payment in lieu of or in addition to a commission, and she probably won’t click a link to a video query, but she will answer a lot of questions about submitting a partial.
At Dystel & Goderich, Jane explains how the submission process works, Miriam throws in her two cents about thrillers, and Jessica dismisses a few misconceptions about publishing.
Nathan Bransford dives into hard-sell query letter subject lines, answers ten questions about self-publishing, and points out the literary impact of one of my favorite cognitive biases: the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Janet Reid reminds us to be careful with queries and death threats, while Nathan Henrion wonders if fiction writers can mimic musical artists.
Finally, the Rejectionist discusses recent demonic rejections, while Rachelle Gardner discusses freelance editors and how long the process takes from submission to hitting the shelves.
This week’s writer links begin with two approaches to critique groups: Becky Levine tells us what to expect from her critiques, while Brandi Guthrie at Cursings and Musings discusses what advice to take and what not to take.
Lydia Sharp at The Sharp Angle explains No. 11 of the 52 Qualities of the Prosperous Writer: Good Health. Also, kudos to Lydia for pointing the way to this cool writing advice video on YouTube.
On Not Being Able To Write writer ellanbethia lays out her rejection-letter goals, and Juliette Wade at Talk to YoUniverse discusses choosing the right narrator.
Les Edgerton (to whom I introduced you in my analysis of Jeremy) takes a few deep dives into: Southern Stereotypes, Censorship and Why I Love Charles Bukowski, and his new-found talent as a Goldfish Whisperer.
Finally, Jade Smith serves up a creepy piece of flash fiction in “pawnshop visitor.” (I’m following her capitalization convention here.)
Enjoy! And, Happy Give-Me-Liberty Day!
Topping the list of this week’s publishing links is Kate Harding writing for Salon.com on the (perceived?) duality of women’s fiction: self-pitying “misery lit” vs. fashion-and-romance “chick lit.”
I would say that it’s a must read for anyone with a word processor and a pair of X chromosomes, but male writers could also benefit from it: the piece might help them look at their own writing to see how it fits or violates various ideas of what constitutes “dude lit.”
Consulting editor Alan Rinzler at The Book Deal reveals how one young adult author landed two multi-book deals, while Dennis at the Moby Lives blog reveals an alternative to all those Amazon associates links and discusses redactive poetry and the Fair Use doctrine.
(Also, there’s a really funny example of redactive poetry there: “How To Be Charitable, Glenn Beck”)
Moonrat at Editorial Ass answers reader questions about submissions that need more work, what books should be made into movies, and whether one even wants to be published at all!
Finally, Eric at Pimp My Novel dives into the factors affecting how many of your books an account will buy, and how the approaching “e-pocalypse” is unveiled* in the iTunes store.
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* You have no idea how much this trans-linguistic pun pleases me.
Hey kids! And by “kids” I mean all of you, because children’s and young adult publishing is being buoyed partly by adults who read books not intended for adults.
When Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney says, “There are a lot of adults I encounter who exclusively read children’s literature,” I would have to concur.
Although certain examples of YA fiction might hinge a bit too much on stiflingly immature emotions and fantasies, preferring kids’ lit is not necessarily a sign of being unable to operate in the grown-up world. As regular readers of this blog might know, I’m no fan of glittery pedophilic vampires with sappy purity pledge sentiments, but I do admire Milne and consider The Hobbit to be well worthy its more “mature” literary siblings.
And, the first Harry Potter fan I ever met was a national security professional working a mission in which all of the violent ugliness of the real world was unavoidable. Grown-ups can enjoy children’s books and still be grown-ups.
All of which is mere preface to my publishing link of the weekend, from the Sunday Washington Post: The future of children’s book publishing. Enjoy!
As one of my regular agent blog reads once stated, lack of a query response is the same as a form rejection. So, as I absorb this advice and rack up my next round of queries, let’s check out some more good advice from our favorite literary agents.
Yes, I scour the best literary agent blogs for goodies so you don’t have to! You can thank me by clickerating that RSS feed button. Gently! It’s made of pixels.
Jessica at BookEnds explains why bad queries are great news for good query writers, lets us in on her query pet peeves, gives us some idea of the business rhythm at BookEnds, and tells us to go ahead and send a thank-you note after a rejection. And, no, she will not rep your 2000-page book.
Over at Dystel & Goderich, Miriam discusses the good and bad of Facebook, Stacey offers some sobering advice about picking a genre (and more!), Jessica navigates the fine line between too much and not enough info in a query letter, Lauren confesses her unrepentant bibliophilia (“teetering piles” of books? me too!), and Jane tells us what negotiating looks like.
Janet Reid clarifies when she does and does not want to hear from you, Jennifer Jackson explains that your query may have been eaten by the grue (and also explains a li’l something about genre), and Kristin Nelson answers boatloads of reader questions. “How many boatloads?” you ask, noting anxiously that there was no hyperlink in that last clause. One, two, three boatloads!
Finally, Nathan Bransford tells us how to write and format a query. He also picks Moby-Dick as his “desert island book,” winning instant kudos from yours truly. Although a giant pop-up book on sailing with a styrofoam dust sleeve might be a wiser choice…
[Also: how do I decide what to bold in these link lists? Well, if there’s a site or firm name, I bold that. Otherwise I bold the blog writer’s name.]
Okay, let’s kick out some links from publishing and editing professionals. It’s my slimmest category of link soups, but this week’s ingredients are tasty indeed.
For example, there’s a bit of hope for authors having a hard time breaking into the industry: Eric at Pimp My Novel is wondering if print-on-demand is the future of print, while Alan Rinzler at The Book Deal explains how self-publishing can lead to a real book deal.
Moonrat at Editorial Ass explains what the standard submission process is like, and the Moby Lives blog tackles a slew of publishing issues: the new ISBN format, the trouble with iPad’s text-reading functionality, and 21st Century information overload.
We are back around into the lit agent arc of my new link soup cycle. (Those of you who missed the big three-way split … psht! There’s an RSS button in the sidebar now. No excuse!)
Have fun; and if you know of a fantastic lit agent writing a blog I’m missing, let me know!
Jessica at BookEnds tells us how to submit a partial, and how to find agents and publishers. She also published an updated version of her publishing dictionary, which reminds me that I have to keep mine updated.
Jennifer Jackson responds to reader questions about queries that don’t follow her agency’s guidelines, Kristin Nelson rants about the agency commission model for ebooks, and Rachelle Gardner says, “Let’s Hear It For Old Fashioned Books!”
Finally, Lucienne Diver wraps up her Debut Week series of guest blogs (which I featured in my last writer link soup) with an agent’s perspective.
Enjoy!
