RIASS stuff:
Book Review: The Land of Stories ' The Wishing Well by Chris Colfer'Rating: 
Book Review: Silhouette by Thalia Kalkipsakis'Rating:
Book Review: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro'Rating:
Giveaway: Pearl Verses the World by Sally Murphy'(open to all)
Just in case anyones interested: My lovely husband and I have been featured over at Kiss the Bride (turn to page 331)
And RIASS has also had a mention on page 18 of Duos July edition.
Other bookish stuff:
Rachelle Gardner asks readers to consider whether the things that publishings starting to take as truth are necessarily so.'Some of the topics she raises include whether writing quality matters (yes), whether agents are still needed (yes), publishing is changing so fast it will soon be unrecognisable (no), self-publishing is the best way to become an instant millionaire (no). Gardner also follows up on the benefits of an agent over here.
Just some randomly pretty design stuff. I love the typesetting one.
YA author Elana Johnson suggests that rather than telling people not to read the books we havent enjoyed, we should encourage them to give such books a tryjust in case theyre right for another reader. I agree with this advice, actually, as even when a books not to my taste, I can definitely see how certain elements might appeal to another reader. So often its not that a book is bad, its just that its bad for me.
Maggie Stiefvater on authors loving their characters too much'This problem can be two-fold, she says. First, writers may feel as though their characters are living people and then simply assume that this translates on to the page. Second, being truly, madly, deeply in love with your characters may mean that youre unable to objectively portray them.
Have paperbacks become misfit toys that just sit about on peoples shelves?''The author argues that ebooks are popular because they allow authors to write at lengths that readers actually want to read, as opposed to the standard lengths dictated by publishers of print books, who needed books to be a particular length in order to justify particular price points.
An editor gives some writing tips, editing tips, and tips for conduct'If you're an author who gets less than a five star review, get the hell over it. If there's merit to the criticism, fix the flaws in your next book. If there isn't, who cares? Move on.
RJ Ellery: to persist or not to persist with a writing career?'Ellery says that he spent years of his youth writing and being rejected (something akin to 22 novels written, 500 rejections received, and 12,000 pounds spent on postage). After throwing in the towel for a bit, he decided that he couldnt just give it all up. I figured that I'd rather be an unhappy and unpublished writer, than no writer at all. It was then that I wrote'Candlemoth. I sent it to thirty-six publishers, thirty-five of whom sent it back. All except Bloomsbury
An interesting post about the publishing pipeline and what happens between signing a contract and publication day.'Basically, heaps of waiting and freaking out and worrying that youre not loved. One interesting thing is the tentativeness of release dates, which are hazy and cryptic.
A Q&A with Sarah Rees Brennan'Theres some fun stuff in here, including Sarahs habit of gnawing on her toothbrush out of excitement over her ideas; believing that writers block is more a symptom than a disease; and her tips about where to bury bodies if youre a gothic novel heroine.
Victor LaValle Talks About His Novel 'The Devil in Silver''LaValle notes that monsters in books and films are really our anxieties given physical form. Dracula is about the fear of immigration, while the American zombie came about due to Americas lack of a culture of ancestor worship.
Amazons NY-based publishing imprint signs deal to sell its ebooks through other'retailers
An upcoming talk about Agatha Christie and Mesopotamia at the Melbourne Museum
Thanks for sharing that article on writing tips from an editors perspective, it was good to hear about editing from a different point of view. I also really enjoyed the article by Maggie Stiefvater, what good points she made, and with such good humor. I too was a little squicked when I read that some people would date the characters they created. What? :)
Haha, I guess it makes creating the perfect partner easy. ;) Im always surprised, though, when readers fall madly in love with a character (particularly when that characters bad news). Maybe Im not as sappy as I like to think I am!