Picking A Literary Agent

According to Chuck Sambuchino, Editor of The Guide to Literary Agents , there are 1300 odd Literary agents in the US alone. What makes one decide to pick over another? In your query to the agent, he recommends including a line as to why you are contacting the agent. One easy way to establish a connection with an agent is simply to cite something they’ve said in an interview. He has approximately 150 agent interviews so far on the GLA blog.  Click here for the interviews. If you can quickly explain a compelling reason, then the agent realizes that you’ve done your homework and targeted them for a reason. This is a good thing.

He also lists the best agent blogs of 2011 on his website. Well worth the read.   Click here for details.

The Next Big Author – Bloomsbury, Random House, Orion, Little Brown, Hodder

YouWriteOn.com is supporting The Next Big Author initiative.

In May 2011, the publishers of many of the world’s most famous authors – including Dan Brown, J.K. Rowling, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King and Stephenie Meyer – join to support The Next Big Author: a new initiative which encourages budding authors to write the opening to a novel in May.

Deadline May 31.

Scott Adams’ PR Nightmare

Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert cartoon strip, is in midst of a PR nightmare – and its all his doing. It all started when he commented that “women are treated differently by society for exactly the same reason that children and the mentally handicapped are treated differently.” As expected, there was a furor. To defend him, an anonymous user jumped in. Only, it turns out, this defender was Adams himself.

Click here  for the rest of the story.

Travel Writing Competition

You could win £1000 for the ‘Just Back’ article of the year, hosted by The Telegraph. That’s for the best article of the year. Every week you stand to win £200 in the currency of your choice.

Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced

Pulitzer Prize winners have been announced. A few of interest:

FICTION – “A Visit from the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan (Alfred A. Knopf)

DRAMA – “Clybourne Park” by Bruce Norris

HISTORY – “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery” by Eric Foner (W. W. Norton & Company)

BIOGRAPHY – “Washington: A Life” by Ron Chernow (The Penguin Press)

POETRY – “The Best of It: New and Selected Poems” by Kay Ryan (Grove Press)

GENERAL NONFICTION – “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner)

MUSIC – “Madame White Snake’” by Zhou Long, premiered on February 26, 2010 by Opera Boston at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.

Click here   for details.

The Publishing Scene in India

With India publishing the third largest number of English books in the world, and to a large reading audience, India is not an insignificant market.  Add to that the indigenous e-book readers, Wink and Infibeam Pi, with built-in Indian language support, and the potential for book sales is huge.

A few independent publishers have come together as Independent Publishers’ Distribution Alternatives. Other small publishers are aligning themselves with larger ones to market their books – like Zubaan Books with Penguin, Permanent Black and with Orient Blackswan.

Click here  for the entire article.

E-book Sales Triple From Last Year

It is official. E-books are now outselling their counterparts in print by a margin of 3 to 1. Click here for details.

This is good news for authors whose back-list books haven’t done particularly well. They have another shot at getting their books out there, this time in e-book format.

Talk By Orhan Pamuk

Harry Kreisler’s interview of Orhan Pamuk at UC Berkeley’s Institute of International Studies. Video’s a little long, but well worth it.

Another Turkish author who comes highly recommended – Elif Shafak. Her Bastard of Istanbul is sitting on my sidetable, next in line to be read.

Literary Agents Who Mean Business

I recently came across an interesting website which lists agents that have placed books with publishers. Anyone can set up a website and claim to be a literary agent – but unless they’ve proved they can make a sale, agents are of no use to to writers.

Click here for a list of agents who’ve proved their mettle.

My disclaimer stands – make sure you check any offers from agents out before signing away your rights.

Unusual Writing Gigs

You don’t typically think of greeting cards when you look for writing related jobs.  But cards need to be written, and there is scope for creativity, so why not?

Here are links to two blogs which, in turn, point you to websites of greeting card companies:

A Nomad’s Lot

Kate Harper’s Blog