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2-4 April, Forever My Lady by Jeff Rivera is free to download on Amazon. Please take the time to download it. Please!! Take the time to download and have your friends download it, too! You don’t have to have a Kindle or plan to read the book. You do have to take the time to show your support for books by Latinos. Download free here.

A synopsis of the book from Amazon:

Dio Rodriguez grew up on the streets and knew all too well the hard, cool feeling of the barrel of a gun tucked down the back of his jeans. But his hard exterior softened when he met Jennifer. Jennifer understands Dio like no one else and makes him want to be a better man. Suddenly a drive-by shooting lands Dio in a prison boot camp and sends Jennifer to the hospital. When Dio learns that Jennifer is pregnant, he realizes that he must find a way to turn his life around and return to his lady. But can trainee Rodriguez get his act together among the hardcases in prison? And will Jennifer be waiting for him if and when he does?

Literature by authors of color is definitely worth supporting. Have you read any of Benjamin Alire Saenz’s books yet? His YA novels include Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood, Last Night I Sang to the Monster and Aristotle and Donte Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I loved Aristotle and Dante and was not surprised after it won so many awards at ALA Midwinter. I was able to speak with Saenz at ALAN last November and when our conversation was done, he actually offered me the copy of Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club which he had been carrying with him. I should have had him autograph it.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz has been awarded the prestigious 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for his book Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club!The PEN/Faulkner Award is America’s largest peer-juried prize for fiction, and past winners have included Phillip Roth, Sherman Alexie, John Updike, Julie Otsuka, Ha Jin and others. As winner, Sáenz receives $15,000. Each of the four finalists—Amelia Gray for Threats (FSG); Laird Hunt for Kind One (Coffee House); T. Geronimo Johnson for Hold It ‘Til It Hurts (Coffee House); and, Thomas Mallon for Watergate (Pantheon)—receives $5,000. Sáenz is the first Mexican-American and the first Texan to win the award. It’s been 15 years since a small press published a PEN/Faulkner Award Winner. Cinco Puntos is wonderfully happy for Ben and extremely proud to have published his book.
Read more about the award in the El Paso Times.

(quoted from email from Cinco Puntos Press)

Yes, I should have had it autographed!!

First-time author Paul Laudiero has won The Great Tumblr Book Search contest at Chronicle Books. The publisher received 175 entries and Chronicle and Tumblr editors picked the winner together–part of a new annual partnership between the companies.

Chronicle will publish the book next spring. Three Tumblr projects were named runners-up: Twitter the Comic by Mike Rosenthal; The Awkward Phase by Tyler Gillespie and Claire Meyer; and Activitorium by The Tangential edited by Becky Lang and designed by Caroline Royce. Here’s more from the release:

Laudiero submitted a proposal for his popular Tumblr, Sh*t Rough Drafts. He is a 22- year-old from Virginia, a Creative Writing major at George Mason University, and a writer and comedian who performs regularly at Washington Improv Theater in D.C. Last summer Laudiero interned at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York. Sh*t Rough Drafts imagines early drafts of famous literary works and screenplays including the Bible, Harry Potter, and Braveheart

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Awards season rolls on, unstoppable. The Hugos—given to the best in SF—have announced the 2013 nominees and here’s the comics category:

Best Graphic Story (427 nominating ballots cast)

Grandville Bête Noire, written and illustrated by Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse Comics, Jonathan Cape)
Locke & Key Volume 5: Clockworks, written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
Saga, Volume One, written by Brian K. Vaughn, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
Schlock Mercenary: Random Access Memorabilia, written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (Hypernode Media)
Saucer Country, Volume 1: Run, written by Paul Cornell, illustrated by Ryan Kelly, Jimmy Broxton and Goran Sudžuka (Vertigo)

A nice eclectic mix for the year. Winners will be announced September 1, 2013 at LoneStarCon 3 in San Antonio, Texas.

The first collection of Pigeon Books in their very own bus is released today! "It's a busload of the Pigeon books! Climb on board for three picture books starring the famous beleaguered bird—Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!, and Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!—by New York Times best-selling author/illustrator Mo Willems. Next stop: super fun reading!"

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The 2013 nominees for the Glyph Awards have been announced. The awards honor the best in black-themed comics, and the winners will be announcedat the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC) Friday, May 17, 2013 at The African American Museum located at 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106.

This year’s judges were

• Maurice Waters – Owner and Operator of Blackscifi.com
• Hannibal Tabu- Review columnist at Comic Book Resources
• Omar Bilal – Owner and Operator of Museum of Black Superheroes
• Eric Deggans- TV and Media Critic, Tampa Bay Times

Story of the Year

Best Cover

INDIGO: HIT LIST 1.0 ; Richard G. Tyler ll, artist
JAYCEN WISE; Richard G. Tyler ll, artist
NIGHT STALKER; David Miller, artist
SHADOWLAW; Scott Kester and Ryo Kawakami, artists
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #6; Kaare Andrews and Mark Bagley, artists

Best Writer

Steve Broome, THE CALL
Brandon Easton, SHADOLAW
C. J. Johnson, KOBK
Keith Miller, TRI-BORO TALES
Muhammad Rasheed, MONSTERS 101

Best Artist

Jacob Newell, ORIGINS UNKNOWN: POINT OF AUTHORITY
Jerry Gaylord, FANBOYS VS. ZOMBIES #1-9
Charlie Goubile, CORSAIRS
Chris Samnee, ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #6
Richard G. Tyler ll, JAYCEN WISE

Best Male Character

Bomani, H.O.P.E.; Raymond Ayala, writer; Rafael Desquitado, Jacob Elijah Hallinen, and Kim Jacinto, artists
Dashawn, KOBK; C. J. Johnson, writer; SMACK!, artist
Miles Morales, ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN; Brian Michael Bendis, writer; Chris Samnee, Kaare Andrews, and Mark Bagley, artists
Mort, MONSTERS 101; Muhammad Rasheed, writer and artist
Jaycen Wise, JAYCEN WISE; Richard G. Tyler ll, writer and artist

Best Female Character

Christina, KOBK; C. J. Johnson, writer; SMACK!, artist
Larue Dalcour, CORSAIRS; Daniel McNeal, writer; Charlie Goubile, artist
Dyana, NIGHT STALKER; Orlando Harding, writer; David Miller, artist
Indigo, INDIGO: HIT LIST 1.0; Richard G. Tyler ll, writer and artist
Tia & Zari Jenkins, SURPURBIA; Grace Randolph, writer; Russell Dauterman, artist

Rising Star Award

Raymond Ayala, writer, H.O.P.E.
Steve Broome, writer and artist, THE CALL
Brandon Easton, writer, SHADOWLAW
Sharean Morishita, writer and artist, LOVE! LOVE! FIGHTING!
Willie Smith, writer and artist, BLACKGUARD: PSYCHO THERAPY

Best Comic Strip or Webcomic

ANTS; Julian Lytle, writer and artist
BLACKGUARD: PSYCHO THERAPY; Willie Smith, writer and artist
BLACKWAX BOULEVARD; Dmitri Jackson, writer and artist
THE CALL; Steve Broome, writer and artist
MAMA’S BOYZ; Jerry Craft, writer and artist

Fan Award for Best Work

ASCENDED: THE OMEGA NEXUS; Roger Reece and Jerry Reece, writers
ORIGINS UNKNOWN: POINT OF AUTHORITY; Victor Dandridge, writer; Jacob Newell, artist
SHADOWLAW; Brandon Easton, writer; Scott Kester and Ryo Kawakami, artists
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN; Brian Michael Bendis, writer; Chris Samnee, Kaare Andrews, and Mark Bagley, artists

Adam Johnson has won The Morning News’ annual Tournament of Books with The Orphan Master’s Son.

The contest pits novels in a competitive bracket like basketball teams during the NCAA tournament. The two finalists this year were The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and The Orphan Master’s Son. Johnson had this statement:

I’ll admit I’m a ToB addict, so it’s a special honor to be included in the bracket and to survive some fascinating matchups. And to get bumped, only to Zombie back? My highest achievement. Really, I read it all—the reviews, the color commentary, the reader comments, the NOOK ads—and it always got my day going by thinking about books: why we write them, how we read them, how we speak to them, what they mean to us. I will now demand that my publisher place silver Rooster stickers on all the paperbacks.

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Chronicle Books has received the Bologna Children’s Book Fair’s Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year in the North American category.

Bologna Fiere and the Italian Publishers Association (AIE)  picked the publisher. This is the first time the book fair has awarded the prize.  Here’s more about the award:

Chronicle Books, who is serendipitously celebrating their own anniversary of 25 years of children’s publishing during 2013, is proud to be the recipient of the BOP Award for the North American category. The award, given in six geographic areas, highlights the editorial projects, professional skills and intellectual qualities of work produced by publishing houses all over the world and is designed to foster reciprocal knowledge and mutual exchange of ideas among different countries, diverse areas and cultural identities across the globe.

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The New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers has picked 15 writers and journalists as its annual fellows.

Selected from a pool of 313 applicants, this is the 15th class of fellows for the center. These writers will get a stipend, a private office in the Cullman Center and support from the library staff.

With a diverse array of people originally from Nigeria, Turkey, England, Argentina, and Serbia, the class of 2013 includes: The fiction writers Tea Obreht, Rajesh Parameswaran, Paul La Farge, and Uwem Akpan. The historians Linda Colley and Anthony Grafton. The journalists Arthur Lubow, Elizabeth Rubin, Elif Batuman, and David Grann.

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The 16th edition of the Holland Animation Festival wrapped up earlier today in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Hisko Hulsing’s Junkyard won the top prize for Dutch animation, while Jérémy Clapin’s latest film Palmipedarium took home the festival’s top prize for narrative animated shorts.

The Short Film jury was comprised of Gabriella Giandelli (Italy), Steven Subotnick (United States) and Marc James Roels (Belgium). The Feature Film jury consisted of Hans Walther (Netherlands), Luca Raffaelli (Italy) and Frans Westra (Netherlands). Student Film jury was Marc Bertrand (Canada), Chris Sullivan (United States) and René Windig (Netherlands), and Dutch prize jury was Nik Christensen (UK/Netherlands), Ton Gloudemans (Netherlands) and Dennis Tupicoff (Australia).

Here is the complete list of winners:

Winner Grand Prix—Dutch animation:

Junkyard by Hisko Hulsing (NL/BE, 2012)

Winner Grand Prix—Narrative shorts:

Palmipedarium by Jérémy Clapin (FR, 2012)

Winners Grand Prix—Non-narrative shorts

Recycled by Lei Lei and Thomas Sauvin (CN, 2012)

Winner Grand Prix—Feature:

Ánima Buenos Aires by María Verónica Ramírez (AR, 2012)

Winner Grand Prix—European student films

Washed Ashore by Jonas Ott (AKV St. Joost Breda, NL, 2012)

HAFF Audience award Dutch animation
Fallin’ Floyd by Paco Vink and Albert ’t Hooft (NL, 2012)

Klassefilm HAFF Junior Audience award in cooperation with Eye
Rising Hope by Milen Vitanov (Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen Konrad Wolf Potsdam, DE, 2012)

Winner web competition HAFFTube
Odio by Adriano Vessichelli (UK, 2012)

MovieZone HAFF Award in cooperation with Eye
Briganti senza Leggenda (Thugs with no Legend) by Gianluigi Toccafondo (FR, 2012)

Student film Honorable Mentions
International Father’s Day by Edmunds Jansons (Estonian Academy of Arts, LV, 2012)

Steven and the Beetle by Hoang Ngoc, Piotr Loc (Polish National Film School in Lodz, PL, 2012)

ForeWord Magazine announced their 2012 Book of the Year finalists, and The Great Voyages of Zheng He was honored in the juvenile non-fiction category. Congratulations! Actually, double congratulations to author and illustrator Demi, who has two books on the finalist list.

Just got my Black-Eyed Susan award from the State of Maryland for Girl, Stolen. I think it's supposed to be a serving tray, since there's no hanger on the back. Maybe next time we have people over I'll put crackers on it and act surprised when they notice what it is. "Oh, is that for an award?"

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The Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning have just announced their 2013 finalists. Presented in three categories, the awards recognize the best in Canadian comics, with a uniquely local flavor.

A fourth honor — The Giant of the North — is a Hall of Fame for Canadian creators. This year’s selection is the lateAlbert Chartier, a popular comic strip artist on such features as Séraphin, Les Canadiens and Onésime, a strip which last ed amere 59 years (from November 1943 until June 2002). Chartier died in 2004 at the age of 91.

The poster for this year’s awards is by nominee Ethan Rilly.

Finalists were selected by a panel including Jerry Ciccoritti, Seth, Bryan Munn, Chris Randle and Sean Rogers.

The Awards will be presented on May 11th, at the Marriott Bloor Yorkville Hotel on Saturday May 11 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm. (This is a new locale from last year, and at the TCAF headquarters hotel.) An art auction will be held this spring to raise funds for the wards, with contributions by more than a dozen well-known Canadian cartoonists, including Chester Brown, Seth, Michael DeForge, Michael Cho, John Martz, David Collier and David Boswell.

And the nominees are:

• Lose #4 by Michael DeForge (Koyama Press)
• By This Shall You Know Him by Jesse Jacobs (Koyama Press)
• The Song of Roland by Michel Rabagliati (Conundrum Press)
• Pope Hats #3 by Ethan Rilly (AdHouse Books)
• Wax Cross by Tin Can Forest (Koyama Press)

The nominees for the 2013 Doug Wright Spotlight Award (a.k.a. “The Nipper”) which recognizes Canadian cartooning talents worthy of wider recognition are:

• Nina Bunjevac for Heartless (Conundrum Press)
• Brandon Graham for King City (Image Comics)
• Patrick Kyle for Black Mass, Distance Mover, Wowee Zonk #4
• George Walker for The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson (The Porcupine’s Quill)
• Eric Kostiuk Williams for Hungry Bottom Comics

And the nominees for the 2013 Pigskin Peters Award, which recognizes the best in experimental or avant-garde comics are:

• Hamilton Illustrated by David Collier (Wolsak & Wynn)
• Hellberta #2 and “Sir Softly” from š! #12, by Michael Comeau
• Michael DeForge, Larry Eisenstein, Jesse Jacobs, Mark Laliberte (editor), Marc Ngui, Ethan Rilly, Tin Can Forest and Magda Trzaski from 4PANEL, a special comics features in Carousel Magazine #28, 29
• Ginette Lapalme for “So, what should we do with ourselves?…” from Wowee Zonk #4
  “Little Stump” in š! #12

e finalists for the 2013 Doug Wright Awards were chosen from a long list of more than 120 100 works and submissions published during the 2012 calendar year. This year’s nominating committee included Jerry Ciccoritti, Seth, Bryan Munn, Chris Randle and Sean Rogers.

Media inquiries:

Shireen Cuthbert sfcuthbert@gmail.com

 For more information about the DWAs:

www.wrightawards.ca

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Get those packages out today with material for consideration in the Eisner Awards. Details here.

Judging will take place next month (if the usual schedule holds), nominations announced soon after, and the Awards will be given out July 19th at Comic-Con International: San Diego.

The 2013 finalists for the Children’s Choice Book Awards have been revealed. Kids can vote from March 19th to May 9th.

The winners will be announced live at the Children’s Choice Book Awards gala on May 13th. Nominees have been divided into four groups classified by different school grades.

In the Author of the Year category, middle-grade fiction writers and young-adult novelists dominate. The nominees include The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Diary of a Wimpy Kid 7: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, The Heroes of Olympus 3: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan, and Insurgent by Veronica Roth.

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The nominations for this year’s British Comic Awards, held during November’s Thought Bubble Convention in Leeds, have been officially opened this week. In addition, the 10 people making up the selection committee have also been named (and, yes, shamed). This is an open nomination process, meaning anybody can submit their favourite comics of the year for nomination – as long as they stick to the rules of the awards. There are four categories up for nomination, being Best Comic, Best Book, Young People’s Comic Award, and Emerging Talent. A fifth award, a ‘Hall of Fame’ award, will be awarded at the ceremony.

Once a book has been nominated once, it doesn’t need to be nominated a second time. Every comic nominated will be put forward for consideration by the committee, who, yes, will all wear masks and shadowy robes, and meet in an abandoned Cathedral. So this isn’t a case of who can flood the ballot box, it’s a case of who is judged to have done the best work by the committee. But who are the committee? Well, they’re an assortment of creators, scholars, and scholars.

Founder Adam Cadwell is chairing the committee, presumably from an ivory throne, whilst the committee itself will be made up of Zainab Akhtar, Clark Burscough, Richard Bruton, Dr. Mel Gibson, Dr. Ian Hague, Tom Humberstone, David Monteith, Vicky Stonebridge, Stacey Whittle and Lisa Wood. The site emphasises that this year there is full gender parity on the committee, with five male judges and five female judges. Also, that Zainab Akhtar person sounds awfully familiar…?

The awards are being held on 23rd November this year, and you can nominate up until the end of August. Go vote! Close your eyes, set your hands to the keyboard, and think of Britain!

For all you list-crazy folks, here are some more awards and finalists that I've heard about in the last couple of weeks. 

CILIP Carnegie Medal shortlist. This UK award is the equivalent of the Newbery. CILIP stands for Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist. Similar to the Carnegie shortlist, above, this list includes some American books, too. The prize is similar to the Caldecott.

Ezra Jack Keats New Writer and New Illustrator Awards for Children's Books

Bankstreet College of Education Children's Book Committee: Children's Book Awards

Golden Kite and Sid Fleischman Award Winners and Honorees, presented by the Society for Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI).

Blue Peter Book Awards (UK)

Bram Stoker Award finalists. These prizes, sponsored by the Horror Writers Association, include a YA category. News via Locus Online. (Hat tip: A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy.)

Bologna Ragazzi Digital Prize for Non-fiction. News via Achockablog.

Author Claire Vaye Watkins won the $20,000 Story Prize for Battleborn, a short story collection that spanned from the California gold rush to contemporary times.

The other finalists for the prize were Dan Chaon (for Stay Awake) and Junot Diaz (for This Is How You Lose Her).  They each received $5,000. Here’s more from the release:

Ms. Watkins is the ninth-ever winner of The Story Prize and the first woman to win the prestigious book award since Mary Gordon took the top prize for The Stories of Mary Gordon in 2007. The first woman to take the top prize was Edwidge Danticat for The Dew Breaker in 2005.

(Photo via Lily Glass)

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In a groundbreaking announcement, First Book, a non-profit social enterprise launched the Stories for All Project. The project’s aim is to introduce a significant number of multicultural books into the hands of low-income children. LEE & LOW was chosen as one of two publishers to be a part of this endeavor and receive a $500,000 award.

For us the presence of this project further addresses the fact that diverse books are a necessity. Making multicultural books available to low-income families is a step toward addressing the chasm between people who believe these books are important to actually making the books available to the children who need them.

For years I have been involved in conversations with librarians and educators on the subject of how we need more diverse books. However, there is this strange disconnect where people continue to point out the lack of diverse books without doing the most obvious thing, which is supporting the companies that publish these books in the first place. The support is simple. It involves buying the books. It also involves telling people about the books and recommending them to buy the books. The more this happens the more books we can publish.

Turns out that GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE DINOSAURS has been awarded the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor by SCBWI! What a great thing for there to even be an award for humor and what a greater thing that it be named after humorist Sid Fleischman and what an even greater thing that, somehow, Goldilocks managed to be recognized. Some past winners have been pal's books, all have been funny,

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§ The winners of Slate’s first ever Cartoonist Studio Prize have been announced: Chris Ware and Building Stories in the Best Graphic Novel of the Year category and Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona for webcomics. Winners and finalists were slected by Slat’es Dan Kois selected student from CCS and guest judge Françoise Mouly.

§ The finalists in the 2013 Spectrum Fantastic Art Awards have also been announced. YOu can see all the finalists and their art in this video:

But to cut to the chase the nominees in the Comics category are:

• Jennifer L. Meyer, Aesop’s Ark, Ch. 2, P2
• David Petersen, Mouse Guard Black Axe #4, Page 19
• Paolo Rivera, Daredevil #10
• Paolo Rivera, Captain America #1
• João Ruas, Fables #121

The Believer Book Award finalists have been revealed along with the Believer Poetry Award finalists. To help readers explore the list, we’ve created a literary mixtape linking to excerpts of all the finalists–look below for the free literary sampler.

Here’s more from the magazine: “Each year, the editors of the Believer generate a short list of the novels and story collections they thought were the strongest and most underappreciated of the year. The 2012 list appears below. In the January issue, we asked our readers to send in their nominations for the best work of fiction from 2012; their answers, along with the winner from the following short list, will appear in the May 2013 issue.”

If you want more books, we made similar literary mixtapes linking to free samples of the most overlooked books of the year, the ALA Youth Media Award winners, the 2012 Man Booker Longlist, the Best Horror Novels of the Year, the LA Times Book Prize nominees, and the Nebula Award nominees.

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In January we announced the finalists of our first New Visions Award, a new writing award for a debut author of color for a middle grade or young adult science fiction, fantasy, or mystery novel. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting these talented finalists on our blog as they answer questions about what inspires them, the writing process, and more. Perhaps among these five finalists you’ll find your next favorite author!

Previous posts by our New Visions finalists:

• Learn what brought Ailynn and Valynne as well as Ibi, Rahul, and Akwaeke to Tu Books and to the New Visions Award competition in particular.
• Read about their experiences writing from a cultural background that may be unfamiliar to most young readers. 

Q: What was your relationship to books and reading as a child or teenager?  In what ways did you see yourself represented in books?

Ailynn Knox-Collins

I was seven when I attended my first boarding school. Determined to hate the experience, I succeeded at being miserable. Over the next few years, I changed school six times. I was always the new kid, but I wasn’t the nice one. I got into fights, defied teachers and even started a gang to beat up boys (I didn’t actually beat up anyone). Adults whispered about me when they thought I wasn’t listening. I was the poor child whose parents were getting a divorce. Because of that, I got away with everything which just made me more miserable.

Then one day, a teacher introduced me to CS Lewis and his worlds brought a spark into my self-imposed misery. Books became my escape. I devoured every story, mostly fantasy at first. I began to write as well, putting myself in places where I could be somewhere or someone else. Meeting Austen, Hardy and the Bronte sisters began my love affair with classical English literature. Those were wonderful years. Finally, Asimov came along and that opened the world of science fiction to me. Life became hopeful even while aliens were invading and snatching bodies, because the heroes always triumphed. And that’s where I kept seeing myself, whether or not the characters looked like me or spoke like me. They came out on top at the end and in my darkest moments, that was what I needed the most.

Ibi Zoboi

I was one of those statistical kids who did not own books. My mother worked two jobs to send me to Catholic school and we lived in a part of Brooklyn where little girls did not skip to the library on their own.  We did own encyclopedias, though, but not novels and picture books.  This had more to do with culture rather than economics.  For students in Haiti, reading was more for rote memorization of textbooks. That’s what my mother made me do with the encyclopedias.

I was dealing with some serious identity issues by the time I got to high school.  We’d moved to suburban Queens and I went to a mostly white Catholic high school.  I desperately wanted mirror stories but I’d settled on having some sort of movie star idol instead.  Halle Berry was just starting out then and she had starred in the TV movie Alex Haley’s Queen.  That’s what led me to reading the actual book. Then I read Alex Haley’s Roots and looked for other titles in that section of my high school’s library—slave narratives (which at some point led me to Octavia Butler’s Kindred).  Then I got mad at the world and worked in a bookstore all throughout college and read everything I could afford on my employee discount (RIP Waldenbooks).

It all started with wanting to see an image of beauty and success that was real to me. Halle’s hair was short and she was black and she’d been a heroine. I don’t think I would’ve been so superficial if I’d seen some of those images in books as a child.

Rahul Kanakia

My mom gave me Isaac Asimov’s Foundation when I was around 10 years old. She’d first read it as a kid in Mumbai in the 1960s. I loved the book’s thought-provoking premise and epic scope and I knew that I wanted more of that. Until I went to college, I only read science fiction and fantasy novels: mostly hard science fiction, space operas, military SF, epic fantasy, and swords and sorcery.

All of these subgenres are largely comprised of adventure stories. They’re about heroes who triumph over tremendous obstacles. And, because I read hundreds and hundreds of these books, I wanted to grow up and become a hero. Many SF fans of color go through a period of disillusionment when they realize that the genre doesn’t care to represent them. That did not happen to me. For whatever reason, I had no trouble identifying with the square-jawed white protagonists.

My disillusionment arose when I realized that heroism is a bit of a sham. It doesn’t exist in real life. Or, at least, not in the way that they write about it in the stories. Of course, everyone realizes that eventually. And, after growing up, some people are still able to find value in the metaphor: the hero represents some spiritual transcendence or state of striving. But I was never able to get over my disappointment. To this day, I find it difficult to read a traditionally-structured SF novel.

Valynne E. Maetani

In the third grade, I skipped recess so that I could read a series of non-fiction books. Each detailed the life of someone famous in history. Only one of those books was about a woman: Marie Curie. Shewas smart and brave, and I wondered if I could ever be like her. Often, my father would surprise me with books. Each had strong female characters like those in Little Women or The Good Earth. In our Asian culture, where emotions are rarely exposed, this was his way of telling me that he believed I could be brave and strong like Madame Curie, the March women, or O-Lan.

At some point, I fell in love with mysteries, devouring Encyclopedia Brown and eventually books by Agatha Christie. Yet I realized there were rarely characters of color. So a few years ago I decided to write a book for my youngest sister’s eighteenth birthday. I had a vague idea of the storyline but knew it would be a mystery; the protagonist would be a strong young woman; and she and her family would be Japanese. What I wanted to share through my writing is that as much as we try to fit in with those around us, we will always be different. I realized, once I was older, that being different is the precise thing my friends loved about me and my family. At the heart of it, we are all humans at the mercy of human experiences, and our differences should be embraced and appreciated rather than dismissed.

Akwaeke Emezi

My relationship to reading has always been a huge part of my life and luckily, both my parents were avid readers who happily loaded me up with books. I read everything I could find; my favorites were authors like Lewis Carroll, Kipling, James Herriot, Enid Blyton, C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, etc. I also read several classics as a child/teen simply because they were in my house and I needed things to read: Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, The Odyssey, A Tale of Two Cities, etc. I remember reading Flowers in the Attic before I was ten…that was quite an experience!

I was always reading at the dinner table, at school while on break, by candlelight because the power was always out, in the bathroom- I was insatiable and churned through books quickly. We had an outdoor book market at the Post Office in my town in Nigeria, where you could bring second hand books and swap them out for more, which was a great resource.

As a child/teen, I always felt there was a place for me in all the books I read because that’s what fantasy and fiction had taught me, that I could belong anywhere because everything was possible.

Further Reading:

Meet Our New Visions Finalists I

Meet Our New Visions Finalists II

Meet Our New Visions Finalists III

Some time last year, Erica Wagner, Publisher at Allen and Unwin, is reported as having said that there was a lot to be gained by having a text already illustrated [not that Allen & Unwin published picture books]. This is seemingly a change in direction.

Some writers/illustrators I know have recently signed contracts for ‘print ready’ books.  This is not self-publishing, but submission to a royalty paying publisher of a book that is ‘ready to go’ in publishing terms.

What constitutes a ‘print ready’ book?  It is a book that has been -

• professionally edited,
• proofread, has been
• designed to industry standards,
• professionally designed cover and,
• if illustrated, has all images appropriately set.

This is a great way to go for authors who are able to pay illustrators and book designers up front. Most authors are not able to do this.  This then means all creators involved in a book project agreeing to royalty share and working between paid projects to collaborate on their book.

What have I gleaned about such ‘print ready’ deals? One company, smaller and reasonably new, offered a small advance and a good contract, by industry standards, with higher than regular royalty share for creators. An offer of help with promotion was also part of the deal. Another company, medium sized and established, offered no advance but better than average royalty shares for creators and help with promotion and marketing of the book.

How does this stack up against what is generally on offer now?

• Small and middle range publishers, in general, do not offer advances.
• Larger publishers offer advances depending on the book, depending on the author, and depending on the agent involved.
• Smaller and middle range publishers often [there are exceptions] expect the author to do it all in relation to promotion, even requiring the submission of a marketing plan.
• Larger publishers vary greatly as to how much promotion they will give a book.
• Generally, publishers will submit copies of their publishing output for major awards, such as the CBCA, and to a selection of leading review outlets.

What’s the down side for author, illustrator, book designer, [often the illustrator], to go down the  ‘print ready’ publishing path?

• It IS a lot of extra work for all creators involved to ensure the book is ‘professional’ standard even before it is submitted.
• There is no money upfront.

Are the rewards worth the effort?

• If you love collaborative work, it is a big plus.
• Creators have much more project control to create the book they have collaboratively envisaged.
• A quality product, ‘print ready’,  is a major bargaining point for creators/agents. ‘Print ready’ saves the publisher heaps!

The first company mentioned does small print runs, sells out their print runs, reprints and even sells out reprints and so it seems to be gradually snowballing.

It is too early to know in the second instance.  [I’ll keep you posted!]

My feeling is that, if Erica Wagner was sensing a ‘trend’ and if these companies make a success of it, we will see more such deals.  It’s something to think about!

To be launched end of June – “Toofs!” a collaboration between J.R. and Estelle A.Poulter an illustrators Monica Rondino and Andrea Pucci. More to come on what was a ‘print ready’ deal.

TOOFS by J.R.Poulter & Estelle A. Poulter, illustrated by Monica Rondino & Andrea Pucci

The Lambda Literary Foundation revealed the finalists for the 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. The “Lammy” awards honor the best lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) published works from 2012.

The nominated works in the 22 categories were picked by more than 90 booksellers, book reviewers, librarians, authors, and previous Lammy Award winners. The winners will be announced on June 3, 2013 at a ceremony in New York City. We’ve listed a few of this year’s nominees below.

Here’s more from the release: “Lambda Literary Foundation set a new record in 2013 for both the number of LGBT books submitted for Lammy consideration, 687, and the number of publishers participating, 332. This beats the record-setting numbers in 2012 of 600 titles by over 250 publishers and is the fourth consecutive year of growth in submissions and publishers.”

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We have been talking about self-publishing for the last few weeks, so I thought you might be interested in reading about this annual contest.  The entry fee is high, but if you have a self-published book you think is good, entering this premier self-published competition could help get your book noticed. It is exclusively for self-published books.

Writer’s Digest hosts the 21st annual self-published competition — the Annual Self-Published Book Awards. This self-published competition spotlights today’s self-published works and honors self-published authors.

Early Bird Deadline: April 1, 2013

Wondering what is in it for you?

• A chance to win $3,000 in cash
• Get national exposure for your work
• Catch the attention of prospective editors and publishers
• A paid trip to the ever-popular Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City!

How to enter: register and pay online or download a printable entry form. (Early Bird Entry fees are $100 for the first entry, and $75 for each additional entry.)

Enter your book into one or more of these categories:

• Mainstream/Literary Fiction
• Genre Fiction
• Nonfiction
• Inspirational (Spiritual, New Age)
• Life Stories (Biographies, Autobiographies, Family Histories, Memoirs)
• Children’s/Picture books
• Middle-Grade/Young Adult books
• Reference Books (Directories, Encyclopedias, Guide Books)
• Poetry

One Grand Prize Winner will receive:

• $3,000 cash and a trip to the Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City
• A priceless endorsement for their book from the Writer’s Digest Editors–10 copies of their book for submission to major publishing review houses.
• A one-year membership for Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), the largest not-for-profit trade association representing more than 3,000 independent book publishers, courtesy of Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.
• Guaranteed acceptance in a special sales catalog and national representation through 1,800 salespeople who sell to non-bookstore markets, courtesy of Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.
• A one-year membership to Author-U, courtesy of Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.
• A copy of Show Me About Book Publishing and consultation with Book Shepherd Judith Briles (valued at $500), courtesy of Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.
• A guaranteed review in Midwest Book Review, courtesy of Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.

Nine First-Place Winners will receive:

• $1,000 cash and promotion in Writer’s Digest
• A one-year membership to Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN), courtesy of Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.
• A guaranteed review in Midwest Book Review, courtesy of Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.
• A one-year membership to Book Central Station where you can find lists of suppliers rated by previous clients, provided by Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.
• An ebook titled Beyond the Bookstore by Brian Jud (with CD).

All Grand Prize and First Place winners will:

• Be featured on the Writer’s Digest website
• Receive a copy of The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, 4th Edition by Tom and Marilyn Ross.
• $100 worth of Writer’s Digest Books

Honorable Mention Winners will receive $50 worth of Writer’s Digest Books and be promoted on www.writersdigest.com.

All other entrants will receive a brief commentary from the judges along with a link to the entrant’s website (only if the URL is accurate) on writersdigest.com.

THE RULES:

1. The competition is open to all English-language self-published books for which the authors have paid the full cost of publication, or the cost of printing has been paid for by a grant or as part of a prize.

2. You may register and pay online for faster service.

3. Entrants must send a printed and bound book. Entries will be evaluated on content, writing quality and overall quality of production and appearance. No handwritten books are accepted.

4. All books published or revised and reprinted between 2008 and 2013 are eligible. (Writer’s Digest may demand proof of eligibility of semifinalists.)

5. All books not registered online must be accompanied by an Official Entry Form. Photocopies of the Official Entry Form are acceptable. You may enter more than one book and/or more than one category; however, you must include a separate book, entry form and the additional fee for each entry.

6. We accept check, money order or credit card payment for the required judging fee. The early bird entry fees are $100 for the first entry, $75 for each additional entry must accompany submissions. For books submitted after the April 1 early bird deadline, the fees are $110 for the first entry, $85 for each additional entry. Payment must accompany submissions.

7. All early bird entries must be postmarked no later than April 1, 2013. Entries submitted for the regular deadline must be postmarked by May 1, 2013. All winners will be notified by October 14, 2013. If you wish to receive confirmation that your entry was received before the deadline, we recommend using certified mail or some other tracking method to send your entry.

8. Judges reserve the right to withhold prizes in any category. Judges reserve the right to re-categorize entries.

9. Books which have previously won awards from Writers Digest are not eligible.

10. Employees of F+W Media, Inc. and Book Marketing Works, LLC and their immediate families are not eligible. Books published by Abbott Press are not eligible to participate.

11. Writer’s Digest is not responsible for the loss, damage or return of any books submitted to the competition.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy