Archive for the ‘SFWA Blog’ Category

Reminder: SFWA business meeting at WFC

A gentle reminder that the SFWA business meeting will be at World Fantasy Convention this year on October 31st from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.  We’ll be covering, among other things, the draft of the new bylaws which will be sent to the membership by the end of the month. We’re also doing something new […]

Thoughts on Self-Promotion

As I close in on the end of my current writing project, the issue of self-promotion is much on my mind. I don’t mind admitting that it’s a prospect I contemplate with dread. I’m one of those I-just-want-to-sit-in-my-room-with-my-laptop writers who really is not constitutionally suited for a world in which the definition of “author” also includes “huckster” (or, if you want to be a bit more diplomatic about it, “entrepreneur”).

How semantics can help you! Part 1

Choosing the right word is critical to getting our meaning across as writers. Here are a few initial things to think about:

1. Does this word have the meaning I’m looking for?
2. Does it supply that meaning unambiguously?
3. Does it have the proper positive, negative, mysterious, or other desired connotations?
4. Does it reflect on the attitude or identity of the point of view character?

Quick Updates for 2009-10-01

Agent Janet Reid has a list of questions to ask a prospective agent. SFWA’s newest Active member, Marie-Claude Bourque. Cory Doctorow Talks About the Future of the Novel. Fiction by SFWA member Kij Johnson. Happy Book Release day to Gail Carriger. Alethea Kontis sold a short story to Shroud Publishing. Laura Anne Gilman sold audio rights to Flesh and Fire to Tantor Audiobooks. Blog Talk Radio interviewed Brandon Sanderson….

Victoria Strauss — The Perils of Searching For Publishers on the Internet

Imagine you’re a new writer. You’ve just completed your first manuscript, and are on fire to get it published. You don’t know a lot about the publishing world, or how to identify a good publisher for your book–but that’s okay. You have the Internet. So you open a search engine–Google, let’s say–and type “publishers” into […]