Monthly archive - March 2019

More than 1,300 writers including Kerry Hudson, David Nicholls, Sally Rooney, Michael Rosen and Val McDermid have backed a campaign for Waterstones booksellers to be paid the living wage.

Authors have heard the same advice from their agents, fellow author friends, and even publishers time and again: if they want readers to know about their books, they should hire independent publicists to supplement publishers' publicity campaigns. The new normal is this: independent presses and major publishers alike expect many authors to do the lion's share of their own publicity.

The Me Too movement certainly does not mark the first time women have instigated widespread change in our society, but it may be unique in its scope, speed, and sweep. Moving from a social-media hashtag to courtrooms and classrooms around the world, Me Too has impacted not just politics but all aspects of entertainment and culture - including writing and publishing.

My favorite thing to remember about novel-writing is an observation I saw taped to a friend's wall in her office in graduate school: "Nobody asked you to write that novel". Therefore novel-writing is a choice--you can always stop, always keep going. You are free to do whatever you want. Most novelists come to writing novels because they have been avid readers.  Read more