http://www.thefictiondesk.com editing for fiction writers Thu, 15 May 2008 19:11:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en One of the areas where I think even some of the best book blogs let themselves down is in their outbound links. Nowadays, I tend to ignore links in book blogs. I've just come to expect them to lead to either the Wikipedia entry or a page on Amazon. It's not ... http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/clever-linking-for-book-bloggers/ This week's literary news includes the publication of an unfinished Nabokov novel, a computer game based on the life and work of the Brontës, and a bizarre mistake in a new biography http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/new-nabokov-a-bronte-game-and-a-biographers-mistake/ If you've got some time on your hands, US magazine Poets & Writers has a very interesting interview with literary agent Nat Sobel http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/nat-sobel-interview-from-pw/ This Telegraph article, claiming to list the 50 best cult books, is causing much puffing up of chests over missed classics, and sniping at overrated ones. With book bloggers queuing up to argue over their favourite titles, it's worth a read. (That said, I'm not sure I can wholeheartedly recommend an ... http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/50-best-cult-books-in-the-telegraph/ It's not really possible to start a new publishing house. As a small press, if you want to be sold through the big chains, you're going to be selling your books through a distributor, which cuts further into your rapidly diminishing profits. Amazon will buy directly from you, but they ... http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/cb-editions/ A couple of months ago, somebody shoved something called Monocle under my nose. Some kind of style magazine, it didn't really interest me until I found its tiny books section. (Sadly, I mean a tiny section about books.) One of the titles mentioned was The White Room, from the new independent ... http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/days-and-nights-in-w12/ One of the great things about the internet for publishers is that it gives them a chance to communicate directly with readers. Gone are the days of those "cut out and post" coupons, which would appear at the back of books to be mailed off for the publisher's latest catalogue. ... http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/new-amazon-threat-to-publishers-websites/ Okay crops up a lot in fiction writing, particularly in dialogue and first-person narrative. Where does it come from, and how should it be spelled? http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/ok-or-okay/ There's really no need for me to make a lengthy post about the semicolon; The Guardian has done it for me. I can, at least, single out the paragraph that actually explains how to use it: http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/the-semicolon/ Wealthier readers of this blog might be interested in this news item on the BBC website. Of course, buying the desk won't make you a better writer, but it will mean you're never short of something to talk about in restaurants http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/what-the-dickens/