One of the many curious things about being a writer—especially a novelist—is the number of people you encounter who believe they could do your job, that the only thing that separates you from them is that you bothered to sit down and write a book, and though they’ve got that bestseller in them,
“If you look up before you get the light on, It will be there.
“The Thing. The terrible Thing waiting at the top of the stairs.”
—Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity (1990)
Shortly after Cynthia invited me to write a guest post,
Tracey Turner on Tracey Turner: “I’ve written 30 or so nonfiction books, nearly all of them for children and all of them with some element of humour. Subjects range from biographies of famous writers to the history of the universe to weird phenomena to dinosaurs.
“I’ve also written fiction under pseudonyms for U.K. fiction packagers Hothouse and Working Partners,
Continue Reading Author Interview: Tracey Turner on Dreadful Fates: What a Shocking Way to Go! »
A journalist for ages, and a “maman poule” (mother hen) for forever, Erzsi Deàk launched Hen & Ink Literary when a golden egg presented itself in the guise of Siobhan Curham‘s Dear Dylan in November 2010.
In her earlier incarnations, Erzsi covered fashion and children’s features from Alaska to San Francisco to Paris.
Continue Reading Agent Interview: Erzsi Deàk on Hen & Ink Literary »
Things I Like About Being Traditionally Published by Lisa Schroeder from Lisa’s Little Corner of the Internet. Peek: “Having a sales team who works on my behalf to get my books in bookstores, and talks up my book to the necessary people so I don’t have to worry about distribution at all.” Notes: (a) watch for Lisa’s next YA release,
Kate Hosford is the first-time author of Big Bouffant, illustrated by Holly Clifton-Brown (Carolrhoda, 2011). From the promotional copy:
Annabelle doesn’t want the same boring hairstyle that all the other girls have.
When she spies a picture of her grandma, she has the perfect idea: a big bouffant!
Bettina Restrepo is the first-time author of Illegal (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins, 2011).
Nora is on a desperate journey far away from home. When her father leaves their beloved Mexico in search of work, Nora stays behind. She fights to make sense of her loss while living in poverty—waiting for her father’s return and a better day.
From today’s issue of Publishers Marketplace:
“New York Times bestselling author of Tantalize, Eternal, Blessed Cynthia Leitich Smith‘s YA novel Smolder, to Deborah Wayshak at Candlewick Press, in a three-book deal, for publication in 2013, by Ginger Knowlton at Curtis Brown Ltd.
Continue Reading Cynthia Leitich Smith Signs Three-Book Deal with Candlewick Press »
By Toni Buzzeo
Cramped plane seats and heavy luggage needn’t be the author’s constant companion. Steep plane fares and airport pick-ups needn’t be the educator’s cost for a fabulous author visit either.
It’s a (brave) new world in the realm of author-student connections thanks to virtual options that have made connecting across long distances easier,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Toni Buzzeo on Get Out There—Virtually—and Connect! »
By Chris Barton
It’s the oldest trick in the book business: Follow up a bestselling picture book about a goofy battle between a shark and a train with a YA nonfiction collection of ten profiles — all told in second person — of mostly obscure historical figures who pretended to be someone they weren’t.
