Writer Unboxed

So I’m getting the galleys of Time of My Life tomorrow. Yay! For those of you who don’t know, a galley – or an ARC (advanced review copy) – is essentially an uncorrected paperback version of your book. Which means that there will still be some typos and whatnot, but that mostly, […]

I’ve just been in Melbourne for the Children’s Book Council of Australia conference – three days jam-packed with discussion about writing and illustration for young readers.
The program for CBCA conferences is aimed principally at teachers and librarians, and panel topics ranged from ‘The challenge of “reading” graphic novels’ to ‘How teenage writers get published.’ […]

Kath and I are groggy from our re-entry into the everyday world, but we wanted you to know about a few links:
Writer’s Digest published a fascinating interview with Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants, HERE.
Interested in checking out the BackSpace Writers Conference, where you can learn from and mingle with editors, agents and published […]

I head off to Melbourne later today for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Conference, which I’ll post about on return. It’s a three and a half hour flight, and I will get there at almost midnight. Must get up early enough to imbibe a strong coffee before tomorrow’s first session – at least I […]

There’s a terrific post up by Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware Blogs! about the precautions an author should take if working with a small press publisher. A number of authors have recently lost rights to their work when small presses have folded, and Victoria offers a number of preventative steps you can take to help […]

Bookmarks. Don’t hate me, but I kind of…hate them. Well, not all of them; maybe I’m being too harsh. I have a beautiful wire ladybug bookmark a dear friend gave me, a hand-written and stamped label another dear friend made into an ingenious little bookmark, several beaded lengths of twine my daughter made for me, […]

* Today the paperback edition of Allison Winn Scotch’s first novel, THE DEPARTMENT OF LOST AND FOUND, hits bookstores nationwide. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, here’s your opportunity to get a great read for $11. Amazon link HERE.
* Barbara Samuel’s first post will be up tomorrow here at WU. Don’t miss […]

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this, but I’m working on book chapters for a nonfiction assignment. Specifically, I’m providing the chapters on nutrition and fitness for a new book on self care. Cool, eh? So I hope you’ll forgive me if I point you toward an interesting blog post today instead of attempting to write […]

Better late than never, but Bookseller.com reports some interesting trends in YA fiction from the Bologna Children’s Bookfair: 
Fiction, especially series fiction, remained strong. Maeve Banhan, RH rights director, said: “It feels as though there is a definite move away from fantasy.” Instead publishers have been taken by the realism of a contemporary teen story from […]

So I’m gearing up for the paperback release of The Department of Lost and Found, which basically doesn’t mean that much since most of the promotional push goes to the hardcover release, but one thing that will catch readers’ eyes is that I have an entirely different cover for this version of the book. […]

More fallout continues over Amazon’s powergrab in the print-on-demand segment of publishing.
Per GalleyCat:
The American Society of Journalists and Authors, the nation’s trade association for freelance nonfiction writers, announced that it “is disgusted with Amazon’s announced move requiring that all print-on-demand (POD) books sold on Amazon’s site be printed by their own print-on-demand house.  Authors Guild […]

This is heartwrenching: 
Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.
The […]