Call for Submissions: (I Just) Died In Your Arms: Crime Fiction Inspired by One-Hit Wonders Ahh, the One-Hit Wonder! That one song everybody knows but was the only hit for the artist who recorded it. Songs such as “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” from The Breakfast Club was a monster hit for Simple Minds, but it was their only Billboard Top 10 hit. Throughout the decades, so many musical artists have had just the one hit, and that’s a crime. So is murder. So what better way to celebrate both than by combining them into an anthology? Here’s your chance to be inspired by your favorite One-Hit Wonder and give a chance to breathe some new life into the greatest hits of our lives. Deadline October 31, publish February 2022, pay is one ebook, one print book, royalties. Direct all questions to Editor-in-Chief Jay Hartman at jhartman@untreedreads.com.
The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021 Stories containing mystery or crime elements published between January 1 and December 31, 2021 are eligible. Whether they’ve appeared in books, magazines or online, the stories must be submitted as printed paper copies. All eligible material should be sent to: Otto Penzlerm The Best Mystery Stories of the Year, 58 Warren Street, New York 10007, A Few Clarifications from the Editor: Both publishers and individual authors are invited to submit. Works published in traditional venues are eligible, as are self-published works; just about anything that’s gone out there in the world in a currently legitimate public form we’re willing to look at to see if it works for us. A new aspect: foreign writers and works in translation are now eligible, if the stories are published for the first time in the current calendar year. *This is as much information as is available at this time. Check Facebook and MWA groups for any updates.
Learn more about Kindle’s new program in progress, Kindle Vella, where U.S.-based authors can publish serialized stories, one short episode at a time. In the next few months, readers will be able to access Kindle Vella stories in the Kindle iOS app and on Amazon.com.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Arts Fund have joined together to establish the Letras Boricuas Fellowship to support emerging and established Puerto Rican writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s literature. There will be thirty unrestricted fellowships of $25,000 each. The first fifteen writers will be announced in November. Fellowships are open to Puerto Rican writers living in Puerto Rico and from across the diaspora in the United States. Applications may be submitted in either Spanish or English. The deadline is June 20.
Actors of Color: The roles they get vs. the roles they’d love to play. Side-by-side photos.
Community Literature Initiative for writers and poet of color a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching writers of color how to write and publish books. The Sims Library of poetry, the first black-owned library in the state of California. One of the largest poetry libraries in the country. Over 6,000 books of poetry located in LA.
Hachette Book Group Saw Diversity Gains in Staff, Book Acquisitions in 2020
47.8% of new hires in 2020 identified as BIPOC, led by the recruitment of new Hispanic/Latinx employees, who represented 37.5% of all new staffers. Read more at.
Writers Orgs Form #DisneyMustPay Joint Task Force Task Force Demands Disney Honor Author Contracts.
Google has a piracy problem in the book section of the Play Store. In an effort to stem the problem, policy has changed. They are stopping people from advertising ebooks on shopping ads, globally. That means no ads with product images, price, or where to buy it. This will have an impact on ebook sellers for legit ebook authors and publishers.HarperCollins Focus Launches Lifestyle, Gift Book Imprint
The new gift imprint, Harper Celebrate, with a wide-ranging portfolio of uplifting subject matter including special occasion, seasonal, and lifestyle topics and will be visually striking.
HarperCollins, the second-largest trade publisher in the U.S., has completed its acquisition of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media. HC, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, agreed to buy the HMH trade division in March for $349 million.
In September 2019, Elliott Investment Management bought Barnes and Noble. Elliott is now buying Paper Source, one of the country’s largest gift and stationery retailers. Paper Source filed for bankruptcy in March. Barnes and Noble and Paper Source will operate separately, but opportunities exist for the two to work together.
Big trade publishers have a good start to 2021 Bookstore sales jumped 34.7% in March over March 2020 sales. Last March was the first month in which bookstore sales were impacted by pandemic-induced lockdowns.
Print book sales rose 8.1% for the week ending May 8. Compared to the same time in 2020, sales were up 10.1%. Overall, unit sales were up 25% through May 8.
Did you know Publisher’s Weekly has podcasts? Topics include conversations with authors, podcasts for kids, and one on the future of publishing.
Drawn This Way: LGBTQ Books 2021 “New graphic novels showcase the spectrum of sexuality, the complexity of queerness, and the history of trans joy and resistance.”
Pandemic survey finds NYC writers, lit organizations face economic loss
“The New York Literary Action Coalition has called for the mayor’s office to establish a liaison officer to work with both individual writers and literary organizations, which the city already does with the theater and other arts sectors. NYLAC also calls on the mayor to include the literary arts as a separate line item in the city budget.”
LeVar Burton launches Book Club on Fable
Fable is a social reading online book club. Burton chose three books to highlight—Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin, Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, and The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward. Burton invites members to read and discuss Baldwin’s book with him.
23 Mystery Publishers that accept direct submissions (No Agent Required)
Twenty-six contests, grants, and fellowships for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry; they range from $75 to $75,000. They’re very roughly divided by geography. None of them charge an entry fee.
Got kids? Know kids? Here are 62 publishers who are looking for parenting articles, essays, and stories.
