Amazon Breakthrough Contest Gotchas

Amazon and Penguin are sponsoring a contest for unpublished or self-published writers. But there are a few things to be aware of, and the Passive Guy provides some insights. Click here for details.

Self pubbed Author Gets Guardian Review

Click here for an article on how Nick Parker’s self-published book got a review in The Guardian.

Happy Holidays.

List of Top Independent Book Distributors

If you’re a small publisher, indie or self-published author, this resource from John Kremer will be a fabulous addition to your resources kit.

To get the list, click here.

NY Literary Agent Seeks Book Submissions

Happened to come across this on Craigslist.Hopefully it’ll be of use to someone:

Erin Harris, a literary agent at the Irene Skolnick Literary Agency in Manhattan, seeks book submissions in the following areas: literary novels with compelling plots and international settings, thrillers, mysteries, and noirs, especially starring strong female protagonists, and YA and Middle Grade novels that transport her to magical places. Please visit the company website, http://www.skolnickagency.com, for more information. Queries may be sent to: submissions@skolnickagency.com. Be sure to paste the first ten pages of your manuscript in the body of your email. Attachments will not be opened.

My Book Short-Listed For Tibor Jones Prize

Got word today that my book, Tell A Thousand Lies, has been shortlisted for the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize for unpublished manuscripts. https://www.facebook.com/TJSAprize.

 

 

Scriptapalooza, The Screenplay Competition

Scriptapalooza, the annual screenplay writing competition, with its prize money of $10,000, is back.

Contests will have their individual entries read by more than 90 leading filmmakers, production companies and literary agencies. In addition, Scriptapalooza will offer its full support to the winner; finalists and semifinalists of the screenwriting challenge by promoting each work for one year after the winners’ announcement.

Deadline Jan 5, 2012.

Click here for details.

Opportunity for Travel Related Writing

Literary Bohemian is looking for great, travel-related poetry, postcard prose and travelogue! Please check their submissions guidelines: www.literarybohemian.com/submissions.

Traditional vs. Self-Publishing: Joe Konrath with Barry Eisler

In a blog post titled ‘Eisler & Konrath vs. Hachette’, the titans of self-publishing demolish the claims Hachette made about the state of the publishing industry in an internally circulated memo.

Click here for their lively post.

Fiction Contest Opportunities

I came across a great post this morning which lists a lot of contests for fiction, flash fiction, script writing etc. Click here to get to Donna Newton’s blog.

Literary Agents Relevant in Digital World? An Agent’s Thoughts

Authors can now publish their own books via Amazon, B&N, Smashwords etc. They even get to keep a larger percentage of their royalties than if they went the traditional literary agent-publisher route.

Are literary agents even relevant anymore? Agent Wendy Lawton has some thoughts about this in her blog post. While I agree with most of her points, authors who can network and market and are generally savvy can manage their own careers quite successfully.

Also, keep in mind, not all agents know what they’re doing, or have good contacts. Plenty of authors have got burnt due to clueless agents. And then there is the huge cut of your earnings the publisher and agent takes. Versus what Amazon et al. pay if you can make the sales. Tough choice.

Here’s Wendy’s post.