Showing all posts about books
Manuscript thief apologises, says he only wanted to cherish the works he stole
15 March 2023
Filippo Bernardini, also known as the Spine Collector, was arrested in early 2022, after stealing the manuscripts of numerous high profile authors. Bernardini managed to convince his victims — who included Sally Rooney and Margaret Atwood — to send the manuscripts of their latest novels to him, instead of their publisher.
Through recently filed court papers however, Bernardini has apologised for his actions, and says he merely wished to “cherish” the works of the authors he swindled, before their novels were published:
Former Simon & Schuster staffer Filippo Bernardini has said stole more than 1,000 unpublished manuscripts because he wanted to read books before they hit stores. In court papers published on Friday (March 10th), Bernardini apologised for his crime but claimed he did it so he could dive into the stories before they were available to the general public. “I never leaked these manuscripts. I wanted to keep them closely to my chest and be one of the fewest to cherish them before anyone else, before they ended up in bookshops,” he wrote.
RELATED CONTENT
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe removed from Queensland library shelves
13 March 2023
Gender Queer: A Memoir, a graphic novel written and illustrated by American cartoonist and author Maia Kobabe, has been removed from the shelves of a Queensland library, according to a 9News report. Local police have since referred the publication to the Australian Classification Board (ACB), following a complaint that the book contains pornographic material.
Following a four-day investigation, Queensland Police confirmed to 9news.com.au they flagged Gender Queer: A Memoir to the ACB on Thursday for review. Gender Queer, which includes illustrations of masturbation, sex toys and oral sex, is written by Maia Kobabe, a nonbinary author from California. The 2019 graphic novel is centred on coming out to friends and family.
Despite being removed from the shelves at Logan Central Library, Kobabe’s book is still is available on request. The ACB said it was not usually standard practice to classify publications that Australian libraries made available, and that Gender Queer had not been referred to them previously.
RELATED CONTENT
books, graphic novels, Maia Kobabe
More books by women than men were published in 2020
8 March 2023
Over fifty percent of books published in 2020 in the United States, were written by women, says Joel Waldfogel, an economist at the University of Minnesota:
By analyzing data from Goodreads, Bookstat, Amazon, and the National Library of Congress, Waldfogel found that women’s share of published titles increased from around 20% in the 1970s to over 50% by 2020. This likely displaced some male authors, but the change wasn’t just that male authors were replaced by female authors. Rather, the whole industry grew, and by 2021, female-authored books sold more copies on average than those written by men.
While I couldn’t immediately locate data regarding books published by gender in Australia, the trend here is mirrored, to a degree, in terms of reviews of books published by women, and non-binary writers. According to the Stella Count, fifty-five percent of books reviewed in Australian newspapers and magazines, in 2020, were written by women.
I’m not sure if that means more Australian books were written by women than men in 2020, but these numbers suggest that might be the case.
RELATED CONTENT
New Australian books and TBR ideas, 24 February 2023
24 February 2023
Here’s a selection of Australian written books, either recently published, or in the pipeline, that I’ve spotted in the last week, for the consideration of your TBR list.
- Viking Women by Lisa Hannett, tells the stories of the wives and mothers, girls and slaves, widows and witches, who sailed, settled, suffered, survived, and thrived, in the patriarchal society of the Vikings.
- Desi Girl: On feminism, race, faith and belonging by Sarah Malik, is a collection of short stories exploring the complexities of living between different worlds as a young Pakistani-Australian woman growing up in the west of Sydney.
- Locked Ward by Anne Buist. A psychiatrist discreetly seeking treatment for a sleeping disorder at a private psych facility becomes embroiled in a murder investigation. But not because she was present at the time, but because she knows everyone involved in the case.
- The Albatross by Nina Wan. Primrose is a woman at a personal and professional crossroads in her life, who suddenly decides to take up golf. Despite a shaky start to her game, golfing proves to be a panacea for many of her problems.
- The Heart Is A Star by Megan Rogers. Layla is a middle-aged woman dealing with a failing marriage, a demanding job, her children, an overly dependant lover, and exhaustion. Things only get worse when Layla’s overwrought mother calls to say there’s something pressing about her father she needs to know.
RELATED CONTENT
Anne Buist, Australian literature, books, Lisa Hannett, Megan Rogers, Nina Wan, Sarah Malik
If you wrote a book with ChatGPT, you did not write a book
24 February 2023
If ChatGPT wrote a book for you, can you really claim to have written said book yourself, asks American author Emily Temple, writing at Literary Hub:
Would-be author Brett Schickler told Reuters that after he learned about ChatGPT — which can instantly generate cogent blocks of text from any prompt — he “figured an opportunity had landed in his lap.” “The idea of writing a book finally seemed possible,” he explained. “I thought ‘I can do this.”’ In “a matter of hours,” he had prompted the AI software — using inputs like “write a story about a dad teaching his son about financial literacy” — to create a 30-page children’s e-book about a squirrel who learns to save his money. Well, hate to break it to you, buddy, but… you still haven’t written a book.
Writers are using the AI chatbot to assist with research (be sure to verify what ChatGPT tells you though) and maybe some passages of text. But if you’re going to spend your days constantly prompting ChatGPT for exactly what you want, why not do it yourself?
And while AI technologies might “write” a book for you in a matter of days, can it publish the work just as quickly? Not at the moment it can’t. You’ll still be waiting months, or more, to see your work on the shelves in bookshops.
RELATED CONTENT
books, literature, technology, writing
Affirm Press to publish One Divine Night by Mick Cummins
22 February 2023
Less than three weeks after winning the unpublished manuscript award in the 2023 Victorian Premiers Literary Awards, former Melbourne based social worker and screenwriter Mick Cummins has been offered a publishing deal by Affirm Press for his novel One Divine Night:
We’re elated to announce that Affirm Press has acquired world rights to One Divine Night by Mick Cummins, who recently won the prestigious Victorian Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award, in a deal brokered by Jane Novak Literary Agency. One Divine Nightis a gritty and compelling novel exploring homelessness, independence and the ties that bind. The story follows protagonist Aaron Peters as he becomes estranged from his family, addicted to heroin, and ends up living on the streets of Melbourne but yearning for a different life.
It is anticipated One Divine Night will be in bookshops by late 2023.
RELATED CONTENT
Australian literature, books, Mick Cummins, novels
How to write 31 books at the same time by James Patterson
20 February 2023
American author James Patterson recently told GQ Magazine he is working on no fewer than thirty-one manuscripts simultaneously. That’s impressive. Patterson’s output comes down to two things, one being his daily routine:
“I do what I do seven days a week. I’ll usually get up at 5:30 and work for an hour. Then, frequently, I will go out and hit a golf ball. They let me onto most of the courses I belong to very early, which is nice. If I come at 6:00, they say, “Go ahead.” I’ll go around for an hour, an hour and a half. Then I’m back here by 8:00, and then I’ll work till 6:00. I’ll take a couple breaks if I need them, which I usually do. And obviously, what that [day] results in is more books than my publisher wants. That’s why I started doing non-fiction, because they said, “Okay, yeah, we can handle one or two non-fiction.”
The other is team work. Even though Patterson is directly involved with each work in progress, he has a bevy of writers assisting him. It seems like the more books you write, the more you sell. And the more books you sell, the more money you make. And the more money you make, the more assistants can you employ to help write even more books.
RELATED CONTENT
books, James Patterson, writing
Why are Australian publishers averse to science fiction books?
20 February 2023
Australian author Alice Boer-Endacott, writing for the Australian Young Adult Literature Alliance (#LoveOzYA) blog:
However, despite the growing mainstream appreciation of fantasy (and science fiction) texts, especially within YA, Will [Kostakis] notes, “it’s as if we’re conditioned to see something as less worthy just because it is unabashedly fun. The implications of this? We talk less about fantasy books’ craft, we omit some of our finest YA writers from awards conversations, they’re not studied in schools … That last bit is very important in the Australian landscape, where sales are (unfortunately) quite small.” This final point was echoed by an industry insider with whom I had a passing conversation on this subject (they declined to be named). They told me, “the success of YA texts are dependent on whether or not schools pick up class sets, and they are much less inclined to do that with fantasy.”
Some Australian publishers explicitly state they will not accept science fiction and fantasy manuscripts. Some Australian authors meanwhile have reported local agents and publishers will only accept literary fiction manuscripts, and nothing else. Scoring any publishing deal is difficult, but the odds are especially stacked against sci-fi and fantasy writers in Australia.
RELATED CONTENT
books, literature, novels, science fiction
Daughter to TikTok: buy Stone Maidens, my dad’s novel
18 February 2023
After spending fourteen years writing a novel — between working and bringing up a family — American lawyer turned writer Lloyd Devereux Richards, published his novel Stone Maidens through Amazon, in 2012.
And then next to nothing happened. Until Richard’s daughter, Marguerite, posted a short clip about the novel on TikTok. Then things started happening. The clip went viral. Sales surged. Stone Maidens sold out after a short stint as the number one on Amazon’s bestseller list, such was interest.
Last week Marguerite posted a 16-second TikTok video that briefly recounted her father’s journey as an author. She explained that her father worked tirelessly on his book while raising three children, and “he’s so happy even though sales aren’t great”. The clip ended with a simple call to arms: “I’d love for him to get some sales.”
It’s not the first time something like this happened after a book concept took off on TikTok. Numerous authors whose manuscripts have been rejected by publishers, have seen their work printed after being embraced by Tiktok users. The Atlas Six, by Olivie Blake, which I mentioned a few days ago, is another example.
Finding a publishing deal through TikTok seems like a lottery to me, but it’s probably worth posting your book idea there, on a “be in it to win it” basis.
RELATED CONTENT
books, literature, Lloyd Devereux Richards, social media
There’s nothing wrong with marking a book did not finish
18 February 2023
Life’s too short to stick with, say, a movie or a book, that isn’t appealing, so ditch them, says Josh Gondelman, writing for Self magazine:
This is not, by the way, a criticism of the slow burn. It’s simply a permission slip to ditch the no burn. Gratification doesn’t have to be immediate, but it should be… eventual. With all the world’s art at our fingertips, there’s no reason to settle for something that leaves us cold. Unless, of course, you’re simply trying to bludgeon yourself into numbness with some kind of dull programming marathon. We all have to get to sleep somehow.
Yes, sleep. I often read books later in the evening, because, you know, I’m writing about books during the day, so I have to read later on. But if I find myself constantly nodding off while reading a novel, that’s pretty much an indication to stop and move onto something else.
RELATED CONTENT