Video Clip - Pauline Rowson discusses characters, psychology and writing from the male point of view

In this video clip from CSI Portsmouth 2012 Pauline Rowson talks about enjoying a novel with a puzzle to solve, psychology and writing from the male point of view.




Pauline appeared at CSI Portsmouth with crime authors Stephen Booth, Matt Hilton and Ann Cleeves and with experts from Hampshire police and the Universities of Portsmouth and Surrey.


Read more about CSI Portsmouth 2012.  CSI Portsmouth 2013 will be held on Saturday 2 November.

Amazon Buys Goodreads

The basics have been well reported within minutes of Amazon's announcement on Thursday after the close the of market. In what is widely recognized as a very smart move by the retailer, they have an agreement to acquire Goodreads for an undisclosed sum. Goodreads was backed by venture capitalist True Ventures, so it was going to be sold to someone. Started seven years ago, the social network for books had been interviewing experienced publishing executives in recent months as part of an exploration of selling books directly from the site to their 16 million members. Goodreads and its staff of about 40 expects to remain in San Francisco and the deal is set to close in the second quarter of 2013 subject to various closing conditions.

Read more: As Amazon Buys Goodreads, Some Look to Alternatives:

Library lending of ebooks

27 March 2013

The government’s Independent Review of E-Lending in Public Libraries in England, written by William Sieghart, has been published today.
 

A Government-commissioned report, An Independent Review of E-Lending in Public Libraries in England by William Sieghart, published today, sets out the following principles:

• Public libraries should be able to offer a remote E-lending service to their readers, free at the point of use;
• The interests of publishers and booksellers must be protected through ‘frictions’ that limit the supply of E-books in the same way that physical book loans are controlled;
• Pilot projects later in the year should test business models and help gather evidence of best practice; and
• The Public Lending Right should be extended to on-site e-loans, with consideration further ahead to including remote e-loans.

A series of pilot projects between publishers and libraries this year, using established literary events, will test business models and user behaviours to help provide a solid evidence base for going forward.

read more

Pauline Rowson on why the crime genre is so popular

Crime fiction is one of the best selling genres and the most borrowed from public libraries. So what is it that makes crime fiction so popular?  Well apart from being a cracking good read, in crime fiction we know that generally speaking justice will be done and the case will be resolved and that doesn’t always happen in real life.

In crime fiction the villain either gets caught or gets his/her come uppance but in real life the evil and manipulative, the guilty can get away with it as in the case of the unsolved murder in my own family in
1959 that of my great aunt, Martha Giles. Crime fiction though can give us a resolution. It can also give us an insight into what makes people tick.



Read the full article Pauline Rowson on why the crime genre is so popular:

Undercurrent, is the ninth in the DI Andy Horton series published by Severn House.

The Agency Group Opens UK Literary Division

Neil Warnock, CEO of The Agency Group (TAG), has announced the opening of a new UK literary division. The division will be headed by Jonathan Conway, with Juliet Mushens joining as a literary agent. Based in TAG's London office, the new division will work alongside TAG's existing literary agency in New York.


Jonathan Conway said: "I am delighted to be taking up such an exciting role at The Agency Group, working with Juliet to build on the success of Marc Gerald and his team in New York."

Juliet Mushens says "The Agency Group is a dynamic company with an entrepreneurial yet nurturing ethos. I'm thrilled to be a part of this new stage in its growth."

The Agency Group is one of the world's foremost entertainment booking agencies. The company operates five international offices with 76 agents, a staff of over 200, and a combined roster of nearly 2000 celebrated musicians, speakers and authors. The Agency Group's talent pool includes the full spectrum in artist development, including emerging artists, artists at the pinnacle of their careers, and legends of the entertainment industry.



Read more : booktrade.info - Book Trade Announcements - The Agency Group Opens UK Literary Division

New Literary Agency opens in UK part of The Agency Group

Neil Warnock, CEO of The Agency Group (TAG), has announced the opening of a new UK literary division. The division will be headed by Jonathan Conway, with Juliet Mushens joining as a literary agent. Based in TAG's London office, the new division will work alongside TAG's existing literary agency in New York.

Marc Gerald, Vice President, and head of TAG's US literary division said: "I am positively thrilled that Jonathan Conway has decided to lead our efforts in the UK and that Juliet Mushens has agreed to join us. Both have developed incredibly compelling lists over a relatively short span that synergize very nicely with what we have going in the US. In a time of enormous industry change, we see them paving the way."

Jonathan Conway said: "I am delighted to be taking up such an exciting role at The Agency Group, working with Juliet to build on the success of Marc Gerald and his team in New York. From the outset I have been so impressed by my new colleagues; their wide-ranging expertise across complimentary parts of the entertainment industry, and their vision for the growth of the business, with this expansion of TAG's literary department at its heart."

Juliet Mushens says "The Agency Group is a dynamic company with an entrepreneurial yet nurturing ethos. I'm thrilled to be a part of this new stage in its growth."

The Agency Group is one of the world's foremost entertainment booking agencies. The company operates five international offices with 76 agents, a staff of over 200, and a combined roster of nearly 2000 celebrated musicians, speakers and authors. The Agency Group's talent pool includes the full spectrum in artist development, including emerging artists, artists at the pinnacle of their careers, and legends of the entertainment industry.

Curtis Brown launches Jeffrey Archer Short Story Prize

Curtis Brown has teamed up with Kobo to launch a short story competition, to be judged by author Jeffrey Archer.

The finalists for the Jeffrey Archer Short Story Prize, set up by Curtis Brown Creative, the agency’s creative writing division, will be revealed at the London Book Fair on 15th April, with the winner announced on 29th April.

The prize for winning the competition, which is open to writers in the UK, US and Canada, is a free enrolment in a Curtis Brown online novel-writing course.

All story entries must be shorter than 100 words, and can be in any fiction genre. A shortlist of 20 will be selected by Kobo, which will be published as a free digital anthology.

Archer will then pick three finalists, who then must submit 3,000 words of their novel in progress, to be critiqued by Curtis Brown Creative.

Archer has written several collections of short stories, and is represented by Curtis Brown agent and c.e.o. Jonathan Lloyd.

Pauline Rowson on choosing locations for crime novels

In this video I'm talking to Tony Smith about how I choose the locations for my thriller novels and the DI Horton marine mystery crime novels.

 You can watch more of  my videos on writing, plotting, characters and research on my You Tube Channel.