Thank you to all the fab contestants. I will have to run more competitions!! The winner of this one is Welshcake who was first in, with both answers correct (as competition convenor I decided to allow Googling having realised I was unlikely to find someone who grew up on a diet of exactly the same list of books I did). I have always been a great fan of the book The Outsiders by SE Hinton, within the pages of which, Ponyboy lurks. And Phronsie comes from The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Ms Sidney. I enjoyed this as a child and was reminded of it recently as my stove has been behaving badly like the one in the book. My new oven in sexy black arrives Monday and I am very excited as I cook a lot.
I am swamped with my current assignment (sadly still not finished) and other chores while my SO is incapacitated after knee surgery so will not dally long at the blog today. Much to say but it will have to wait. But here are two things you might like to check out. One is this list of 5 Tips for playing the smart publishing game found over at Maureen Crisp's blog Craic-er. Over the years I've found that no two writing careers play out the same. I can't expect my path to follow that of other writers. But these 5 tips are true for everybody and make a solid foundation on which to build whatever crazy path you end up taking. The other link is from Tracy Ann Baines who runs http://www.talltalesandshortstories.blogspot.com/ at which I blog-visited recently. She had this smart link up on facebook, about how risk-averse publishers have become and what impact this is having. This has really got my noodle in a twist. Very thought provoking. I love the comment that the best novels are those written without interference (i.e. without thought to filling a particular genre/market) but I am disturbed about publishers reducing their lists and going for what they believe are sure bets. This can't be healthy for writers or readers. I'd love to know what you think...
2 comments:
I can't wait to read the books!
Can anything really be a sure bet? Publishers have to keep signing debut authors so they do have to keep taking risks.
Let's hope publishers start looking after the books they do publish a bit better. I think they throw too many out into the world without giving them the support they need.
This thread from Absolute Write is very sobering and slightly related
(sorry, don't know how to do links in comments!):
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182430
Congrats to Welshcake!!!
Just read the facebook link to the bookseller article - seems that there's a blame cycle going on - publishers are blaming agents who blame publishers who blame the retailers who are blaming authors...LOL!
But at least the theory still pervades that what all these groups are after are unique and groundbreaking novels. Only in theory mind! Guess in reality, money and the market still rules.
Take care
x
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