Author: Jennifer Griffin

Want to stay at home and still rub elbows with your favorite authors from TOR? You got it! TOR has announced it’s second annual virtual convention! It will last four days, June 10-13 and the panels will be amazing! With three panels scheduled each day there will be enough time to tune in and still get laundry done!

Thursday night starts the program out at 7pm with best selling author and screenwriter Gillian Flynn and award winning novelist Catriona Ward in conversation co-hosted by Den of Geek.
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Though the pandemic seemingly rages on Publisher’s Weekly has given some hope and light to writers and readers alike. Publisher’s Weekly has announced that they will be hosting a new American trade fair May 26th -28th. How so? It will be run virtually. The U.S. Book Show will be limited to 5 hours a day to help with possible internet connection issues as well as time constraints since this will be available worldwide.

There will be exhibitors, presentations, and networking just like at the live event. Prices start at $35 (with a $3.77 fee) for librarians and booksellers, the Early Bird pricing is $89 (plus a $7.05 fee) and $149 (plus a $10.71 fee) for general admission (that starts on April 2nd). The tickets are all-inclusive so the purchaser has access to everything. The hard part will be to pick and chose what to do.
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Looking for feedback on your writing? There will be a World Building Write In (something that ProWritingAid members can do every month) that will feature short world building prompts that you can share for feedback with other attending writers.
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R.L. Stine has been called “Stephen King for kids.”  Always looking to interact with his readers this Thanksgiving Stine has given students and instructors a writing program.

For free!

You can check it out at: http://rlstine.com/writing-program

In it, Stine gives suggestions ranging from where to get ideas all the way to how to overcome writer’s block.  There is an overview for instructors as well as suggestions for using the course material.  But at the heart of it all is Stine helping writers be writers, especially young ones.

   However when reading through the program, even though it is geared toward grades 3-8, any writer could benefit from doing his exercises.  Some of the activities include finishing a story that Stine has begun, using your memories to create a story, playing what if? for story ideas, how to develop characters for your stories as well as basics such as outlining and revision.

Even though the program is only 17 pages long it packs in a lot of information without being overwhelming.  Reading through the prompts and suggestions the would be writer is never talked down to.  If this doesn’t work then try this or this is Stine’s philosophy.  He gives the reader a tour of his creativity then shows us our own and how to use it.  Stine begins with one of his own journal entries from when he was 10 years old.  He then shows how to edit and rewrite it to be a solid story.  He encourages the reader to take their own journal entries, use the same editing process and turn it into an actual story.  The whole program makes the reader feel as though Stine is right there helping guide you through it all, encouraging you with every word you write.  Stine encourages all writing genres, not just horror.

This program is a fine addition to any teacher’s rubric but it is also an excellent find for anyone who has ever wanted to write.

On November 25th The New York Times dropped a bomb on the publishing world. Penguin/Random House Publishing is potentially buying Simon & Shuster Publishing. There are three other possible buyers but Penguin/Random House seems to be the closest to the prize. Simon & Shuster was put up for sale back in March with the closing down of book stores due to the pandemic being the last nail in the coffin of a bad beginning of the year.

If the sale happens then it could make it even harder for new authors and small publishers to exist. Despite assurances that Penguin/Random House would keep each company running as a separate entity, no one feels safe. The Authors Guild has opposed the sale and asked the Justice Department to help prevent the deal from going through. The merger still needs to be seen and approved by Biden’s officials and it is hoped that they will be more understanding of the needs of writers. If this merger happens then it will be harder for new writers to become published let alone get a decent advance on their work. Bigger houses have more connections to potential outlets to sell books than the smaller publishers but they can be pickier about who they publish and for how much. If they are the only game in town they can potentially lowball the advance and there is nothing the author can do. With fewer connections than the big houses, the smaller publishers can not only lose authors but sales as well.

If this sale happens then that would give Penguin/Random House Publishing a scary 30% of the U.S. book market. Some possible remedies that could be imposed on the company could be that they have to sell off parts of the company to keep them from having too much leverage in the publishing world. Stay tuned to see how this page-turner finishes!