Newsy tidbits for writers from around the ‘nets.

Am I the only one who hasn’t yet heard of the viral website I Write Like . . . ? If you are like me, one of the last to know, I Write Like analyzes a sample of your writing and determines which famous writer you most write like. It’s FASCINATING. Apparently, I write like Stephen King sometimes, and then other times I write like James Joyce. I Write Like also has its own blog, which is full of writerly tidbits. Which writer do you write like?

From our mailbox, we got a note from Sarah Sypniewski about a new online writing school:

“Hey there Kathleen and Therese,

I’m helping to get the word out about a new online writing school. Might be of interest to your followers…What’s cool is that the classes are a little grittier than most traditionalschools…we offer things like rock and roll writing, sex writing, etc…in addition to the traditional stuff…And for your own benefit, our Facebook page and Twitter feed has weird daily writing prompts. We have a lot of fun watching what people come up with…feel free to join in on the fun!”

The Basement Writing Workshop boasts an impressive staff of writers, a collaborative philosophy, and a willingness to let writers explore alternative genres. If you are looking for an edgy alternative to online writing courses, the Basement Writing Workshop could be for you.

As always, change, when it comes, comes fast. Just a few years ago we were wondering if the digital revolution in publishing was a fad or here to stay. Welp, it seems like e-books are definitely here to stay, according to the NYTs: 

Amazon.com, one of the nation’s largest booksellers, announced that for the last three months, sales of books for its e-reader, the Kindle, outnumbered sales of hardcover books.

In that time, Amazon said, it sold 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books, including hardcovers for which there is no Kindle edition.

The pace of change is quickening, too, Amazon said. In the last four weeks sales rose to 180 digital books for every 100 hardcover copies. Amazon has 630,000 Kindle books, a small fraction of the millions of books sold on the site.

The NYTs also links to a 2009 article debating whether reading books digitally is good or bad for the brain. 

The digital marketplace is opening up more opportunities for entrepreneures like agents and indie publishers. Could these changes finally swing power back to the author?

Digital rights are rising in significance as e-books make up a growing percentage of the book market, and publishers have struggled to capture the rights to produce digital versions of their backlist books. But agents and authors have said for months that the digital royalty rate offered by most traditional publishers is far too low.

Like many readers, I treasure my books like old friends, and I’m a little sad about this transition. But I got used to digital downloads for music instead of CDs, I’m sure I’ll get used to digital books too. Sniff. 

Write on, peeps.

Kathleen Bolton is co-founder of Writer Unboxed. She has written two novels under the pseudonym Cassidy Calloway: Confessions of a First Daughter, and Secrets of a First Daughter--both books in a YA series about the misadventures of the U.S. President's teen-aged daughter, published by HarperCollins.
Kathleen Bolton