Five Quite Recent Provocations Langdon gasped. If he’d deciphered the symbols correctly, Jesus had married Joan of Arc at Stonehenge! If not, it was a recipe for meatloaf. — Dan Vinci’s Nunferno (@Nunferno) May 24, 2013 Provocation One: Man Booker Irrational? When the American novelist Lydia Davis was given the £60,000 Man Booker International this [...]

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If you’re new to Twitter, you’ve likely already seen retweeting come up. If you’re about to jump on the bandwagon, this is one of the first things you’ll need to learn. And even if you’re a seasoned tweep, the intricacies of the mysterious retweet can be confusing. Don’t you worry; I’m here to help. Let’s [...]

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Do you go to conferences? Boy, I do. One of the greatest aspects of conference-going is meeting people you might have known only on the ether, putting a face to the avatar. Here, for example, is author Chuck Wendig, whom I’ve met several times at conferences. Both of us normally have some traveling to do, to [...]

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In the old days, writers built a following by earning the esteem of readers through great writing. Today, through the magic of social networks like Twitter, you can simply pretend to read thousands of strangers describing their brunch. Not familiar with Twitter? Webster’s Dictionary defines Twitter as “Kinda like Facebook, but without Farmville or family [...]

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Of the long-term, previously stable writing communities in which I’m involved, guess how many have suffered through some sort of meltdown in the past few months. (By “meltdown” I mean disagreements which became personal, broadly eroded trust and collegiality, and judging by early signs, from which some communities might not fully recover.) If you went [...]

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Please welcome Julia Munroe Martin as a new semi-regular contributor with Writer Unboxed! We are thrilled this long-time community member will be with us to share her wit and wisdom with us all. Welcome, Julia! I’m not that attached to my name (or at least I never thought I was). Maybe because I’ve had so [...]

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Convenience comes at the cost of a grave loss: that of the book as a symbol, as an artifact of learning, poise, wisdom and moral fortitude. While this loss may seem trivial, a simple matter of changing times and customs, the symbols we are losing permeate society and have long been shaping the fortunes of [...]

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Hello Writer Unboxed readers! I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Annie Neugebauer, and I’m the new Twitter columnist around these parts. I’ll be blogging Twitter tips, theory, and practice every other month. Many thanks to Nina Badzin for recommending me, and to Therese Walsh and the whole WU crew for welcoming me with [...]

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Writers are still writing; readers are still reading; we see Blackfriars as enriching our literary publishing and making the relationship between reader, writer and publisher one of real collaboration. – Ursula Doyle, co-founder, Blackfriars What Digital Disruption Does to Us  Here in the industry! the industry! there is a subtler side to things than we usually like [...]

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Late last year, my WU colleague Porter Anderson wrote an excellent post about the importance of trying to write well. Much of his post was focused on writing with extreme precision and specificity, and it served as a great reminder of how we can sometimes let our own standards slip in those departments. But there’s [...]

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New Twitter users (and even seasoned ones) complain about the sheer amount of tweets demanding attention all at once. It’s a valid concern with one good solution: TWITTER LISTS! The good folks behind Twitter.com designed a way for us to separate the people we’re following into categories. Once you have created lists and slotted the [...]

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Someone needs to listen to what authors want, and respond. Someone needs to help them navigate a complex and challenging publishing landscape. Clare Alexander, Agent, Aitken Alexander Associates, London Best Fit, The Bookseller Blogs, January 24, 2013 | | | Do you know the splendid term impresario?  Humor me: say it aloud right now: Em-preh-SAAAAH-ree-o. You [...]

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