Roy Miller's Blog, page 296
January 19, 2017
A Method for Bypassing Agents to Get Published
Note: The following is a guest post from Stephanie Stokes Oliver, an author, editor, and scout for Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books. For more information on Stephanie’s scouting guidelines, see below. You can find her online at stephaniestokesoliver.com.
Cheers! You’ve finished your manuscript, and are preparing to begin your search for the perfect agent or publisher. But what if someone discovered you first? Someone who could shorten aspects of the traditional submissions process—vetting a publisher’s interest before you’ve even signed with an agent, or getting you a foreign-language deal? This may be the stuff writers’ dreams are made of—but those dreams are pretty far-fetched. Or are they?
In publishing circles, a system for bringing your book directly to the attention of a publisher by way of “literary scout” is taking off—so much so that if you haven’t yet stumbled upon the term, you probably will soon. Here’s a brief look at the many forms scouts can take—and what they could mean for you.
If you dream of scoring the best possible deal with a traditional publisher and seeing your book in print, you need literary representation. Filled with practical, straightforward advice and insider tips, Get a Literary Agent is a one-stop resource for writers of both fiction and nonfiction. You’ll learn how to research agents and target the best ones for your work, navigate the submission process, craft a polished query letter and pitch your work effectively, assemble a book proposal, and form a lasting partnership with your agent.
You’ll also gain the advice of more than 100 literary agents who share their secrets for securing representation. If you’ve ever wondered what a literary agent can do for you—and why you need one—this invaluable guide provides the answers.
Publishing House Scouting
What it is: Scouts from these in-house programs are tasked with seeking out potential projects and bringing them to in-house editors. At Simon & Schuster, for example, Judith Curr—the president, publisher and founder of the Atria Books imprint—has contracted several scouts to bring in projects for editorial consideration, much like Atria’s full-time acquiring editors do.
How it works: The literary scouts, typically hand-selected for their connections to writers and/or agents through previous career experience, are groomed to know the editorial needs and guidelines of the publishing house inside and out—and then tap their contacts for works-in-progress that might be a fit. Scouts’ proposals get streamlined consideration—with the publisher often committing to a 30-day submission and response period—which can be an asset to agents and writers alike. If the scout’s proposal is accepted, the scout steps away, and editors then pursue the deal as usual with the author or agent. The best part: One does not have to be agented to have work considered.
What it looks like in action: Titles acquired this way include Life by the Cup by Zhena Muzyka and The Book of Doing and Being by Barnet Bain (both Atria Books).
Where to find out more: As of now, for the most part, these mysterious and elusive scouts must find you. (Still, it never hurts to do a little digging to find out if you happen to know someone who knows someone.)
International Agency Scouting
What it is: Some scouts work for literary agencies: They help discover new works for agents to represent. These scouts are largely reps from European or Asian markets looking for U.S. books that have not yet been published overseas.
In a similar vein, there are also U.S. scouting agencies whose clients are international publishers, for whom they’re seeking books for translation and publication in foreign markets. For example, New York-based Maria B. Campbell Associates (MBCA) Inc. has a team of scouts that serve publishing houses in 19 countries, as well as some television and film markets. Some markets for scouts are specialized; MBCA meets a high demand for children’s literature that has appeal outside of the U.S.
How it works: Such scouts and scouting agencies make connections with a vast network of agents, editors, right specialists, and magazine editors. They read newspapers, magazines, literary journals; browse YouTube, book blogs, and e-book bestselling lists; and attend international book conferences to see what has a receptive audience stateside that may appeal elsewhere.
“There is also the serendipity of finding a little gem in a book store and rediscovering a classic that has never been translated in one of the languages we work in,” Campbell says. “Scouting has become more global, as has publishing.”
What it looks like in action: MBCA averages a sale of one to two books per day. Recent sales include Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman (Harper), rights for which were acquired by clients Little, Brown (U.K.), Fayard (France), and People’s Press (Denmark); and The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner), which was placed with Mondadori (Italy), Fischer (Germany), Companhia das Letras (Brazil), and Albert Bonniers (Sweden).
Where to find out more: Most agencies don’t work with unsolicited submissions, but agents interested in pursuing a foreign rights push can contact MBCA vice president Agnes Ahlander Turner via mbcbook.com.
No matter what you’re writing—fiction or nonfiction, books for adults or children—you need a literary agent to get the best book deal possible from a traditional publisher.
Guide to Literary Agents 2017
is your essential resource for finding that literary agent and getting a contract with one of the country’s top publishers. Along with listing information for more than 1,000 agents who represent writers and their books, this updated edition of GLA includes:
A one-year subscription to the literary agent content on WritersMarket.com.
The secrets of query-writing success: Learn 5 common mistakes that make an agent stop reading—and how to avoid them.
“New Agent Spotlights”: Get targeted profiles of literary reps who are actively building their client lists right now.
Informative articles on writing a synopsis, pitching your work online, utilizing writing peers, and much more.
Crowd Scouting
What it is: In 2014 Amazon launched the Kindle Scout program, which takes submissions of books that don’t have traditional publishing contracts. Once accepted for consideration, a cover and description are posted for readers to vote on.
How it works: You submit an unpublished (but publishing-ready) manuscript of at least 50,000 words to the categories of Amazon’s best-selling genres, such as Mystery and Thriller; Science Fiction and Fantasy; and Teen and Young Adult. Your work must be edited, with a cover, description, and author bio and photo provided. The books with the most reader nominations are vetted by Amazon for a chance at a contract with Kindle Press, which comes with a $1,500 advance, 50 percent e-book royalty, five-year renewable terms, and marketing on Amazon.
What it looks like in action: Crowd-scouted titles include Typecast by Kim Carmichael and Girl on the Moon by Jack McDonald Burnett.
How to find out more: Visit kindlescout.amazon.com.
Remember: Scouts are not substitutes for agents. They don’t represent you by shopping your project around, advising you on contracts, addressing production problems, or cutting royalty checks. Publishers typically pay them a flat rate per book. Their job is in and out, making sure your project is submitted for publication, translation, foreign rights, or TV and film, and that you receive a publishing decision in 30-45 days. Scout’s honor.
Proposal Submission Guidelines
Scouting literary projects for Atria Books (A Division of Simon & Schuster), Stephanie is accepting submissions in the nonfiction categories of inspiration and spirituality, memoir and biography, self-help, and business and finance. To develop a proposal, include the following elements:
Overview: a title and subtitle, a one-line description of the book, a summary, and answer the question Why this book?
Author’s Story: a bio and author photo.
Author Outreach: platform and previous publications.
Online Presence: social networks and website.
Previous Publishing: books published and sales figures.
Comparable Books: comparable and competitive books on the market, and sales figures.
Continuity: possible future projects.
Contents: for nonfiction projects, a full Table of Contents with a paragraph of description for each chapter.
Sample Pages: if completed, full manuscript; if work-in-progress, Introduction (if applicable) and first 50 pages.
To submit, use email header: Atria Books Proposal: [title of project]. Include cover letter in email text, and attach in Word (or low-res PDF) your two documents: the proposal and the sample pages (double-spaced). Allow 30-60 days for review. Send completed submission to stephanieoliver@outlook.com.
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Tenacity, the Key to the Writing Life
I began reading Louise Glück’s poems around the time I handed in the final draft of my first book. Now I can see that the book was a culmination of a decade of work and obsession, but at the time, without the manuscript to anchor my thoughts, I felt adrift. I had to come down from the high of achieving what I had set out to do and had to face the blank page again. For a year, I plunged into another project, until I realized that I was rewriting my first book and that I did not yet have the depth and experience to give the new story the justice it deserved. For another year, I hardly wrote at all. I had a few real life adventures, but for the most part, I felt that I was waiting at my desk for words that would not arrive. Without my usual way of expressing what I saw and felt, it seemed to me that the world had lost its texture.
During this time, I kept returning to Glück’s essay collection, Proofs and Theories. The author of 16 poetry collections and a former US Poet Laureate, among many other honors, Glück writes in these essays that each time she finished a book, she fell into a period of “natural silence,” during which she did not write at all. This was most acute between her first two books, of which she says:
And it seemed at that time that, in my life, nothing was happening, or nothing with any power to change me… Nothing I read, nothing I saw or heard provoked response. And in the absence of response to the world, the act of writing, which had been, which is, the center of my life, the act or dream that suffuses life with meaning, had virtually stopped. For two years I wrote a little, three or four poems in all, and these seemed no more than treading water. For two years, I wrote nothing, not a word. It seemed increasingly impossible to remember a time when I had been fully alive, impossible to imagine a future in which I would live that way again.
These intervals of silence, she writes, “require a stoicism very much like courage; of these, no reader is aware.” In these words, I saw a well-regarded writer coming to terms with her artistic process and her own limitations, divulging the invisible struggles of the creative life.
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Glück’s words gave me a way to understand what I was going through and reassured me that I was not alone in my despair. In the years before my book came out, I was writing frantically. I remember a week when I was working late at my job, late enough that the buses had stopped running and I had to take a cab home, and I still wrote into the night, trying to finish an essay I had promised an editor. Now I see that I was trying to race against time. I had believed, however irrationally, that there would be a moment beyond which my voice would be taken away from me and I would no longer be able to write.
In reading Glück’s essays, I also started thinking about ambition, drive, and tenacity. Ambition is the desire for success. But wanting is not enough. I have wanted to climb a fourteener—here in Colorado, this is a peak over 14,000 feet—but I have yet to put in any effort to accomplish it. And unless I start training for a marathon hike, this will remain an unrealized ambition. Drive is the will to achieve. It is a state of mind that propels you to act. In the years before my book came out, I had the drive to write. I made compromises in order to have the time and space to make my art. I did not push myself to climb mountains. I just put writing first.
The combination of ambition and drive, along with a lot of luck, can bring early successes such as a first book. Tenacity, however, is the grit to keep going when things get rough, and in particular, to get back to the hard, unglamorous work after you taste a modicum of success. In the past couple of years, as I flailed around and tried to find my writing feet again, I wondered, especially in my worst moments, if I should step away from writing and do something else. Now I see that beginnings, with their sense of possibility, are intoxicating. We live in a culture that eschews the long haul in favor of the glitter of the new. It is easier to keep starting again, always dabbling, than to commit to a path that leads to places you cannot yet see. I started a couple of new ventures—I call them distraction projects—but I also knew that my life’s work was writing.
Glück’s first book Firstborn is not my favorite. In fact, when I read it in her Collected Poems, I wondered if I could make it through 600 more pages of suspended sentences, overuse of ellipses, and inflexible manners. On the other hand, I keep going back to her second book The House on Marshland, which came out seven years after the first, for inspiration and reassurance that I can stay on this path I have chosen. I cannot speak for Glück’s experience, but as a reader, I see that something in her changed in those years of silence and endurance. There are still days when I want to quit, when I want the thrill of outward success over the invisible work, but I am learning to hold on and trust that I can find my way forward.
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Fair Author Contracts: Two Lawyers Weigh In
By Sheila J. Levine and Gerald M. Levine
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In May 2015, the Authors Guild announced its Fair Contract Initiative, and more recently the International Authors Forum presented “Ten Principles for Fair Contracts.” Both highlight the same “standard” contract terms. These include length of license, fair royalties on e-books, out-of-print and termination clauses, options, and noncompete clauses. There can be no dispute that current terms favor publishers over authors. In January 2016, authors’ organizations around the world launched open letters demanding that publishers treat authors equitably by offering them fairer contract terms.
The essential message is that the balance “has tilted the wrong way, and it’s often not only the work that’s being exploited—its creators are, too,” in the words of Philip Pullman, president of the Society of Authors, a U.K. organization. Even worse, according to the society’s open letter: “Without serious contract reform, the professional author will become an endangered species.” The Authors Guild is equally blunt: “Unfair terms in publishing agreements negatively affect authors’ incomes and even their ability to write at all.” Explicit in this call to arms is that publishers have the upper hand in the current market.
This cri de coeur has a long history, beginning even before the enactment of the Statute of Anne, the first modern copyright act, in 1710. Before there was a term of copyright, authors were compelled to sell their copyrights outright to printer/publishers, who expected to own them in perpetuity. John Dryden complained in a letter to his publisher in 1695 that all publishers were “sharpers” and that he was paid “in clipped coinage and brass shillings”—a sentiment with which modern authors will no doubt concur.
Despite the clamor of the open letters, however, publishers are not yet being heard from. The demands for fairness are not excessive, but it’s a matter of negotiation. The contracts authors get are what publishers believe is the monetary value of their work. Congress understood this problem perfectly when the House of Representatives, in its report on the passage of the Copyright Act of 1976, stated that the purpose of the nonwaivable right of statutory termination was to safeguard authors against “unremunerative transfers [owing to their] unequal bargaining position... resulting in part from the impossibility of determining a work’s prior value until it has been exploited.” It is a truism that the “house” always wins when sellers have more urgent needs to sell than buyers to buy.
Still, trying to influence publishers to be fairer in their negotiations with all authors is worth trying, if only to achieve modest gains. Certainly, authors who “don’t have powerful agents or lawyers” deserve a “fair shake,” according to the Authors Guild. It is true that “when negotiating with known agents, publishers often start from previously negotiated contracts that remove many of the most draconian provisions handed to unagented authors.” So, the Authors Guild asks, “Why not do the right thing by all authors and eliminate those provisions for everyone?”
Part of the answer proposed by the Authors Guild is for publishers to offer a new set of standard clauses based on contract terms successfully negotiated by sophisticated agents and attorneys for bestselling authors. However, the issue is more complex than it first appears. Most books have a limited shelf life with uncertain sales. Lack of readership is a more certain answer to the Authors Guild’s complaint that “authors’ income is down across all categories” because of the “unfair terms, including reduced royalty rates.”
However, this conclusion is a hard argument to prove, because even a modest royalty percentage (10% of list price and 25% of net receipts on e-books) will produce significant revenues on books that the public wants; increasing royalties on books that fail to find an audience will not measurably help many authors. Successful authors either create bestsellers welcomed by the larger reading public, or treat writing as a business and produce new works to replace books that don’t sell well or have become stale.
While we applaud the initiatives of the Authors Guild and International Authors Forum and hope for a positive response from publishers, it’s up to authors to protect their interests and fight for them, which means understanding legal rights and negotiating rather than acquiescing to whatever contract terms publishers put in front of them.
Sheila J. Levine and Gerald M. Levine represent authors, agents, and publishers at their law firm, Levine Samuel.
A version of this article appeared in the 04/25/2016 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Fair Contracts For Authors
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January 18, 2017
The top 10 writing conferences in North America
Writer Jennifer Mattson shares her top 10 must-go-to conferences for writers, taking conference size, geographical locations, topics and experience levels into account. No matter your background, your interests or your budget, there’s a conference on this list for you.
Grub Street, a writing center in Boston, holds its annual conference at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel for three days each spring. The weekend draws over 140 well-known authors, literary agents, editors and publishers. (Disclaimer: I teach online classes for Grub Street.)
Past faculty: Charles Baxter, Colum McCann, Roxanne Gay
Why you should go: It’s a large conference with more than 800 people on some 100 panels. It’s a good choice if you’re looking to survey multiple sessions or want a conference aimed at all levels.
Highlights: The Muse draws a number of top New York agents and editors. For an extra fee, you can pitch them one-on-one by signing up for the popular Manuscript Mart. Don’t miss the Shop Talk Happy Hour for guaranteed face time with agents and editors if you’re looking to land a book deal.
Where: Boston
When: May
Website: museandthemarketplace.com
The ASJA conference is held each spring in New York City. Specifically aimed at freelance journalists and nonfiction authors, the conference attracts some 500-600 people each year. The two-day gathering focuses on helping independent writers survive and thrive as freelancers. Programs include pitch sessions with editors, agents and publishers. Can’t make it to NYC? Regional conferences are typically held in the summer and fall in places like Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, DC.
Faculty: Speakers and attendees include editors and writers at The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review, The Atlantic, Family Circle, BBC Travel, Inc.com, Fortune, Fast Company, The Atavist, Seal Press and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Why you should go: This is the best conference for freelance journalists and those interested in pursuing a career as an independent writer.
Highlights: Networking with editors and other freelancers who understand what it is like to work for yourself.
Where: New York City
When: April or May
Website: asja.org/for-writers/annual-conference
SFWC spans four days and hosts over 100 sessions including panels, two keynote lunches, workshops, networking events, open mic readings and pitch sessions. You can pick from panels on everything from how to write a book, sell a book, get an agent or create a book proposal. The conference focuses primarily on the art of nonfiction and fiction books, but there are also panels on freelance and travel writing, to name a few.
Past faculty: Ann Packer, Jane Friedman, Annie Barrows
Why you should go: In addition to providing a great escape from mid-winter snow, this all-levels conference is ideal for first-time conference attendees looking to survey multiple panels.
Highlights: The conference always takes place at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins, one of the jewels of San Francisco, located atop Nob Hill. The luxury hotel provides elegant breakfasts, keynote luncheons and a gala. Each night, the conference hosts a group dinner at a different restaurant around town. They cost extra but are a great way to meet other writers and the presenters.
Where: San Francisco
When: February
Website: sfwriters.org
BinderCon is a professional development conference designed to empower women and gender nonconforming writers, authors and those in the media. An offshoot of the popular Facebook group Binders Full of Women, the main conference takes place in the fall in New York City with a second installment in Los Angeles each spring.
Past faculty: Lisa Kudrow, Jill Abramson, Anna Holmes, Leslie Jamison
Why you should go: You are a woman or identify as gender nonconforming and are interested in a writing conference that takes these issues into account.
Highlights: Drawing a lot of heavy hitters from the media world, including top women editors and agents, the conference abounds with the spirit of feminism. You’re sure to meet some inspiring women.
Where and when: November in New York; February in Los Angeles
Website: bindercon.com
A two-day conference for fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction writers “learning how to maneuver in the marketplace.” Hosted by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses in conjunction with the National Book Foundation and The New School Graduate Writing Program, it attracts a number of prestigious editors, agents, publicists and publishers.
Past faculty: Michael Cunningham, Jonathan Galassi, Julie Barer, Gail Hochman, Renee Zuckerbrot
Why you should go: This is a serious conference for serious writers. Many panels include author-editor conversations, which are a fascinating listen for anyone interested in writing a book. Attendees are a mix of New School graduate students and mid-career New York writers looking for a book deal. It’s small enough that it doesn’t feel overwhelming and always has an impressive group of panelists.
Highlights: Agent speed dating. Each participant has the opportunity to sit down with two literary agents for eight minutes to pitch a book idea. Last year’s event featured agents from Brandt & Hochman, Zoë Pagnamenta Agency, Kuhn Projects, Fletcher and Co., Trident, Folio Literary Management, Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency and Renée Zuckerbrot Literary Agency.
Where: New York City
When: November
Website: clmp.org/lwc
This is a destination writers conference where the atmosphere is just as important as the conference. San Miguel de Allende, a small town in Mexico, is known for its artistic community of writers, painters, musicians, poets and philosophers. In recent years, more American artists have flocked here in the winter.
Past faculty: Joyce Carol Oates, Gail Sheehy, Elizabeth Hay, Scott Simon,
Juan Villoro
Why you should go: You have a sense of adventure and love the idea of mixing travel and writing. Perfect for those looking for an escape to Mexico during February.
Highlights: This conference draws famous media personalities in addition to some great faculty for the workshops. It is not just a literary conference but also a cultural experience. Don’t miss the live storytelling performances and the legendary fiesta. which Barbara Kingsolver has called “one of the 10 best parties I’ve ever attended in my life.”
Where: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
When: February
Website: sanmiguelwritersconference.org
The longest event on this list, spanning 12 days, Sewanee is built on a workshop model. Each participant is assigned a workshop that meets every other day, combining lectures and informal exchanges. Each one is led by two faculty members, but attendees can also meet with faculty one on one. The focus of this conference is on finishing submitted work, not generating new pages.
2016 faculty: Jill McCorkle, Alice McDermott, Robert Hass, Mark Jarman, Sidney Wade, Naomi Iizuka and Dan O’Brien
Why you should go: This conference is great for those looking for an immersive workshop experience with room and board included.
Where: Sewanee, Tennessee
When: July
Website: sewaneewriters.org/conference
The Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA) was created in 1999 to address the lack of diversity in writing programs. The summer writing workshop offers two one-week sessions for up to 140 participants at the University of Miami. Workshops cover poetry, memoir and fiction as well as travel writing, speculative fiction, YA writing and playwriting. VONA also hosts regional weekend workshops aimed at specific issues.
2016 faculty: Tayari Jones, M. Evelina Galang, Willie Perdomo, Chitra Divakaruni, Minal Hajratwala
Why you should go: Those attending the multi-genre workshops tap into a larger community of support through the active VONA alumni network.
Where: Miami
When: June and July
Website: voicesatvona.org/workshops
The oldest writers’ conference in America, and arguably the most prestigious, Bread Loaf was founded in 1926 by, among other notable names, Robert Frost.
Bread Loaf’s main conference runs 10 days each August and has been described as literary summer camp. But make no mistake: This is the big leagues. Last year alone, Bread Loaf received 2,100 applications for its 220 slots. Attendees study with one of 20 faculty members, each of whom offers a workshop. There are 10 workshops in fiction, seven in poetry and three in nonfiction. Each participant submits a manuscript, for which he or she gets feedback during the conference.
2016 faculty: Patricia Hampl, David Shields, Natasha Trethewey, Lynn Freed
Why you should go: If you are serious about networking with contemporary writers and making friends in the literary world, this conference is for you. The schedule is jam-packed and very social, energizing participants to go back home and write. Don’t miss the hayride, which is so popular it was featured in an episode of The Simpsons.
Where: Vermont
When: August
Website: middlebury.edu/bread-loaf-conferences
The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) is one of the largest and most popular writing conferences in the world. With more than 15,000 annual participants and 800 exhibitors, it’s more than a conference or book fair – it’s an event. AWP is an essential experience for writers, students, teachers and academics alike.
Faculty: Everyone. If a writer has a book out or teaches often, chances are he or she will be attending.
Why you should go: This massive four-day event features 550 readings, panels and craft lectures from 2,000 participants. Everyone should go to AWP at least once.
Where: Location changes each year.
When: Spring; usually March or April
Website: awpwriter.org/awp_conference
Jennifer Mattson is a writer, journalist and online columnist at Psychology Today. A former producer for CNN and NPR, she teaches writing at NYU School of Professional Studies and leads workshops around the country.
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The Bestselling Cookbooks of 2016
Ina Garten’s Cooking for Jeffrey was 2016’s bestselling print cookbook, selling more than 400K copies since it hit shelves in October, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks roughly 80% of print sales. It was a good year for cookbooks all around—unit print sales in the category were up 6% in 2016 over 2015.
As in years past, heavy hitters dominated the top half of the list, many who also made appearances in 2015. Garten was joined in the top 10 by fellow Food Network star Ree Drummond, whose The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime: Comfort Classics, Freezer Food, 16-Minute Meals, and Other Delicious Ways to Solve Supper!, the top seller in 2015, nabbed the #4 spot. Thug Kitchen, the runner up in 2015, fell one spot to #3, selling just shy of 200K copies.
Other big names on the chart included supermodel Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings at #2, which sold roughly 270K copies, Anthony Bourdain’s Appetites, his first cookbook in a decade, sold 120K copies, landing him at #9.
Last year also saw a surge in sales for cookbook tie-ins to kitchen gadgets, which three titles in the top 10. Meredith Laurence's Air Fry Everything hit #5, The Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Laurel Randolph came in at #8, and Ali Maffucci’s Inspiralized rounded out the top 10 for the year.
Rank
Title
Author
Publisher
Print Unit Sales
1
Cooking For Jeffrey
Ina Garten
Clarkson Potter
406,599
2
Cravings
Chrissy Teigen
Clarkson Potter
276,326
3
Thug Kitchen
Rodale
197,108
4
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime…
Ree Drummond
Morrow
174,837
5
Air Fry Everything
Meredith Laurence
Walah!
156,495
6
The Food Lab
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
Norton
150,930
7
Skinnytaste Fast And Slow
Gina Homolka
Clarkson Potter
135,156
8
The Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook
Laurel Randolph
Rockridge
123,632
9
Appetites
Anthony Bourdain
Ecco
122,699
10
Inspiralized
Ali Maffucci
Clarkson Potter
104,408
source: Nielsen BookScan.
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Female Protagonists in Crime Fiction: What You Need to Know
Raymond Chandler, in The Simple Art of Murder, famously described the heroic detective: A man who is neither mean nor tarnished. Who is unafraid and honorable. He is lonely, but well fit for the adventure of uncovering the truth. Above all, he is a good enough man in any world, and the best man in his own.
Chandler helped create the thrilling heyday of noir and hardboiled fiction where men (always men) took on corruption, fraud and violence, and often as not managed to clean up one small corner of the world. But for the women who lived on Chandler’s mean streets, the world remained dirty. They generally had two roles to play: that of a victim in need of help or the alluring femme fatale—a seductress whose intelligence was sexual rather than cerebral. There was no room for women who wanted to channel their smarts and passion into solving crime rather than stirring it up.
This guest post is by Barbara Nickless. Nickless is an award-winning author whose short stories and essays have appeared in anthologies in the United States and the United Kingdom. An active member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, she has given workshops and speeches at numerous writing conferences and book events. She lives with her family in Colorado. Blood on the Tracks, which won the Daphne du Maurier Award and was a runner-up for the Claymore Award, is her first novel.
But times changed, and female sleuths (female protagonists) like Kinsey Millhone and V.I. Warshawski burst upon the mystery scene with wit and flair, paving the way for other women. A far cry from The Maltese Falcon’s Miss Wonderly, they arrived with courage, grit, and their own unique form of genius. These days, women sleuths are enjoying a heyday of their own, taking center stage in books and film as spies, detectives, cops, and private eyes.
Many of these women have found a home in psychological thrillers—stories that are as much about emotional violence as the literal dead. In these domestic noir books (a term coined by author Julia Crouch), inner trauma mounts faster than the body count. The line between perpetrator and victim is often blurry, and much of the cruelty occurs between people well acquainted with each other. Given the success of Gone Girl, Girl on a Train, You Will Know Me and their ilk, few would argue that these female protagonists have proven themselves as tough as any man. Or at least unwilling to remain victims of male-driven injustices.
But if you’d prefer to leave the domestic scene and want to muscle your female investigators into the traditionally male world of the police procedural or PI novel, here are a few things to consider.
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Enjoy the Inherent Conflict with Female Protagonists.
Novels are fueled by struggle, and if you’re writing about a female investigator, the world can be a battlefield. Everything from petty insults to gaslighting. Drop a woman into a man’s world and watch the sparks fly.
In Paul Haggis’s 2007 crime drama, In the Valley of Elah, the blatant misogyny of the male cops toward Detective Emily Sanders is the fuel that drives her character arc. She starts out wanting nothing more than to do her job well enough to support herself and her young son. But as the screws tighten, her struggle to find justice for a dead man drives her into successfully taking on not only the snarky men in her department, but one of the biggest bastions of male superiority in the world—the U.S. military.
This kind of conflict is fueled by society’s expectations. There’s a constant message that women should subsume their ambition to the needs of others; that they aren’t emotionally suited to the rigors of detective work; and that their families will struggle if they pursue a challenging career. At the extreme end of these persistent myths, women battle misogyny as they fight alongside their fellow soldiers in Iraq or get metaphorically bloodied in the political arena. If writers are going to send their women onto Chandler’s mean streets, they should be aware of the threats that will come—not just from criminals, but more insidiously from coworkers and clients.
Remember, too, that when women shoot to kill or if they toe up to morally questionable acts, readers sometimes get queasy—women are supposed to be the nurturers, the caregivers, the emotional glue at home (and even at work). They should leave the dirty work to the guys. But as we allow our detectives more room to break the rules (or fulfill them, if that is their wish) the more our fiction provides a rich and varied texture of the human condition.
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Play it Down.
If this isn’t how you want to run, then Play It Down. Writers like Karin Slaughter and Theresa Schwegel employ female cops who are every bit as capable of taking on the mean streets as their male counterparts. They co-opt traits usually thought of as masculine—physical strength, logic and an occasional ruthlessness. In these novels, women solve crimes, arrest suspects, and wrap up their cases, just like the guys. They do so in part by refusing to be defined by their gender. These women are detectives, deputies and spies before they are anything else. Because they are uninterested in the opinions of others (husbands, boyfriends, bosses), they are as hard-hitting and successful as Harry Bosch or Sam Spade.
A quick scroll through the TV dial provides numerous examples. CIA agent Carrie Mathison in Homeland isn’t saddled with a husband or children. She doesn’t fret about the conflict between home and career because there isn’t any conflict. It’s all about the job. The Killing’s Detective Sarah Linden is far more interested in finding a killer than finding happiness with her fiancé. And in the sly, creepy The Fall, Police Superintendent Stella Gibson upends all convention by utilizing her steely focus and brilliant mind while taking pleasure in her own sexuality. As a woman in a male-dominated world, she is keenly aware that she must guard against overt emotion—yet she still manages to promote compassion for the victims and show sympathy toward a junior female officer. It’s a lovely balance.
[The 7 Rules of Dialogue All Writers Should Know]
Level the Playing Field by Making it Personal.
Chandler said about the detective, “I do not care much about his private life.” But Mathison and Linden aren’t male clones in pant suits. Their personal lives help make them who they are—Carrie’s struggle with bipolar disorder, Sarah’s horrific childhood. Modern readers want to know about the personal lives of their homicide cops and private eyes, and this is a gold mine for writers digging for conflict.
Unlike earlier crime fiction, where the detective went mostly unchanged from one case to the next, modern detectives have series-long arcs. Often, the investigator’s personal life is as difficult to navigate as the crime he or she is investigating. As a result, gender boundaries break down. Just as women are getting wise about how to make their way through male-dominated cultures, men find themselves dealing with issues of family that used to belong solely to women—they’re learning to balance babies along with the babes. In the office, it’s harder to discriminate against a woman’s ties to family when you’re a single father coping with wayward teenagers or pediatric visits.
Writers enjoy creating deep characters who fly in the face of stereotypes. So send your female detectives and female protagonists down these mean streets. Your sleuth might view the lay of the land differently from the men. She might be pregnant like Police Chief Marge Gunderson in Fargo, or the lone bread-winner and parent like Detective Sanders. Or maybe she’s completely uninterested in family, like Carrie Mathison. Almost certainly, she will be traumatized by her past, sexualized by the criminals, and ignored by her fellow cops.
But she will meet Chandler’s definition of a hero: She’s a good enough woman for any world. And the best woman in her own.
Thanks for visiting The Writer’s Dig blog. For more great writing advice, click here.
Brian A. Klems is the editor of this blog, online editor of Writer’s Digest and author of the popular gift book Oh Boy, You’re Having a Girl: A Dad’s Survival Guide to Raising Daughters.
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LitHub Daily: January 18, 2017
The Best of the Literary Internet, Every Day
TODAY: In 1911, Peruvian poet, novelist, and anthropologist José María Arguedas is born.
Your literary guide to Sundance (seriously, without books, there’d be no movies). | Literary Hub
On the role of sensitivity readers in publishing: a writer, reader, and publisher weigh in. | Literary Hub
To be human is to run: Gary McDowell on putting one foot in front of the other. | Literary Hub
Bookselling in the 21st century: The downside of the local retail experience. | Literary Hub
The finalists for the 2017 NBCC Awards have been announced. | National Book Critics Circle
Of course I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want: Ottessa Moshfegh speaks with Luke B. Goebel. | Fanzine
“As long as Trump is in charge, if I absolutely have to visit the United States, I prefer to go in the queue for a regular visa with others.” Wole Soyinka, the first African writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, has destroyed his Green Card. | The Atlantic
They suck, but their focus gets to me: A short story by Deirdre Coyle. | Joyland
“What a toll it has taken, this death and grieving and loss!” An excerpt from Patty Yumi Cottrell’s novel Sorry to Disrupt the Peace. | BuzzFeed Reader
On Dutch designer Irma Boom’s “quixotic, endless undertaking of creating a library of what she call[s] ‘only the books that are experimental.’” | The New York Times
His death left us, his many Hispanic readers, feeling orphaned: A remembrance of Ricardo Piglia by Valeria Luiselli (translated by Christina MacSweeney). | Words Without Borders
Also on Lit Hub: A final farewell to Brooklyn’s BookCourt · See photos from Sunday’s Writers Resist protest · From Dawn Tripp’s latest novel, Georgia.
The post LitHub Daily: January 18, 2017 appeared first on Art of Conversation.
10 (Practically) Cringe-less Self-Promotion Ideas for Authors
Confession: no word gives me more angst than the boastful, hyphenated noun self-promotion. The thought of soliciting book sales from my middle school crush on Facebook is downright creepy. Moreover, prowling around on social media websites in search of new friends and followers is a complete time suck. “Self-promotion isn’t for me,” I confided to an author friend the night of my first book release party. Biting into a salmon mousse canapé, she smirked, as if she knew so much better. (Spoiler alert: she did.)
Not wanting to rain on my cutesy appetizer-filled book parade, she called later to readjust my oh-so-naive and erroneous ways: “Authors cannot live by canapés alone. You wanted to get into this racket. Own the angst and sell yourself like a gold rush harlot.”
Touché. Self-promotion is fraught with the cringiest of awkward moments, but my more experienced comrade was right. Combing the social media circuit in search of friends, followers, and readers isn’t just necessary; it’s an integral part of the average author’s day. I consoled myself with one small, comforting thought: I can at least be smart about it.
Smart is always easier said than done. Nonetheless, through a steady upswing of sales, a myriad of book signings, and more hours on social media than I care to admit to, I managed to snag some amazing opportunities—all thanks to shameless self-promotion. Never, for instance, did I think I would interview on an NBC morning show, speak to a room of 200 people, or have a tiny pigtailed fan beg me to write a sequel, which is the best accolade an author can ask for.
I’ve made peace with self-promotion as a necessary affliction that perhaps can’t be cured, but most certainly can be treated. When played right, self-promotion can have a resounding ROI—Return on Investment—especially when guided by a few rules.
Rule #1 Fortify your brand with a basic media kit. The key essentials include an author website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, and some eye-catching business cards. Invest in a quality headshot taken by a professional photographer that can be used for your website and various promo ops.
Rule #2 Always show gratitude, no matter what. If no one shows up for a book signing, write a gracious thank-you note to your host. Ditto for author presentations. Speak to your audience, regardless of how meager the turnout, as though they are the VIPs of the world. Hyperprepare and be professional at all times, especially online. It may be tempting to post snarky political comments or an old, risqué college pic, but you are bound to offend someone, possibly an ardent agent or esteemed editor. Don’t do it!
Rule #3 Choose wisely. Promotion opportunities, especially ones with an excessive price tag, should be vetted carefully. Book marketers and publicists will haggle you 24/7 with promises to make you the next Stephenie Meyer, only to drain you emotionally and financially. Opt for affordable opportunities with a high ROI.
To that end, below are 10 smart, economical, and (practically) cringe-less ways to promote yourself, your brand, and your books.
1. Start weekly Twitter chats with readers.
2. Keyword your blog posts.
3. Create a monthly newsletter with news of upcoming events.
4. Post pictures of fans reading your book.
5. Host a book release party. (Don’t forget the canapés.)
6. Create a Meet the Author or Writer Meetup group.
7. Provide a book link in your email signature.
8. Write magazine articles that your niche audience might read.
9. Post short stories on your blog.
10. Contact your alma mater. They might be willing to do a story on you.
Now put down the salmon mousse canapé and go sell yourself like a gold rush harlot, you brilliant author, you!
Kimberly Dana is a young adult and children’s author who lives in Nashville with her husband and spoiled shih tzu.
A version of this article appeared in the 05/02/2016 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: 10 (Practically) Cringe-less Self-Promo Ideas
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Etgar Keret: How I Write
Photo: Alessandro Moggi
Acclaimed Israeli writer Etgar Keret is known for his unique and distinctive writing style, allowing him to create work that is moving and deeply affecting in only a few pages. After several celebrated short story collections, Keret released his first nonfiction book, The Seven Good Years, which covers the time between the birth of Keret’s son and the death of his father.
This memoir is made up of a series of autobiographical essays, some of which of were previously published as stand-alone pieces. All are packed with keen observation, insight, and sharp wit, even when dealing with serious subject matters, such as terrorism and illness.
Unplanned memoir
I wrote the first essay the day my son was born. [Usually] I have an emotional experience and then use metaphor to write about it. The experience of his birth was so overwhelming, happening during a terrorist attack, that I couldn’t find a metaphor, so I wrote the essay. I wrote other essays that were published, but never thought of the essays as a future book until my father became ill. I wanted to have a literary tombstone for him.
Sharing the personal
I always feel that nothing is too much. But because I’m sensitive about family issues, I speak with them. It never stops me from writing it, but it might stop me from publishing it.
Humor and tragedy
For me, humor is not a goal, it is a side effect. There’s something my son calls “tickle humor,” where you laugh, but it’s not a deep humor experience. I usually use humor when I’m on serious ground, like how an airbag [in] a car presents itself when you need protection. It helps to keep from bursting into tears or feeling aggressive.
Essays vs. fiction
When I write fiction I make a point not to know what’s going to happen. I need to write to figure out what’s going to happen. But when you write nonfiction, you write about what already happened, so you need to find another way to stay curious. There needs to be another incentive.
Writing essays is like therapy because you’re figuring out: What was the important thing in that incident? Writing fiction is like an adventure. I prefer writing fiction, if I had to choose. I’m lucky that I can do both.
Short-short stories
I never think about how long my stories will be. I don’t premeditate my first draft. There’s something intense about my stories, and I see my stories like explosions. They come from the gut and come out short. It’s just the way I write.
Plotting
When I start a story, I’ll know a scene, or a character, or maybe even the ending. But it has to be obscure enough to give me the incentive to write it. If I know the arc, I feel like I’m just going through the motions. When I don’t know what’s going to happen, I am writing in the present and not trying to get somewhere. All options are open.
Revision
I drop the first paragraph and see if I can start with the second paragraph. I have to see if it works. This makes short stories even shorter. When minor characters seem too generic, I write a separate story about them, so they have more weight and are unique. I just do this so I know more about the character. Then I rewrite them into the story.
Allison Futterman is a freelance writer based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Zadie Smith, Ann Patchett Among 2016 NBCC Finalists
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) nominated 30 finalists in six categories—autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry—for the 2016 awards.
Carol Anderson, author of White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, is up for the NBCC Award for criticism. Also among the finalists are Swing Time author Zadie Smith (fiction), Commonwealth author Ann Patchett (fiction), The Iceberg author Marion Coutts (autobiography), and Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War Viet (general nonfiction).
The winners of three additional prizes were announced as well. The Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement went to poet, novelist, story writer, essayist, and environmental activist Margaret Atwood. Yaa Gyasi is the recipient of the fourth annual John Leonard Prize for her debut novel, Homegoing. Also, the 2015 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing went to Michelle Dean, whose journalism and criticism appear regularly in The Guardian, The New Republic, and more.
The awards ceremony, which is free and open to the public, will be presented on March 16 at the New School in New York City. The complete list of NBCC Award finalists for the publishing year 2016 is as follows:
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Marion Coutts, The Iceberg (Black Cat Press)
Jenny Diski, In Gratitude (Bloomsbury)
Hope Jahren, Lab Girl (Alfred A. Knopf)
Hisham Matar, The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between (Random House)
Kao Kalia Yang, The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father (Metropolitan Books)
BIOGRAPHY
Nigel Cliff, Moscow Nights: The Van Cliburn Story (Harper)
Ruth Franklin, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (Liveright)
Joe Jackson, Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Michael Tisserand, Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White (Harper)
Frances Wilson, Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
CRITICISM
Carol Anderson, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide (Bloomsbury)
Mark Greif, Against Everything: Essays (Pantheon)
Alice Kaplan, Looking for The Stranger: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic (University of Chicago Press)
Olivia Laing, The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone (Picador)
Peter Orner, Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live (Catapult)
FICTION
Michael Chabon, Moonglow (Harper)
Louise Erdrich, LaRose (Harper)
Adam Haslett, Imagine Me Gone (Little, Brown)
Ann Patchett, Commonwealth (Harper)
Zadie Smith, Swing Time (Penguin Press)
GENERAL NONFICTION
Matthew Desmond, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (Crown)
Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (Nation Books)
Jane Mayer, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right (Doubleday)
Viet Thanh Nguyen, Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (Harvard University Press)
John Edgar Wideman, Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File (Scribner)
POETRY
Ishion Hutchinson, House of Lords and Commons (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
Tyehimba Jess, Olio (Wave Books)
Bernadette Mayer, Works and Days (New Directions)
Robert Pinsky, At the Foundling Hospital (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Monica Youn, Blackacre (Graywolf Press)
NONA BALAKIAN CITATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN REVIEWING
Michelle Dean
JOHN LEONARD PRIZE
Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing (Alfred A. Knopf)
IVAN SANDROF LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Margaret Atwood
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