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The SFWA Blog
Quick Updates for 2009-12-07
Resources, Industry News, and news on members Dave Creek, Stacia Kane, and Terry Bisson
Author Solutions CEO Responds to Harlequin/Nelson Flap
Kevin Weiss, President and CEO of Author Solutions Inc., has issued a video statement addressing the responses by RWA, SFWA, MWA, and NINC to ASI’s recent partnerships with commercial publishers in launching pay-to-publish divisions.
Quick Updates for 2009-12-06
Resources, Member News, and Industry News
RIP: Don Congdon 1918-2009
Don Congdon
1918-2009
Quick Updates for 2009-12-04
Resources, Member News, and Industry News for 2009-12-04
MWA delists Harlequin and all its imprints
The Board of Mystery Writers of America voted unanimously on Wednesday to remove Harlequin and all of its imprints from their list of Approved Publishers, effective immediately. Harlequin remains in violation of their rules regarding the relationship between a traditional…
Transracial Writing for the Sincere
If you want to go beyond the level of just assigning different skin tones and heritages to random characters, you’re going to have to do some research. Because yes, all people are the same, but they’re also quite different. For…
Google Settlement, Supplemental Notice
The Google Books Settlement has released a Supplemental Notice that has a summary of the changes between the original version and the 2.0. It is only six pages long and worth looking over, though it is not comprehensive.
Blurred Distinctions: Vanity Publishing vs. Self-Publishing
Of the many issues highlighted by the recent launch of pay-to-publish divisions by two major commercial publishers (Harlequin Enterprises’ DellArte Press–nee Harlequin Horizons–and Thomas Nelson’s West Bow Press), one of the most interesting, to me, is how blurred the distinction…
How pragmatics can help you!
So what is Pragmatics? Basically, it deals with those areas of meaning which aren’t really meaning. What does that mean? It deals with implications (in the lingo, “implicature”), and with presuppositions, and with using language to do things rather than…
Useful link: Ergociser — stretches for writers
One of the most common pieces of advice for new writers is “Keep your seat in the chair.” The downside is that it becomes all too easy to sit at the desk for hours without moving. This can lead…
RIP: Robert Holdstock (1948-2009)
Robert Holdstock
1949-2009
Member news: Jay Lake safely out of surgery
This morning, SFWA member Jay Lake went in for an operation to remove a growth from his lung. For those of you who have not been following on Twitter, the word is that the surgery went well and that they…
New Name for Harlequin Horizons: DellArte Press
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware True to its promise, Harlequin has ditched the Harlequin Horizons name. It’s now DellArte Press.
Nebula Awards: “International SF” and Problems of Identity
Our sister site, NebulaAwards.com has an essay by Larry Nolan on “International SF” and Problems of Identity
And Speaking of Vanity Publishing…
…heeeeere’s Tweetbookz!
Tweetbookz will turn your tweets–those 140-character electronic messages about what you had for breakfast this morning or maybe something more interesting or important, but either way, quickly written and just as quickly forgotten–into Real Paper Books. That’s right. Your…
From Novelists Inc. Issues Position Statement on Vanity Publishing
Last week, RWA, MWA, and SFWA all issued official statements condemning Harlequin Enterprises’ new self-publishing division, Harlequin Horizons. Now Novelists Inc. has weighed in, with a position statement on vanity publishing and the risks that arise when brand name publishers…
Quick Updates for 2009-11-21
A good article about the difference between self-publishing & vanity imprints. Plus, Paolo Bacigalupi’s novel Windup Girl was just named in Library Journal’s Best Books of 2009!
How semantics can help you! Part 3
As part of her continuing series on How Linguistics Can Help You, Juliette Wad discusses that ubiquitous genre activity making up words.
Quick Updates for 2009-11-20
Welcome to new members Terence Taylor, Sarah Rees Brennan, Katherine Allred, Kristen Painter, Tim Stretton and Heather McDougla, plus interesting links about vanity and self-publishing from around the web.
Judge grants preliminary approval to Google Book Settlement
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin has granted preliminary approval to the revised Google Book Settlement, which was filed on Friday. He has set the date for the fairness hearing on February 18th, 2010.
SFWA Statement on Harlequin’s vanity press imprint
Until such time as Harlequin changes course, and returns to a model of legitimately working with authors instead of charging authors for publishing services, SFWA has no choice but to be absolutely clear that NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint…
MWA Weighs In On Harlequin Horizons
Today, Mystery Writers of America (a sponsor of Writer Beware, along with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) issued this announcement to its members:
Harlequin Horizons: Another Major Publisher Adds A Self-Publishing Division
Writer Beware’s Victoria Strauss analyzes Harlequin Horizons and the trouble it presents for authors.