Archive for November, 2009
Monday, November 30th, 2009
Continuing the Story
If the queries I receive are an indication, many writers see whatever story they’ve created as just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. “You think the story ends here?” they’ll say. “Just you wait, mister! Just because Timmy and Jimmy rescued Wiggles the dog doesn’t mean their adventure has ended!”
I’ve blogged about unlikely sequels before and [...]
22 Comments » - Posted in Books We Love, Sweet Nonsense by Chris
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Giving Thanks
It’s been quite the year in the world of books and elsewhere, and no one is more aware of our ridiculous good fortune than all of us here at Upstart Crow Literary. So we are counting our blessings. And boy oh boy, do we have lots of reasons to give thanks as the holidays approach.
Because [...]
22 Comments » - Posted in Sweet Nonsense by Michael and Chris
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers’s “List of Attributes that Make a Good Children’s Book”
If you work in publishing in any capacity whatsoever, then you likely have a deep affection for Little, Brown. And not just because they are riding so high these days. Sure, they the publishers of a kind-of-sort-of-somewhat-successful series you may have heard of, but they also have one of the sharpest, most insistently singular lists [...]
27 Comments » - Posted in On Writing, The Industry by Michael
Friday, November 20th, 2009
“New Adult” — Specious category or market opportunity?
There has been chatter lately of a new category in publishing, something that people refer to by the breezily condescending handle of “New Adult.” If you haven’t come across New Adult in your daily grazing of the blogs, there was a discussion of it during a twitter YA lit chat a week or so ago, [...]
15 Comments » - Posted in Sweet Nonsense, The Industry by Michael
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
The Era of Instant Word-of-Mouth
So, lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Stephen King’s Under the Dome. Not just because at 1,100 or so pages and three-and-a-half pounds, it kind of sits there like the guilty weight of all the things left undone in one’s life. And not because I intend to read it when I have a spare [...]
29 Comments » - Posted in The Industry by Michael
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Books we Love: The Book Thief
I’ll admit it: I can be a hater. Sometimes when I hear too much hype about a book/film/band I’m less inclined to check it out. Maybe I miss the pre-internet joy of being one of the select few to really love and appreciate something. Whatever the reason, when I heard everyone talking up Markus Zusak’s [...]
17 Comments » - Posted in Books We Love by Chris
Friday, November 13th, 2009
Bottling Inspiration
Ah, inspiration. The fickle beast. The elusive muse. That stupid, no-good, completely unreliable jerk. Some writers churn out good ideas by the dozens. Others wait for that one bold stroke of inspiration to strike them between the eyes.
Whether it’s through daydreaming, careful planning, or simply being aware of the world around you, everyone gets ideas [...]
20 Comments » - Posted in Inspiration, On Writing by Chris
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
Unplugging
We’ve spoken quite a bit about the wonders of the digital age, from how it affects your own writing to how it can help market books to how it lets you connect with other tortured artists slaving away and being tortured while slaving away during torture.
As I assume you’re all aware (since you’re spending time [...]
26 Comments » - Posted in On Writing by Chris
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Bookcrossing — Release your books!
Back in 2003, I was obliviously hustling through Madison Square Park, rushing from someplace unimportant to someplace equally unimportant, when my eye chanced upon a practically brand-new copy of Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man just sitting there naked and alone on a park bench. Thing is, I had been dying to read that very novel [...]
18 Comments » - Posted in Books We Love, Sweet Nonsense by Michael
Monday, November 9th, 2009
Leaping that Final Hurdle
The other day I came across a tattered, unlabeled sheet of paper I’d picked up somewhere. It is a list of questions a children’s books buyer asks of picture books during sales calls.
While some of these questions should not be on the mind of writers when they are approaching agents (specifically, those questions about packaging [...]
