I was at the ALA in Anaheim yesterday (a convention for publishers and librarians) and signed copies of A Year Of Writing Dangerously for my publisher, New World Library. A real perk was being able to hang out with Monique Muhlenkamp (above),my friend and publicist for NWL.
I also was a stand-in for WriteGirl whose latest publication was up for an award from ForeWard Reviews (they do book reviews of independant/small publishers.) Alas, WriteGirl's latest anthology didn't win, but I learned a lot about small publishers. There were awards given out in all catagories - fiction (with sub-catagories), non-fiction – travel, cooking, crafts, business, etc. and books for children. I hadn't heard of 90% of the publishers who won, nor the authors. I'm telling you this because those publishers are out there for you too. If you get rejected by New York publisher expand the field. Do your research and don't give up.
adorable photo!
Posted by: Laura B | June 25, 2012 at 04:27 AM
As far as culinary arts I think its the exuietcon of the recipe that makes it art, but perhaps it's the impermanence of food that makes it so wonderful.My brother was telling me how he wants to by a new CD before each big trip he takes because when the two of us explored London and Ireland in 2009 he had just bought two and was listening to them the whole trip, now he cannot listen to them without remembering the trip.I'd also like to add to the previous commenter's note about language in books. Even languages still spoken change drastically over time, as does the cultural contexts associated with them. I think the best texts are not the ones that don't change with time, but the ones that successfully remain relevant to life, even now. This is why it's so difficult to figure out what modern classics are.This is most likely all a little over my head, but we are covering something a little like this in my Transnational cinema class right now when we talk about silent cinema as a Universal Language of sorts. Films are fascinating because the formatting of the reproduction does change it but I would posit that even more than the written word, film is presented in almost the same form to each person who sees it. That's more than I'd like to get into here though.Thanks for challenging us with the questions you yourself are having Savannah, it's pretty fun to ponder.
Posted by: Roopa | July 28, 2012 at 02:32 PM
The term unpublished vaiers, and is a sticking point for many writers. In most comps that I link, unpublished' means not having had more than three short stories published in paying magazines. It generally does mean unpublished' by a major publisher, and also unagented.The problem comes from the difference between unpublished and unprofessional, and really I think (though I can't say for sure) what most organisers mean when they say unpublished is unprofessional. That is someone who doesn't earn their living entirely from writing (and let's face it, few of us can).Regarding major' publishers, I'd expect to see the titles published by publishers like Bloomsbury, Macmillan, Orion, Simon and Schuster and other publishers of that ilk.I hope that helps.
Posted by: Happy | July 30, 2012 at 09:40 PM