Roy Miller's Blog, page 312
December 29, 2016
Holiday Print Sales Finish Reasonably Well
A good final holiday week of print book sales as measured by Nielsen Bookscan lifted the cumulative total for the five-week period into positive territory (though all of this year’s comparison numbers come with asterisks since 2015 was an unusual 53-week year in Nielsen’s tracking). For the five weeks starting with Thanksgiving,…
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What Do Writers Have a Right to Write?
It’s been a busy year so far for outrage over cultural appropriation. J.K. Rowling endured withering criticism for her History of Magic in North America, a whimsical set of articles about wizardry that many claimed took improperly from Native American culture. William Styron’s 1967 novel The Confessions of Nat Turner was exhumed in the pages of Vanity Fair and tested with the latest literary forensics to see if it had misappropriated the African-American experience. And when the novelist Lionel Shriver gave a keynote address, titled “Fiction and Identity Politics,” at the Brisbane Writers Festival defending her right to imagine characters from other cultures, conference organizers quickly distanced themselves and hastily set up a session to present the alternative point of view.
I am a Jewish-American writer. My new novel, The Feet Say Run, is a sympathetic account of a German who fought for the Nazis. I think often about the criticisms my book will receive. “How dare you write this book?” And, “This is an apology for the perpetrators of the Holocaust.” And yet, through all of my labors, it was the expectation of these very criticisms that encouraged me to persevere. Isn’t this what a novelist should do? Go directly against the grain? Push the limits of imagination?
The more I thought about writing this, the clearer it became to me: a novel is an act of empathy. It requires getting into the minds and motivations, the joys and heartaches, of people outside of ourselves. If that empathy extends to another culture, shouldn’t this be admired and appreciated—even if the result is imperfect? Isn’t the ability to imagine what the world would look like from someone else’s perspective essential to being a writer?
If empathy is at the core of novel writing, it should come as no surprise that some of the most important works of fiction are works of cultural appropriation. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is particularly interesting. Written by a white woman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, about a black slave family, it’s not a work of great subtlety and has been criticized for its black stereotypes. But it stirred readers’ hearts and helped turn the tide of public opinion against slavery. Should we not admire Stowe’s act of empathy, rather than blame her for the imperfect result?
And if we are precluded from creating these stories, what then is our fiction of the future going to be? White male writers writing about the experience of being white male writers, black female writers writing about the experience of being black female writers, and on through the ethnicities? This is exactly the self-absorbed fiction that we should be resisting! Yes, all of these experiences are valid and interesting, but fiction should be more than just “me, me, me, I am so fascinating, everyone read about me.”
Writing about a culture aside from one’s own has produced some extraordinary literature. Lolita is a brilliant rendering of America by a Russian expatriate. The Remains of the Day is a remarkable take on British culture by Japanese-British novelist, Kazuo Ishiguro, who spent his early years in Japan. Conversely, American novelist Arthur Golden brought prewar Japan to life in Memoirs of a Geisha. In all of these works, the outsider’s perspective actively adds to the portrayal. Lolita could not have been written by an American-born novelist.
Sometimes, in writing The Feet Say Run, I thought to myself, “How can you purport to know the feelings of a German growing up in the 1930s?” But could a German novelist attempt to write this without facing down accusations of excusing away the atrocities? I was confident that I had a story worth telling. Who was going to tell it? It had to be an outsider.
Are there situations where taking from another culture is wrong ethically, or misfires artistically? Surely, but we cannot let this put a wall around our imaginations or make us ashamed of our attempts to empathize. In the end, I hope to be judged on the merits of the book—whether it moved the reader, captured a time and a place and a set of individuals living in that place—and not whether I had a right to attempt it.
Dan Blum’s most recent novel is The Feet Say Run (Gabriel’s Horn); he writes the humor blog The Rotting Post.
A version of this article appeared in the 12/05/2016 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: What Do Writers Have a Right to Write?
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Stocking stuffers for writers – The Writer
These fun, budget-friendly products will warm the heart of any writer this holiday season.
Show off book pride with one of these pennants inspired by Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice and The Wizard of Oz. They’re clever additions to any office or college dorm room. Starts at $12. outofprintclothing.com
Keep company with the kings and queens of literature. Literary Aces Playing Cards feature one-of-a-kind portraits of Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, Flannery O’Connor, James Baldwin and many more of your favorite writers. Sounds like a royal flush. Starts at $10. etsy.com
Tech-savvy writers will love Moleskine’s latest notebook, which marries the tactility of handwriting with the technology of a tablet. The notebook syncs with Livescribe smartpens (available at livescribe.com), capturing handwritten notes in a digital form that you can edit and save on your computer. It’s perfect for traditional writers in a digital age. Starts at $27. moleskine.com
Fuel a writing binge with chocolate. The Mini Exotic Chocolate Bar Library is stocked with nine chocolate “books” in unique flavors such as Sri Lankan coconut, chipotle chili, hickory-smoked almond, caramel toffee and bacon. Start at $25. vosgeschocolate.com
What writer wouldn’t love a box full of bookish goodies? The team at Book Riot fills each package with books and related gifts such as pencil cases, bookmarks, notebooks and more. Splurge on a subscription and keep the holiday spirit alive year round. Starts at $50 per box. quarterly.co
Every writer needs a good book bag. This satchel, sporting a classic composition print, is the right size for a notebook, a handful of pens and a copy of The Writer. Starts at $17. strandbooks.com
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PW’s Most-Read Cooking Stories of 2016
From cocktails on the Lower East Side to dinner with Dalí to Anthony Bourdain at home, here are our top cookbook stories of the year.
10. Teamwork, and Kickstarter, Get Late Author’s Book to Shelves
How the husband and daughter of food writer and historian Joy Santlofer helped complete Joy’s book, Food City, after she died suddenly in 2013.
9. The Making of a Bestseller: ‘The Bob’s Burgers Burger Book’
The story of how the tie-in cookbook to the Emmy Award-winning animated series came to be.
8. Strange, Surreal Cookbook by Salvador Dalí an Improbable Holiday Bestseller
In a season of blockbuster cookbooks, there has also been one unlikely hit—a reprint of an opulent cookbook by Dalí that’s been out of print for 40 years.
7. With Dovetail, a Product Designer Branches Into Books
The Brooklyn-based W&P Design, which is established in the food-and-drink market, launched a publishing company to pair books with its original products.
6. Phaidon Bets Big on Vegetarian Cookbooks
Last April, for the first time in a decade, the publisher released a vegetarian-only cookbook.
5. Beyond Rustic: Publishers Take Up ‘Field-to-Table’ Cookbook Trend
A wave of new cookbooks arrived this year to teach readers the ins and outs of foraging and “field-to-table” cuisine.
4. Reviews of 2016’s James Beard Award-Winning Books
A roundup of our coverage, including reviews, for the 14 winners of the 2016 James Beard Awards.
3. Breaking New Ground with a Cocktail Book from the man behind Milk & Honey
Phaidon expanded its nascent beverage list with Regarding Cocktails, the first and only cocktail recipe book from Sasha Petraske, the late, legendary owner of the New York City bar Milk & Honey.
2. Longtime Cookbook Collaborator Makes Her Solo Debut
Julia Turshen stepped into the limelight with her debut, ‘Small Victories.’
1. Anthony Bourdain Is Not a Fan of Dessert
In Appetites, Bourdain’s first cookbook in a decade, the chef/TV personality focuses on the food he prepares for family and friends.
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December 28, 2016
What To Know Before You Submit: 28 Great Tips from Literary Agents
(This is Part 1 of a three-part series to kickstart your awesome 2017. Part 2 is a roundup of query letter submission tips, and Part 3 is a list of literary agent pet peeves.)
2017 is here, and that means new goals, new resolutions, and new writing projects to send to literary agents and publishers.
But before you send work out, understand what you should and shouldn’t be doing in your forthcoming submissions. To help you, I’ve cobbled together some amazing advice straight from literary agents in the publishing trenches—reading through years of hashtags and agent info on Twitter so you don’t have to.
Below find 28 great tips on what you should know and understand before you send your work out. I’ve also chimed in to expound on their helpful advice.
Good luck submitting in 2017!
Writers, don’t send queries until your ms is ready to send that moment if agent requests it. It’s okay; you can hold off a few weeks #pubtip
— Michelle Witte (@michellewitte) September 16, 2012
An impatient writer is a rejected writer. No one is looking for OK writing or pretty good writing. Agents seek excellence, and excellence takes time. Don’t query before your manuscript is as good as you can make it. Listen to Michelle here: Wait a few weeks (or months) if need be, and tighten the work through revision.
Check out an agent’s website, tweets, & blog posts to get a sense of her style & taste before you query. Customize for best results #pubtip
— Jacquie Flynn (@BookJacquie) May 5, 2013
Many, many agents are on Twitter. And by reading their tweets, you can get a deeper understanding of what they seek as well as what kind of writing excites them. Use an agent’s online footprint and research them. Read their blog interviews. Review their website. This helps you better target agents to query, and it also helps you learn more about each rep, giving you information you can use to begin your query letter. For example, “Dear Ms. Flynn, I saw your tweet about how you seek irreverently humorous young adult books such as Spanking Shakespeare. For this reason, I think you would like my YA comedy of errors, [Title].”
And once you have that great manuscript, you need a great query letter to catch an agent’s attention and get them to read it. #pubtip
— Wolfson Literary (@WolfsonLiterary) December 1, 2013
This is a nice reminder that you have two great weapons in hooking an agent—your manuscript and your query. You may say, “It’s impossible for me to write a good query, so I won’t try. The agent will happily just skip past my terrible query to my brilliant sample pages and be enthralled. SLAM DUNK.” Some agents may do just that, but many agents still give a lot of weight to the query. So don’t underestimate the value of an awesome letter. Get it edited if need be. Send out different versions if you wish.
More info: Querying Literary Agents : Your Top 9 Questions Answered.
Querying in 2014? With very few exceptions, if you write fiction the book must be 100% complete to query an agent. #pubtip #queries
— Sara Megibow (@SaraMegibow) January 3, 2014
This is still true in 2017, of course. A friendly reminder that if you are querying fiction of any kind, the manuscript must be 100 percent complete before you send it. But as we’ve already discussed, it should be not only complete but also revised and rewritten as much as needed before submitting. Please note that most agents treat memoir submissions like novel submissions in that they want to see the full, edited memoir upfront. (There are a few agents out there who want a book proposal for a memoir rather than the completed work, but this is rare.)
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Many YA/MG projects are turned down after 50 pages because the stories do not begin in the appropriate place. #pubtip #querytip
— Laura Crockett ❄️ (@LECrockett) May 16, 2016
Laura is talking about young adult and middle-grade projects here, but her point applies to all novels. So many fiction submissions do not start in the most intriguing (i.e., best) place. This goes back to how you must receive critical and blunt feedback on your work before you submit. Nail your opening! There is immense pressure on your first pages to be great.
More info: How to Start Your Novel in the Right Place.
A lot of MG in my slush pile today under 20k words. This is too short. Gives me pause. Usually gets a rejection. #pubtip #querytip
— Renee Nyen (@Renee_Nyen) August 5, 2016
Before you submit, you should understand basic word count expectations. Someone recently contacted me asking me to critique their 33,000-word novel. But that is not a novel. By definition, that word count is a novella, and much too short to be a novel—meaning that agents will not consider the work.
More info: Word Count: How Long Should a Book Be?
Friendly reminder & #querytip: don’t query something as a YA/MG project. Two different categories, shelved in different parts of bookstore.
— TaylorMartindaleKean (@TMartindaleKean) September 30, 2016
Understand your genre before you submit. If you’re confused, do research and ask questions. Saying it’s “women’s fiction/sci-fi” does not make sense. Probably the most common confusion is whether a book is middle-grade (for readers 8–12) or young adult (readers 12–16). Saying it’s both, or worse yet saying it’s “middle-grade/young adult/adult” will only come off as amateurish. Yes, material can cross over from one age category to another, but fundamentally, it is starts as just one category.
More info: The Key Differences Between Middle-Grade and Young Adult.
Please never use the words “I have just completed” in your query. Ideally you’ve betad, revised, edited etc. long before querying. #querytip
— Agent V (@VeroniKaboom) September 30, 2016
Good advice. Along with this, I’m always advising query writers never to say, “This is my first novel.” That’s because many first novels are learning experiences—almost like the one you have to get out of the way while you gain your voice and learn how to write well. Agents may think this, too.
And by the way, the word she uses here—”betad”—is beta’d, meaning that your work has been reviewed and critiqued by beta readers (writing group peers).
Check Out These Great Upcoming Writers Conferences:
Feb. 11, 2017: Writers Conference of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN)
Feb. 16–19, 2017: San Francisco Writers Conference (San Francisco, CA)
Feb. 24, 2017: The Alabama Writers Conference (Birmingham, AL)
Feb. 25, 2017: Atlanta Writing Workshop (Atlanta, GA)
March 25, 2017: Michigan Writers Conference (Detroit, MI)
March 25, 2017: Kansas City Writing Workshop (Kansas City, MO)
April 8, 2017: Philadelphia Writing Workshop (Philadelphia, PA)
April 22, 2017: Get Published in Kentucky Conference (Louisville, KY)
April 22, 2017: New Orleans Writers Conference (New Orleans, LA)
May 6, 2017: Seattle Writers Conference (Seattle, WA)
May 19-21, 2017: PennWriters Conference (Pittsburgh, PA)
June 24, 2017: The Writing Workshop of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
Aug. 18–20, 2017: Writer’s Digest Conference (New York, NY)
An agent or editor should never be your first reader. #pubtip
— Marlene Stringer (@MarleneStringer) November 11, 2015
Before you submit, you need an independent analysis of your work—i.e., you need other people to critique it. This means either having talented writing peers/friends review it (look for people who are smart, critical, and honest) or hiring a freelance developmental editor. You should have your manuscript revised, overhauled, and battle-tested before submitting it for publication. Or else you’re essentially sending out a work in progress that will not reach the finish line.
More info on this topic: Tips on Hiring a Freelance Editor.
Successful authors have a team of editors, beta readers, agent, bloggers, other authors. Make sure you have a good team! #pubtip
— Saritza Hernandez (@epubagent) February 20, 2014
This echoes Marlene’s tweet above. Just understand that many successful debut writers are not going it alone. They’re part of a writing group and writing community. Find yours—even if it’s online, even if it takes a while. Locate your tribe.
If possible, test your pitch on people who haven’t read your MS. Do they get what your story is about? What the conflict is? #querytip
— Julia A. Weber (@jawlitagent) October 11, 2016
The second tweet (lower) is good advice many people will not take the time to apply. Try talking about your story to strangers and only giving yourself several sentences to describe the main plot, characters, and conflict. You’ll be forced not only to boil down the story, but to attempt to focus on the most interesting and unique elements to maintain their attention. Once you know what captures the attention of strangers, you can work on highlighting that information when you query agents later.
More info: Crafting a Novel’s Pitch: 7 Tips.
30K words is not an adult novel. #pubtip
— Laura Crockett ❄️ (@LECrockett) April 15, 2016
Again: Before you submit, you should understand basic word count expectations. Worth repeating. Even if you’re going to ignore these expectations, you should learn the guidelines so you understand how/why/when to ignore them.
Self-publishing should be a conscious & professional choice. Not something you do because you’re impatient or want a “test drive”. #querytip
— Julia A. Weber (@jawlitagent) October 13, 2016
Testify! I love this tweet.
It’s unwise and risky to self-publish your book just to see how it does, and then plan on submitting it to agents later if sales do not materialize. Once you self-publish a book, you’ll have to disclose that decision to an agent, and then an agent will be wondering why the book did not sell. Your query letter will sound like this: “I wrote a book and self-published it. It went nowhere. Would YOU like to rep it???”
More info: Pitching a self-published book to an agent is difficult, so understand what agents look for in a query for a self-published book.
#querytip Your synopsis should not be one line, that’s a pitch. Synopsis should tell all major plot points, not just the starting off point
— Bibi Lewis (@Bibi_Lewis) October 25, 2016
Before you contact agents, understand the difference between a pitch (the part of the query letter that reads like back cover copy) and the synopsis (a front-to-back summary of your book).
More info: 5 Tips on Writing a Novel Synopsis.
Are you a subscriber to Writer’s Digest magazine
yet? If not, get a discounted one-year sub here.
#Querytip #9 All submissions require a query letter, whether it’s fiction or non fiction. Even if you have a proposal. Not the same thing.
— Marisa A. Corvisiero (@mcorvisiero) August 31, 2016
No matter what you are writing, you will need a query letter. Not all queries or the same or are trying to achieve the same thing. A novel query tries to suck you in with the pitch and voice. A nonfiction book query puts massive emphasis on the platform and bio. A picture book query is short and sweet, almost more like a cover letter. But in all cases, you will indeed need a query letter. Do not try to skip this step and instead just send an agent a hyperlink to something, or attach your manuscript.
#querytip: Before you send your query out, send it to a friend or to your other email address to make sure your formatting isn’t wonky.
— Mallory C. Brown ❄️ (@MalloryCBrown) September 1, 2016
Cutting and pasting text into the body of an email can lead to weird formatting issues, and symbols that appear out of nowhere. Test-send a few initial query letters to friends/yourself to see if everything looks OK.
Be careful about overstating the popularity of your website/blog. It’s easy to check & can make you look dishonest or clueless #Querytip
— Jacquie Flynn (@BookJacquie) September 12, 2016
If you are going to mention things about yourself when you query—such as previous publications, or the success of your social media accounts, or that you were interviewed by ABC News—be prepared for agents to verify these items. So 1) do not exaggerate or make things up, and 2) make sure there is a means online for agents to verify you’re being truthful. If you were interviewed by ABC News, for example, having a video of that interview embedded on your website is an easy and worthwhile step.
#pubtip Have an online presence. Just read a short story, loved it, and was hoping to contact the author about it, but no contact info.
— Alec Shane (@alecdshane) October 6, 2016
Personally, I absolutely hate it when I search for an author and turn up diddly squat. Alec’s right—have an online presence, even if that is just a simple website with one single page that has your name, head shot, and email address. Do this even before you are published or in the querying stages. You have no idea if you’re missing opportunities simply because you can’t be contacted.
More info: Why Writers Must Make Themselves Easy to Contact.
Struggling with your book summary? Check out the cover copy of your favorite reads. How did they convince you to pick them up? #querytip
— Abby Saul (@BookySaul) June 21, 2016
This is some of the best and simplest submission advice you will find out there. If you want to know how you, an unpublished author with no name recognition, can entice agents (and readers) with your book pitch as well as your first pages, look at those like you who succeeded and learn from them. In the words of agent Sara Megibow of KT Literary: Go to the bookstore and pick up debuts in your genre from the past two years. Then examine what they did successfully concerning their pitch (found on the back cover or inside jacket flap cover) as well as their first pages.
More info: 25 Debut Authors Share Advice on Getting Published.
If you’re comparing your work to Kafka I’m not the right agent for you. #querytip
— Jessica Faust (@BookEndsJessica) July 21, 2016
I included this tweet because this is a simple, valuable reminder that getting on Twitter to follow agents is a good thing. Twitter is the place where agents explain what they like and don’t like on a micro-level. Again, we’re coming back to the value of research, because it helps you target markets (agents) before you submit. Agents say stuff like Jessica did here all the time. They’ll say “Please don’t send me a book if there a rape in the story” or “I like science fiction, but I have no idea where all these science fiction/Western hybrid stories are coming from. Not for me.” These little bits of information will help you add and cross off potential reps from your to-query list.
Writers – do not have someone else send out your Q. You don’t need an agent to query an agent! #pubtip
— Marlene Stringer (@MarleneStringer) January 20, 2015
Do not get someone to send out your queries for you, be that a relative or a paid service. Ten times out of ten when this happens, an agent will be confused as to why you did this. Sending a query letter over email is effortless. If you can’t send your own queries, it makes an agent wonder what else you can’t do or are unwilling to do. (Note: If you are disabled, ignore this whole point.)
You can hire people to a lot of things for you—be a writing coach, edit your query and synopsis, edit your manuscript, design your website, consult on your social media accounts, and even research agents, I suppose. But queries should be sent by you and you alone.
#querytip Don’t limit yourself by offering an exclusive . It doesn’t benefit you. Research well & send to others.
— Stacey Donaghy (@DonaghyLiterary) June 4, 2016
First of all, understand that when people use the word “exclusive,” they can mean 1) contacting only one agent at a time while submitting, or they can mean 2) when an agent asks to review your full manuscript but be the only one reviewing the full thing for a limited length of time. Stacey is talking about the former—the idea of only querying one agent a time. I agree with her; this is a bad idea. Even if you have “dream agents” out there, I would still not be submitting a query exclusively. Think about it. The agent could wait one month, review your query, like the query, request your first 50 pages, sit on those for two months, read them, then reject you. You waited three months and ended up with just another form rejection. That is not advisable.
More info: Exclusive Requests from Literary Agents: What They Are and How They Work.
How to find what agent repped a book? Search on https://t.co/U6CTnsE7kO (there is a fee) or check acknowledgments page of the book. #pubtip
— Sara Megibow (@SaraMegibow) August 24, 2016
If you’re having trouble defining what your book is (genre-wise) and who would represent such a story, scour a bookstore as well as Amazon to find any titles anywhere that could be comparable to yours. Then use Sara’s suggestions here to help identify the agents. You could find some more reps to add to your query list. Another way to find out who repped a book is to visit the author’s website, then see if they mention who their agent is on their Contact page.
Going w a new agent can be great. Are they at a good agency, working w mentors & hungry to grow? They can give extra time & edits #pubtip
— Kathleen Rushall (@KatRushall) December 16, 2014
As you research agents and build your list of reps to target, you should be giving some consideration to all agents who might consider your work—both established agents and new ones. Both have advantages, and it’s typically new/newer agents who are actively seeking clients right now.
More info: Should You Pitch (and Sign With) a New Literary Agent? The Pros and Cons.
Dear Queriers: Please check the date of agent interviews. Chances are high that I now rep the book I was looking for in ’06. #pubtip
— Tina Wexler (@Tina_Wexler) February 26, 2014
A recurring theme of this article is research, research, research. But Tina’s point here is that established agents have been giving blog interviews for years. (You can find some old ones on this very GLA website!) Realize that if they tweeted about seeking dystopian fiction 4 years ago, that may not still be current. Check updated guidelines on their website.
Today’s #AgentTip: don’t include a copyright date of 2014 for your manuscript when querying in 2016.
— Renee Zuckerbrot (@RZAgent) March 27, 2016
Previously, agent Veronica Park mentioned how you should not say that your completed manuscript is brand new because that would imply that it has not been revised or edited. But at the same time, take Renee’s advice here and do not say your manuscript had been around for years. That would make an agent say, “But if it was completed and copyrighted in 2014, does this mean he has been submitting it for two years straight with no luck?” That thought does not inspire confidence. (I know it’s kind of a tightrope, but just do it.)
If you have a co-writer, ALWAYS have a written collaboration agreement w clear splits. Even if they are your spouse. #pubtip #agenttip
— Thao Le (@ThaoLe8) October 30, 2014
A collaboration agreement with a ghostwriter or cowriter or illustrating partner should be worked out in writing early on, before you seek an agent. It’s not the agent’s job to work this out for you. It’s an agent’s job to take your amazing completed project and sell it.
More info: 6 Question Writers Ask About Copyright and the Law.
If you’re going to write prescriptive non-fiction, please make sure you have a platform. #agenttip
— Andrea Barzvi (@AndreaBarzvi) April 12, 2011
First of all, “prescriptive nonfiction” basically means nonfiction books that are not memoir or narrative nonfiction. And if you are writing such a book, you must have a platform when you submit your work or else most/all publishers will not even consider your idea. This is because with nonfiction, most of the marketing falls upon your shoulders, and you will be expected to build a platform before you need it—before the book comes out. A platform consists of all the elements you have in place to market yourself and your books right now—such as your blog, website, newsletter, public speaking appearances, media contacts, social media numbers, and more.
More info: Check out my book, Create Your Writer Platform.
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LitHub Daily: December 28, 2016
The Best of the Literary Internet, Every Day
TODAY: In 1955, literary critic, writer, and activist Liu Xiaobo is born.
We’re counting down the 50 most important literary stories of the year. Today, in 30 to 16, writers’ real estate, cringeworthy emails, and powerful women. | Literary Hub
The best overlooked books of the year, according to booksellers. | Literary Hub
The year in literary to screen adaptations (and what’s coming in 2017). | Literary Hub
Five Books Making News This Week: From Jeanette Winterson to Hidden Figures. | Literary Hub
Carrie Fisher, actress, author, and screenwriter, and Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down, died yesterday at 60 and 96 respectively. | The New York Times
“He made it O.K. to feel what he was feeling, what I was feeling. I wanted to be a diminutive, profuse, electric ribbon of horniness and divine grace.” Maggie Nelson on Prince. | The New Yorker
On Paterson, Jim Jarmusch’s “love poem to poetry” (and to William Carlos Williams). | NPR
Tobias Carroll on metafictional jokes, editing zines and lit journals, and tapping into a nostalgic spirit. | Fanzine
Try to discover something, open yourself to damage and dismay, and more: Highlights from 12 months of interviews with writers about their craft. | The Atlantic
Verses of vengeance and the drunken delirium of greed: Reading Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry in 2016. | The Millions
Monarchic affairs, wizened apple puppets, and beyond: The strangest information revealed in autobiographies published this year. | The Guardian
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Pantsuit Nation Founder Clarifies Book Deal and Nonprofit Status After Criticism
Earlier this week the founder of the private Facebook group Pantsuit Nation faced criticism and controversy following the announcement of coffee-table book comprising member posts set to be published in May by Flatiron Books. Founded by Libby Chamberlain in October for Hillary Clinton supporters to express enthusiasm for their candidate,…
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How One Publisher Has Made Diversity a Part of Its DNA
Diversity has always been a critically important factor in the success of the New Press, and it is all the more important now, when immigrants, religious minorities, ethnic and racial minorities, women, LGBTQ people, and other vulnerable communities are under attack across the nation.
Our belief in the importance of diversity has led us to graduate hundreds of diverse young people from our internship program, in an effort to help change the monochromatic nature of the publishing industry at large. Beyond the editorial department, it is our belief that having diverse staff across the institution, at all levels of management, including on the senior management team, brings the strength of diverse points of view to all aspects of our endeavor and ensures that no employee feels like either an outsider or a token.
Nearly 25 years ago, the New Press was conceived in part to challenge the orthodoxy that only some voices belong in the national conversation, and that only certain segments of the population are interested in reading, and buying, books. Since opening our doors, we have brought hundreds of “different” voices to the literary table, from an African-American federal prosecutor to an ex-felon; from a leader of the movement to treat home-care workers with dignity to a Sri Lankan novelist; from a Native American activist to the head of Lambda Legal Defense.
We showed with Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, which has been on the New York Times bestseller list for over five years now, with close to a million copies sold, that there is an enormous audience for serious books that speak to the interests and concerns of what we have come to think of as intellectually redlined audiences. And we have found with the recent success of National Book Award–finalist Arlie Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land the importance of plumbing the difficult and uncomfortable realities—socioeconomic, racial, religious—at the root of the present political crisis.
Yet the New Press remains nearly alone as a truly diverse book publishing house (Lee & Low Books is a notable exception). We were featured by Publishers Weekly in 1992 as a model of diversity and singled out again 20 years later for the same accolade. Going into our 25th year, we have participated in a ridiculous number of panels and interviews about how to diversify a publishing house, as if there were some hidden tricks. But there are no secrets here. We have found that when we make diversity a key qualification for working at the New Press, the most diverse candidates often stand out as the most qualified.
We know something that Donald Trump doesn’t: that we will be stronger—and our books will be more powerful—if we invite and accommodate difference.
Just two days after the recent presidential election, 19-year-old Fariha Nizam, who wears a head scarf, was attacked on a Queens, New York, bus on her way to work as an intern at the New Press. As Gothamist reported the incident, a white, middle-aged couple approached her, yelling that she must take off her hijab. “The woman was doing most of the talking and she was basically telling me that I wasn’t allowed to wear it,” Fariha said. “She was telling me to take that disgusting piece of cloth off of my head, telling me it’s not allowed anymore.” Ultimately, Fariha said, the woman “started grabbing at my head and tried to pull it off.”
As a result, Fariha missed our editorial brainstorming session that morning about books the New Press should commission in response to the events of November 8. But she was certainly front of mind as our African-American, Latino, Asian, Indian, Haitian, gay, lesbian, Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, and atheist members of the New Press staff sat together talking about the election. Together we came up with a dozen compelling book ideas that may help the country understand what’s been happening in our nation and what is likely to happen here and in the world going forward.
As everyone at the New Press knows firsthand, those ideas would not have taken the same shape or had the same robustness had they been developed in a room full of like-minded, homogeneous editors. The collective range of knowledge and breadth of reference available in a room full of diverse and discordant voices far exceed the sum of its parts.
Diane Wachtell is the cofounder and executive director of the New Press, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2017.
A version of this article appeared in the 12/12/2016 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Diversity in Publishing
The post How One Publisher Has Made Diversity a Part of Its DNA appeared first on Art of Conversation.
Adam Silvera: How I Write
Photo: Margot Wood
The YA world has been taken by storm by Adam Silvera. His first book, the speculative novel More Happy Than Not, was a huge hit with both readers and reviewers. Fans eagerly awaiting his next book will not be disappointed.
With the release of History Is All You Left Me, Silvera tackles serious subject matters, including love, obsessive-compulsive disorder, sexuality, and death. The poignant narrative follows Griffin, a young man with OCD, as he grieves the death of his first love, Theo – while at the same time navigating a complex relationship with Theo’s last boyfriend, Jackson. By using an alternating timeline (switching between present and “history”), Silvera cleverly provides a way to keep the somber and sad elements from overpowering the reader, while still creating an emotional connection.
Although History Is All You Left Me is his first foray into contemporary fiction, Silvera will return to speculative fiction this fall with the release of his third novel, They Both Die At The End.
Success as an author
I’m still adjusting to it and the additional pressure it created. I got some criticism in reviews that I’ve used to improve my craft. I’m grateful for the feedback. The majority of readers wrote thoughtful reviews, and I liked seeing what they identified as weaknesses. I agreed with them and hopefully improved on my writing.
Choosing alternating timelines
This ties back to feedback about my debut novel. People were relieved to have had the humor from the narrator. With History, there is no humor in someone grieving the loss of the love of his life. The timeline created a balance between the heavy stuff and some relief for readers.
Compelling characters
I don’t ever see any character as 100 percent good or 100 percent evil. When I was writing History, it was hard to detach from antagonizing feelings toward Jackson, because he’s a good person. As humans, we’re all flawed, and I treat my characters like that. Everything I’ve written has come from an honest place based on some event. It’s helped that I’ve had interesting people to base my characters on.
Handling serious themes in YA
I always write as honestly as possible. If something goes too far, I have my team to call it out and we have a discussion. It’s important to be authentic to the characters while also making sure certain themes don’t drive too many younger readers away. So far, my editor has made sure the hearts of my books never change too drastically. It can be rough writing about OCD and sexuality, two things I’ve struggled with over the years, but I’ve found everything I’ve written to be very therapeutic and to have helped me find answers to questions I didn’t know to ask myself.
Genre
I always want to have some sort of hook. My third book was actually the second one I wrote, and it’s speculative – and I thought History also had to be. I tried [making it speculative] but nothing felt true, so I had Griffin speak to Theo throughout the novel. It makes it pop a little more.
Getting personal
I think everything is personal in [a] first draft. Afterwards I have to detach. I learned that in the first book, where it was 100 percent me and I knew I had to take a step back. It was easier for History because it was inspired by certain things, but different. I could tap into the loneliness. The situations were different, but the emotional resonance is there, even if it’s not exactly how it played out in real life.
Break up the routine
I’m traveling a lot, so I write erratically. I always have a pocket notebook on me. It feels different from a laptop, and I think it’s good to step away from how you normally do things.
Allison Futterman is a freelance writer based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Bookstore News: December 21, 2016
A bookstore opens in a country store in Massachusetts; an indie returns to Missouri; new stores prep for opening in New Jersey and Oklahoma early next year; and more.
B&N and Rutgers to Open in Downtown Newark in February: Newark, N.J., is the latest community to get a boost to its downtown revitalization plans from the opening of a Barnes & Noble Education bookstore in conjunction with a local university, Rutgers-Newark. The 10,000 sq. ft. bookstore will be part of a mixed-use redevelopment, which includes a Whole Foods Market and a Marcus Samuelsson restaurant. Earlier this month Monroe College and Barnes & Noble Education opened a downtown store in New Rochelle, N.Y.
Magic City Books Opening in Tulsa: Tulsa Literary Coalition (TLC), a not-for-profit organization started by former Tulsa City librarian Cindy Hulsey and Jeff Martin, founder of Booksmart Tulsa, will open the for-profit Magic City Books early next year. Hulsey told Bookselling This Week that income from the 3,700 sq. ft. bookstore will be used to enable the coalition to become self-sustaining. The store will have a café, a meeting space, and offices for TLC.
Soft Opening for Reader’s World in Missouri: Cowley Distributing, which previously owned Warrensburg Books and Toys in Warrensburg, Mo., returned to the city following the closing of a Hastings store. The new, general interest bookstore, called Reader’s World, had a soft opening in the Midtown Connection Shopping Center earlier this month.
Veteran’s Voice Bookstore Opens Inside the “Postie”: Bob Neson and his partner, Marsha Robitaille, recently held a grand opening for Veteran’s Voice Bookstore, which they opened inside Egypt Country Store (aka the “Postie”) in Scituate, Mass. The bookstore is intended to promote veteran-authored books and DVDs. In the new year Robitaille plans to host monthly book readings and invite book clubs to meet authors.
Author and Bookseller Crystal Wilkinson Named a Southerner of the Year: Crystal Wilkinson, who co-owns The Wild Fig Books in North Lexington with her partner, Ron Davis, was one of Southern Living magazine’s Southerners of the Year. “At first glance,” wrote the magazine, “author Crystal Wilkinson’s shop, The Wild Fig, might just look like any other small, independent bookstore, but inside it’s become something of a town hall where just as many discussions are had over a new bestseller as about gentrification, race relations, and city issues.” Wilkinson received the Ernest J. Gaines Award for her debut novel, Birds of Opulence.
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