The Top 10 “Common Elements” in Best-Seller Novels (via J.T. Velikovsky)
Stieg Larsson, Stephanie Meyer, J K Rowling, James Patterson and Dan Brown… What `Top 10 Things’ do their best-selling fiction novels all have in common? 1) ALL ARE IN THE SAME GENRE… All … Continue reading
For Writers, No Doesn’t Always Mean No: Drown Your Rejection Sorrows in These Rejections by Famous Writers
1. George Orwell It seems Alfred Knopf didn’t always understand satire. Animal Farm, the famed dystopian allegory that later became an AP Reader standard and Retrospective Hugo Award winner, was … Continue reading
A Smaller Piece of the Pie: Gender Imbalance in Magazine Publishing and Book Reviews (via VIDA)
It’s not just your imagination, there’s still a major gender imbalance in magazines, especially book reviews and coverage of books. Keep your fingers crossed that things might have gotten a … Continue reading
The New Journalism: New Platforms for Journalists (and Source Material for Movies)
To many writers, to almost anyone for that matter, Joshuah Bearman and Joshua Davis are living the dream. As accomplished practitioners of big, nonfiction magazine writing, they regularly publish articles … Continue reading
First-Time Writer Woes – for Bestselling “Harry Potter” Author J.K. Rowling?!
Apparently a few months ago, J.K. Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” series, published a crime novel called The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pen name Robert Galbriath. Rowling didn’t just … Continue reading
A Galaxy of Franchises: The New Yorker Interactive Infographic of Movie Franchise Profitability
Hollywood is enamored with the franchise. A profitable one can sustain sequels across multiple decades that are worth billions of dollars in ticket sales alone. But, as the box-office ups … Continue reading
How To Pitch a Reality TV Show (According to a Reality TV Producer)
I don’t have any direct experience with the TV Writers Vault (anyone?), so I’m not endorsing the site or service, but I thought this conversation was interesting in terms of … Continue reading
7 Reasons Agents Stop Reading Your First Chapter
Blogger Livia Blackburne reports on the reasons a panel of literary agents lost interest in books. Please note that this panel was at a public conference (a horrible environment to … Continue reading
Short is Beautiful: The Comeback of the Short Story?
Two years ago, my friend wrote a beautiful collection of short stories. She got them to a well-known lit agent who told her that there was no way any traditional … Continue reading
How to Write a (Non-Fiction) Book Proposal from Jane Friedman, ex-Publisher of Writer’s Digest
A great article about the what, why, how and when of writing a book proposal from the ex-Publisher of Writer’s Digest and current editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review. She … Continue reading
6 Elements to Include in Your Original TV Drama Series Pitch (According to a TV Lit Agent)
My friend’s agent supplied the following list/outline to use while the pitch for an original TV series. This is specifically intended to help focus the pitch for a one-hour network … Continue reading
THE OTHER NETWORK WRITER'S ROOM 