Wide-eyed blondes. Swaggering private eyes. Murder most foul. Yes, we agree. It’s time the publishing industry took us back to the glory of hardboiled crime fiction. Hard Case Crime, from Dorchester and Winterfall LLC, will be releasing a mix of classic and new noir titles. No guidelines on the site, but you know what they want… Hard Case Crime
Unpublished authors can enter the first annual Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award contest. Grand prize is a publishing contract. Deadline is July 1, 2004. Visit the Mysterious Press website for rules and regulations and other information. Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award for a First Mystery
The Association of Hispanic Arts presents a workshop entitled Choosing a Literary Agent to help aspiring authors find a literary agent. Monday, May 3, 2004, 6:30 p.m., PS 122, 150 First Ave, East 9th Street, New York, NY. Visit the website to learn more. Latino Arts Website (drill down to the Encuentros section)
Ultimately, you have to write the book. Honest. But until that fateful moment, there are lots of tools and toys to try. NewNovelist (which, apparently, works for old novelists, too) helps with plotting, characters, even outlining. You know, all those things you’re supposed to do anyway. By the way, if you try this software, let me know how it works out. NewNovelist.com
The Orange Prize for Fiction will be adding a new award next year, geared toward emerging female writers. The award is open to all women of any nationality who publish a book in the UK between April 1, 2004 and March 31, 2005. Focus is on emerging talent. Orange Prize for Fiction Announces New Award for 2005
You know the old saying “it’s better to have no agent at all than a bad agent?” Sure, and how many authors take that advice when an agent finally deigns to notice them? I’m gonna go with “none” — first number that comes to mind, honest. Perhaps the new book Ten Percent of Nothing will inspire caution. A former FBI agent tells the story of fraudulent literary agent. Delving into scams involving paying your agent to travel to New York (hey, everyone knows this business has to be done face-to-face) and self-publishing, the author writes a story that should strike
O’Reilly & Associates will now be known as O’Reilly Media, reflecting the publisher’s diversity. Though they promise to keep their famous “animal” books (speaking of which, has anyone seen my copy of the owl book?), they’ll also emphasize their online presence, including the electronic bookshelf, Safari (if any print pubs out there are looking for a great model for e-pubbing, check out Safari). O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. Changes Name to O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Award-winning author Stephanie Bond will lead a workshop focusing on self-editing, writing great books, and the business of writing. Phew! Sounds like a long day; we’d bring snacks. Saturday, May 22, 2004, Millersville, MD (we don’t know, but presume an online map will shed light on the location). Visit the website below for more details. Maryland Romance Writers
Ending a month of nail-biting, the Orange award has whittled down its long list to a much shorter one. Margaret Atwood and Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie are notable names on the list. The Orange, for women only, boasted a deeper-than-normal long list and competition was fierce. Now the finalists get to bite their nails until the winner is announced. Orange Prize for Fiction – Short List
This week’s top bestseller list comes from Powell’s. Mostly because we admire the chutzpah of those Oregonians. They’ve shoved Dan Brown down to the number three slot (Brown also occupies the fourth and fifth and ninth spots). Other Booksquare favorites, Neal Stephenson and Lynne Truss, make the list as well. For those who prefer a spot of tradition from your lists, we also offer you the BookSense and Publisher’s Weekly info. You know, the sad thing is we could spend our lives doing a list of bestseller lists. But we won’t. Portland Top Twenty BookSense Bestsellers Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller List
