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AuthorCraft welcomes journalist and Poet Ian Reed as the news editor for both the website and our regular newsletter. Ian Reed is a former correspondent with Reuters news agency, where he wrote book reviews and forex market analysis. More recently, he was a features writer for Standard & Poor's in New York. His poems have found their way into U.S. literary journals and BBC broadcasts, and even onto the lips of Judi Dench and Kenneth Brannagh. Meanwhile, Ian has accumulated many acting credits of his own on three continents. He is a narrator of talking books, an Argentine-Tango performer, a competitive swimmer, and a regular yoga practitioner. Send your news stories to advice@authorcraft.co.uk Events June 11 ‑ Mendham Writers Summer Course – Writing For Children, London E17 With Brandon Robsaw, 10am-3pm, £40 with refreshments. www.mendham-writers.com. To book, contact rochellescholar@yahoo.co.uk; tel.: 07743 898 043. June 18-19 ‑ Great Writing Conference, Imperial College, London University Among the presenters, Leslie Tate will contrast character-led fiction with plot-driven stories and discuss "the five main elements that go into a great novel." Contact: conference@greatwriting.org.uk Sept. 2-4 – 2011 Festival of Writing, National Association of Writers' Groups (NAWG). Hosted at Nottingham University, and set in 330 acres of landscaped parkland, the festival will host Writing Workshops led by James Nash, Tim Wilson, Julie Bokowiec, and Steve Bowkett. And our very own Chris Day will be speaking too! Price for two nights' accommodation (single, en-suite), full board, and four workshops: £220 for NAWG members, £240 for non-members. More details at http://www.nawg.co.uk Competitions Closing Date: June 30 – New Meridian Writing Short Story Competition Original unpublished stories welcomed up to 3,000 words (with no lower limit) in any genre / theme. Open to new and published authors. Submission details at www.meridian-writing.co.uk.
Closing Date: June 30 ‑ Rhyme and Reason Short Story Competition
Email story/stories on the theme of Time to anne@annereynoldstraining.com, including the title(s), name, address plus home and mobile telephone nos. Download entry form at http://www.irhh.org/sitehome/fundraising/fundraisinggroups/rhyme_reason.html.Closing Date: June 30 ‑
Rhyme and Reason Poetry Competition
email poem(s) on the theme of Time, no longer than 30 lines, to wallisjill@hotmail.com, including the title(s), name, address plus home and mobile telephone nos. Download entry form at http://www.irhh.org/sitehome/fundraising/fundraisinggroups/rhyme_reason.html.Closing Date: July 14 – LIPPfest 2011 Poetry Competition
Inaugural Leeds Independent Presses Poetry Festival. Details at http://www.nawg.co.uk/competitions/open-competitions/.Closing Date: Oct. 31 ‑
NAWG Open Short Story Competition
Stories from 500 to 2000 words. Details at http://www.nawg.co.uk/competitions/open-competitions/. Sponsored by The Berforts Group.
Publishing Trends E-Book Bonanza! Amazon reports that, for the first time, its e-book sales in the U.S. have surpassed its printed-book sales by volume (though not by total value).
Meanwhile, Bloomsbury posted a 20-fold increase in e-book sales to £1.5 million (over a 14-month period), though it's still a very modest portion of total group sales exceeding £100 million.
Will Online Retailers Squeeze Out Publishers? "Do authors really need publishers anymore?" That is the provocative question posed by Nokia's Matt Shatz. In a recent article, he argues the traditional skills of publishers – such as achieving economies of scale in printing costs, and cultivating relationships with brick-and-mortar retailers – are fast becoming obsolete.
One sign the writing's on the virtual wall, according to Shatz, is recent downsizing by Random House in Manhattan. Publishers can only remedy their losing proposition, he argues, by recreating "in the digital world the scale advantages they enjoy with traditional marketing," along with optimizing data feeds accessible to search engines, developing close relationships with online reviewers, and using social media outlets to best effect. So far, he says, publishers' forays into the latter arena have been too small-scale.
The most likely winners from technological innovation, he argues, are the retailers, who can not only amass very large consumer bases but also have access to very precise data about what people have actually read with their electronic readers, rather than just what they are buying. Furthermore, "recent investments in self-publishing platforms by Amazon and Barnes & Noble, among others, have paved the way for a massive transformation, once digital sales offer enough upside to writers, a time not too far away."
Free E-Readers? Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, expects publishers to give away, or at least sell at large discounts, electronic reading devices to encourage take-up of digital reading. In addition to providing more information on readers' preferences, wider adoption of electronic reading will generate more revenue opportunities for publishers, he says, such as in-book advertising or sponsored links
A 'Bundling' Boom? Hyatt also expects 'Bundling' to "happen in earnest this year". Publishers have long been selling collected works of an author, but other 'Bundles' coming into vogue include: selling a print version of a book together with its e-version; and selling a collection of titles on a particular topic.
Publishers as Morality Police? The prize for sheer chill factor must go to Harpers, who recently introduced new language into their standard author contract allowing them to cancel the contract if an author's conduct lacks "due regard for public conventions and morals." What's more, the non-conforming author would have to repay the advance, along with "other legal remedies".
Publishing Politics Campaigners struggling to maintain a citizen's right of library access have just been handed a new weapon. Threatened closure of Stony Stratford Library by Milton Keynes Council prompted local townspeople to empty the library's entire stock by rampant borrowing. Such tactics might prove just as eloquent as Alan Bennett's recent denouncement of library closures as "child abuse" in getting local councillors throughout Britain to see the light.
Other News
Peter Jackson's masterly depiction of the tales of J.R.R. Tolkien will resume with the movie release of 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' in December 2012. Martin Freeman plays the reluctant hero, Bilbo Baggins, while Sir Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, and Andy Serkis reprise their roles as Gandalf the Grey, Frodo, and Gollum, respectively. A second movie to complete Bilbo's tale, entitled 'The Hobbit: There and Back Again' is scheduled for release in December 2013.
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