Writer Beware

Here at Writer Beware, we love the weird stuff–the nutty, fring-y, even, dare I say, totally freaking insane things that are always cropping up at the boundaries of the publishing world, often spawned by people who haven’t really taken the time to think things through.

Last week a literary agent contacted me on Twitter. “Ever heard of these folks?” she asked. “They’ve been spamming us all day.”

The link she gave me led to a service called Agent Artery.

I was contemplating what to write for my first Writer Beware blog post, when a subject popped up out of the blue, packed with all kinds of fascinating questions.

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.

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 all our readers peace…

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.

Anthologies, once a staple of genre publishing, have become a rarity at major publishing houses over the past couple of decades.

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.

Writers, don’t fall for this offer from Global Talk Radio that’s currently doing the spam circuit.

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…

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 a story, or competing to make the best elevator pitch, hold an audience riveted? Will viewers mourn as authortestants fall by the wayside, and cheer for the last author standing?