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Libby started the topic BBC Between the Covers book list in the forum Coffee Shop 1 year, 4 months ago
Just in case you don’t already have a reading list as long as several arms end to end, here are more books — courtesy of the BBC programme Between the Covers.
Does anyone feel like picking one of them on behalf of the rest of us — the rest of us being anyone who’s interested — so we can have a bit of a book-group type discussion about it on…[Read more]
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Libby replied to the topic One Christmas in the forum Coffee Shop 1 year, 4 months ago
Thank you for posting this, Ath. Christmas has been so busy I’ve only just read it. It’s a touching story.
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Libby started the topic Happy Christmas in the forum Coffee Shop 1 year, 5 months ago
Happy Christmas, all, and best wishes for 2025. Thank you, Ath, for keeping the site going for another year and for organising the challenge.
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Libby replied to the topic Is a social media Christmas appeal worthwhile? in the forum Blogs 1 year, 5 months ago
This links to a short piece in The Bookseller:
The main message is:
“The SoA is asking publishers, celebrities, booksellers, festival organisers, agents and all involved in the industry to recognise and reward all…[Read more]
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Libby posted a new activity comment 1 year, 5 months ago
I hope things are back to normal now, Richard. The lack of means of communication is frightening.
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Yes thanks, we are okay now, though the boiler had to work non-stop for 48 hours to get the house back to normal temperature.
Our ‘local’ pub (about four miles away) were in the same fix. They had hundreds of people booked for Saturday night dinner and Sunday lunch, and the guvnor had to drive five miles to a supermarket car park to get a signal…[Read more]
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Libby replied to the topic The latest in vanity publishing in the forum Marketplace 1 year, 5 months ago
Yes, it’s the old vanity approach of taking advantage of unaware writers’ naivety. There’s a common belief that editing more or less equals proofreading without so much as a beta read along the way. I imagine all vanity publishers will be using AI in the same fashion.
I think what’s notable about Spines is the number of books they plan to…[Read more]
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Libby replied to the topic The latest in vanity publishing in the forum Marketplace 1 year, 6 months ago
Hi @janette
I agree it could bring self-pub into disrepute though the large number of self-pub books on Amazon that seem not to have had human editing, regardless of the availability of AI, is already doing that.
The publishing industry can seem very off-putting. I’ve never tried to be published by it so I haven’t been through that particular…[Read more]
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Libby replied to the topic The latest in vanity publishing in the forum Marketplace 1 year, 6 months ago
If you haven’t seen it before this report from April 2022 on paid-for publishing is interesting and depressing. I can’t remember if it mentions AI. A questionnaire was sent to authors who’d paid for an all-in editorial and publishing package. These weren’t indie authors paying for their own editors, cover designers etc and doing the hard work of…[Read more]
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Libby started the topic The latest in vanity publishing in the forum Marketplace 1 year, 6 months ago
It was only a question of time. I’m surprised it’s taken this long. Perhaps there are other ‘offers’ that haven’t hit the newspapers.
Writers condemn startup’s plans to publish 8,000 books next year using AI | Books | The Guardian
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I share your sentiments, Libby, as I do the statement from Bluesky (in the body of the report). This is wholly about money, bypassing the love of writing and reading altogether. Sadly, I feel it could also have a knock-on effect on self-publishing, causing increased distrust in the quality you can find there. I hope I am wrong, but I’m becoming…[Read more]
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Libby started the topic New BBC Radio 4 book programme in the forum Blogs 1 year, 6 months ago
Take Four Books starts today. Looks interesting. An author will talk about the influence of three different writers on their own writing. First up is Graeme Macrae Burnet discussing his Gorski trilogy.
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Libby started the topic 20% discount for Emma Darwin's Itch of Writing on Substack in the forum Marketplace 1 year, 6 months ago
https://emmadarwin.substack.com/9f42c2c1
To celebrate the Itch’s first birthday on Substack and help spread the word Emma is offering 20% off all new annual or monthly subscriptions. Click the link before 6th December:
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Libby posted a new activity comment 1 year, 6 months ago
Hi @janette, thank you for sharing this. As I’m not on FB I can’t read the whole letter on screen. Are you able to copy and paste it here?
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Hi Libby and @janette.
Here below is a copy of my original letter to the society of authors.
I think that a “Christmas appeal” letter, encouraging readers and book-buyers to support ordinary authors by avoiding celebrity titles would be great! I’ve been chatting loads about this issue in my various writing networks, so I think that if we were…[Read more]-
I saw your letter, Philippa, and I’m really pleased you voiced what so many of us are feeling.
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly Comp – October 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
Congratulations, Seagreen! Thank you, Knicks, for a great prompt and your judge’s insights.
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly Comp – October 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 7 months ago
What’s Brought to the Table
796 words
Grace was sitting on the floor of Lily’s bedroom, leaning against Lily’s wardrobe. She looked at Lily, who was lying on her single bed with her arms spread wide like an act of supplication.
Lily had just said she was aiming for paradoxy. Grace wondered what psychodrama had produced this.…[Read more]
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Libby posted a new activity comment 1 year, 8 months ago
I’m up for it, Ath. I find the comp helpful and reading other people’s stories helps my writing too. What about setting a choice of three general topics but without the choices about objects – would that make your and Jules’ lives easier? So, I don’t know, a story concerning either love, crime or war. Maybe too a longer deadline for joining the…[Read more]
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 8 months ago
Thanks, Sandra. I’ve started a story – it probably works better with the After the Funeral theme. I doubt I’ll manage two stories. September is a busy month 🙂 I like it, the busyness and back to school feeling.
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Libby posted a new activity comment 1 year, 8 months ago
Which isn’t to deny the pressured commercial environment they work it, just that authors can be turned down for seemingly odd or circular reasons, the ‘nobody reads stories about [insert topic of novel]’ type of response.
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I think you’re right on all points. I know that it’s probably more a tendency of agents from the larger, more commercial agencies, and that it isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it’s clearly a factor. We live in a world where many shops and stores no longer choose what to stock; the algorithms determine what is or is not delivered to the shelves. So…[Read more]
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Libby posted a new activity comment 1 year, 8 months ago
I think it’s hard to know how to pick well. As with Richard’s experience of agents, it seems the unadmitted part of their job description is to have narrow vision. We know they will want MSs that are often versions of what already sells but they don’t add that this discrimination can be taken to a fine degree.
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Which isn’t to deny the pressured commercial environment they work it, just that authors can be turned down for seemingly odd or circular reasons, the ‘nobody reads stories about [insert topic of novel]’ type of response.
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I think you’re right on all points. I know that it’s probably more a tendency of agents from the larger, more commercial agencies, and that it isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it’s clearly a factor. We live in a world where many shops and stores no longer choose what to stock; the algorithms determine what is or is not delivered to the shelves. So…[Read more]
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Libby started the topic Substack in the forum Coffee Shop 1 year, 8 months ago
Substack has settled in my life. I don’t publish posts and I rarely comment on or even record a like on other people’s posts. But for me it’s a useful and interesting resource on ‘how to write better’ – the nuts and bolts stuff of the craft – and a reinforcement of the impetus to write in the first place. The latter is the exciting part, though…[Read more]
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