Gruber was living on dreams and precious else during those lean, dangerous years. He played hide and seek with his landlord until he could scrounge his rent, reduced his food budget by eating “automat” soup (a meal made of the free ketchup and crackers available at the automat, stirred in a bowl, with the hot water for tea to taste), and dropping off manuscripts on foot to avoid any postal costs.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

As I’ve discussed before on this blog, one of the many changes currently rocking the publishing industry is a general blurring of lines, a mixing and melding of formerly sharply separate categories and func…

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Many of the writers who contact me with Writer Beware-type questions seem to be convinced that the process of getting published is equivalent to a crap shoot. There are enormous numbers of people trying to …

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Publishers Weekly reports that a New York Supreme Court judge has dismissed most claims in The Peter Lampack Agency’s suit against a former client, best selling mystery author Martha Grimes.

At the heart …

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Writer Beware gets a ton of email. Reports of schemes, scams, and fee-charging, of course, but also questions about agents’ and publishers’ reputations, questions about the researching/querying/submitting and requests to deny reality.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

I hear often from writers worried that their work will be stolen. Especially among new writers, it’s a major fear. However, theft in the book and short fiction world is extremely rare. (Really. Reputable ag…

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America will hold  this year’s annual business meeting on Saturday, October 30th, at the 2010 World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, OH. Room: To be announced Schedule: 8:30-9:00am Light continental breakfast 9:00-10:00am Business meeting (Note: The business meeting  was scheduled so as not to conflict with regular WFC programming.) Click here to […]

Member News for Paul S. Kemp and Lou Antonelli.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

One of the big publishing headlines this week (here, for instance) was that e-books from some popular authors were selling on Amazon for higher prices than the hardcover versions. For instance, the hardcove…

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.

This old saw applies to writers as much as to musicians. In today’s guest blog post, author and writing teacher Barbara Baig explores the impo…