Planetside Full Archives
Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA
No post found!
The SFWA Blog
Second-Class Contracts? Deal Terms at Random House’s Hydra Imprint
Over the past few years, more and more trade publishers have created digital-only imprints. Another new one just popped up in my newsfeed today: Little, Brown UK’s Blackfriars will be launching its first list this coming June.
Why Not to Register Copyright for Unpublished Work
If you have an unpublished manuscript that you’re shopping to agents and/or publishers, or considering self-publishing, there’s no need to register your copyright prior to publication.
Why?
Richard W. Gunn Memorial Lecture: Cory Doctorow
Author, journalist, technology activist, and Boing Boing co-editor Cory Doctorow presents this year’s Richard W. Gunn Memorial Lecture.
Solicitation Alert: Close-up TV News / Close-up Talk Radio
Writer Beware has received reports that authors are receiving phone solicitations from an outfit called Close-up TV News, which describes itself as “…a premiere news magazine TV program spotlighting the most successful businesses across America. ”
2012 Nebula Awards Nominees Announced
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announces the nominees for the 2012 Nebula Awards (presented 2013), nominees for the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and nominees for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and…
Solicitation Alert: Blessed Hope Publishing
Recently I received a question about an apparently new Christian publisher, Blessed Hope Publishing. The writer who contacted me was suspicious because Blessed Hope had not only solicited his manuscript, but had accepted it within a matter of days.
Guest Post: The Importance of Pie: Cooking the Books with James D. Macdonald
A short story is like a pie because, first, you can do one relatively quickly. Second, everyone likes pie.
Third, with both short stories and pie, you can use the finest ingredients in the world and still come up with an…
A Partridge in a Penguin Tree
India is a vast book market, and print is still king. So it only makes sense that Penguin (whose parent company, Pearson, acquired self-publishing giant Author Solutions Inc. last year) has just announced the expansion of ASI into India via…
Five Tips to Improve Your Amazon Author Central Page
If you’re selling books on Amazon, you’ll want to set up your page in their Author Central program. Use your Author Central page to provide more information for your readers: upcoming events, a full listing of your books, pictures and…
The Benefits of Copyright Registration
Writers are sometimes confused by the “registration” requirement under the US copyright laws. In this post, I hope to clear up the concept and help you decide whether copyright registration makes sense for you.
Orphan Works: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Weighs In
The issue of orphan works–out of print, still-in-copyright books, films, photographs, etc. whose rightsholders can’t be found–is one that has been much in the news over the past few years.
Concern over a potential monopoly on orphan works was a…
An Introduction to Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction,
Part 2: Content
In Part 1: Definitions, the members of SFWA’s experimental MG and YA group asked industry professionals to help define the middle grade (MG) and young adult (YA) book categories. Today we’ve asked those same professionals to tackle the controversial issue…
Christian Writers Guild Publishing: Pay to Play from Jerry B. Jenkins
Earlier this week, a press release caught my eye: Bestselling Author Jerry Jenkins Announces Innovative Publishing Firm. Since “innovative” in publishing press release-speak often means “charges a whopping fee”, I decided to investigate.
An Introduction to Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, Part 1: Definitions
For writers who are interested in writing middle grade or young adult fantasy or science fiction, the first step is puzzling out what exactly those categories mean. Science fiction and fantasy, after all, has a long tradition of featuring young…
Guest Post: Scientific Accuracy in Literature:
The WAS Seal of Approval doesn’t get Mine
According to newflashes popping up around the web, the Washington Academy of Sciences has created a seal of approval for the scientific accuracy of novels.
Lifeboat To The Stars Award
The Lifeboat Foundation will present the “Lifeboat to the Stars” award along with $1,000 to the winner at the 2013 Campbell Conference.
Legal Tidbits
In 2008, following a bitter divorce, Iowan Scott Weier paid one of the Author Solutions Inc. imprints to publish his memoir, Mind, Body, and Soul. Subsequently, Weier’s ex-wife filed suit against Weier and ASI for libel, citing allegations in…
MFA Programs and You
MFA Programs and the efficacy or use thereof tend to come up in discussion periodically. For those of you interested, here is a run down of the types of programs and what to expect. I personally have an…
An Interview with Jennifer Brozek
Award-winning author and editor Jennifer Brozek has edited over ten anthologies (with more on the way in 2013). The creative director of Apocalypse Ink Productions, she also has won both the Origins and the ENnie awards for her work writing…
Baltimore Science Fiction Society Writing Workshop
The Baltimore Science Fiction Society, a 501(c)(3) located at 3310 East Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, is proud to announce more writing workshops for 2013 run by professional writers.
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.
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,…
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…
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,…