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Welcome to the Literary Bulletin
National Office spends a lot of time doing advocacy for all writers in New Zealand and every member can pat themselves on the back for helping with this. It is your membership fees that help pay my wage so that I can do this work. We have healthy membership numbers - over 1400 - and feedback tells us you are happy with the work we are doing. Part of our membership growth comes from members telling other writers about the services we offer and the benefits that come with membership. One of the benefits is this enews Literary Bulletin. You are welcome to share it with a writer you think may be interested in joining, but please do not regularly send it on to a writer who chooses not to join and yet wants to enjoy the benefit of this fortnightly Literary Bulletin.
We hope you enjoy this weeks edition
Jackie Dennis and Claire Hill at your National Office
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Report on the survey of writers' earnings and the difficulty in making a living from writing in NZ
A new report that looks at how New Zealand writers earn from their writing has revealed that very few are able to make writing their fulltime career.
The Horizon Research report, commissioned by Copyright Licensing NZ in conjunction with the NZ Society of Authors, NZ Writer’s Guild and Playmarket, summarises the feedback from 380 New Zealand writers. Respondents were a mix of fiction, non-fiction and children’s book authors, academic and education writers, journalists, screenwriters and playwrights.
On average, only 24% of annual earnings - $13,500 - was generated from writing and most spend the majority of their productive time working in another occupation that is unrelated to their writing. One in five writers had experienced infringement of their copyright and many reported that finding a publisher for their work was becoming more difficult.
Kyle Mewburn, President of the NZ Society of Authors, says, “As the survey starkly reveals, the vast majority of writers are working at a minimum wage job with no insurance, overtime or holiday pay, and absolutely no job security. We really need our local readers to buy more local books from local bricks-and-mortar bookshops. Let’s just consider it an investment in our cultural health”. More
Here's a link to a conversation about the report on Radio New Zealand's Standing Room Only 12:41 pm on 12 March 2017. Making a living from your pen RNZ podcast
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Deadline for NZSA Youth Mentor Programme - 31 March
Share this with a secondary school student you think may be interested, membership is not a requirement.
Three secondary school students will each have the opportunity to be mentored by one of New Zealand’s best professional authors in order to develop their craft and hone their writing skills.
Applications for the Youth Mentorship Programme must be submitted by 31 March. More
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Literary Heavyweights Vie for Top Writing Honours - Ockham Book Awards
Four of the country’s most respected novelists are in the running for New Zealand’s richest fiction writing prize - the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Congratulations to all who have been shortlisted.
Commonwealth Prize-winning novelist Catherine Chidgey’s The Wish Child is one of the contenders for the $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize, as are multi-award winning writer Owen Marshall’s Love as a Stranger, critic, poet and novelist C.K. Stead’s The Name on the Door is Not Mine, and critically acclaimed poet and novelist Emma Neale’s Billy Bird. Read the full shortlist here
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Exciting changes for New Zealand Books Awards for Children and Young Adults
Better exposure for New Zealand authors is the vision behind changes being made this week to some of the format of the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
The visits of finalist authors to a range of schools and libraries across New Zealand is being replaced by three high profile events attended by large numbers of children, ensuring that more children will meet New Zealand writers. More
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The Sapling brings new life to children’s literature
Two people’s love of children’s literature has fertilised the growth of The Sapling, a brand-new website dedicated entirely to celebrating children’s books.
Jane Arthur and Sarah Forster are excited to be bringing their passion project into the world with their new website launch. Sarah says, “With funding from Creative NZ, and a very successful crowdfunding campaign behind us, we are in an amazing space to really change the conversation about children’s literature in New Zealand. We deeply believe that it should be valued far more than it currently is - and over 140 Boosted campaign donors, giving $12,000, agree with us.” More
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NFFD 2017 competition judges in conversation
The 2017 National Flash Fiction Day judges (adult category) Michael Harlow and Emma Neale can be found in the February issue of Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction, sharing insights about compressed writing and more. find a conversation with Michael Harlow here. Read an interview with Emma Neale (here).
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CHROMA ART AWARDS submissions are now open for 2017!
To recognise artistic excellence from Aotearoa’s leading and emerging independent creators.
Chroma Art Awards invite submissions from all artists, no matter your experience level or background. This year, the Art Awards are accepting submissions under four categories: Illustration, Comic, Animation and Videogames. More
Submissions end 11:59PM (NZST) Thursday, 30 March 2017
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Graeme Cosslett joins Copyright Licensing NZ Board
Copyright Licensing NZ has appointed Graeme Cosslett to the Board of the Company for a three year term starting in 2017.
Graeme is deeply committed to the education sector and brings a range of experience working as a primary and intermediate teacher for 10 years with a particular interest in technology. He is also a former Board of Trustees Chairperson. More
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Auckland Writers Festival - programme launch
The 18th Auckland Writers Festival takes to the sea, the pavement, festival halls and a glittering pop-up venue in its most ambitious programme yet, which sees a record 42 international writers, historians, scientists, radicals and thinkers team with the world’s largest showcase of New Zealand literary talent in Auckland city from 16-21 May.
Scotland’s Ian Rankin - one of the world’s greatest detective novelists features, as does Scottish writer, television director and satirical creator of The Thick of It and Veep – Armando Iannucci; US 2016 Man Booker Prize-winning novelist Paul Beatty; US feminist icons Susan Faludi and Roxane Gay; Kiwi medical doctor and poet Glenn Colquhoun...more
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2017 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literary Awards
Writers working in the Mind Body Spirit genre have until 31 March to enter the 2017 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literary Awards.
There are two award’s categories, one for Books and another for Unpublished Manuscripts. The winner in each category receives a $10,000 prize.
Spokesperson for the Trust, Adonia Wylie, says the judging panel is looking for fiction or non-fiction works that have the potential to uplift and enhance people, relationships and society.
“It is extremely pleasing to reward talented established and emerging writers. We very much look forward to reading this year’s entries.”
The awards are unique in the country for their encouragement of writing in the Mind, Body, Spirit genre.
For the Book category, works must be published between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017. Shortlisted writers will be announced mid-July and the award winners will be announced at a ceremony in Auckland in August, 2017.
Submission forms and entry details are available from www.bookawards.awct.org.nz
Paid Advertising
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BooksForKids NZ
Media release from :
BooksForKids NZ is a non-profit, national campaign aiming to build the vision of children in NZ by providing books suitable for them. We created this project because I think books are the most powerful tool to enable people to have a wider range of knowledge about this world. This could make a whole lot of difference to their lives and as well as to society in general.
Over the past year, we have worked with Foster Hope NZ which focuses on providing care for foster children all around NZ, and have already donated over 1000 books to them with various regions of NZ such as Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington with a total estimated monetary value of $16,000NZD. Right now, we are also looking to expand to the Pacific Islands such as Tuvalu, Kiribati and Cook Islands.
Please contact me at ehan767@gmail.com or call me on 027 585 6886, if you are interested to take part in this project by donating a few books of yours to this campaign. More info: https://booksforkidsnz.com/
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PEN International
International Women’s Day Celebrates Women Writers
Women writers around the world continue to face barriers. This can take many forms, ranging from censorship (in the form of physical or emotional violence), societal stereotypes, or a publishing industry that still sees women earning less, publishing less, and being reviewed less than their male peers. It is not surprising then, that women writers have a legacy of promoting PEN. In recognition of this, PEN International presented interviews with 3 inspirational women on International Women’s Day 2017. Their individual contributions to the field is inspiring as each one has experienced trials and difficulties simply because they are women. The three women chosen are Elif Shafak, Grace Mutandwa, and Hanan al-Shaykh. More
‘The stories, rhythms, and power of women writers have created new worlds, both real and fictional, in which readers can lose and find themselves, glean inspiration to live more visibly and inhabit women’s knowledge.’ PEN International
Email PEN spokesperson Dana Wensley at PEN@nzauthors.org.nz for any issues to do with Freedom of Expression and Writers In Prison co-ordinator Lesley Marshall if you would like to be part of the Writers in Prison letter writing team.
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Clippings from the internet
Bonnier’s New Self-Publishing Platform, Type & Tell: Authors Keep 100 Percent of Royalties
Called Type & Tell, Bonnier’s new self-publishing platform has been quietly tested in Sweden since September 2015. Its English edition launched during London Book Fair.
The Swedish site gives insight into an interesting conceptual basis for the platform: "We live in a country where freedom of expression is every individual’s right. But what is the state of press freedom? Anyone can publish a book? According to us, yes!…The time when only a handful of publishers decided what we read and what stories reached us is past. “It’s time to open the floodgates for all the hidden stories out there. Now we are democratizing literature.” More Extract from article by Porter Anderson on Publishing Perspectives.
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Digital Files
Big, Bad, Wide & International Report February 2017
- covering Amazon, Apple, B&N, and Kobo ebook sales in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
Print bookselling remains artificially silo’d by country even today, for variety of legacy historical and logistical reasons. But by contrast, the global ebook marketplace is a seamlessly international one.
For authors, selling an ebook to a reader in a different country is just as easy as selling to a reader in your home country. Barriers to reaching an international audience no longer exist. More. Extract from post on authorearnings.com
Younger generations are driving appetite for print books
Nielsen survey finds UK ebook sales declined by 4% in 2016, the second consecutive year digital has shrunk.
Readers committed to physical books can give a sigh of relief, as new figures reveal that ebook sales are falling while sales of paper books are growing – and the shift is being driven by younger generations. More. Extract from article by Sian Cain in the Guardian
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Death by Deadline
March
20 Invitation to Oxford Education Research Symposium. More
20 Women's Short Story competition 2017. More
31 Writer of the City of Gaz. More
31 Flash Frontier April issue More
31 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Mind Body Spirit Literature Awards. More
April
1 Page & Blackmore Short Story competition. More
1 Robert Lord Cottage Residency. More
4 Poet Meet Politics open poetry competition. More
10 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize Entry. More
18 Pikihuia Awards 2017. More
30 NFFD 2017 Competition. More
30 PANZ Play competition. More
May
19 Kindle UK Storyteller Award. More
July
31 Kathleen Gratan Writing Prize. More
31 The Airey Neave Memorial Book Prize. More
August
31 Aesthetica Creative Writing Award. More
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Opportunities
The Calendar of Opportunities is found on our website.
- Opportunities are displayed in calendar or list form (together with events).
- Opportunities are only visible to members! To see opportunities on the website you need to log in using your email address and website password.
- To find opportunities in your area, visit your branch page.
- Beware! The listing appears on the deadline date.
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Events / Book Launches / Workshops
Events are found on our website
- You can see Events in calendar or list form (together with opportunities).
- To find all events and book launches go here.
- To find events in your area, visit your branch page.
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Bestsellers from Nielsen BookScan
Bestsellers from Nielsen BookScan
Latest Nielsen Bestseller reports: Bestsellers Chart - fiction, non fiction, adults, children & Independent Booksellers Top 20
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Writers on Radio and TV
Click here for the lineup for upcoming Books on Radio New Zealand National.
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