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Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers accepting applications
Anyone who grew up yearning to become a writer knows it’s hard to do it alone. The Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers provides an environment for young writers ages 14-19 to build a community of likeminded wordsmiths. Each year,…
Year in Review: Writer Beware’s Top Blog Posts of 2013
Every January, I look back over this blog and pick out what I think were the most useful, interesting, and/or important posts of the previous year. Here goes.
2014 Prometheus Hall Of Fame Award Finalists
For more than three decades, the Prometheus Awards have recognized outstanding works of science fiction and fantasy that stress the importance of liberty as the foundation for civilization, peace, prosperity, progress, and justice.
Who Reads Science Fiction?
Surveys have become my friend, and provided me with an answer to a very important question: who reads science fiction?
Tools for Authors: Goodreads
Goodreads is the largest reader community site in the world, with over thirteen million members. Users can track their reading, find or make book recommendations, and discuss what they’re reading.
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.Victoria will still be answering email. Contact her at beware [at] sfwa.org. We wish…
Guest Post: What Heroes Eat: Cooking the Books with Saladin Ahmed
While fighting and magic are central to the action in many of Saladin Ahmed’s stories, he never makes the mistake of letting his characters go to battle on empty stomachs.
News of the Weird: Quill Shift Literary Agency
So…if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I love the crazy stuff, the little nuggets of publishing weirdness that I run across from time to time. Like author reality shows.
SFWA at Midwinter ALA
As mentioned earlier this year, SFWA will have a table at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits, January 24-28, 2014, in Philadelphia, PA. Participation in this event will offer members access to librarians, teachers, bloggers and reviewers. We will be taking…
Lit Fic Mags for Spec Fic Writers 103: Five Markets to Consider (and Two Databases to Bookmark)
by Caren Gussoff Note: Part One appears here: Lit Fic Mags for Spec Fic Writers 101. Part Two appears here: Lit Fic Mags for Spec Fic Writers 102: Is It Literary? ••• Now, you’ve decided to submit to a literary market for…
Crowdfunded Anthologies: Concerns For Writers
Anthologies, once a staple of genre publishing, have become a rarity at major publishing houses over the past couple of decades.
Lit Fic Mags for Spec Fic Writers 102: Is it Literary?
by Caren Gussoff Note: Part One appears here: Lit Fic Mags for Spec Fic Writers 101 This may seem totally obvious, but is actually worth a deeper dive: if you want to market your speculative fiction to literary markets, it has…
SFWA Announces Special Bulletin Issue
In June, the SFWA Board announced the suspension of the SFWA Bulletin, allowing time to update our official publication’s distribution, content, and process. Over the past months, we have surveyed the membership, asking them what they see as the future…
Introduction: New Writer Beware Committee Member Michael Capobianco
My name is Michael Capobianco. Some of you may know who I am. I was President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for thee terms, 1996, 1997, and 2007.
2013 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award: Samuel R. Delany
SFWA has named Samuel R. Delany, Jr. (1942–) as the 2013 DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MEMORIAL GRAND MASTER for his contributions to the literature of Science Fiction and Fantasy.
2013 Endeavor Award Winner
Seattle writer Laurie Frankel won the fifteenth Endeavour Award for her novel Goodbye For Now (Doubleday.) The Award, by Florida artist Ashley Harper, comes with an honorarium of $1,000.00.
All Classic Books: The Scam Continues
If you’ve read my two previous posts about All Classic Books, you already know this story. If you haven’t, here’s the gist.
SFWA Raises Qualification Standard Payment Rates for Short Fiction
On July 1, 2014, SFWA’s rate for qualifying short fiction will rise from five cents per word to six cents per word.
Don’t Fall For Vanity Radio
Writers, don’t fall for this offer from Global Talk Radio that’s currently doing the spam circuit.
Lit Fic Mags for Spec Fic Writers 101:
Five Things You have To Know
by Caren Gussoff I’ve sat in a lot of panels — and eavesdropped on a bunch of conversations — lately, in which genre writers have asked, debated, and/or mused about crossing over from SFF magazines and journals into straight-up literary…
Horror Writers Association Adds Its Support to Writer Beware
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware
If you’re a regular visitor here, you may have noticed a change in our masthead.
I’m delighted to announce that the Horror Writers Association has joined the Mystery Writers of America in providing add…
Baltimore Science Fiction Society Presents: Dangerous Voices Variety Hour
The Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) is pleased to announce a new quarterly event: the Dangerous Voices Variety Hour, kicking off on Saturday, December 7th from 5 PM– 7 PM at 3310 E. Baltimore St. in Highlandtown.
Masterpiece: A Reality Show For Authors (Plus a Short, Sad, History of Similar Shows That Failed)
Literary feuds are entertaining: famous and not-so-famous authors holding grudges, slinging insults, or sabotaging one another with bad reviews (both anonymous and not).
But what about author feuding in real time? Can the spectacle of writers racing one another to finish…
Awards Profiteering: The Book Festival Empire of JM Northern Media
If you’re a writer, I’ll bet you’ve been spammed by JM Northern Media.
Don’t recognize the name? Maybe these will ring a bell. The Los Angeles Book Festival. The Hollywood Book Festival. The Paris Book Festival. The Beach Book Festival. The…