Check out this amusing chart (and why is it that the one woman is paid a puny fraction of what the men made?):See the big version of the whole thing at Lapham's Quarterly.
Apply for an arts grant
Thanks to Lois Brandt for sending this info along:King County has a grant project for individual artists, including writers and illustrators. The grant application is due March 10. (Sorry for the late information, I just found out myself.) This is a project-based grant. Writers are required to submit a ten page sample, illustrators are required... Continue Reading →
Apply for an SCBWI grant
SCBWI members can apply for a variety of grants during the year. Here's a list of deadlines, near and far:Work-in-Progress GrantsCompleted application and accompanying materials must be postmarked no earlier than February 15th and must be RECEIVED BY March 15th. Barbara Karlin GrantCompleted application and accompanying materials must be postmarked no earlier than February 15th... Continue Reading →
The Amazon mess
Val Serdy sent this along:John Scalzi has a great post today about how the writers are getting screwed by the kerfuffle between Macmillan and Amazon. These writers are losing money, and potentially losing future book deals when their sales numbers come in lower during this quarter. He recommends going out and buying their books at... Continue Reading →
James Patterson, Inc.
The New York Times Magazine has an interesting piece on how he's transformed publishing.
Track your Amazon.com rank
This new site tells you how many books you've sold this month on Amazon (as opposed to just telling you your relative rank, which is sort of unhelpful): Novelrank.com.
The business of publishing evolves
Business Week reports on the gradual affection the publishing industry has for the Internet. It's worrisome how slow they've taken to the biggest revolution in print since Gutenberg (the press, not the Three Men and a Baby actor). But at least revenue is up in the first half of 2009:Book publishers are learning to love... Continue Reading →
Scholastic has a good first quarter
In news that should buoy us all, Scholastic reports a good first quarter for fiscal year 2009-2010. Here's what Publishers Weekly has to say:Led by gains in its educational technology and trade book segments, revenue for the first quarter ended August 31 rose 14% at Scholastic, to $315.6 million. The first quarter loss from continuing... Continue Reading →
What, pray tell, is ‘merch’?
Editorial Anonymous has some words of warning on the topic of dolls and toys that accompany books:Q. Crocodile Creek, MerryMakers, Inc., and Manhattan Toy Company design plush toys for children’s book publishers. When do publishers decide to introduce this type of product? What percentage of sales goes to the author and/or illustrator? A. Often, those... Continue Reading →
Okay, this is mean but…
May we all have such success with our writing that the U.K. Telegraph devotes space to dissecting our twenty worst sentences, as they've done with Dan Brown.A teaser:16. The Da Vinci Code, chapter 4: A voice spoke, chillingly close. "Do not move." On his hands and knees, the curator froze, turning his head slowly. Only... Continue Reading →