Planetside Full Archives
Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA
No post found!
The SFWA Blog
In Memoriam: K. D. Wentworth
Oklahoma author K. D. Wentworth (b.1951) died on April 18 of complications from cancer and pneumonia. Wentworth began her career winning the Writers of the Future Contest in 1989 with her short story “Daddy’s Girls.”
Nebula Awards Weekend: Join us for the E-book Decision!
The E-book Decision: Do it yourself, delegate it, or don’t do it at all? Answers may be found at the Nebula Awards Weekend. There’s a panel on Saturday morning and a workshop on Saturday afternoon on E-Publishing.
New/Updated Alerts at Writer Beware: Literary Agent Uwe Luserke, SBPRA
In 1997, complaints began to surface about German literary agent Uwe Luserke, who was selling foreign rights to English-language short stories and novels and neglecting to pay the advances and royalties due to authors.
Writer Beware’s Alerts page…
Link Roundup
Links to articles, blog posts, etc., that I found especially interesting this week.
Guest Post: Would You Rather Be Wrong or Right?
My personal preference is for what I’ve called third-order answers. A lot of mysteries have an obvious culprit, and then a character who is, if you know your narrative conventions, the obvious alternative to the obvious culprit. I like mysteries…
An Interview with Stina Leicht
The absolute necessity of a happy ending is another Americanism. So, while I understand why some readers were frustrated with those aspects of the story, I wouldn’t change them even if I could because I feel Americans should be open…
2012 Prix Aurora Award Nominations Announced
2012 Prix Aurora Award Nominations Announced
The DOJ’s Ebook Price Fixing Lawsuit Against Apple and the "Agency Five": An Overview
Unquestionably, the big publishing news of the week was the US Department of Justice’s lawsuit filing against Apple and five major book publishers–Penguin, Macmillan, Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon and Schuster–for alleged ebook price fixing.
Poetry.com Returns
Once upon a time, there was an infamous vanity anthology company called the International Library of Poetry, also known by the name of its website, Poetry.com.
BooklifeNow.com Announces a Rebranding
BooklifeNow.com, a website that serves as support for and a supplement to Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st-Century Writer by author Jeff VanderMeer, is proud to announce a new website rebranding and content management team that aims to…
Finalists for the Prometheus Awards Announced
The Libertarian Futurist Society has issued a press release announcing the finalists for this year’s Prometheus Awards, which will be presented during the 70th World Science Fiction Convention over Labor Day weekend in Chicago.
2012 Hugo Award Nominations
The nominees for the 2012 Hugo Awards have been announced.
Guest Blog Post: Why Small Publishers Fail
I’ve used up a lot of column space on this blog warning about the risks of submitting to small presses, especially brand new small presses. In my opinion, this is currently the most dangerous area for writers–not so much because…
I’ll Know I’ve Made it as a Writer When . . .
I’ll Know I’ve Made it as a Writer When . . .
. . . I have my first hissy hit about my first copyedit. (Only robots speak without contractions! “Me and LJ” is how my character would say it NOT…
Guest Post: Submit, Quit, or Self-Publish It?
The way to become a published writer is to write (and to submit what you write). Seems obvious, yet so many would-be writers produce that one story or novel and then rework it endlessly, or submit a story or…
Writer Beware’s Swag Shop for Discerning Scammers
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware
Writer Beware’s Swag Shop for Discerning Scammers
As many of you know, Writer Beware is a 100% volunteer endeavor. We do receive support from our sponsor, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Ameri…
Nebula Voting Closes TODAY
SFWA Active and Lifetime Active members, today is the last day to vote for the Nebula Awards. You may do that online with the Nebula final ballot. Your vote must be received by Friday, March 30th, 2012 at 11:59pm PDT…
PublishAmerica, Literary Agent: An Inside Look
A little while back, I blogged about yet another of the ways in which PublishAmerica was attempting to extract cash from its authors: a fee-charging “literary agency.”
To Our Readers: Thank You
Sometime over last weekend, the Writer Beware blog passed the 20,000 subscriber mark!
We’d like to offer a heartfelt thank you to all our readers and subscribers for their attention, support, and participation (we love comments! We love questions!) …
Alert: Raider Publishing International / Purehaven Press
I’ve gotten a lot of questions about Raider Publishing International over the years. Founded by a former (and disgruntled) PublishAmerica author, it’s basically a self-publishing service with some added bells and whistles.
2012 Service to SFWA Award goes to
Clarence Howard ‘Bud’ Webster
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America would like to award Clarence Howard ‘Bud’ Webster the 2012 Service to SFWA Award for his outstanding work on behalf of the organization.
Shortlist for the 2012 Arthur C. Clarke Award Announced
Six novels have been announced as finalists for the 2012 Arthur C. Clarke Award.
The Con Man Who Tried To Buy Writer Beware’s Silence
I thought Writer Beware’s readers might be interested in hearing about the only time I’ve ever had a face to face meeting with a known writing scammer.
Guest Post: Finding Inspiration
I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite ways of finding inspiration — some of them obvious, some of them less so. But it’s always good to have reminders, and if you haven’t used a few of these sources…