Hob Nob With Asia"€™s Literati At The 2012 Mong Hong Kong International Literary Festival By: Pushpitha Wijesinghe | - Tipped to be the most glamorous literary event in the Asian calendar the Mong Hong Kong International Literary Festival is an annual celebration of the written word like no other. With the attendance and keen participation of local publishing heavyweights and celebrated international authors, the 2012 edition of this event with a 12 year history is set to break new ground in terms of visitors and engaging literary events. Due to take place in the month of March this year the 2012 Mong Hong Kong ... Tags:mong hong kong international literary festival, events in HK
George Pelecanos writes for The Wire. You need to pause there, take that on board. Pelecanos writes for The Wire. That's only the best crime TV series ever. Or is it the best TV series ever, full stop, end of para, end of chapter, end of?
Writing A Non-fiction Synopsis By: Harry Bingham | - The trouble is that there's also a good chance that your synopsis will also be the last thing a literary agent or editor will read. The things easy to get wrong. It's hard to know what to write - and hard to know how to write it.
If you're struggling, take some compensation from the knowledge that you aren't alone. I hate writing the things. So does nearly every other author I know. And we nearly always leave the synopsis until the last minute - not because we don't think it's w ... Tags:non-fiction, literary agents, how to write, book, proposals
When To Seek A Uk Literary Agent - And When To Go To The Us By: Harry Bingham | - On the whole, it's simple. British authors write books. They send them to UK literary agents - almost always based in or close to London. A British agent finds a British publisher. Then, once that first crucial deal is in the bag, the process of international sales begins.
For US authors, it's the same thing. You find a literary agent in New York. They find a US publisher. You sign your US book deal, and off you go to see what you can rustle up overseas.
How To Get The Most From Meeting Publishers By: Harry Bingham | - It's not all that often that would-be authors get to meet publishers to pitch their work. Mostly, literary agents will take charge of sending your work out to publishers. Assuming that there's interest in your work, publishers will come back with offers and then, when you do meet publishers face-to-face, they are pitching to you much more than you to them.
How To Write Successfully For Children By: Harry Bingham | - Nothing, but nothing, is more delightful than writing for children. And if you've started, as most such writers do, by writing for your own children, then you have delight piled on delight in store. Lucky you.
But as soon as you turn your mind to publication, the world starts to turn, not darker exactly, but a little more ruthless. Writing for publishers, even children's publishers, means preparing a product for commercial exploitation. That means designing your product right for ... Tags:writing for children, how to write for children, literary agents
How To Network With Literary Agents By: Harry Bingham | - Loads of new writers will be frustrated by the impersonal quality of the typical agent submission procedure. You send off your stuff - spend up to eight weeks waiting to hear something - then get back a preprinted, slightly cold rejection letter. It feels so dispiriting, so unconstructive.
Naturally, you can't really blame agents. They handle a heck of a lot of submissions. They simply don't have the time to respond personally to each one. What's more, in the end, only one thing r ... Tags:literary agents, writers' conferences, fiction, non-fiction
How Can A Literary Consultant Support Your Project? By: Harry Bingham | - Writing isn't, for most authors, a full-time job. Book projects tend to be lumpy and tend to leave quite a lot of free time in between. Consequently, many writers, incuding many good ones, offer their literary skills on a consultancy basis. If you have a literary project you want help with, retaining a consultant may well be a good idea for you. But take care - this is a partnership you need to manage right.
How To Write An Elevator Pitch For Your Book By: Harry Bingham | - Writing is a scary old business but of all the scary things about it, perhaps the scariest is getting the concept right.
I mean, you will spend hours, days, years writing the book itself. Getting the characters right. Tweaking your prose. Labouring with the plot. But what if the whole book is just an unsaleable idea? How do you know before you start?
Writing Women's Fiction By: Harry Bingham | - When new writers don't get taken on by literary agents, they often complain, "So-and-so never even read the whole thing." Whenever we hear that, we know that person hasn't understood some basic truths about the whole literary business.
Of course agents make their mind up quickly - it's their job. And it's not hard to do. At the Writers' Workshop we can tell within a minute whether a manuscript is a possible contender for publication or not. Naturally there are things that matter ... Tags:chick-lit, women's fiction, literary agents, getting published
How To Create Digital Publicity - A Guide For New Authors By: Harry Bingham | - In the good old days, everyone knew how to carry out publicity. A few months before publication, you met with your publicist. You discussed various possible publicity angles (about the book, about your own story, and so on). Your publicist tried to arrange a serialisation deal (where newspapers print extracts before publication). You whacked out review copies to all the major newspapers. Perhaps you hassled around to get a little PR on local or national radio. Maybe even TV.
How To Sell Your Non-fiction By: Harry Bingham | - Here are the things that will go to make a really strong selling package. I'm assuming, by the way, that you've written a fair chunk of the book and have an outline of the rest. Typically, I'd want to see an introduction, the first three chapters and a detailed outline of everything else. That pattern can vary - I've seen book sold with no speciment chapters at all, and ones sold with 50,000 words of polished text - but that intro + three chapters + outline model is a reasonable one to follow.< ... Tags:non-fiction, book, proposals, literary agent
Getting A Literary Agent For Crime Fiction And Thrillers By: Harry Bingham | - It's easy to think that because you're writing a crime novel or thriller, you need an agent who represents crime thrillers. And that's logical enough ... except that isn't, as it happens, how the industry really works.
I write crime thrillers myself, yet my agent represents posh Hilary Mantel, dead-but-posh George Orwell, and many other esteemed literary authors. So you'd think he wouldn't be the right person to represent a gritty crime thriller - and yet he and his team have just ... Tags:crime fiction, literary agents, literary agent, thriller, crime novel, thrillers
Literary Agent Fees By: Harry Bingham | - Literary agents are salesmen and saleswomen - there to sell your manuscript to publishers. And, as with any sales driven game, you pay them on commission. Good literary agents are massively helpful to new authors, so you shouldn't resent paying them. Here are the things you really need to know:
1) Literary agent fees
Typical commissions are 15% of all sales made in home markets, 20% on overseas sales and for sales of film & TV rights. Some agents may vary from this, but the ... Tags:literary agent, literary agents, agents fees, literary agent commissions
How To Write A Perfect Literary Agent Query Letter By: Harry Bingham | - Query letters matter massively. A typical literary agent in New York or London will see approximately 2000 manuscripts a year, and may take on just 1-2 new authors. Of the 2000 manuscripts submitted, the majority - let's say at least 1750 - will be rejected very quickly, because of errors in the query letter or synopsis. So here's a checklist for how to write the perfect query letter.
Literary Festival Set To Be Best Yet By: Oliver Stone | - Sir Roy Strong, Mavis Cheek and Hilary Mantel are among the big names lined up for the 3rd Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival.
There will be 25 events taking place from September 16 to September 18 at a number of venues, including a Literary Walk in association with the Otter Valley Association and Fairlynch Museum.
Best-selling childrens author Michael Morpurgo, explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, and BBC Spotlight reporter and crime writer Simon Hall will also be appearing at the ... Tags:Budleigh Salterton, Literary Festival, Devon, Hilary Mantel,
A Sample Literary Agent Query Letter By: Harry Bingham | - You want to know what a query letter should look like? Well, here's an sample one below.
Just before we look at it, I should say that I am a real author describing a real book - and I already have an agent. So the letter which follows simply pretends that this book is a first novel and I have no track record in the industry.
How To Choose A Literary Consultant By: Harry Bingham | - Literary consultants are a fairly new phenomenon - they first came onto the scene about fifteen years ago - but they've radically altered the landscape for new writers. You certainly don't need to use one ... but at the same time, your manuscript is likely to improve if you do.
What do literary consultants do?
A good consultant should read your manuscript cover to cover and provide a detailed written report on what's working, what's not working and how to fix the stuff that ... Tags:literary consultant, literary consultants, literary consultancy
How To Get Literary Agents For Non-fiction By: Harry Bingham | - What are non-fiction agents looking for?
All agents are looking for the same thing: saleable manuscripts - of the kind that might actually make some money. So agents are looking for:
1) anything celebrity-led, and written by or endorsed by that celebrity
2) very strong personal memoir
3) funny & exotic travel
4) popular science
5) narrative-led history
6) biography, if the subject in question is genuinely famous
7) ... Tags:literary agents, non-fiction, literary agent, nonfiction, non fiction
How Do You Find A Literary Agent? By: Harry Bingham | - Finding a literary agent is easy - it's writing the book that's hard. So here's what you need to know.
1) Figure out if you need an agent
You probably do, but you may not. Roughly speaking, if your book is written for a mainstream audience (ie: might sit at the front of the shop or be a bestseller) then you need an agent. If your book is very niche, then you don't.
Do I Need A Literary Agent? By: Harry Bingham | - This is a common question for all new writers - and the answer, almost always, is yes. But let's start by reviewing what agents are there to do. They have several main roles:
A) selecting saleable manuscripts from all those submitted. Bear in mind that well under 1% of manuscripts are strong enough to sell.
B) working with the author to get the manuscript in perfect condition to sell. That can mean extensive editorial work, quite likely lasting over a period of months.
Book World Gears Up For Guardian Hay Festival By: Natalie Stone | - As the Welsh border town of Hay-On-Wye gears up for the Guardian Hay Festival on May 26th, Britains literati are packing their bags and planning their trips to the staggering beauty of the Brecon Beacons for ten days of stories, ideas, laughter and music.
Founded around a kitchen table in 1987, the festival continues to inspire, delight and entertain. This years speakers include news and current affairs commentators and TV presenters Sandi Toksvig, Jeremy Bowen, Jon Snow, Pete ... Tags:comedian, Hay Guardian Literary Festival, Sandi Toksvig,
Tips For Drawing Literary Landscapes By: Art Gib | - There are several ways to express an artistic talent. Some people sculpt. Some people sew. Some people paint. Regardless of how one decides to express their artistic and creative view, it's a good idea to do research and continue learning how to improve upon it. Those who like to draw portraits of people or literary landscapes have difficult tasks ahead of them. For those who appreciate literary landscapes, though, there are some helpful tips that can be found below.
Times Literary Festival Closes With Melvyn Bragg, Madhur Jaffrey, Jonathan Powell And Adam Boulton By: B2B Strategies | - As the countrys literati pack their bags in Oxford this weekend, a handful of Speakers Corners elite including Melvyn Bragg, Madhur Jaffrey, Jonathan Powell and Adam Boulton take the stage with inspirational and entertaining presentations at the closing weekend of the Times Oxford Literary Festival.
Melvyn Bragg dons his judging hat as he reads hundreds of short stories. After weeks of deliberation and just hours before the winner of The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank S ... Tags:speakers corner, sunday times, literary festival, after dinn
How Attorneys Can Land A Literary Agent By: Jeff Rivera | - Literary agents are always seeking professionals, like attorneys, to represent. Why is that? Because attorneys are highly revered people of our society. Not only that, but attorneys scream credibility which is incredibly important to an agent. If you've established your credibility through your educational background, wins and white papers, you'll be that much more likely to landing a publishing deal.
Land An Agent With Your Latino Book By: Jeff Rivera | - With over 40 million Latinos in this country, it's no wonder that literary agents are hot on the genre, and that doesn't mean it has to be an ethnic-central novel, either. It can, and should, be a hot mainstream novel that happens to feature a strong Latino lead. By surveying feedback from literary agents and editors whom I know, I know this to, indeed, be fact. As the population increases and authors such as Junot Diaz continue to receive multiple accolades for their work, the demand for Latin ... Tags:latino, chica lit, literary agent, agent, latino novel, latino lead character, latino plot, book deal
Why Literary Agents Care More About Your Platform Than Your Talent By: Jeff Rivera | - I recently helped a client with his query letter and I decided to put his platform in the very first paragraph. He read the query and said, this is great but aren't we supposed to have a hook? Well, that WAS his hook. His story concept was interesting, not mind-blowing but interesting but even stronger was his platform. He'd been on national TV, had a huge database of emails from his company and had written countless articles.
Governor General's Literary Awards- Prestigious Awards For Literary Excellence In Canada By: kellyprice1225 | - One of the most prestigious awards in Canada, Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards, presented by the Governor General of Canada for those who make commendable contributions in literary field. Governor General's Literary Award was conceived in 1937 by the Lord Tweedsmuir, a well known author of fiction and non-fiction.
Awarded for both French and English literary works in seven categories of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, children's literature, Governor General ... Tags:Governor General's Awards, literary awards
Literary Magazines- Repository Of Interesting Ideas And Information By: kellyprice1225 | - A lexicon would define a literary magazine as any periodical devoted to literature. These could be essays, short stories, poems, interviews reviews, biographies or even letters. Literary magazines are also called journals.
The first British North American periodical in English was The Nova Scotia magazine which was published on a monthly basis during the period 1789 92 , which consists of reprinted articles and extracts on politics and literature. The Quebec Magazine ( 1792 ... Tags:literary magazine, literary publications
The Evolution And Possibilities Of Literary Criticism By: kellyprice1225 | - Literary criticism is defined as the study and interpretation of literature. There are many schools of literary criticism including the medieval, Renaissance, 19 th century and new criticism. Literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory ; nonetheless literary critics have not always been theorists.
Whether to demarcate literary theory and criticism is still a matter a controversy. For instance the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary thinking and Criticism uses both the ter ... Tags:Literary criticism, literary theory
Reading Difficult Literary Works: The Southeast Asian Context By: Troy Tun | - Difficult literary texts have always been the ones that remain almost permanently fixed on the shelves, whether at bookstores, libraries, or at homes. This is true everywhere all over the world but in many places of Southeast Asia, they dont even get the chance to climb up the shelves to scare away the never-would-be readers. The enigma behind this is somewhat interesting and even educational.
Some literary works are indeed difficult, to say the least. A work like James Joyces ... Tags:difficult literary texts, reading
Joining Book Clubs Of Today By: Henry Watts | - A book club helps children read and learn about many things about the world around them. Today, different clubs can be found online. It allows him to make his research fast. To save money, making a reading list is a good idea in place of buying best selling books. A great example is the Literary Guild Book Club which is a family friendly club. It covers diverse topics that can be enjoyed by all demographics. Members can avail of many discounts when buying books and that makes reading a very affo ... Tags:Literary Guild book club, The Literary Guild
Growing With Books And Book Clubs By: Henry Watts | - "For most people, reading is always an enriching experience for people of all ages. It teaches us many things we need to learn or unlearn. The topics on books are not restricted so you can learn from things like history, cooking, sports, romance a lot more.
If you just love books, then you're one of the people book clubs were made for. You may have many reasons for being a book buff. You have your own favorite authors and you know exactly where to get their latest bestseller ... Tags:literary guild, mystery guild
Advantages With Growing Around Books And Book Clubs By: Henry Watts | - "Reading is always an enriching experience for people of all ages. This is a great hobby because we can learn a lot of things from it and it develops our imagination. We can either learn or unlearn from it. The topics on books are not restricted so you can learn from things like history, cooking, sports, romance a lot more.
If you just love books, then you're one of the people book clubs were made for. You may have many reasons for being a book buff. You have your own favori ... Tags:literary guild, mystery guild
Bad Book Clubs - How To Know By: Henry Watts | - Book clubs were made because of people who love books. One can become a book lover for a lot of different reason. If you are a book lover, you probably have a favorite author as well and you know where to get their latest bestsellers. You may even think you can go around the world and have no trouble finding a good read. If you want to maximize your hobby, you may want to join a book club and link with your fellow book lovers. This is what book clubs are for.
Times Literary Supplement And The Changing Face Of Culture By: Dominic Donaldson | - In 1902, we saw the birth of what was to become a literary institution. The Times Literary Supplement is one of the longest running arts and culture magazines in the world. In over a century's worth of publications it has highlighted the best in contemporary literature. Now though the way we consume literature and the media is changing considerably and that brings a considerable number of challenges.
Can The Times Literary Supplement And London Review Of Books Compete In Modern Marketplace? By: Dominic Donaldson | - The magazine market is changing. We know this because every expert on the matter says so. Digital content, user generated copy and SEO all change the way we read and the way publications are put together. Both authors and readers are changing the way they act, but does new technology have to be as vital as we think? Can publications such as The Times Literary Supplement and The London Review of Books cut it in the fast paced market place?
Promotion Of Books At The Cannes Film Festival 2010 By: John Eide | - Book Promotion Ltd's team of Book Pitchers will be at the Cannes Film Festival to promote work commission by authors, main publishers, print on demand publishers and literary agents.
More people than ever is expected. All hotels are pre-booked.
Many of you havent read the series because youre usually in front of a craze like this and are ashamed to admit you didnt read the series when Stephenie Meyer first wrote it in 2005 or maybe you havent read the Twilight series because it is kind of like being unique, like not having a tattoo or not being on Facebook.
Open Mic Night Etiquette: Dos And Don'ts For Literary Artists By: Alice Osborn | - Many people think Open Mic Nights only apply to musicians, but all across the country there are literary open mics in your local coffee shop, book store and library. I've hosted an Open Mic reading series for almost a year and these events bring out writers of all genres: fiction, memoir, poetry, spoken word and more. We've had crossover artists, but for the most part we stick to the written word. At these events, we have about 20 readers and about 40 folks in the audience, which is fantastic! I ... Tags:open mic nights, open mic etiquette, literary open mic, reading series
Great Literary Hoaxes By: Fernando Bessega | - Margaret B. Jones published Love and Consequences in 2008 as a memoir of her life as an abused half black, half native child foster child when in fact she is a white woman from a middle class neighborhood.
"Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years" was written by Misha Defonseca in 1997. The book was a Bestseller and was translated into 18 languages, and made into a feature film in France. However, the author admitted in February 2008 that her story of trekking across Europe with ... Tags:Book hoaxes, Literary Hoaxes, lying authors, fake memoirs
Bestseller Book Clubs: Comparison By: franYo | - Trying to choose an appropriate book club to join, especially if you are doing it the first time, and especially if you are looking at bestseller and general interest book clubs, can be a somewhat confusing task. There seem to be several offerings advertising quite similar features and benefits, so the question inevitably pops up: which one is right for you? Which one should you choose? Does it matter at all? Hopefully, this article will go some way toward answering these questions for you.
In the beginning, America was a lot of British settlements on the eastern coast of the U.S.A. Consequently, its literary tradition begins as joined to the panoptic tradition of English literature. Notwithstanding, distinctive American qualities and the breadth of its production usually now make it a independent course and tradition.
Literary Agents - 9 Mistakes To Avoid By: Jim Wilson | - These days literary agents and book publishers don't have the time to critique your query letter or manuscript. They won't even tell you why you got rejected to allow you to do better next time.
Let me give you the inside scoop of the top 9 reasons a query letter submission gets rejected. Use the list to check your next submission BEFORE it goes out!
How To Find A Literary Agent -- Or How They Find You By: Dee Power | - How to find a literary agent is the first lesson new authors must learn. Is is hopeless? Do you have to be published to find a literary agent? Fortunately the answer is no.
We asked over 60 successful literary agents:
Where Do Agents Find Clients?
Referral from one of their other clients 39%
Direct contact by the writer 33%
Referral from editors and publishers 9%
Referral from other authors not their clients 8%
Referrals f ... Tags:how to find a literary agent, get a literary agent, agency agents
Why Can't You Find A Literary Agent? By: Jim Wilson | - A literary agent represents writers as well as their written works to publishers and film producers and helps the offer as well as contract talks. Literary agents commonly act for authors, scriptwriters along with sizable non-fiction authors. They are paid a fixed percentage (ten to twenty percent; fifteen percent is usual) of the monies they haggle for their clientele.
Essence Of Character Seven Steps To Creating Characters That Write Themselves By: Corey Blake | - Creating characters that are believable takes time and discipline. Creating dynamically real individuals and not imposing your own thoughts and impressions upon them is not easy to do, and is often the difference between a novel or screenplay that sits in a closet and one that finds its way around town and into the hands of audiences. Spending your time building your characters before they enter the world of your story makes the process of writing an easier and more enjoyable ride, and creates a ... Tags:writing, books, manuscripts, creative writing, book, character, development, literary, consulting, fiction
As a self-publisher, you become a business person. Your book is your product. Your readers are your customers. When I first made my career change, I didnt think I had any business savvy. After all, I had been in a social service agency. I did court reports, visited children and parents, and handled emergencies. I was not a welfare worker, so I didnt deal with money. True enough, I did budgets and clothing orders, but overall, headquarters ... Tags:new business, life experience, second careers, self-publishing, Internet radio, literary agency
