Speakeasy

She’s retired!

Miss Snark posted her final post, on May 20, 2007. (It consisted of a photo of a fairly adorable dog.) The blog archives will stay online, but comments have been deactivated, and she will no longer answer any questions.

Online since August 2004, Miss Snark’s blog has been one of the best writing resources available on the internet. A New York literary agent by day, she’s been blogging anonymously in her free time, which has been an act of great generosity and dedication to writers and writing worldwide. Most of her advice is (naturally) for American writers, about the NY and US publishing scenes, but a lot of it applies internationally. If you trawl through her archives, you’ll probably find answers to questions you didn’t even know you had.

Famous for her brutal honesty, Miss Snark should be required reading for any writer even thinking of querying their novel.

RIP Miss Snark

In the spirit of today’s forum discussion, check out this most illuminating article from the New York Times earlier this week. The great mystery of what sells books, why some, despite all the right publicity noises fall in hole, and others, debut efforts by unknowns, rise from obscurity to the annals of best seller lists!

The Greatest Mystery: Making a bestseller.

For further discussion join in our AWM Online forum today at 12pm with US independent publisher Gavin Grant from Small Beer Press.

AWM Online will be holding their next live forum on Tuesday 15 May at 12pm: Independent Publishers - the Brave New World with special guest Gavin Grant. Gavin is the director of US based Small Beer Press and will talk about the dynamics of US and international publication.

Small Beer Press was founded in 2000 to ‘publish good writing’. With a mix of a small press zine, several chapbooks, short fiction collections and full length novels per year, Small Beer has carved a solid niche in the US independent publishing world.

The discussion will cover topics such as what drives a smaller publisher, their devotion to and development of their authors and the difference between the US and Australian markets as it pertains to advances, print runs and distributions. For more information on Small Beer Press please see www.lcrw.net.

Please join us at midday on the 15th for what promises to be an enlightening discussion.