crowdfunding

I heard about something new (to me) recently... Would you like to sell your creative work before you create it? If so, crowdfunding might be for you. USA Today has a very interesting article on it: New grads, 'crowdfund' your career, according to which "Crowdfunding" means pooling resources from a network of people for a project.

A leader in the field is www.kickstarter.com, supposedly the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Kickstarter is powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands. Creative folks basically share their project idea with the kickstarter staff and if it meets their guidelines, they're good to go within a few days. However, there's a twist: a project must include rewards for backers. What are rewards? For a writing project, it might range from a pdf of the completed work, to thanks on the acknowledgements page, to a character named after the backer, to a hard cover copy of the work with original cover art. I'm intrigued...

Has anyone tried this? What do you think?

lost in the past

The New York Times had an article Tuesday: Tradition Trumps Twitter at Iowa Writers' Workshop. Apparently, things function much as they did in the past over there in Iowa City. One of the recent grads interviewed said he'll hand-write the first drafts of his stories or even use a typewriter. Like most of his classmates, he does not own an e-reader and prefers paper books. He says he was scolded by a tradition-minded instructor when he turned in his first workshop story for writing about a character that used Google. [He]...does not use Twitter. No technology: Check.

Eric Simonoff, co-head of the book department at the WME talent agency says Iowa's administration has long been conflicted toward the publishing industry, trying to give students access without taking their focus away from learning their craft.
"And I think that's right," he said. "It's useful to know that at one point one will have to market oneself, but I don't think the time to do that is when you are in an MFA program." Ignore the entire concept of selling: Check.

I must admit, though, I enjoyed the sentiment of another grad who says of fiction it's such a slow-burning, heavy-attention medium that really demands someone who is mentally present and not just giving you superficial attention. I really love that aspect of it... I want to convince people that, in this world of beeps and tweets, spending meditative time with an analog paper book is a worthy pursuit. I want to write so well that I can convince others of that."

So, what do you think? Are the Iowa Writer's Workshop folks hopelessly, helplessly lost in the past? Or, is it working for them?

Darkness Too Visible?

One of the latest literary brouhahas was instigated by Meghan Cox Gurdon with her June 4, 2011 Wall Street Journal article: Darkness Too Visible She says: Contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity. Why is this considered a good idea? Gurdon goes on at some length criticizing a variety of YA novels: Yet it is also possible—indeed, likely—that books focusing on pathologies help normalize them and, in the case of self-harm, may even spread their plausibility and likelihood to young people who might otherwise never have imagined such extreme measures.

Suffice to say, several of the authors quoted or discussed by Gurdon took offense to being characterized as such. For example Jackie Morse Kessler blogged about it in Making the Darkness Visible. She says To suggest that Rage effectively glamorizes self-injury is both insulting and stupid. The entire purpose of the book — indeed, of all of the Riders of the Apocalypse books — is to raise awareness of issues such as self-injury and eating disorders and bullying.

I have mixed feelings about the issue. I agree with authors like Kessler that raising awareness is important. On the other hand, I've read some YA novels that horrified me and I'm a middle-aged adult. Unfortunately, I guess to some extent, the discussion is moot. Kids today have to grow up much sooner than earlier generations. We can't put the genie back in the bottle.

What do you think?

Author's gender?

Nobel laureate VS Naipaul says there's no female author whom he considers his equal. Read about it in The Guardian: VS Naipaul finds no woman writer his literary match – not even Jane Austen. Since writing and reading is subjective, I've no doubt VS Naipaul is the best writer for VS Naipual! I prefer many others, myself. :)

But this whole brouhaha raised an interesting issue... Can readers discern an author's gender from the words on the page? I say: sometimes yes, sometimes no. :)
Take The Naipual test: Can you tell an author's sex? for yourself and see how you do.

trouble at Vicinanza Agency

As many of you know, the Ralph Vicinanza Literary Agency was the premier SF/F agency in the world. Everyone was saddened when Ralph Vicinanza himself died suddenly last September. SFWA reports "Following the passing of Mr. Vicinanza, the two remaining agents in the company have left the agency and the executors of the Vicinanza estate have chosen not to engage in further active agency." They recommend authors consult the SFWA Grievance Committee to deal with various issues this has brought up. If you are affected by this: good luck!

ghostwriting is alive and well

Is anyone besides me mystified at all the celebutantes writing novels these days? Nicole Richie has had two novels published. Hilary Duff released her first novel, Elixir, last year. Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi published a novel in January (despite telling The New York Times last year that she had read only two books in her life), A Shore Thing, which landed on the New York Times best-seller list. And now the Kardashians are writing a novel, and on and on.
Clearly, these women had help. I can only conclude in this day and age ghostwriting is alive and well. Read about it in The New York Times: In Their Own Words? Maybe.

Has anyone gotten in on this ghostwriting gravy-train? Is it a good development? Or just one more signal that the publishing industry is in trouble? What do you think?

Amazon the publisher?

The latest news in the publishing world is Amazon.com has signaled its determination to enter the book publishing business. In recent weeks Amazon has rolled out two new book imprints, announced a roster of best-selling authors whose books will be published under those imprints, and hired a prominent publishing executive, Larry Kirshbaum, to set up an office in New York.

Certainly this is making tradition book publishers anxious. But I can't help thinking it might benefit authors. What do you think?

Bethany Overland discusses it over at www.techflash.com: E-sales to imprints: Amazon's ambitious publishing plan.