Great Books for Sale

You know, this conference has a lot of my attention and getting it together and ready is taking up a lot of my time, but I love the concept so much!

I just wanted to encourage avid readers to visit the site and check out the books by some of our authors, the books are fantastic and you would, of course, also be supporting a Latino(a) author. As we get closer to the conference date, we hope to add the works of more attendees, supporters, etc.

Thank you.

Editing

EDITING

I still argue that in the brouhaha that is publishing, we
often forget about the reasons that traditional publishing
existed to begin with, and why writers didn't just publish
themselves from the outset.

Traditional publishers fund works out of their pockets,
and they beat a dead horse in terms of preparing a book
for release. This has been true since Gutenberg printed
the first Bible. So I believe traditional publishing will
continue for many years to come.

Yes, I tend to lean to the . . . traditional side. (Bet you
thought I was going to say right or left, huh?) However, I've
self-published as well. I've seen good self-publishing and bad.
I've seen good agents and bad. I've marveled at good traditional
works and bad.

Nothing in publishing is perfect.

However, two items get overlooked, in my opinion, when it
comes to do-it-yourself publication.

1. Platform
2. Editing

The Steve Laube Literary Agency has quite the informative
blog, and lately they've run a series called, "A Defense of
Traditional Publishing." The latest post of April 26 addressed
"Content Development."

http://www.stevelaube.com/in-defense-of-traditional-publishing-part-three/

A reader cursed me (yes, I'm a "biatch") for advising her to
slow down, complete her book, and edit it to death before
considering the publisher, the movie, or the television
appearances. The point I tried to make was that editing
isn't a simple proofreading job before you forward the file
to a publisher.

Steve Laube explained the multiple editing tasks under a
traditional roof.

ACQUISITIONS EDITOR - Finds, acquires, negotiates the project.

LINE EDITOR - Performs the actual content edit (also call the
"line" or "substantive" edit).

CONTENT EDITOR - Reads for accuracy, balance and fairness,
cogency of argument, adequate treatment of the subject matters,
and conformity to the original book proposal.

COPY EDITOR - Scours the manuscript for accuracy in grammar,
citations, and factual content.

PROOF READER - Fine tunes punctuation and other nit-picky details.

Yes, there's room for self-publishing, especially if you
have a platform to die for, and a following that would
purchase anything you held up in your hand. But if you
are venturing into the publishing world alone, wouldn't
you want these people in your court?

by Hope Clark - http://www.fundsforwriters.com

The Latino Authors & Writers Conference

Hi. Well, the conference is on schedule and rolling along at full steam! We have four great agents joining us, guest speakers, a wonderful Mistress-of-Ceremony... and so much more! I want to thank all of the people, organizations, agencies, and corporations that are helping to make this possible. i also want to say thank you to all of the Latino media that's promised to do a story about us. In fact, Philadelphia Spanish daily, Al Dia, is doing a story about the conference and is interviewing our guest speaker, Dr. Hector R. Ortiz!

Wow, so it's really happening and I'm really proud of all the work (and money!) that's gone into it. It's gonna be a blast!

Granta names 'best young Spanish-language novelists'

Extending its celebrated selections of rising literary stars into the Spanish-speaking world, journal tips 22 young authors for the future

The future Ian McEwans and Salman Rushdies of the Spanish-language literary world have been named by Granta magazine in a list of the best young Spanish-language authors writing today.
From Argentinian author Federico Falco to Chilean poet and novelist Alejandro Zambra and Spain's Pablo Gutiérrez, the literary magazine unveiled the 22 writers to make it into its list of the best of young Spanish-language novelists in Madrid this morning. Running since 1983, when the literary magazine included Julian Barnes, Martin Amis, McEwan and Rushdie in its list of the best of young British novelists, Granta's "best of young novelists" series has tipped a host of future writers for stardom, from Edwidge Danticat to Jonathan Franzen, but has never looked outside America and the UK before.
A panel of judges including acclaimed Argentinian film director and writer Edgardo Cozarinsky, award-winning novelist Francisco Goldman and journalist Isabel Hilton, along with the Spanish edition of Granta's editors Aurelio Major and Valerie Miles, chose the Spanish-language writers, who also include Peruvian short story writer Carlos Yushimito del Valle, currently finishing his first novel, and Argentinian poet and short story writer Matías Néspolo, whose first novel, Siete maneras de matar a un gato (Seven Ways to Kill a Cat), is due out in English from Harvill Secker.
"From Borges to Bolano, the Spanish language has given us some of the most beloved writers of the 20th and 21st centuries," said Granta. "But as the reach of Spanish-language culture extends far beyond Spain and Latin America, and the US tilts towards a majority Hispanic population, it is time to ask who is next in this exciting tradition."
Granta said that fiction from the 22 authors, which will feature in the new editions of Granta and Granta en español next month, would give readers "an unprecedented insight into the world of Spanish letters". Of the writers selected, eight come from Argentina, six from Spain, two each from Peru and Chile, and one from Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia and Uruguay. Five of the 22 writers are female.
Granta's best of young Spanish novelists:
Carlos Yushimito del Valle
Matías Néspolo
Alberto Olmos
Antonio Ortuño
Andrés Felipe Solano
Santiago Roncagliolo
Elvira Navarro
Andrés Neuman
Patricio Pron
Carlos Labbé
Oliverio Coelho
Rodrigo Hasbún
Sònia Hernández
Andrés Ressia Colino
Samanta Schweblin
Pola Oloixarac
Javier Montes
Federico Falco
Pablo Gutiérrez
Andrés Barba
Alejandro Zambra
Lucía Puenzo
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010