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News

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Funny BBC newsletter
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The BBC Comedy website has had a bit of an upgrade, according to the funny people at the beeb. "The website is packed full of web-exclusive comedy videos and clips from your favourite BBC comedy shows old and new, and lots more - including the rather lovely Comedy Blog," said a demure BBC spokesperson. To celebrate, the BBC comedy newsletter has been re-constituted. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
24july10 372
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Amazon sells more ebooks than hardcover books
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Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle ebooks than it is selling hardcover books.
Kindle, its proprietary ebook reader is the number one selling item on Amazon.com, the American site, for two years running. Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 143 Kindle books. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
24july10 372
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Books borrowed and bought in Britain
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Stephenie Meyer tops a latest chart of borrowed and bought books in Britain.
With the third film Eclipse recently released it will no doubt lift sales of the Meyer's Twilight series. more,
www.askaboutwriting.net
24july10 372
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Closing date for PLR year 2010
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The final date for receipt of new PLR registration forms for the Irish PLR year 2010 is Tuesday August 31, 2010. Books registered after that date will be included for PLR year 2011. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
24july10 372
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Older News

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Tell-a-Story Day
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Tell-a-Story Day will once more be a part of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival.
Friday October 29, 2010, the designated day is on the cusp of Hallowe'en when stories walk abroad on their own. The Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh is offering practical support to those who wish to continue and celebrate this tradition of oral literature. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
17july10 371
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Patterson sells more in ebooks than anyone else
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Bestselling author James Patterson became the first novelist to sell over 1,000,000 ebook copies, according to his publishers. Hachette Book Group announced on July 6, 2010 that Patterson to date hsd sold 1,141,273 ebook units, making him the first novelist ever to surpass the million mark.
According to the International Digital Publishing Forum’s aggregated data, ebook sales more than tripled over the past year and show no signs of leveling off in the near future, said the publisher. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
10july10 370
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Gerbil Sentence wins Bulwer-Lytton Prize For Bad Writing
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This year's a ward for the world's worst writing goes to author Molly Ringle's comparison of a lovers' kiss with the sucking of a thirsty rodent.
She beat all others in a hotly contested contest for not-sought-after award.
Molly Ringle is author of one published and two soon-to-be-published novels and is said to only write bad fiction when she fails at good fiction. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
10july10 370
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Searching for orphans
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Finding the copyright owner of orphan books whose authors are unknown is proving difficult for researchers, according to an EU report on such works and on copyright. A conservative estimate of the number of orphan books as a percentage of in-copyright books across Europe puts the number at three million orphan books, 13 per cent of the total number of in-copyright books. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
10july10 370
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Writers doings available on podcasts
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Podcasts from the Writers' Guild in Britain are now available as an app for the iPhone/i Pod Touch and iPad. You can find all in the iTunes store.
An app is a software application that readers can use to access content on mobile readers. The Writers' Guild app costs £1.19 to buy. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
03july10 369
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New Literature Development in Northern Ireland
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A new organization will provide support for literature professionals working in Northern Ireland. LitNet NI will have a strong co-ordinating role, bringing individuals and organizations working in the field of literature together, said the organization. It plans to roll out a professional development and mentoring programme for writers and literature workers. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
26june10 368
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Playwrighting fees raised in Britain
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Writers for the theatre are to receive a full 3.7 per cent cost-of-living increase on minimum fees and other payments by leading British subsidised theatres including Royal National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal Court. The agreement brings the basic minimum fee for a new play to £10,654, according to the Writers Guild, the representative body for writers. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
26june10 368
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Horrid Henry rules

Horrid Henry is the most popular boy in Ireland while according to the most-borrowed statistics from Ireland's PLR office. Tales of Horrid Henry were taken home more than 98,000 times in 2009.
Irish children made sure children’s authors dominated the most-borrowed-from-the-library list in 2009.
Most borrowed Irish author in 2009, at number 13, was Darren Shan, whose tales of vampires and demons have sold 15 million copies worldwide and are just as popular with library borrowers. more

New writers guide launched in Dublin

The Irish Writers, Authors and Poets Handbook for Ireland and Northern Ireland has been launched. Joint editors are David Jones and Oscar Duggan. In addition to being a directory the handbook offers practical information on writing novels, short-stories, newspaper and magazine articles, for writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
29may10 365
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Siobhán Parkinson is Ireland's first Laureate na nÓg

Siobhán Parkinson has been appointed Ireland’s first laureate for children’s literature. The honour has been established to engage young people with high quality children’s literature and to underline the importance of children’s literature in Ireland's cultural and imaginative life, according to an official statement on the announcement of the appointment. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
01may10 360
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Simon and Schuster new teen imprint
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Simon and Schuster Children's Books is to launch a new imprint, Simon Pulse, in June 2010. Simon Pulse is to be launched following huge success for Simon and Schuster Children's Books in the Young Adult paranormal romance and urban fantasy area in recent months. The new imprint will publish teen gothic literature. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
24apr10 360
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Snappers go for Google
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Photographers and visual artists are to sue Google over its proposed library project. On April 7, 2010, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and other groups representing visual artists filed a class-action lawsuit against Google, asserting the company’s efforts to digitize millions of books from libraries amount to large-scale infringement of their copyrights. more

www.askaboutwriting.net
10apr10 358
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No money for Irish Writers Centre
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The Irish Writers’ Centre has been denied funding for 2010 by the Arts Council in a decision described by the Centre’s Board as myopic. Until 2009, the IWC received an annual grant to enable it function as an organization. providing a venue and a service to writers and the public, but the grant was withheld last year. more

© www.askaboutwriting.net
13feb10 350
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PLR rate announced
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Payments to authors continue for the public borrowings of their books under the new Irish PLR system. The Rate Per Loan for PLR Year 2009 is 13.93 cent. Authors who chose Euro cheque will receive a cheque and a statement in the post in February 2010. more

© www.askaboutwriting.net
06feb10 349
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electronic book royalties engage writers
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Writers have opened debate with publishers over electronic royalties. Writers currently receive royalties of 25 per cent for electronic versions of their books against some 8-10 per cent royalty on hard versions of the work. The Society of Authors, says the norm should be 50 per cent. The Irish Writers’ Union concurs on behalf of Irish writers. more

© www.askaboutwriting.net
30jan10 348
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Journalists should charge £285 per day
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Freelance journalists should invoice media clients £285 for a day's work to achieve comparability with a staff journalist earning £25,000, according to the publisher of the Freelance Ready Reckoner. The reckoner has been updated for the fourth year in a row. more

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Press Complaints Commission guidance on media use of Facebook pictures
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The Press Complaints Commission in the UK has ruled against the Scottish Sunday Express in a decision on the use by journalists of images taken without permission from social networking sites like Facebook. The case concerned a complaint by three parents that that an article headlined Anniversary shame of Dunblane survivors, published in the Scottish Sunday Express on 8 March 2009, intruded into their sons’ private lives. more

© www.askaboutwriting.net
11july09 321
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Telling Tales on air
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A new programme for writers and writing aired on West Dublin Access Radio on May 9. Telling Tales uses the resources of writingclub.org and askaboutwriting.net to broadcast news of writing and opportunities for writers and storytellers on the community station. The show includes interviews with storytellers, or writers in the news, each week. more

© www.askaboutwriting.net
18apr09 309
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Working safely with children
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The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon has posted some guidelines for sole practitioners on its website, in response to requests from the arts sector. The code of practice aims to provide support and guidance to artists working with children and young people in a solo capacity as practitioners, facilitators or tutors. more

© www.askaboutwriting.net
04apr09 307
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