Brenda Novak’s Annual Cure for Diabetes 2011 starts on May 1st and runs through May 31st. There are fabulous items for writers, readers and pretty much everyone. Last year her auction “set a new annual record by raising $303,000!” Please check it out, win big prizes and help her raise more this year. Agent Jennifer [...]

The Orange Prize for Fiction, the UK’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman, announces its 2011 shortlist. Agent Jenny Bent thinks of herself as “a conduit, not a gatekeeper,” and she is “somewhat gleefully celebrating the fact that electronic publishing is really blowing apart the thinking that we in publishing somehow [...]

If you’re querying agents and editors, you’ll enjoy this two-minute video in which agent Kristin Nelson gives two down-and-dirty query tips. Amazon is venturing into book publishing, with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to publish the print editions. They put in a bid for Amanda Hocking’s YA series, but she decided to go with St. Martin’s. More [...]

There are at least 10 reasons why you should be blogging. One is that “Blogging gives ‘voice’ to a website.” Most writers will be happy to know that the Google settlement to create a universal digital library was rejected. You can find out more about this here. Writer beware! Michael A. Stackpole warns writers about [...]

Goodreads has acquired Discoverreads.com to recommend books to readers. It will be interesting to see how that works out. Penguin reports solid gains in the U.S. and the UK markets. Penguin CEO John Makinson credits digital books and books by Nora Roberts and Charlaine Harris. Harlequin reports that digital sales are up and print sales [...]

Apple has changed the rules and wants a 30% cut of books sold through its ipad and iphone. The question is, will Amazon, Google and other places want to share? I’m guessing we’ll hear more news about this soon. Borders received a financing commitment from GE Capital and investment firms Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC, a [...]

Be a social artist with social media, with the help of The Writer Mama. It’s interesting but still unclear to me. I need examples. If you think the Facebook redesign is confusing, here’s a comprehensive step-by-step guide. Author Tech Tip has information on pretty much everything for writers, from blogging to websites to promotion and [...]

23 promotion tips from authors on the Girlfriends Book Club. What works and what doesn’t work. Authors Bob Mayer and Randy Ingermanson have a dialogue on publishing. In a different post, Bob Mayers has interesting things to say about the state of publishing. “I think anyone, author, editor, publisher, bookstore, library, etc that is willing [...]

Your chair is your energy. According to this NY Times article by Olivia Judson, sitting in a desk is bad for your health, your weight, and your focus. Here’s another article by Lloyd Alter showing examples of stand-up desks. Michael Hyatt made very interesting predictions in his post on Six e-Book Trends to Watch in [...]

If you’re on Twitter or considering it, you’ll want to read Lauren Dugan’s 13 reasons why people don’t get followed back on Twitter. Suzie Townsend at FinePrint Literary Management wants to actively update her adult list This is first on her wish list: Upmarket and issue driven women’s fiction. I love novels that would be [...]