Writer Unboxed

After having two starkly different experiences with my first two books, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what makes a book a smash hit. Mostly, I’ve been thinking about this because I’m struggling to come up with a concept for my third book that will be as well-received as the concept for […]

Today’s guest blogger is author Karin Tabke, who answers a WU Burning Question:
What exactly is a Street Team and how does an author benefit from it?
Thanks so much for being here, Karin. Take it away…
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Thank you, Writer Unboxed, for having me back!
Okay, so, I’ll try to answer as best as I can, […]

These days I’m generally able to sell a novel on the basis of a proposal, which means I’ve got into a nice steady pattern of putting forward an idea for a new project, signing a contract, and writing a book. But I remain aware that it only takes one book to fail commercially and the […]

I can barely believe that a year ago I started to track book and business news via the WU Google Notebook. Since updates take a chunk of time–even if I do enjoy finding them–I really would like to know how many of you visit and utilize the notebook, or whether it should be discontinued. Comment […]

A special announcement from Allison Winn Scotch:
I am THRILLED to announce that we have closed a film deal for my next book, TIME OF MY LIFE! Thus, I am so super-excited to announce that the book has been sold to The Weinstein Company, on behalf of Meryl Poster, the former co-president of Miramax, who […]

So today apparently marks the end of Snark; one year ago Miss Snark stopped posting new biting tidbits to benefit writers. Nathan Bransford has a nice summary of the blogs paying tribute to Snark’s memory HERE. Speaking of Nathan, he’s currently running a dialog contest and has stocked up on his whiskey in order to […]

It’s been a surreal few days for me. Not only do I hope to share some good news with you very soon (squee!), but there are a couple weird developments in the publishing industry that Therese pointed out to me.
Such as this one: HarperCollins is outsourcing its slush pile to . . . other […]

Writer’s Digest has their 2008 listing of the 101 Best Sites for Writers online now. Check it out HERE.
Don’t forget to check out this week’s books and business updates on the WU Google Notebook HERE.
And did you know Brenda Novak is having a fantastic auction of items that can benefit writers, including a book proposal […]

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 […]