May 2010 - Writers Magazine

News Review

• 'Stieg Larsson notwithstanding, what are the chances of a translated author selling well in the big English-speaking markets of the US and the UK? The received wisdom has always been that translations into English are tough going financially, with it proving virtually impossible to make the figures work without an English-language publisher on both sides of the Atlantic to pay for the costs of translation.' News Review looks at writers in translation in the headlines.


• 'The Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation have launched an interesting new charitable venture, designed both to get children reading and to encourage them to become charitable givers. When a child reads a book online, they are able to donate another book to be sent to a reading charity and can choose from four options as to where their this book is sent. The site is free, so the child reads a book, as well as giving one. News Review reports.


• 'The case of Robin Price, a Devon-based literary agent who has just appeared in court charged with stealing over half a million pounds from a number of clients, is a salutary one for unpublished authors. Over a period of several years, Price had bamboozled sums as large as £293,603 out of hopeful authors... ' News Review looks at fraudulent agents and why you should beware of vanity publishers.


• 'Every so often a completely unknown writer hits the headlines after years of trying to break through and the dream come true provides fresh hope for many others. Recently it was the turn of Australian Rebecca James, whose new book Beautiful Malice was sold to Allen & Unwin, making her literally cry with joy. The timing couldn’t have been more propitious, as she and her partner had just closed down their struggling kitchen design business. This was just the beginning though. A week later Faber acquired the UK rights, then the German auction went through the roof. News Review reports.


• 'Unable to make it across the Atlantic to deliver a speech in London because of the ash, Mike Shatzkin asked someone else to deliver his speech and it can be found on his blog. And uncomfortable it certainly is this time. In a sobering analysis of the next 20 years, he says there is one inexorable truth: ‘The price consumers will be willing to pay for content is going to go down because of the laws of supply and demand.’ News Review investigates

Comment

• 'I know it's somewhat of an unpopular opinion, but I think it's unrealistic to expect that you can support yourself solely as a writer in this economy... In the end, the better you make the book, the better the chances that you'll get a healthy advance, and the harder you work with your publisher to promote the book by publishing stories or nonfiction essays to raise your profile, by blogging and keeping your website active, by thinking outside of the box in terms of marketing and publicity, the better your book will do. But at the end of the day it's the quality of the work that matters the most.' US agent Julie Barer on mediabistro


• 'My job is to entertain. There is a contract between the reader and the writer. The readers give me their hard-earned cash and I have to entertain them... It's my role to come up with the goods. I work in an entertainment industry. I tell stories, people read them and enjoy the stories, so I get paid, and get to write more stories...'  Jasper Fforde, author of Shades of Gray, in the Independent on Sunday


• 'This analogy between music and books is something that keeps popping up. Many people are saying that digital file sharing "killed" the music industry and that if the book industry isn’t careful, the same thing will happen to publishing. But the book industry is not the music industry... Books...  are already their own device with no need for any sort of player.'


• 'The sudden rush of Kindles, tablets and readers strikes me as strangely illogical. Reading is supposed to be in danger, in decline. And yet somehow these devices are going to make it more attractive... Call me old-fashioned or just call me old. But you can keep your e-book ancillaries. Stories are enough for me.'Anthony Horowitz, author of The Power of the Necropolis in the Bookseller.


• 'Writing fiction is inevitably much more personal. Not necessarily autobiographical, but much closer to your way of seeing the world, and much more demanding. I find it much harder... It’s a personal form of expression as opposed to a screenplay where I think you’re second-guessing the director or the producer or the audience.’  David Nicholls, author of One Day and many TV scripts, in the Bookseller

Writers' Quote

'All writing is difficult. The most you can hope for is a day when it goes reasonably easily. Plumbers don't get plumber's block, and doctors don't get doctor's block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working, and then expects sympathy for it?'
Philip Pullman