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Guest Post: How to Roast a Novel
I’m in the throes of revision right now. It’s not a happy place necessarily, or an easy place. The process is difficult, painstaking and sometimes a pain in the butt.
Lightspeed Magazine is SFWA’s newest qualifying market
Today the board of directors of SFWA voted to add Lightspeed Magazine to the list of SFWA qualifying markets. Just celebrating its first year online, this imprint of Prime Books is a 2011 Hugo Award nominee. Edited by John Joseph Adams, the magazine features…
Report to members regarding Night Shade Books Probationary period
Dear Members, Last year, the SFWA board of directors voted to place Night Shade Books on probation for a period of one year. Night Shade Books responded by agreeing to work with SFWA to address the issues that our members…
Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop
Funded by the National Science Foundation, Launch Pad, a week-long workshop in astronomy, is underway in Laramie, Wyoming.
Video Pick of the Week: Vonnegut on the Shapes of Stories
The inimitable Kurt Vonnegut offers a chalkboard lecture: “There’s no reason why the simple shapes of stories can’t be fed into computers.”
Campbell and Sturgeon Awards Announced
Ian McDonald’s The Dervish House has won the Campbell Award for the best science-fiction novel of the year, and Geoffrey A. Landis’s “The Sultan of the Clouds” has won the Sturgeon Award for the best short science fiction of the…
Finalists for the 10th Annual Sunburst Award Announced
The jury for the tenth annual Sunburst Awards has announced the short-lists for 2011.
Publishing Beyond the Grave
Fellow authors, do you have a loved one who was a writer too, but sadly passed over into the Great Beyond with their poems or prose unpublished?
Quick Updates for 2011-07-07
Member News for Diana Rowland, Jim C. Hines, and David Levine.
Guest Post: 60 Rules for Short SF (and Fantasy)
A “mainstream” short story can be about anything: a mood, a character, a setting, even a flashy writing style. A genre (SF or fantasy) short story is about an idea. The fictional elements (character, plot, setting, etc) are only there…
Quick Updates for 2011-07-05
Member News for Matthew Johnson and Yasmine Galenorn.
Happy 4th of July
SFWA wishes you a fabulous Fourth filled with “squibs, crackers, backarappers, sparklers, torches, dwarf-candles, elf-fountains, goblin-barkers and thunder-claps.”
Video Pick of the Week: VLT and the Milky Way
There are an estimated 100-300 billion stars in the Milky Way. Of these, in ideal conditions at any given time or place on Earth, only 2,500 are visible to the unaided eye.
Why You Want to Hire a Competent PR Service
Before approaching people to review a book, you really ought to a) make sure they’re actively reviewing; b) determine that they review books in the genre you’re pitching, and c) spend a little time researching the venue you’re asking them…
A note to SFWA members: Request for information for Night Shade Book’s probation review
Edited to add: Thank you all for the information you sent in. Please see SFWA’s report regarding Night Shade Books probationary review. Dear SFWA members, Last year, the SFWA board of directors voted to put Night Shade Books on…
Quick Updates for 2011-06-30
Industry News and Member News for David Levine.
Redstone SF is SFWA’s newest qualifying short fiction market
Today the board of directors of SFWA voted to add Redstone Science Fiction to the list of SFWA qualifying markets. Just celebrating its first year online, this market features science-fiction short stories and essays. They have published SFWA authors such as Cory…
Agencies Becoming Publishers–a Trend and a Problem
However, to my mind at least, the conflicts that arise when agencies begin publishing clients’ previously unpublished works are even more concerning. If an agency can publish a client’s book itself, will it try as hard to market the book…
Nebula Awards 2010 Interview: N.K. Jemisin
I usually write a detailed outline of maybe 15-20 pages, including character profiles and brief worldbuilding notes. Sometimes I start a wiki — I’ve done that with the Inheritance Trilogy, so I can easily look up concepts or made-up…
RIP: Martin H. Greenberg 1941-2011
Martin Harry Greenberg (b. March 1, 1941) died on the morning of June 25, 2011 after a long battle with cancer.
Getting Out of Your Book Contract (Maybe)
Consult legal counsel about your situation, and your options for taking legal action. This is where the issue of breach becomes relevant. A publisher may ignore an author’s personal claims of breach, but may pay more attention if an attorney…
Video Pick of the Week:
Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography – Language
Today, we feature a Kinetic Typography video where Stephen Fry discusses anglophones, pedants, and language. Enjoy a delectable dance of diction.
Nebula Awards 2010 Interview: Christopher Kastensmidt
If I had to choose a label myself, I’d call the stories historical fantasy, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter how they’re classified. It’s nice that people place them in so many different categories.
Guest Post: Kindle Starter Kit: A Mini-Handbook on Independent Publication
Today, I’ll focus on kindle publishing, but the principles apply equally well to Nook, Smashwords, PubIt, and other distribution systems.