Earlier this week, the writing community was buzzing with scandal after an author, whose debut novel releases next year, created a bunch of fake profiles to review bombing BIPOC authors who also have debut novels coming in 2024. I can’t wrap my head around this kind of depravity and insanity, so I am choosing to focus only on the good this week.
Literary agent Carly Waters from PS Literary kicked off the week with an update in her publishing predictions she made in January. It’s a long video, but really interesting if you want to hear about what has changed in the last 12 months.
Carly mentions Jane Friedman’s bestseller list - called The Hot Sheet - where you can find books not published by the the big five. If you want to read something out of the mainstream, you can find loads of options there.
If you are a writer looking for a nice place to hang out with other writers, head on over to Threads. They’ve just recently introduced hashtags which convert to blue text, so they are easy to spot. I’ve never been so engaged with the writing community on any other platform.
I’ve been building my profile on BookBub. I set this up after I launched Murder on My Mind and then did very little with it. I have since learned it is THE PLACE to find smoking deals on ebooks, but it is a fantastic tool for authors as well. If you are so inclined, you can follow me there. I’ll be posting more reviews of books I’ve read in the new year.
I had THE CALL with my agent last week. Top of the discussion list: submission of my YA novel to publishers. We are officially “on sub”. Two passes came in rather quickly and four others have expressed “interest”. That word is in quotes because in this world it could mean they like the premise, or the general idea, or “I’d like to see if the author can pull this off before I shoot it down.” Please send positive vibes that this book finds a good home.
There are more good things to share, but those will find their way into your inbox next week. In the meantime, I’m scraping through our family budget, looking for a way to treat myself to of these adorable painting.
Is anyone else winding down for the holidays? I plan to build some fires, read some books, stay up late and sleep in. I may have already started.
Happy reading, my friend.
xo Dana