Author - John Coyne

In  late Septemer of this year, TriQuarterly, one of the most respected print literary journals, announced that it was converting to an online format. TriQuarterly’s blog currently offers subscribers a chance to purchase the “last three issues of TriQuarterly in print.” It’s only one journal; but this feels like a big deal, particularly in today’s world of Kindles and eBooks and POD. Evergreen Review, one of the greatest and most provocative of literary journals, began life as a trade paperback, shifted to glossy magazine format, and ceased publication in 1973. In 1998, it was resurrected as an online journal and pushes ahead today with new content as well as reprinting great work from its past. For the sake of this discussion, we can divide the world of literary journals into three permutations, with some overlap: Print journals that require hard-copy submissions by snail-mail. The old stalwarts we’ve always known include: . . .

John Givens (Korea 1967–69) was born in Northern California, got his BA in English literature at the California State University Fresno and his MFA in creative writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, University of Iowa, where he was a Teaching/Writing Fellow. After his Peace Corps tour, he studied language and art in Kyoto for four years; and he worked as a writer & editor in Tokyo for eight years. For fifteen years, Givens was a creative director and branding consultant for advertising agencies in New York then San Francisco. He has published three novels in the US: Sons of the Pioneers, A Friend in the Police, and Living Alone; short stories have appeared in various journals. His non-fiction publications include A Guide to Dublin Bay: Mirror to the City and Irish Walled Towns, both published by The Liffey Press in Dublin. He is currently finishing The Plantain Manner, a long novel set in . . .

If you are at all interested in writing and publishing, check out mediabistro.com and also the video reporting done  by Jason Boog (Guatemala 2000-02) who works for Galleycat and (mailer@mediabistro.com). Jason has a piece up today, plus video, of Mike Meyer (China 1995-97) where Mike is saying, “I think it’s usually a good time to write a book when you go to the library or the bookstore and the book you want to read isn’t there.” Mike, as you know, was one of the ten writers honored at the 25th annual Whiting Writers’ Award last week. GalleyCat prowled the aisles of the Award winners dinner  interviewing a number of the winners about their writing lives, the recession, and the future of literature. The ten recipients each took home a $50,000 award for their literary efforts. Listen and look at Mike talk about writing, and read what Jason has to say. You’ve got to love . . .

Pabley, Sonia Gersh Agency 41 Madison Ave., floor 33 New York, NY 10010 Memoir, Advice/Relationships, Mystery/Crime, info@gershla.com http://www.gershagency.com Panettieri, Gina Talcott Notch 276 Forest Rd. Milford CT 06460 Advice/Relationships, Parenting, Children’s,  Business/Investing/Finance gpanettieri@talcottnotch.net www.talcottnotch.net Pantano, Merry Blanche C. Gregory, Inc. 2 Tudor City Place New York, NY 10017 General Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Reference, Religion/Spiritual bcgliteraryagent@aol.com www.bcgliteraryagency.com Park, Theresa Park Literary Group 270 Lafayette St., suite 1504 New York, NY 10012 Biography Parkliterary.com Parks, Richard Richard Parks Agency 138 East 16th St., Suite 5B New York, NY 10003 Mystery/Crime, Narrative Fiction rp@richardparksagency.com www.richardparksagency.com Paul, Alexia Joy Harris Literary Agency, Inc. 156 Fifth Avenue, Suite 617 New York, NY 10010 General Fiction, Reference, History, gen.office@jhlitagent.com www.globallit.com Peterson, Laura Blake Curtis Brown Ltd. 10 Astor Place New York, NY 10003 Thriller LBP@CBltd.com Picard, Alison J. Alison J. Picard, Literary Agent P.O. Box 2000 Cotuit MA 02635 How-To, Children’s ajpicard@aol.com Pinkus, Samuel Mcintosh and Otis, . . .

The other day my wife purchased a Kindle (there goes civilization as we know it) and also bought several books, one for $1.59. Thinking like any writer, I asked, “what kind of royalties does that author get from a book selling for $1.59 on a Kindle?” We asked a good friend who is in the book business about e-book royalties from selling a book on a Kindle and her email reply was: “The writer’s agent should have negotiated an e-rights royalty which is less than the standard hard cover 12 1/2 percent but is based on the wholesale price which is surely higher than Amazon charges. This is what’s making publishers nuts. For the time being Amazon is charging these low prices. A loss leader to sell their devices. But in the long run  they’ll probably raise prices. Publishers would prefer that Amazon spend energy selling print books.” Ain’t that the truth!

John Givens (Korea 1967-69), a graduate of the Iowa Writers Program who spent many years working in Japan and now lives in Ireland, is the author of a half dozen novels and books of non-fiction. He is also writing a 17-century Japanese novel, several sections of which have already been published online. The latest section is entitled Night Train and can be found at the URL: http://www.nighttrainmagazine.com/contents/givens_9_2.php John writes us, “Although great old print journals such as The Paris Review or Granta or Conjunctions are still attractive, the future does seem to be digital. TriQuarterly has recently announced that it is converting to an online format next year. One of the nice things about digital journals is that they accept email submissions or submissions through a dedicated online submissions manager. Most also will read simultaneous submissions. This makes them easy to approach, and they are obviously inundated with manuscripts, resulting in . . .

O’Grady, Elizabeth Dwyer and O’GRADY, INC. P.O. Box 790 Cedar Key FL 32625 General Fiction, Reference www.dwyerogrady.com Olson, Neil Donadio and Olson 121 West 27th St., Suite 704 New York, NY 10001 General Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Reference, Biography, Health neil@donadio.com Ostler, Bruce Bret Adams Limited Artists Agency 448 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036 Reference, Narrative bostler@bretadamsltd.net Outhwaite, Tony JCA Literary Agency 174 Sullivan Street New York, NY 10012 General Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Reference, History www.jcalit.com

Naggar, Jean Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. 216 E. 75th St., Suite 1E New York NY 10021 Children’s books, general fiction jnaggar@jvnla.com http://www.jvnla.com Naples, Mary Ann The Creative Culture, Inc. 853 Broadway, Suite 1715 New York, NY 10003 Memoir, cooking submissions@thecreativeculture.com http://thecreativeculture.com Nellis, Muriel Literary and Creative Artists, Inc. 3543 Albemarle St. NW Washington, DC 20008 General Fiction, Reference, Science www.lcadc.com Nelson, Craig Craig Nelson 115 W. 18th St., 5th fl. New York, NY 10011 History, Biography, Memoirs craig2@hotmail.com http://www.craignelson.us Nelson, Jandy Manus and Associates Literary Agency 375 Forest Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 General Fiction, Reference, Business/Investing/Finance, Health jandy@manuslit.com www.manuslit.com