Entries Tagged 'Publishers' ↓

You’ve probably heard already: we’ve started on the production schedule for the next print edition of The Australian Writer’s Marketplace 2011/12.

But don’t worry, your copy of AWM 2009/10 is still good! The eleventh edition of AWM won’t be out until late next year. It just means that anyone who has a listing in AWMonline is receiving lots of gentle (for now) reminders to make sure all your details are up to date. Listees, just head over to www.AWMonline.com.au, log in with your Username (always an email address), and click on Password Reminder if you need it. Then go to My Details > Listings Management, click on "Edit" next to each listing, check your details and click SAVE (even if you don’t change any details).

Need help? Send in a contact form and we’ll get back to you asap.

As I help people to update their listings, I get to have lots of interesting conversations with agents, publishers, writing groups and organisations, competition organisers, magazines and journals, etc etc… The Australian writing and publishing industry has been holding its breath all year, awaiting the outcome of the dreaded review into restrictions on the parallel importation of books. A long exhale of relief resounded around our country last month, and the industry is bustling with plans for next year and beyond:

• The Aurealis Awards finalists for 2009 have been announced. Congratulations to all the fabulous Australian speculative fiction writers on the list, including Writing Racers Sean Williams, Peter M. Ball, and Angela Slatter. “Our Aussie authors are some of the best in the business,” says Ron Serdiuk, Awards Coordinator. “Many of the names on this list aren’t just prominent within the science fiction and fantasy genre. They include Scott Westerfeld and Andrew McGahan, authors who are critically acclaimed and enjoyed throughout Australia and the world."
• SPUNC member and independent publisher, Aduki Press, has a new owner. After four years building Aduki from a small newsletter publisher to one of Melbourne’s healthiest small publishers, Emily Clark has decided to move on to pastures new and sell the business. New owner, Chris Chinchilla, says he is "keen to take our books and ideas to many new fronts, especially how [Aduki] can fit into the rapidly evolving world of content publishing. However, have no fear, I am definitely intending to maintain our focus on community, environment, food, migration, politics, social justice and travel as well as our existing networks and communities."
• Books Alive, the Australian Government initiative administered nationwide by the Australia Council for the Arts, is calling for entries in a book cover design competition.The winning designer shall receive $2500, their winning cover design shall appear on approximately 200,000 copies of the free book, and the cover design shall also feature in a massive media and marketing campaign. Entries close at 5 pm, Friday, 5 February 2010. See last year’s winning cover here.
• Scarlet Stiletto Awards were announced while I was away. A big congrats to all the wonderful women crime writers involved!

There are so many resources to inspire, motivate and support the Australian writer – we are very fortunate. If you are feeling overwhelmed or under-appreciated, contact your writers centre and start getting (re)connected! And have a great week of writing, everyone.

Melbourne Writers Festival update:

Robert Sessions left the UK for Australia looking for the promised land, or at least a gig in publishing. He found both, and 47 years later has headed publishing in Penguin Australia for 20 years. He spoke for nearly an hour at The Whole Shebang this morning. I wish he’d spoken for two, because he only had time to hint at issues on the horizon like digital publishing and the parallel importation of books.

He gave a brief history of Australian publishing. Did you know that, back in the day, Penguin attempted to open a bookstore? Nobody came, because readers don’t want the restriction of one publisher and its imprints – they want to graze across the full range of titles published. A sage lesson for contemporary publishers who seek to establish their house brand over author recognition.

Sessions told us about the halcyon days when the ratio of front list (new titles) to back list was 40%-60%. Nowadays it’s more like 70-30%. That means venerable old titles are written off, and vulnerable new titles have a crucial window in which to Sell or Die.
Sessions’s top tip: Penguin likes to hear from you by email. Send your synopsis through, when your project is ready, and you’ll hear back reasonably promptly as to whether they want to read more. (This from a man who carries around 60+ manuscripts on his eReader – I wonder when publishers have time to read for, y’know, pleasure. Methinks it is an enjoyment foregone by those who love the artform most – quite a sacrifice).

The next Whole Shebang presenter, Louise Swinn from Sleepers Publishing, is a younger but no less invaluable contributor to the Australian publishing landscape. Louise spoke with Brendan Gullifer (debut author of Sold) about the journey of his book. Louise, Zoe (publisher with Sleepers also) and Brendan all still have their day jobs – and perhaps we would expect this of an author, but to think of a respected literary publishing house being fueled by the passion and dedication of a pair of moonlighters is as surprising as it is inspiring.

Most fascinating insight from this panel: Louise sees books in colour, a synaesthesiac editor – her explanation of how she comprehends and develops manuscripts was like hearing Michelangelo discussing his plans for the ceiling of the Cistine!
‘There’s only one thing more painful than being a writer, and that’s being married to one.’ Brendan Gullifer’s wife approved the sale of the family home to support his writing. They have three kids. Such are the sacrifices writers are willing to make to develop their career.  And his novel sounds like an interesting window into the real estate idealism dominating the Australian psyche.

That’s a plug, folks…

So many books in the festival bookstore, so little cash to spend. I’m going with Lisa Lutz, but that’s cos I’m a crime fic fan girl. Did I mention I bagged an invite to the Davitt Awards tonight? Squeeeeeee!

Okay, Now I’ve finished my Borek (Turkish spanikopota) and my blog post, I’ll get back into The Whole Shebang. It’s another incredible opportunity  to learn about the Australian literary community. Arts VIC, City of Lit, VWC … more juicy facts and figures about what’s available for writers.

The opportunity to interview founders and editors of literary magazines is one of the most exciting and humbling aspects of my job. This interview with John Tranter, poet and founder of Jacket magazine, brought home to me how much great work is being done in the Australian literary scene by people who are dedicated to their craft, and savvy about their industry. Read on to find out more about this wonderful publisher of modern Australian poetry.

Sp: When and why did you set up Jacket - what’s the best anecdote from the early days of Jacket?

JT: I set up Jacket in 1997. I was the sole employee (unpaid) for the first eight years, then we doubled our staff: Pam Brown joined as Associate Editor (unpaid) in 2005. We are up to issue number 37 now (mid-2009).

When I began, I had no idea if anyone would ever get to know that the magazine was there, among the millions of pages on the net, or what kind of reach it might have. In the first issue I published an interview I’d done with the British poet, Roy Fisher. In a week or so I received an email from a fellow thanking me for publishing it. He said ‘I’m a great fan of Roy Fisher’s and it’s hard to find work on him up here in Nome, Alaska.’

Sp: Your favourite paragraph from a published submission and why?

JT: ‘Three sentences on the way to Belize’ (by Eliot Weinberger)

Sitting in the last row of the plane next to a Belizean woman of uncertain age. The choice for lunch was pasta, fish, or chicken, but by the time the meal cart reached us, there was only pasta or fish. My seatmate smiled sweetly at the stewardess and said, "Next time you’ll have to kill more chickens." 

Sp:  Your favourite image from any edition of Jacket and why?

Photo copyright (c) Walter Crump, from Ruth Lepson and Walter Crump:
"Morphology", reviewed by John Mercuri Dooley (Design, Christina
Strong) BlazeVOX Books, 2007. http://www.blazevox.org/bk-lc.htm

JT: I like it because it seems to be trying to tell a strange story, and I think the clouds look beautiful.

Sp: Top 3 things that will turn you off a submission?

• Tired, conventional ideas
• Sloppy, careless or egotistical writing
• Writing that tries too hard to be cute 

Sp: What are you most interested in at the moment in Australian publishing?

JT: The need to reduce the proportion of "Australian" publishers which are entirely owned and managed by foreigners from the current 90% to about 40%. This would take the emphasis away from the idea that every single title must turn a profit, and replace it with something more civilised: the idea that a great publisher carries a wide range of titles: from blockbuster profit-makers to massively popular biographies of "media" "celebrities" and sporting "heroes" to a small but distinguished list of poetry titles that will inevitably lose a small amount of money: that is, a tiny fraction of the obscene profits that the other books make.

Sp: Speakeasy is interested in gaining a snap shot of the future of publishing in Australia. Where do you think your mag will be in 5 years?

JT: I really don’t know: still there, I hope.

SP: We hope so, too!

Check out the submission guidelines for Jacket: they are an exemplar of good-humoured professionalism, and a great guide to understanding the special requirements and opportunities of online publication.

Speakeasy caught up with Kerrie Harrison, Fiction Co-Editor/Sub-editor/Marketing Manager of Wet Ink magazine, who has given us some info about their terrific opportunities for new and emerging writers:

Sp: How long has Wet Ink magazine been around, and how did it begin? 

WI: The magazine grew out of discussions a group of us were having about the difficulties new writers face getting their work published, and the lack of an attractive, accessible magazine to publish them. We set up Wet Ink as a non-profit organisation, with all team members volunteering their time and, after much hard work, the first issue was published in December 2005. We did this initially with no financial backing, just lots of enthusiasm and passion for producing a magazine that is a great read and attractive to look at. 

Sp: Which genres does Wet Ink publish, and who is your audience?

WI: We publish the best submissions we receive for each issue, regardless of genre. We have published science fiction, speculative fiction, horror, romance, satire, literary fiction, thriller, experimental writing, memoir, a wide range of poetry including prose poetry, excerpts from novels…

Our audience is a very broad as we aim for a general readership – anyone who loves a good read – ranging from high school students to retirees, from a wide range of backgrounds. As Wet Ink is sold online and through newsagents and bookstores Australia-wide and in more than 40 other countries, including the US and those in Europe and Asia, our audience is international.

Sp: What are you looking for in submissions?

WI: We are looking for high quality writing that is a great read. We choose the best pieces out of the submissions we receive, regardless of genre, theme or length. This means that the writing has to be to a high standard and the story has to be captivating – we are always looking for something original, thought-provoking, funny or moving. The only thing we won’t publish is work that has already been published, as we are a magazine of ‘new writing’. 

Sp: What are your upcoming deadlines for submissions?

WI: We don’t have traditional deadlines, any submissions received after the cut-off date for one issue go into the pile for the next. 

Sp: Do you have any new developments or events to promote?

WI: For latest developments, please become a friend on myspace or a fan on Facebook. We often have giveaways or other promotional opportunities that we promote through these. 

Sp: Any thing else you would like to add?

WI: Wet Ink was set up to publish mainly new and emerging authors and to make it easy for readers to access them. We are proud to have published many writers for the first time – often they have gone on to further publishing success. We strongly encourage new authors to submit their work, as we judge each piece solely on its merits. Before submitting, it is vital that authors check our submission guidelines and use the submission cover sheet – both are on our website (www.wetink.com.au).

Speakeasy brings you some HEAT to warm your literary cockles. Dr Ivor Indyk – critic, essayist, reviewer, and UWS academic – is the founding editor and publisher of HEAT magazine and the award-winning Giramondo book imprint. HEAT is all about ‘contemporary literary and publishing, the accessible and interesting presentation of scholarly research, and a wide-ranging exploration of the social power of writing’. According to David Malouf, ’It creates its own scene.’

Ivor doesn’t waste words, so take your time to consider those he has shared with us here.

Sp:. How long has HEATbeen around, and how did it begin?

I.I.: It began in 1997 in the wake of the Demidenko Affair. 

Sp: What genres does HEATpublish, and who is your audience?

I.I.: Poetry, fiction and non-fiction, also hybrid genres. I like to think our readers are writers, and literary afficionados. 

Sp: What are you looking for in submissions?

I.I.: A care for language, texture, resonance, a new angle on things, intensity, excess, economy (some of these qualities are contradictory, but that’s okay).

Sp: What are your upcoming deadlines for submissions?

I.I.: We don’t have deadlines, we always have an issue in process. 

Sp: What can we look for in upcoming HEAT?

I.I.: Some interesting writing from China in the next issue.

Sp: Any thing else you would like to add?

I.I.: There is a strong symbiotic relationship between HEAT and the Giramondo imprint, and between both and the activities of the Writing & Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney, where HEAT is housed.

Sound like the perfect outlet for your writing? For contributors’ guidleines and more information, see the HEAT website.

~

 The following announcement is proudly brought to you by FIGJAM:

What’s that there, just under the fab new RSS feed link? Is that a Shiny New Badge? Well, funny you should ask. Indeed it is!

Check out Jonathan Crossfield’s painstakingly researched list of the top 50 Australian blogs on writing. This idea is brilliant – it raises the profile of a range of writers’ and editors’ blogs, creating a new dynamic dialogue in the Ozblogosphere. It educates writers about effective blogging to create an online profile as part of their author platform. Plus, what with the Twitter campaign and the badging and everything, it will totally bag Jonathan an Ozillion well-deserved hits. Nice work!

Go, click, read, comment, enjoy.

Do you lean to the left, and explore cultural or political issues with a journalist’s eye or a poet’s pen? Then read on for a publication opportunity that’s right up your alley…

Speakeasy spoke with the most erudite Jeff Sparrow, who has given us the skinny on Overland literary journal.

Sp: When did Overland start publishing?

JS: Overland began in 1954, emerging out of the Realist Writers Movement. Its foundation editor was Stephen Murray-Smith.

Sp: What genres does Overland publish, and who is your audience?

JS: Overland publishes fiction, poetry, reviews, essays, memoirs and most other literary genres. Because of that, it’s difficult to define an audience but it’s probably safe to say that Overland readers are generally people looking for an alternative, aesthetically and politically, to mainstream corporate culture.

Sp: What are you looking for in submissions?

JS: Overland is an explicitly political journal, with a generally left-of-centre orientation. That doesn’t mean we necessarily seek didactic submissions. In general, though, we look for writers who have something to say and know how to say it.

Sp: What are your upcoming deadlines for submissions?

JS: Our next deadline is 1 June. We generally don’t run themes so deadlines aren’t that significant – if we can’t fit a quality submission in one edition, we will run it in the next. [See Overland's submission guidelines here.]

Sp: Do you have any new developments or events to promote, and it came up really

JS: At the moment, we’re promoting a series of events at the Sydney Writers Festival, including a major presentation by Germaine Greer and the launch of Overland’s special symposium on climate change. Check out Overland’s SWF events.

Sp: Any thing else you would like to add?

JS: Overland runs a group blog from its website. The site also makes recent editions freely available online and so is a great way to check out what the journal is about.

~

Craig Bolland’s article "Practice Makes Perfect: Writing Short Pieces that Sell" is a very useful guide for writers seeking to develop their craft into a freelance profession. It’s available to AWMonline subscribers under the Writing Resources tab, in the section for emerging writers.

Tonight’s Writing Race features special guest Lee McGowan. Lee’s first novel was short listed in the 2007 Queensland Premiers Literary Awards Emerging Author category. Lee reviews for Bookseller + Publisher and has been posting a weekly football fiction blog. Join us at AWMonline forums, 745pm AEST for an 8pm start to write alongside Lee and the Writing Race crew.

Written something terrific? Wondering what to do with it? Speakeasy is profiling a range of contemporary Australian literary magazines to show beginner/developing writers the wealth of opportunities to have their short works published.

The Lifted Brow is a progressive and experimental Australian literary and music journal. First published in Brisbane, The Brow’s team now operates from lit-zine central in Melbourne, and has bagged some big-name overseas guests like Neil Gaiman.

Talking about the first edition of TLB, editor and founder Ronnie Scott says “We funded it through a few $100 ads from local businesses, but still came up short. A bunch of our friends got together one Friday night and had a bake-off; we made fudge, cookies, cupcakes. We dressed up the most attractive person, a writer named Sarah Grey, and went out into the Valley at about 2am with all the baked goods in a cellophane-lined basket. Right up until the sun came up, Sarah would step out of the shadows and innocently sell the baked goods to Valley drunks, and that made up the shortfall. The first edition had a print run of, I think, 300 copies, then another 200 when we sold all those. It was on cheap, grey paper and saddle-stitched, the idea being that (a) you could roll it up and put it in your pocket – disposable aesthetic – and (b) we could only afford cheap, grey paper and saddle-stitching.”

As well as its strong aesthetic, setting The Brow apart from the crowd is it’s proud refusal to “distinguish between established and school-aged artists; overseas and local artists; genre and literary fiction; and between writing, art, and music" while still demanding works are up to “world standard". This offers a broad range of genres for writers wanting to submit their work, including comics, fiction and non-fiction pieces (up to 1,200 words), songs, and poems. And their slushing process means every contributor gets a fair deal: “For issue five, I basically did the submissions as they came in. The No pile is easy, the Yes pile is easy, but the Maybe pile is disgustingly hard. We had about a hundred stories in the Maybe pile this time, from which we needed to pick, say, twenty. At that stage, Jane [York] came along and helped refine it. But the Maybe pile was halved and halved again too many times to count.”

If your submission is accepted, you can look forward to Ronnie’s dynamic editing process: “I look at the white page and feel afraid. Then I make a little red pen mark and feel good. Half an hour later the page is covered in red pen and I feel very, very ashamed. But the story is better. Most of the stories are edited really heavily. After that initial hand-edit, I type it into Word with "track changes" on and send it to the author. They send it back with maybe half the changes approved, half disputed. Then I send it back with half their disputes approved, half explained/argued further. It goes on like that, argued in more and more detail, until we’re both happy with it.”

The Brow do one themed and one unthemed issue per year. As editor, Ronnie gets the final word on what direction each issue takes: “The Brow basically publishes ’stuff I personally think is exciting and good’, and of course that will change, and the magazine with it. From the next issue onwards, we also have some contributing editors from around the world who are going to herd things our way that I wouldn’t otherwise see. Blind submissions [i.e. unsolicited] are the most exciting things to get.”

TLB6 is themed as an atlas of the world, and submissions are due by 1 July 2009. Brow launches are a total blast, with music and cheap mags and lots of fun, so get along if you can, whether you’re a contributor or a fan!

For those of you who are new to submitting, and are worried about dealing with possible rejection, read this post by emerging author Angela Slatter, and laugh while you learn.

Writing Race update: Last night’s Race with special guest Joanne Schoenwald achieved a huge total of 7,484 – which brings us to a running total of 46,169 words.

The Australian Booksellers Association have changed their position on the parallel importation issue: ‘The ABA considers the uncertainty delivered by the removal of territorial copyright to be of too great a risk to our developing independent publishing industry, particularly in light of the business models of the most successful of these publishers and their reliance on the value of territorial copyright.’

The ABA submission acknowledges that some of their members are still in favour on an open market approach, and points to the Canadian model, which introduces ‘greater competition and downward pressure on price by further tightening the qualifications for territorial copyright through the introduction of [...] regulations relating to supply and price.’  Without having to lift copyright restrictions!

It seems likely that independent booksellers, who play such a crucial role in fostering the Australian literary scene, have exerted enough influence on their peak body to turn the tide. Well played!

As Maree McKaskill, CEO of the Australian Publishers Association points out ‘This shows that the whole of the book publishing supply chain, from authors, through agents, printers and now the vast majority of booksellers all understand the fundamental importance of territorial copyright for the future of this industry. Without it, there’s no incentive to invest and we become the dumping bin for the leftovers of overseas literary culture’ – a grim future indeed!

So hey, Productivity Commission, not even your retailers want to lift importation restrictions on books. Enough said?

Read all about it on AusBooks, ‘the official site for the campaign to prevent the surrendering of Australian copyright’ in their article Publishers welcome new approach by booksellers.

Talk about digital savvy! Check out James Patterson’s current competition where you can win the chance to write a chapter for his "chain thriller": http://www.borders.com.au/chain-thriller/home.asp. 

This is the man who has been known to joke that  "he wrote 10 books while spending a few weeks at home recovering from minor surgery", and who has been described as "like listening to a can of Coca-Cola describe how it would like to be marketed."  He’s also an incredibly successful writer, so I’m making my scene notes to send along as soon as I finish this post…

Other snippets:

Joanne Schoenwald’s "Woodford Virgins" hits the Hot List! http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/8610196/2giwzr6mh1qfrmv2qrc5 

Stephen King goes for the jugular of vampire YA writer Stephanie Meyers: ouch http://theharperstudio.com/category/26th-story/

The Lifted Brow launching at Avid Reader and the Zoo this week! I had a chance to chat with Ronnie Scott today – he has inspiring ideas on independent publishing, lit/music fusion, promoting Australian writers overseas…

Us! Speakeasy has been reskinned to match our website and aren’t we looking freshhh…

So here’s what I’m clicking right now:

Write in Your face supports emerging forms of writing practice by young writers, and closes 24 April: http://www.expressmedia.org.au/events.php?content_id=489

Which made me think about this:

http://www.johnmarsden.com.au/home.html and it is now my new fave website, for the look’n'feel.

And then I checked out this new awmonline listing http://www.pulp.co.nz/

because I wish I was groovy enough to submit to it.

This one is not writing and publishing news: http://www.cakespy.com/

It’s just because writers deserve to have our cake and eat it, too.

There. Now I’m going to go and re-read my treasured two-line ‘thanks but no thanks’ email from Nathan Bransford, literary agent. Be still, my beating heart!

What’s your fave writing and publishing blog/website today?