Dan Brown told the Boston Globe this week that there’s another Robert Langdon book in the works. I am genuinely and unironically excited. I love his novels. They are where I go to read a movie.

Folow it here http://bookriot.com/2012/05/18/flowchart-friday-dan-brown-edition/

1. Characters in a fantasy novel must be vividly drawn so the reader can build a strong sense of connection with them. A strong fantasy novel has:
   - A sympathetic, likeable protagonist with fears and failings just like any other human
   - an intriguing villain that has the potential to surprise the reader
   - a cast of interesting, funny and tragic minor characters that add humour, romance & pathos.
2. A fantasy writer should aim to create Archetypes, not Stereotypes – in other words, characters that connect with the collective unconscious by using mythic structures, but still maintain a sense of individuality.

It might be worth a quick reality check if you are writing a fantasy novel: flick through the list and assure yourself that you are either doing this (or have constructed a rationale for ignoring her advice).

The full list for your perusal is here: http://www.randomhouse.com.au/blog/ten-top-ingredients-for-fabulous-fantasy-1500.aspx

Beta reader feedback is invaluable. They see things that I do not — plot holes, boring parts, big picture stuff. They notice problems that I’ve been trying to ignore, and don’t let me get away until I fix them. They bring fresh ideas to a story, help me see paths or themes or twists and turns that I would never have seen on my own. They’re also encouraging. They support me through the bad times and celebrate with me through the good ones. A good beta reader is like a good personal trainer! They keep me honest, make me work to the best of my ability and then push me that little bit further.

I’ve had similar opportunities to provide beta reading for (and receive it from) local authors whom I’ve come to know online and in real life. It’s very helpful, even if only to help you toughen up a little and remind you that not everything that comes from your fingertips is golden…

Read the full interview here: http://donnamareehanson.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/beta-reading-interview-number-8-joanne-anderton/

The Golden Baobab Prize, an annual African literary award, was established to encourage the writing of African literature for children and young adults by recognising gifted authors of the genre.

Entries are open for unpublished African-inspired stories written for an audience of 8 to 11-years-old, and 12 to 15-years-old.

The prize will award $1,000 each to the best stories in the two categories and $800 to the most promising young writer, 18 years and younger.

The excerpt above comes from http://dailytimes.com.ng/article/golden-baobab-prize-seeks-entries.

Note that “the author must be a citizen of an African state or a dual citizenship holder” and winners are announced in November.

Check out the full submission details here: http://www.goldenbaobab.org/how-to-enter/submission-guidelines.html

[The United States] is experiencing a shift from printed to digital materials as e-books are becoming more available, and owners are beginning to read more.

Who are these e-readers? Take a look:

Original article here (the image is long, I’m warning you): http://openparachute.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/so-youre-considering-switching-to-ebooks/

Publishing pinballs drunkenly between the bumpers of optimism and the flippers of holy fucking shit-hell the meteors are coming fairly regularly. The Internet is good for this: we get to see every moment as it happens and we have zero time to process it. All our processing is done out-loud, together, and mass hysteria runs rampant. Every shadow that passes over our prairie dog heads seems like a hungry hawk when it might be nothing more than a harmless vulture or a passenger plane.

Chuck throws a little bit of cooling water on these fires, an approach that comes down to:

Don’t let it get in the way of your stories.

Original here: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/04/16/prepping-for-the-publishing-doomsday/

I immediately placed a backorder for [Paul Krugman's new book] on Amazon, knowing I’d get it within a few days of release, and knowing also that Norton invariably sells Commonwealth rights to every Krugman title, and the Commonwealth edition comes to Australia weeks or even months later with far lower production standards but at an inflated price.

Of course this didn’t quite work out as well as he hoped.

Have a look at Peter’s rough formula to estimate expected Australian book pricing – there’s a counter example of Someone Doing It Wrong (that would be Random House), which I found interesting. Are there any booksellers who can comment on their experience/approach with this?

Read it here: http://peterdonoughue.blogspot.com.au/

I won’t rehash all that, only to note that, by contrast, Ms. Picoult thinks it’s a fine idea to sign with an agent who has no clients and zero experience.

David explains in detail that there is no problem with the sea of crap that Jodi discusses when she defends her statement:

Jodi Picoult is urging writers not to self-publish as it’s “still too hard for people to separate the wheat from the chaff” because there is “a lot of crap out there.”

Newsflash: there is no segregated marketplace. All those e-books from publishers and self-publishers jostle for attention in the same retailers, side-by-side on the virtual bookshelves. Self-published titles aren’t ghettoized, and they don’t carry a warning label.

He tackles the myth of the segregated marketplace, the reality of ‘the amount of crap’, and uses a case study of his own recently released (and self-published) historical novel to highlight what the actual problem is with being discovered in this sea: the good fiction with which we compete.

[...] this is the key point, the crap is invisible. Nobody sees a book that’s #700,000 in the Amazon rankings. They don’t appear on any bestseller lists. They aren’t recommended in Also Boughts. Readers don’t see them.

I think his closing point is particularly apt:

I don’t know how you found [this blog] among the sea of crap – the one trillion web pages that swamp the internet – but you did it! Somehow!

Read it: http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/jodi-picoult-and-the-myth-of-the-segregated-marketplace/

McSweeney’s began in 1998 as a literary journal that published only works rejected by other magazines. That rule was soon abandoned, and since then McSweeney’s has attracted work from some of the finest writers in the country[.]

The output looks amazing. Each issue looks to experiment with publishing formats, and checking out the submissions page gives a glimpse into the publication’s mindset, eg:

• Length? “Up to you” (I would personally exercise restraint on novella length work).
• Formatting? “It’s better if you don’t use colors or Fun Fonts or strange formatting.”
• Payment? “Fluctuates somewhat, but has been impressing contributors recently.”

On the flip-side, I have scoured the site and can’t find any more helpful information relating to the kind of literary work they publish other than: no reprints, no poetry, no (or few) memoir-style works. I would approach this knowledge-void in two ways:

• buy a copy of an issue to get a feel for the content here; and
• read the website to infuse your brain with their particular voice

You can find the full submission details here: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/pages/guidelines-for-quarterly-submissions

15 Spectacular Libraries in Europe: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/124742