Venerable Vanity Publisher Vantage Press Closes Its Doors
You may have heard that Vantage Press, one of the USA’s oldest vanity publishers, closed its doors at the end of 2012.
Archive for the ‘SFWA Blog’ Category
Alert: UK Speaker Scam Targets Writers (and Others)
John Scalzi reported on this scam earlier this week, and his post was widely disseminated on Twitter–but since not everyone reads the same blogs, and the scam is a recurring one that isn’t limited to science fiction and fantasy writers, I thought it was worth covering here.
Guest Post: The difference between audience and market
You might have heard the advice, “Don’t chase the market.” That’s good advice, as a general idea, but many people misunderstand it and think that it means that you should not write for a specific audience. Here’s the thing… Your audience is not the market.
Global Talk Radio: How to Waste Money and Fail to Influence People
You’d think that dodgy publishers, publicists, and others would know better than to spam Writer Beware. But no. Disproving the frequent spammer claim that their email lists are carefully targeted, I get quite a substantial number of advertisements, press releases, and solicitations.
Guest Post: Invisible Ink
When people speak of works that “have withstood the test of time” it’s worthwhile asking “Withstood for what?” and “Withstood for whom?” For instance, The Malleus Maleficarum is indeed an immortal work, but it’s not remembered for the reasons its authors and admirers might have wished. The same nuancing holds for classic SF. Overlapping this is the forelock tugging to so-called “hard” SF that, inter alia, seems to still hew to the fifties concept that only physics and astronomy are quantitative sciences.
2012: Year in Review
As we begin the new year (Writer Beware’s fifteenth–good heavens!), here’s a look back at some of Writer Beware’s most notable posts and warnings from 2012.
Baltimore Science Fiction Society Invites You to A Party!
On Saturday, January 12th, 2013 at 8PM, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS), located at 3310 East Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21224, will have a free, public party to celebrate 50 years of promoting science, science fiction and fantasy throughout Maryland.
Guest Post: Don’t Watch Your Work
I’ve just finished a story, and somewhere in the primitive part of my brain, I’m determined to milk it for all it’s worth.
Foxhole Pizza and Interstellar Quail: Cooking the Books with Joe and Gay Haldeman
In The Forever War, I had fun writing about cooking under primitive conditions. It’s easy to write about because you don’t have to explain things so much. People understand cooking over a fire. When you start to go into cuisines, you risk losing your readers because the descriptions require too much detail, or it’s too gross.
Happy Holidays!
Writer Beware is taking time off for the holidays. Unless there’s some especially major publishing news, look for us to be back after January 1.
I’ll still be answering emails. To contact me: beware [at] sfwa.org.
We wish all our readers peace, ha…
