(date: 2024-05-31 08:33:27)
date: 2024-05-31, from: Locus Magazine
CAITLIN THOMAS, 21, died April 18, 2024 in Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago IL. She had Aicardi Syndrome, a rare congenital disorder.
Born October 28, 2002, Caitlin was the daughter of editors Lynne Marie Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas of Uncanny, and was a familiar and beloved figure at conventions and events.
Michael wrote, “Caitlin was the best of all of us – the most pure, loving, fun, and …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/caitlin-thomas/
date: 2024-05-31, from: Final Draft blog
To put it in simple terms, a “set piece” is a pivotal scene in a film that serves as a centerpiece of action, emotion, or visual spectacle. These carefully crafted scenes are executed to excite audiences and leave a lasting impact long after they have left the movie theater. Set pieces create movie magic and are essential to your screenplay.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/what-is-a-set-piece-and-how-to-plan-them-in-your-script
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-05-31, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
And he delivers it perfectly. I had a long drawn out battle with the editor who kept cutting away from Michael and blowing the joke. I won, and we stay on Michael as he says the whole thing, but I’m not sure the editor ever understood why.
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https://bsky.app/profile/neilhimself.neilgaiman.com/post/3ktrxsnsty224
date: 2024-05-31, from: Author’s Union blog
This guest post was jointly authored by Mariah Johnson and Marcus Liou, student attorneys in Georgetown’s Intellectual Property and Information Policy (iPIP) Clinic. Generative AI (GenAI) systems perpetuate biases, and authors can have a potent role in mitigating such biases. But GenAI is generating controversy among authors. Can authors do anything to ensure that these […]
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-05-30, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
And he is @jcuneo.bsky.social if you want to tell him yourself.
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https://bsky.app/profile/neilhimself.neilgaiman.com/post/3ktqjqc4hdw22
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-05-30, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
I fucking LOVE John Cuneo. This is his cover. That is all.
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https://bsky.app/profile/neilhimself.neilgaiman.com/post/3ktqhx5f47a2i
date: 2024-05-30, from: Locus Magazine
The Crime Writers of Canada has announced the winners of the 2024 Award of Excellence. The winning stories include authors of genre interest Craig H. Bowlsby’s Requiem for a Lotus for Best Unpublished Crime Novel, Cherie Dimaline’s Funeral Songs for Dying Girls (Tundra Books) for Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book, Marcelle Dubé’s “Reversion” (Mystery Magazine) for Best Crime Short Story, and André Marois’s La sainte paix (Héliotrope) for Best French Language …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/crime-writers-of-canada-award-of-excellence-2024-winners/
date: 2024-05-30, from: Final Draft blog
Ifyou’ve heard of the games Mass Effect, Guild Wars 2, or Star Wars: The Old Republic, then you know Neil Pollner’s work. He is a successful video game writer who wrote a genre-bending action-thriller that is bound to make waves in the market. After placing as a Category Winner in Final Draft’s 2023 Big Break Screenwriting Contest, Neil signed with a manager he met on the jury and he has now received a couple of offers on his script Without a Hitch.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/how-video-game-writer-neil-pollner-is-finding-success-in-screenwriting
date: 2024-05-30, from: Locus Magazine
The Commonwealth Foundation has announced the winners of the 2024 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The winning authors include author of genre interest Portia Subran for her short story, “The Devil’s Son.”
The five winners will go through a final round of judging, and the winner will be announced June 26, 2024. For more information, including the complete list of winners, see the Commonwealth Foundation website.
While you are here, please
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/2024-commonwealth-short-story-prize-winners/
date: 2024-05-30, from: Locus Magazine
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has announced Jennell Jaquays as the posthumous recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award “for distinguished contributions to the science fiction and fantasy community.”
The Solstice Award, created in 2008 and given at the discretion of the SFWA president with the majority approval of the Board of Directors, is for individuals, living or dead, who have had “a significant impact on the …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/jaquays-receives-solstice-award/
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-05-30, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
Wych Cross! Although the house I imagined Fawney Rigg to be based upon would have been a convent around this time.
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https://bsky.app/profile/neilhimself.neilgaiman.com/post/3ktpmswetf42q
date: 2024-05-30, updated: 2024-05-30, from: NarraScope, Celebrating Narrative Games
A few updates:
Last year we had online workshops Friday afternoon and in-person workshops Friday evening. This year, the schedule has worked out differently: all our workshops will be online. The first set will be Saturday, June 8th; the second set will be the Friday afternoon of NarraScope (June 21st …
https://narrascope.org/2024/05/reg-workshops-2024.html
date: 2024-05-29, from: Locus Magazine
David Brin has been announced as a 2024 recipient of the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award, the university’s highest honor for alumni. Brin was honored with the award “for his enduring excellence in storytelling, examining how change, science, and technology affect the human condition in his New York Times-bestselling science fiction novels; for his support of revolutionary ideas in space science and engineering through NASA’s Innovative and Advanced Concepts Program.”
The …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/brin-wins-caltech-distinguished-alumni-award/
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-05-29, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
Oh dear.
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@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-05-29, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
Exciting!!
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https://bsky.app/profile/neilhimself.neilgaiman.com/post/3ktnihiwxdy2g
date: 2024-05-29, from: Locus Magazine
Come check out this week’s books and a couple of recommended ICYMI!
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/new-books-video-for-may-28-is-up/
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-05-29, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
My job today is secret, but here is a clue:
https://bsky.app/profile/neilhimself.neilgaiman.com/post/3ktndsjmqyu2b
date: 2024-05-29, from: Locus Magazine
The Locus Selected Books by Author list has been updated on our Forthcoming Books page, with information from the June 2024 issue covering upcoming titles from genre houses slated through March 2025. Find out about your favorite authors’ upcoming books!
For the complete list of books by publisher, subscribe to our print magazine or purchase the June issue in print or digital editions, available June 1, 2024.
While you are …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/forthcoming-books-through-march-2025/
date: 2024-05-29, from: Literature & a Latte blog
<p>If you've written a novel, <a href="https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/publishing-101-what-does-a-literary-agent-do" target="_blank">gotten an agent</a>, and sold your book to a publisher, you get to sign a contract which specifies advances and royalties that you will earn. This money is paid in several steps, and it's a good idea to understand how publishers distribute your earnings. Even if you have a contract and a good advance, it may not be time to quit your day job yet.</p>Understanding advances
An advance is technically an "advance payment for royalties." This means that a publisher gives you money up front that is considered to be the royalties that you are expected to earn, in advance. In most cases, the advance covers hardcover, paperback, and ebook sales. The amount of the advance depends on whether you're a first-time author or have a successful career; what potential sales of the book may be; and the size of the publisher. Small presses will generally offer smaller advances than large publishers.
While writers who have published several books with good sales may get six-figure advances for a single book, new authors are more likely to get advances that are four or five figures. Some new authors may get contracts for more than one book because a publisher sees potential; in that case, the advance may be based on all the books in the contract.
Publishers are businesses, and they work out a profit and loss statement for every book they acquire. The amount of an advance is based on how many copies the publisher thinks the book will sell, minus the costs for production and promotion. Remember that production includes not just printing the book, but all the pre-production work involved, such as editing, proofreading, designing the book and cover, and other costs, such as a share of the publisher's general overhead. Of course, authors don't see any of this breakdown; all they see is a single number, the advance.
However, the advance is not paid all at once. In general, it is paid in several tranches, starting when a contract is signed, with additional payments on submission of the final manuscript, on publication, and, with some contracts, on publication of a paperback edition (if the initial book was published as a hardcover).
In most cases, the advance is sent to your agent, who deducts their fee (usually 15%) and then forwards the rest of the money to you. This means that all the money you receive is net of any fees, and you get to keep it all, except for the amount you will pay in taxes. If you don't have an agent, then the money is sent directly to you.
Note that for tax purposes, it's much better to have the advance paid in stages, to avoid being thrust into a higher tax bracket. Some countries allow people who earn money via advances to average the income over several years; your agent will know if that's possible for you.
How royalties work
Royalties are the amount that a publisher pays for the right to sell your work. You own your book; you don't sell it outright, you only license the publisher to sell it for you. Royalties are calculated as a percentage of either the retail or net sale price per book, depending on the contract. Many contracts will have clauses specifying lower royalties for bulk sales, promotional sales, and other non-standard types of sales.
There's no fixed amount of royalties; it depends on the author, the book's genre, and how the publisher sells books. Royalties are generally in the range:
Hardcover: 10-15%
Trade paperback: 6-9%
Mass market paperback: 4-8%
Ebook: 25%These numbers may seem low, but you need to consider the economics of book publishing. When selling a new hardcover, a publisher may get 40% to 60% of the retail price. If you factor in costs - production, shipping, overhead, maintaining inventory - the author's share is much more than it seems at first.
As mentioned above, the advance is based on royalties the author is expected to earn on future sales of a book. That means that you won't start getting any royalty checks until after you have "earned out" your advance. This means that you have accrued enough royalties to cover what the publisher paid up front. However, if you don't sell enough copies to earn out the advance, you won't have to pay any of it back.
You generally receive royalty statements and payments every six or 12 months, though with small presses, this might be more frequent. It may take a while before you start earning anything more than your advance.
You may want to have an idea of how many copies your book is selling. Don't badger your publisher, though if it's selling well, your editor may want to share these numbers. If you create an account on Amazon Author Central in the US, you can see BookScan sales reports. These represent about 85% of total sales, though exclude ebook sales, and give you a good idea of how your book is performing.
Self-publishing
You may decide to self-publish your book. In this case, there is no advance; you're on your own, and you pay all expenses up front.
The amount of money you retain from self-published sales is generally around 70%, though this can vary. Don't be tricked when online retailers such as Amazon call this money "royalties," making it sound like it's so much more than what you get from traditional publishing. It's not royalties, it's the amount of money you earn after paying Amazon's commission of 30%. Royalties, as mentioned above, are a payment to license a work, and you don't license anything to online ebook retailers, you simply use their storefronts to sell your books.
The numbers in this article are indicative, and individual contracts may be different. But it's a good idea to understand how advances and royalties are paid on books, especially if you're ready to sign your first contract.
<p>Kirk McElhearn is a <a href="https://kirkville.com" target="_blank">writer</a>, <a href="https://kirkville.com/podcasts/" target="_blank">podcaster</a>, and <a href="https://kirkville.com/kirks-photos-2/" target="_blank">photographer</a>. He is the author of <a href="https://www.literatureandlatte.com/store" target="_blank">Take Control of Scrivener</a>, and host of the podcast <a href="https://podcast.scrivenerapp.com" target="_blank">Write Now with Scrivener</a>.</p>
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/publishing-101-understanding-book-advances-and-royalties
date: 2024-05-28, from: Final Draft blog
“From Robert De Niro, I learned not to force anything. Not to force your idea of how something should be and then go from there. Not, ‘Oh, this should be funny,’ or ‘Oh, I’m going make you cry.’ That’s the wrong thing. You just need to think about the thing the character is experiencing and don’t push it – have it happen. And he was obsessive with me about not trying to make anything funny and he would say to me, ‘Tony, it’s very funny. But I want you to see the funny happen naturally from the authenticity of it,’” says Tony Spiridakis on working on the screenplay for Ezra with Robert De Niro who stars in the film, along with Bobby Cannavale, William A. Fitzgerald, and Rose Byrne.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/write-on-ezra-writer-tony-spiridakis
date: 2024-05-28, from: Locus Magazine
The shortlist for the 2024 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, given by The Orwell Foundation to novels and short story collections published in the UK which explore major political and social themes through a fictional lens, includes at least four titles of genre interest:
The …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/2024-orwell-prize-for-political-fiction-shortlist/
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-05-28, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
I didn’t know this. I just learned how many things I thought were just things Americans said were invented by Al Capp for the Lil Abner strip, including “hogwash” and “going bananas”.
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https://bsky.app/profile/neilhimself.neilgaiman.com/post/3ktkzyj2hec23
date: 2024-05-28, from: Locus Magazine
Barnet, Frankie: Mood Swings (Astra House 9781662602597, $26, 304pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 05/31/2024)
Humorous, near-future SF novel. An Instragram poet starts an affair with the California billionaire who destroyed all the animals on Earth after they started attacking humans, but now promises a time machine that will make everything “normal” again. A first novel.
For a novel that doesn’t feature a single paradox, time loop, or change to history, …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/new-books-28-may-2024/
date: 2024-05-28, from: Locus Magazine
Navigational Entanglements, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom 978-1-25032-488-7, $20.99, 176pp, hc) July 2024.
With Navigational Entanglements, Aliette de Bodard flexes her space opera muscles in a slightly different direction, in a universe that draws as much on the ‘‘cultivation fantasy’’ of xiānxiá as on the atmosphere and aesthetics that underpin her Xuya universe novels. Navigational Entanglements opens new vistas in a world where space travel is accomplished through the …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/liz-bourke-reviews-navigational-entanglements-by-aliette-de-bodard/
date: 2024-05-28, from: Locus Magazine
Stephen King’s new collection, You Like It Darker: Stories (Scribner), published last week, still ranks respectfully on the three Amazon lists today; look for it on print bestseller lists next week.
Title Debut / #wks on any list NYT 06.02 LAT 05.26 USAT 05.19 PW 05.27 Amz (05.27) UK: Amz UK (05.27) Canada: Amz.ca (05.27)
Items on list -x- number of lists surveyed
10×3 10×2 150 15×3 100 100 100 …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/weekly-bestsellers-27-may-2024/
date: 2024-05-28, from: John August blog
John and Craig explore one of the most powerful and versatile tools in episodic television: the cold open. But how does it work? What kind of scenes does it showcase best? How can it play with point of view, perspective and time? What makes it memorable? And how do you make it work for your […] The post The Power of the Cold Open first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2024/the-power-of-the-cold-open
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-05-27, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
I was asked about the line in the original UK edition of GOOD OMENS about Demons dancing like the British Group on the Eurovision Song Contest. I meant something like this:https://www.tumblr.com/neil-gaiman/751662433172619264/its-still-me-i-have-another-question-in-your?source=share
https://bsky.app/profile/neilhimself.neilgaiman.com/post/3ktiqhze2ce26
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-05-27, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
I’ve found some new ones to love.
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https://bsky.app/profile/neilhimself.neilgaiman.com/post/3ktin6ynvnr22
date: 2024-05-27, from: Locus Magazine
Sheine Lende, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido 978-1-64614-379-5, $19.99. 400pp, hc) April 2024. Cover by Rovina Cai.
In 2020, Darcie Little Badger had her YA debut with the utterly delightful mystery novel Elatsoe. Ellie, a 17-year-old asexual Lipan Apache teen, lives in a slightly alternate contemporary version of America where legendary creatures and magic are a normal part of life. In particular, she has the ability to call …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/alex-brown-reviews-sheine-lende-by-darcie-little-badger/
date: 2024-05-27, from: Locus Magazine
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/magazines-received-may-3/
date: 2024-05-27, from: Locus Magazine
I fell in love with fantasy at age seven thanks to the Harry Potter series. I remember reading at school, in between the lessons, and at home. I even drew the lightning scars on my very willing classmates, so life could feel more the way I thought it should be: heroes – valiant; stakes – to save the whole world; evil – the most vicious you can imagine. What fantasy …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/sf-in-ukraine-on-fantasy-tropes-and-romanticizing-reality/
date: 2024-05-26, from: Locus Magazine
Malicia, Steven Dos Santos (Page Street Publishing 978-1-645-67787-1, $18.99, 352pp, hc) June 2024. Cover by Aleksey Pollack.
If you are in the mood for a deeply dark YA fantasy, with plenty of terror, gore, and moments of blood splattered dismemberment, then Steven Dos Santos has you covered with his latest, Malicia. Set on a small island off the coast of the Dominican Republic, Malicia is a theme park …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/05/colleen-mondor-reviews-malicia-by-steven-dos-santos/
date: 2024-05-26, from: Locus Magazine
Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks have joined a previously reported lawsuit opposing Iowa’s SF 496, a law that seeks to ban books depicting sex or involving gender identity or sexual orientation. They join existing plaintiffs Penguin Random House; the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA); authors Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Malinda Lo, and Jodi Picoult; three teachers; and a high school student. “We as publishers are uniting …Read More