| Calling all new and/or published authors: Victoria publisher The Heritage Group, along with the Shuswap Writers’ Festival, is preparing for its second annual writing contest, in which it’s looking to give some cash and free books to two lucky candidates. Fiction and non-fiction in any genre is eligible, as long as it "contributes to western Canadian heritage and cultural tourism." Manuscripts must be between 30,000 and 70,000 words, and submitted by February 28, 2006. First prize is $250, plus $250 worth of books from the Group’s collection of publishers, and a chance to obtain a publishing contract. Second prize is $100 and $100 worth of books. The prize will be announced at this year’s Shuswap Writers’ Festival, towards the end of June. For more information and an entry form, visit www.heritagehouse.ca.
Events at McNally Robinson get underway again with Byron Rempel’s new memoir Truth is Naked, All Others Pay Cash: An Autobiographical Exaggeration featured on Saturday, January 7 at 8 p.m. On Tuesday, January 10 at 7 p.m., George R.R. Martin reads from the latest instalment in his fantasy series, A Feast for Crows.
In other news, Amazon.com has launched a new program on its site, Author Connect, which allows writers (so far 10, including Meg Wolitzer, Pete Hautman and Aimee Friedman) to post their own blogs in response to reader comments. Whether or not it’s a good idea for the site to play host to literary feuds (which apparently has already happened) remains to be seen.
Harry Potter fans will be both excited and saddened to know that author J.K. Rowling is sitting down this month to start the seventh, and last, book in her hugely popular series, which will be published sometime in 2006.
Turkey has "graciously" dropped one charge against its own bestselling author, Orhan Pamuk, for his comments on the Armenian genocide, although he still faces up to three years for insulting "Turkishness." The case has drawn attention from the European Union, as Turkey has applied for membership and the EU isn’t likely to embrace a country that still penalizes free speech.
It had to happen – statisticians, who have figured out the formula for the "catchiest" song, have now done the same for books. The study was done to help people who are self-publishing their books so they can make their work more marketable. Apparently, the three main ingredients of bestselling success include metaphorical titles, a pronoun or greeting as the first word in the book, and simple sentences of "The X did X…." variety. This formula may apply to paperback juggernauts like Agatha Christie and John Le Carré, but strangely enough, it suggests that Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code should have been a disaster. |
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