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Teaching Stuff: Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic

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by Richard Chwedyk

Here’s an assignment I give my students:

They receive a copy of the first chapter of H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds.

It is roughly 2,250 words.

I tell the students that Mr. Wells has just received a note from his editor. “Great stuff, Herbie, but you go on too long here. Cut this first chapter in half.”

News, The SFWA Blog

The Galaktika Situation

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Within the past year, in large part due to independent investigations within Hungary by Bence Pintér, SFWA became aware that for at least a decade Galaktika had been translating stories by a large number of foreign authors which Galaktika had taken from the internet—on the pretext that all these stories were therefore in public domain, contrary to copyright law.

Advice for New Writers, Information Center, The Craft of Writing, The SFWA Blog, Tips for Beginners, Writing Technique

4 Pitfalls To Avoid When Crafting Trans Characters (SF&F Edition!)

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By Ashley Lauren Rogers

There are numerous examples of classic science fiction and fantasy stories that deal with gender and what happens when we deviate from expectations of that gender. Include popular shows like Transparent, movies like The Danish Girl, and celebrities like Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, and the politically polarizing Caitlin Jenner–and it’s no wonder that an increasing amount of fiction, including YA, is featuring trans and non­binary characters. So how can writers–especially if they aren’t trans or nonbinary–create such characters?

Advice for New Writers, Building a Career, How to Sell Your Novel, Information Center, Networking and Self-Promotion, Publishing Technologies, The Business of Writing, The SFWA Blog

How Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors and Publishers Can Take Advantage of Price Promotions

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If you’re an author or publisher, price promotions are a powerful way to reach new readers and sell books.

How powerful? In 2015, price promotions on BookBub alone drove sales of over 20 million ebooks — and over 200 of the books with promotions featured on BookBub made it to The New York Times bestseller list.

In this post, we’ll explain how science fiction and fantasy authors and publishers can tap into some of that power and use price promotions to accomplish multiple book marketing goals.

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