Weekly Writer's Round-Up… With a BIG Announcement!
Yee-haw! Welcome to the Weekly Writer's Round-up, where I lasso up the week's latest news and rootin'-tootin' writers' articles on the Net!
Top story today is, of course, the one I've been alluding to all last week, my big announcement, the subject of the poll in the sidebar. Incidentally, I got one vote for a third nipple. I mean, really? You'd think if I wanted to surgically enhance myself, I'd pick something more useful, like a third eye, or a second brain, or extra typing fingers! But a third nipple? Please…
Anyway, back to the announcement. It was a close fight between getting an agent or getting published, and I'm glad to say that 53.85% of those who answered the poll guessed right. Yup, nothing gets past my clever readers…
I'm getting published!!
Yessirree, Oracle is going to be published by J Taylor Publishing, and we're looking at a release date of 1st August 2012 — right at the start of the London 2012! Just perfect for a novel set in the run-up to the Olympics! [image error]
Here's a link to my official author bio on their site! It's all so…official, and such. Isn't that cool? Also, we're already playing with cover concepts. Based on the awesome covers on all their current books, I knew I won't be disappointed! And you know what? I think we've already found the cover… I'm in love with it! (But the cover reveal will have to be another teaser to be revealed later… Sorry guys!)
Soexcitedsoexcitedsoexcitedsoexcitedsoexcited…!!
Right, enough about me. On to other news!
Amazon is further expanding its e-book dominance by announcing two new European Kindle sites: Amazon.es and Amazon.it.
Meanwhile, rival Barnes & Noble reported a second quarter dip in sales despite strong growths in its Nook market, as the sale of physical books continue to decline. (via TheBookseller)
FutureBook has a great article on the added value of publishers that not everybody sees.
Also from FutureBook: Can E-Books Meet Changing Social Demand?
Despite the country's reputation of being big on all things high-tech, a recent survey has revealed that Japan are surprisingly wary of e-books. (via FutureBook)
Here's an interesting debate about the Penguin subsidiary Book Country, an online slush pile/peer review community focusing on genre fiction: their announcement to launch their own self-publishing service has been criticised by self-published authors. Writer Beware asks: Why the hate?
By the way, have you seen the Genre Map Book Country has devised? Reminds me of the Periodic Table of Elements! 
Fellow UK scribes, you may be interested in this: Good Housekeeping has launched a novel competition in association with Orion and agent Luigi Bonomi. Open to any previously unpublished author in all genres except children's, the top prize is a £25,000 advance, editorial help, and the chance to have the winning book published! Is this an awesome contest or what? For more details, you'll have to purchase the January issue of the magazine, available now. (via The Bookseller)
