News From the Wacky World of Publishing

Agent Stuff

If you've written (and rewritten umpteen times) a fantasy/SF/horror novel and are embarking on that agent search, here's some agent info (from Publishers Lunch):

Agent Lucienne Diver has joined The Knight Agency after fifteen years at Spectrum Literary Agency, where she specialized in fantasy, science fiction, romance, mystery and suspense.

Time to update your bookmarks, gentle people.

HarperCollins

If you write in the children's segment, here's some really good news (also from Publishers Lunch):

The strongest-performing division, according to ceo Jane Friedman, was the US children's division, which was "on fire" with sales up almost 50 percent and operating profit up almost 500 percent.

So much for kids not reading, eh? ;-) Sounds to me like the young'uns is reading quite a bit.

Magical Realism Author

At least I think that's what Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes. (Don't you just love that name? Has a nice beat to it...I'm a sucker for unusual names and long names that have a nice rhythm to them.)

Anyway, here's what Publishers Lunch reported:

A friend of Gabriel Garcia Marquez (and head of news at a Colombian radio station) says that the author "is putting the final touches to his new novel," after having said two years ago that he was finished with writing. Dario Arizmendi says, "He wrote a first draft which he didn't like, then another, then another; then, with the fifth draft, it was ready." Running about 250 pages, the book--described as "a novel of love"--should be publishable before the end of the year.

For all you fangirls and fanboys of Garcia Marquez, this is awesome news. Of course, you'll still have to wait until sometime next year to actually read it.

~Nancy Beck