Pacific Writer's Residency

Fulbright New Zealand and Creative New Zealand invite applications for the 2013 Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer’s Residency, which offers a New Zealand writer of Pacific heritage the opportunity to work for three months on a creative writing project exploring Pacific identity, culture or history at the University of Hawai‘i. The project may be in any genre, but priority is given to works that focus on developing New Zealand literature in the genres of fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction (including biography, history, arts-related and cultural topics) and playwriting.

The residency is valued at NZ$30,000 and includes return airfares to Hawai‘i, accommodation costs and a monthly stipend. Previous recipients have included authors Sarona Aiono-Iosefa and Marisa Maepu, poets Tusiata Avia and Daren Kamali, playwrights Victor Rodger and Makerita Urale, and filmmakers Sima Urale and Toa Fraser. Hawai‘i has been identified as a strategic location for artists and is considered the hub of Pacific writing with numerous universities, library resources, networks, writers’ forums and publishers. It is also an important link to the mainland US and has a strong indigenous culture.

This year’s Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer’s Residency is available in either the Fall semester (August to November) or Spring semester (February to May) of the 2013-2014 US academic year. The deadline for applications is 5:00pm, Friday 1 March.

See www.fulbright.org.nz/awards/nzscholar/fulbright-cnz or contact Makerita Urale at Creative New Zealand for further information – makerita.urale@creativenz.govt.nz / (04) 498 0729

 

The End of Literary Agents?

It's revolutionary

A major UK publisher is apparently so impressed by the success of self-publishing, particularly in their field of SF/fantasy, that they are accepting author submissions.

GalleyCat reports that Tor UK has decided to accept direct submissions from writers, including writers outside the UK and authors who have previously self-published their work.
The straightforward author guidelines are now online. The publisher will only respond to submissions that interest the editors. They ask writers to assume that the editors have passed after twelve weeks without a response. Check it out:

For direct submissions we only consider complete and unpublished science fiction, fantasy and horror novels, written in English of between 95,000 – 150,000 words … We don’t publish non-fiction, poetry, short stories or novellas. If your work falls into any of these categories we regret we are unable to help. Only emailed submissions can be considered (please see below for the email address). The email must include the novel’s title in the Subject line. The body of the email should contain a short synopsis and biographical note (including details of any previously published work), and the entire novel should be attached to the email as a single standard word-processing file, preferably Microsoft Word.
 

Ironically, the page on GalleyCat with this intriguing item is headed with an advertisement from a literary agency that wants to hire an intern ...

Mantel wins again

Hilary Mantel won the Costa Book of the Year Prize Tuesday afternoon for BRING UP THE BODIES, making her the first author to win the Booker and Costa for the same book.

Judging chair Jenni Murray said the unanimous decision took "less than an hour", telling the Guardian: "One book simply stood head and shoulders, more than head and shoulders … on stilts, above the rest. We had a really good discussion, like being at a high-powered book club, and I said, 'OK, let's have a vote on Bring up the Bodies' and every hand went up."

Accepting the prize, Mantel addressed recent pieces that she should apologize for winning so many awards: "I'm not going to apologize, I'm going to say thank you, particularly to the judges for not letting anyone tell them how to do their job...and I will make it my business to write more books that will be worth prizes."

From Publishers Lunch

They said it ...

"If only politicians and economists talked solely about what they understood - the silence would be wonderful."

 

--Financial Times

Why is a ship called "she"?

From the New Bedford Whalemen's Shipping List, 1860

Why vessels are called SHE

Because:
They wear bonnets
They are often painted
They are upright when in stays
Are best when employed
They look best when well rigged
Their value depends on their age
They are great news bearers
They paint to hide their age
They are harassed by great swells
They are frequently attached to buoys
Because they are often abandoned
Because we couldn't do without them!

Obviously written by a man in a much more sexist age...

Children's book awards

The American Library Association presented their Youth Media Awards on the closing day of their winter meeting in Seattle, on live webcast. 

 

The Newbury Medal went to The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate (Harpers), the story of a mighty gorilla's break for freedom.

 

The Caldecott Medal went to This is Not My Hat by NYT bestselling author Jon Klassen (Random House/Candlewick). When a tiny fish pops into view wearing a blue tophat, trouble is sure to follow. 

Bloomsbury Young Readers author Nick Lake won the Michael L. Printz Award for his inspiring story of a boy who survived an earthquake, In Darkness.

Recognition for longterm achievement went to Tamora Pierce, who won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."

Check the American Library Association site for a complete list, and (I think) a replay of the webcast.

If you want to check out the winning authors and books for the past three years, perhaps with a view to purchase, have a look at the Publisher's Lunch site, Bookateria

Booker longlist announced

The longlist was announced for the biannual Booker International prize, to be awarded May 22. The candidates are:

UR Ananthamurthy (India)
Aharon Appelfeld (Israel)
Lydia Davis (USA)
Intizar Husain (Pakistan)
Yan Lianke (China)
Marie NDiaye (France)
Josip Novakovich (Canada)
Marilynne Robinson (USA)
Vladimir Sorokin (Russia)
Peter Stamm (Switzerland)

Stephen King on guns

GalleyCat on mediabistro.com reports that Stephen King has published a 99-cent Kindle single -- on guns.

Stephen King has published a 99-cent Kindle Single called “Guns,” a short essay about gun violence in America that “constructs his argument for what can and should be done.”

In the essay, King wrote frankly about Rage, a novel he released under the pen name Richard Bachman about a boy who takes a high school classroom hostage with a gun.

Four different teenagers cited the book after attacks on their schools and King decided to remove the book from publication.

He explained in his new Kindle Single:

My book did not break [these teenagers], or turn them into killers; they found something in my book that spoke to them because they were already broken. Yet I did see Rage as a possible accelerant, which is why I pulled it from sale. You don’t leave a can of gasoline where a boy with firebug tendencies can lay hands on it.

eBook prices reach a new low

Price makes a big difference, as publishers are discovering

On December 29, Algonquin reduced the price of their eBooks to $1.99 for a one-day promotion.  At the time I watched with intense interest as Island of the Lost zoomed up the Amazon bestseller list in response, being rated at # 79 at the end of the day.  Since then, it has dipped to the low thousands, but there has been another reward, in the shape of a burst of four- and five-star reviews, showing that people do read books that they might have bought on impulse, scenting a bargain.

It seems that Algonquin is by no means the only publisher to realize that lowering the price has a beneficial effect on sales. Digital Book World reports that the average price for a best-selling ebook is now $7.66, down from $8.09 a week ago and $11.79 in late Oct., the last time that the price of an ebook best-seller increased.

They say: Price experimentation from new titles that have jumped onto the list helps explain part of the decrease. Breaking Night by Liz Murray (Hyperion) is currently (as of this writing) priced at $9.50 at major ebook retailers, but a price decrease this week to $1.99 helped bump it onto the list. And Brad Meltzer’s The Fifth Assassin (Hachette) has been discounted slightly to $12.74 from $12.99. The titles are each good examples of the kind of discounting that works — and the kind that does not.

In the case of the Murray book, a 2010 title, a steep discount coupled with some promotion (likely, though we can’t confirm it from our tracking of on-site promotions) rejuvenated sales of a title that’s nearly three years old. Following its price decrease some sales were sustained at the higher price point; the title has been on the Kindle top-100 best-seller list for three days of full-price selling following the price drop.

The tiny drop in the price of the Meltzer book made no discernible difference.

Military science-fiction?

Publishers Lunch also reports that a new move follows the discovery that readers of military history also like science fiction and fantasy.

 Osprey Publishing will launch Osprey Adventures, devoted to subjects outside their traditional military niche, including myths & legends, horror, secret societies, and conspiracies. Project manager Joseph McCullough said in a statement "we've learned that a large proportion of Osprey's military history readers are also fans of science fiction and fantasy." He added: "Furthermore, many of the hobbies with which Osprey books are traditionally associated also encompass more fantastical subjects. By creating new products that cater to these interests, Osprey will continue to serve many of its core readers with their broad interests, while also expanding its reach into a new consumer demographic."