Check out Thursday News: Publishing and free speech, new Nora Roberts tv series, a reviewer’s manifesto, and lesbian emojis just posted at Dear Author. Oxford University Press reportedly barred pigs and anything pork-related from children’s book – Although the headlines for this story are pretty sensationalized, but it’s actually a pretty interesting issue. Tossing aside the usual claims of “political correctness,” the heart of this story is the tension between artistic freedom/free speech and pragmatic business decisions (or perceived pragmatism) by publishers who want to sell their books in as many markets as possible. I have many thoughts on this issue, but I’ll throw it back to you for now: is this different/in what ways is this different from publishers telling Romance authors that certain things don’t sell and should be avoided? It is “incorrect to ascribe this to self-censorship — it’s more a case of global market forces at work,” said Lydia Moëd, an agent with the Canadian literary agency The Rights Factory and a veteran of the U.K. children’s publishing industry. “If there’s a choice between having a pig or, say, a bunny, as a minor character in a particular children’s book, publishers are aware that choosing the pig character will severely limit the book’s potential international market,” she said. The ultimate result, said Ms. Moëd, is that large publishers end up seeking out books with “as few cultural barriers as possible.” –National Post Canada’s Omnifilm Entertainment Options Latest Nora Roberts Book Trilogy (Exclusive) – So in the wake of Outlander’s substantial success as a television series on Starz, Nora Roberts’s Romance trilogy of Dark Witch, Shadow Spell and Blood Magick is being adapted for television. Set in Ireland and containing supernatural elements, the series will be written by Emily Andras, who is the executive producer of Syfy’s Lost Girl. I’m pretty sure that the Hallmark Channel has a series based on Debbie Macomb’s novels, too, so this is not a new phenomenon, but it does seem to be picking up steam lately. Vancouver-based Omnifilm has also hired Paulo de Oliveira, mostly recently co-executive producer on Starz’ Outlander series, as its new senior vp scripted development and executive producer, based in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with Blood Magick as his first assignment. . . . De Oliveira told The Hollywood Reporter that, like Starz’ epic Outlander series, which is set to return with another eight episodes in April 2015, the Blood Magick drama will follow closely to the book series. The Omnifilm project is being structured as a Canada/Irish co-production, likely to be shot in Ireland and then posted and finished back in Canada. –Hollywood Reporter How (this) Reader would wish for her review to be received by the author – I recently discovered The Moonlight Reader (Christine) when she wrote a very good post on the Kickstarter fiasco. This post is a response to one that I’m not going to link to, but which has been making the rounds as an example of how NOT to talk to readers (i.e. tell us how to review books). Christine addresses a number of arguments, from ‘if you think it’s so easy to write a book, why don’t you do it?!’ (my paraphrase) to the ever-popular ‘my book is my baby’ lament. It’s clever, it’s funny, and it presents yet another opportunity to thank those authors who support independent reviewing and readers in general. This one’s not for you, but you may appreciate it, nonetheless. –The Moonlight Reader Meet The Woman Who Created A Whole Suite Of Lesbian-Themed Emojis – For everyone who thinks emojis are generic representations, think about how little diversity there is among them, and what, exactly they’re representing. Enter Kimberly Linn, who began creating lesbian emojis as a joke among her friends (and out of frustration at Apple’s lack of emoji diversity), but who ultimately gained 10,000 followers on Instagram, where she posted her images. And now, thanks to the foresight of her ad agency employer, an app was developed from Linn’s drawings, and the designer has plans to make the line inclusive LGBT representation. Lesbian Emojis isn’t on the iMessage keyboard — Linn said that was an “insurmountable problem” — but the app lets users copy and paste her emojis into iMessage or open up a new iMessage in the app. Each emoji takes anywhere from 20 minutes to four hours to make. Some of the nearly 70 she’s made so far include a fish taco, a U-Haul truck, and a pack of Parliament cigarettes. –Business Insider
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:13:32 +0000