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“I love me, no I love me”– Why authors shouldn’t self-review
Everyone’s talking today about crime writer RJ Ellory who has admitted to posting flattering reviews of his own books on Amazon under pseudonyms and criticising rival authors (h/t to @sheilacrowley )....
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What’s in a name? Tackling titles and staying calm.
Writing a children’s book – you think that’s hard part? Now try coming up with the right title. If you find yourself tearing out your hair, howling at your computer screen or flinging your keyboard...
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A Risky Business
Warning: This blog post contains disturbing content. Of course there will always be copycats – success spawns imitation and we see this in children’s publishing all the time, with jackets, marketing...
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Nerves are the norm with Discovery Day on the horizon
Tomorrow, around 250 new writers will be turning up at Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road to pitch their idea to agents from Curtis Brown and hear feedback on their first pages. I know for probably...
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What’s the fuss about Frankfurt?
There are a few code words for “leave me alone, I’m busy” in the world of children’s publishing, and indeed publishing in general. “Frankfurt” is one, and “Bologna” is another. But what’s the fuss all...
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50 SHADES OF SCHNITZEL – My Frankfurt (Food) Diary by Ilona Chavasse
The Frankfurt Book Fair may be over, but many still bear the scars with their bulging inboxes and drooping eyelids. Ilona Chavasse, a Frankfurt Book Fair survivor shares her heroic account here. Soon...
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Life isn’t like a box of chocolates but searching for new writers can be.
In the last few weeks Quality Street chocolates have been alarmingly abundant in the Curtis Brown offices, their shiny wrappers gleaming suggestively, promising that Christmas and its deluge of cheap...
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Stephanie’s Christmas 2012 Children’s & Young Adult Book Round Up
So I thought it might be timely to talk briefly about some of the books I’ve enjoyed this year and some of the titles I’m planning to read over Christmas. THE DINOSAUR THAT POOPED CHRISTMAS by Tom...
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The Hunger Games – How to create a global phenomenon by Lisa Edwards
It’s 2013 and everyone’s thinking about how to make it a success. Well you can’t get more successful than publishing sensation, THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy which has sold more than 50 million copies...
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Writers, not bakers. What a literary agent really wants.
It’s about time I wrote something about submissions and since I have read more than eighty this week, and thousands over the last ten years, it’s a subject about which I know a little and can talk a...
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ATTENTION SEEKING? BEGIN YOUR BOOK WITH A BANG. (Undiscovered Voices Blog Tour)
I realise I am becoming increasingly impatient. This isn’t a sign of ageing, (I hope), but thanks to working in children’s publishing and while it’s easy to understand how the slow process and...
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Trick or Treat, trick or treat, a movie is groovy but books are neat.
One of my favourite books when I was younger was the Point Horror title, TRICK OR TREAT. I can still remember the picture on the cover and the sinister tagline; Trick or treat, trick or treat, candy is...
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Noel, Noella: Zoella & The Ghost of Christmas Present
It seems that the Grinch has come early this Christmas and this year it has a book in its sights. Not just any old book but the record-shattering GIRL ONLINE by Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella) which, as we all...
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