We've spoken before on this site about book covers, where we listed a few of our favourite book covers. Today we shine the spotlight the other way, those covers that are so bad, so very bad, that they become works of art in their own right. We all know the ones, they are more prevalent... Continue Reading →
Following on from our post about Google Trends, today I'm going to run you through another tool that can be used to measure trends, Amazon's Kindle Store. Amazon's dominance of the internet sales market is just as pronounced, if not more so, in the independent publishing world as within the rest of retail. With their... Continue Reading →
The niche trends in the publishing industry are notoriously difficult to predict, this is doubly true in our chosen genres of speculative fiction. While many authors and readers outside of the fandom are quite happy to paint the genre with a wide brush of "speculative fiction" we, as fans, are aware of a lot more... Continue Reading →
Many writers will tell you that the key to success is to write, write, write and write some more. But sometimes you need a break from the ten thousand word description of the hero's beautifully sculpted eyebrows in your latest space opera epic, and just want to write something fun. Enter the writing prompt. A... Continue Reading →
Hosted by The Bookseller, the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year is exactly what it sounds like. The idea was originally proposed by Bruce Robinson and Trevor Bounford of the Diagram Group in order to provide entertainment during the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1978. There have been various rule changes since its... Continue Reading →
The world is awash with literary prizes of all kinds, from the prestigious Booker Prize and the pinnacle of a writer's craft with the Nobel Prize for literature to the genre specific Hugo and Nebula awards. Only the very best published works can achieve such heights and most writers, even at the peak of their... Continue Reading →
Today's guest post is from the wonderful Dylan Callens, author of Operation Cosmic Teapot and Interpretation. If you missed it, check out our Featured Friday interview with Dylan last week! AI is Alive There is no doubt that the technological singularity is approaching. That moment, when a single computer is far smarter than all of... Continue Reading →
Today we welcome back Ste Sharp as our guest poster as he ruminates on the world of crowd funded publishing. A Journey into the Grey Zone In the time it will take you to read this, thirteen* authors across the world will type ‘THE END’ or ‘FIN’ as they complete their pride and joy novel.... Continue Reading →
by Meera Nair Media representations are meant to reflect life and, sometimes, life itself lends meaning from the various narratives that propel these stories. Even the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres have underlying themes, drawn from real life. So it is only natural if we made our way to some of the technology that we... Continue Reading →
by Caleb Sica While browsing the depths of the genres science fiction and fantasy I came across a particular inhabitant that was quite intriguing—Slipstream. An unorthodox category, Slipstream’s embodiment of its identity derives from the virtue of its vagueness. Made recently popular to those previously unaware by a Wall Street Journal Article, (which I cannot... Continue Reading →
