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Archives: May 2013

New John Leonard Award for an Author’s First Book

The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) has created the John Leonard Award, a literary prize celebrating one author’s first book–named after the late critic and NBCC founding member, John Leonard.

The first winner will be revealed at the NBCC’s 2014 awards ceremony. One author will be selected from a broad range of genres: fiction, nonfiction, biography, criticism, poetry, and autobiography. Here’s more about the award:

In naming the award, which will be selected directly by a vote of the NBCC’s nearly 500 members nationwide, the National Book Critics Circle honors the legacy of critic John Leonard, a former editor of the New York Times Book Review. A founding member of the NBCC, Leonard (1939–2008) is remembered not only for his voracious and enthusiastic criticism of books, film, and television but also for his life-long encouragement of younger critics and his unwavering attention to debut writers. One of the first American critics to write on Toni Morrison, Maxine Hong Kingston and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Leonard shared his enthusiasms with a wide reading audience in a host of newspapers and magazines including New York, the Nation and Harper’s.

National Book Award Submissions Due June 3

National Book Award submissions are due on June 3. The first-ever longlist will be revealed on September 12.

Publishers need to mail six copies of the book in total and pay a $125 entry fee to be considered for the prestigious prize.  Here’s more about eligibility:

All books must be published by U.S. publishers located in the United States between December 1, 2012 and November 30, 2013. All authors must be U.S. citizens. The following are eligible: Full-length books of fiction and nonfiction. Collections of short stories and collections of essays by one author. Collected and selected poems by one author. Books by authors who are living at the commencement of the eligibility year (December 1, 2012). Self-published books, provided that the author/publisher also publishes titles by other authors … The following are NOT eligible: English translations of books originally written in other languages. Anthologies containing work written by multiple authors. Reprints of books published in previous Award years. Books published through self-publishing services.

Sonoma County Book Festival on Kickstarter

The organizers of the Sonoma County Book Festival hope to raise $10,000 on Kickstarter this month to finance a bigger and better festival this year.

We’ve embedded a video about the project above–what do you think? Here’s more about the project: ”

The 2013 Book Festival on Saturday, September 21, is moving to the outdoor courtyard at the Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa  Rosa so all of the Festival offerings are in one spot (and it’s a beautiful spot!).  We are partnering with our local independent bookseller, Copperfield’s Books, to bring an amazing line-up of nationally acclaimed authors while still showcasing our wonderful local authors. We’ll continue to provide presentations, workshops, and a slew of children’s activities in an all-day event that you won’t want to miss and that will remain absolutely FREE.

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Free Books Recommended By Ernest Hemingway Himself

In 1934, the great novelist Ernest Hemingway made a list of books that all aspiring writers should read. Below, we’ve linked to free copies of most of the books on his massive list.

Open Culture has a great article about how a young hobo and aspiring writer named Arnold Samuelson ended up getting writing advice from Hemingway himself. Check it out:

Hemingway advised Samuelson to avoid contemporary writers and compete only with the dead ones whose works have stood the test of time: “When you pass them up you know you’re going good.” He asked Samuelson what writers he liked. Samuelson said he enjoyed Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped and Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. “Ever read War and Peace?” Hemingway asked. Samuelson said he had not. “That’s a damned good book. You ought to read it. We’ll go up to my workshop and I’ll make out a list you ought to read.”

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Joss Whedon: ‘What you cut out becomes part of the story you tell’

Last night, filmmaker Joss Whedon appeared in New York City to promote his upcoming film, Much Ado About Nothing. He answered questions, showed the trailer, and shared a clip from the film.

Whedon’s interest in adapting William Shakespeare‘s “mother of all romantic comedies” came from a lifelong admiration for the famed English playwright. In the past, he would often invite actors, writers, and loved ones to come to his house and act out the plays.

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George R. R. Martin Wrote 250,000 Words for ‘The World of Ice and Fire’

Despite the fact he only needed to write 50,000 words for a companion book to his A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R. R. Martin reportedly wrote 250,000 words for the book.

Tower of the Hand blogger Pharout attended the ConQuesT 44 convention in Kansas City, recording the Game of Thrones author’s commentary during two panel discussions. According to Martin, he wrote this epic material for The World of Ice and Fire: The Official History of Westeros and The World of A Game of ThronesHere’s more from Tower of the Hand:

 The extras have been put in a file for a project they are now calling the “GRRM – arillion.” Way down the road. The premise of the “World” book is that it is a copy of a tome presented to Robert just after the Rebellion. The “article” he read was written by a Maester Glyndon. Glyndon distilled his work from three other accounts of the conquest: one from a septon, one from a Grand Maester, and one from “The Tales of Mushroom” a court fool. George actually wrote all three of these pieces as well.

Link via A Dribble of Ink

OttoCat Simplifies the Search for Book Apps

Frustrated in your search for book apps inside the Apple App Store? The online OttoCat tool will help you explore the subcategories in a simpler interface.

Follow this link to browse by “Book” and filter by a wide variety of subcategories. AppNewser has all the details:

To  help users discover new apps, tech start-up OttoCat has created the OttoCat Taxonomy Browsing Platform, a new app discovery platform. The tool lets consumers shop multiple layers of the App Store.  On its own, the App Store features 23 categories to shop from. OttoCat extends this and creates new subcategories based on a user’s search, so that shoppers can go much deeper. For example, you can start with the Entertainment category, click to “Comics,” then drill down to “Manga,” “Graphic Novels,” “Super Hero,” “Comic Con,” and “Humor,” among about 20 other subcategories.

Amy Harmon Leads Self-Published Bestsellers List

Novelist Amy Harmon led our Self Published Bestsellers List this week, taking spots at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple with her coming-of-age romance.

To help GalleyCat readers discover self-published authors, we compile weekly lists of the top eBooks in four major marketplaces for self-published digital books: Amazon, B&N, Apple iBookstore and Smashwords. You can read all the lists below, complete with links to each book.

If you want more resources as an author, try our Free Sites to Promote Your eBook post, How To Sell Your Self-Published Book in Bookstores post and our How to Pitch Your Book to Online Outlets post.

If you are an independent author looking for support, check out our free directory of people looking for writers groups.

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A Bookrageous BEA Bash & YA Superstars Get Booked

Here are some literary events to pencil in your calendar. To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.

Essayist Tim Kreider and author Jenny Boylan will headline a conversation event to talk about Kreider’s new collection, We Learn Nothing. Hear them on Tuesday, May 28th at The Strand starting 7 p.m. (New York, NY)

Four authors, Nathan Larson, Sarah MacLean, Rosie Schaap, and Teddy Wayne, will appear at HousingWorks Bookstore Cafe’s “Bookrageous BEA Bash.” Join in on Wednesday, May 29th starting 7 p.m. (New York, NY)

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Shindig to Host Online Author Chats Live From BEA

Missing BookExpo America this year? You can watch many of the the guests online.

Shindig will be hosting video chats with fifty authors live from BEA. These online conversations will take place from Thursday, May 30th until Saturday, June 1st.

Some of the authors who will take part include The Summer I Turned Pretty author Jenny HanRevenge Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger, and Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk. Some of the people who will serve as interviewers include Publishing Business Group editorial director Lynn RosenBeatrice founder Ron Hogan, and Movable Type Management president Jason Ashlock. Who do you look forward to hearing from?

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