New contract with M&S/PRH, and my free literary content email subscriptions
Writing life: 59
A new publishing contract
For those of you who follow my social channels, you may already have heard about this, but some publishing news to start this post. I’m very pleased to report that I recently signed another two-book contract with the only publisher I’ve ever had, McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House.
This is actually my fourth consecutive two-book deal with M&S after my first three novels were published through three single-book contracts.
I’ve always been happy and proud to be with M&S/PRH, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to write at least two more novels under their banner, and I hope many more. My thanks to M&S publisher, Stephanie Sinclair, and to the only literary agent I’ve ever had, Beverley Slopen, and her right hand, Laura Schwartz, for their collective efforts to push this agreement across the finish line. I’m thrilled.
Great free literary content you can receive via email
Over the years, I’ve subscribed to quite a few free literary/publishing email newsletters that have kept me informed of developments in the book world and up to speed on the hot new books and writers in the spotlight at any given time. I’ve really enjoyed reading them. It’s part of what makes me feel more like a writer. I just thought I’d pass these along for you to consider in case you’re in the market for more insight and information from the literary/publishing world.
Now to be clear, this is not an exhaustive list, but just the ones I’ve come to enjoy. And these don’t include any Substack subscriptions, but of course, there is a vibrant writing community on this platform and many worthy writers to follow—just too many to share in this post. So here we go…
Literary Review of Canada/Bookworm
The Literary Review of Canada is a fine, literary publication I’ve always enjoyed. They publish ten great issues a year on a paid subscription basis. However, they also send out a free weekly email newsletter of additional, exclusive content. You can subscribe to the free weekly email newsletter here.
Literary Hub/LitHub Daily
I love LitHub and their free daily email newsletter. It is eclectic and interesting and I always find something in their every-morning offering that interests me.
And then every Sunday, you receive a Literary History post including a summary listing of the past week’s stories in case you missed any of the daily emails. Very helpful. No writer or ardent reader should be without LitHub Daily.
You can check out the Literary Hub website here and you can also subscribe to Lit Hub Daily—it’s free—in the righthand sidebar of the home page. Well worth it. As well, you can also become a paying member of Literary Hub to support the cause and gain access to even more benefits and content.
The Guardian Bookmarks
I think The Guardian covers the books/publishing world very well (check it out here). But every Sunday morning, they also send, right to my email inbox, The Guardian Bookmarks, a free weekly newsletter with an interesting selection of bookish stories. And did I mention that it’s free? Yes I think I did.
You can sign up for The Guardian Bookmarks here.
Penguin Random House Canada
My own publisher issues a free newsletter that seems to arrive at least weekly and sometimes more often.
You can subscribe by clicking here or on the image above and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Simon and Schuster Canada
Simon and Schuster Canada also sends out frequent emails with information about upcoming books and other tidbits. Click here or on the image below to subscribe.
Quill & Quire (some content paywalled)
Q&Q has been covering the book world in Canada for many, many years. They send out a free newsletter but some of the stories are hidden behind a paywall.
BookNet Canada/BookNet News
BookNet Canada provides important services to the publishing and bookselling sectors. They also conduct interesting research that tracks bookselling trends in Canada. And they issue free newsletters, usually weekly. I would think these tend to be of more value to those working in publishing and bookselling, but some of their research, particularly when focused on who is buying books in Canada, yields helpful insights for writers. Click here or on the image below to subscribe.
CBC Books
I’ve always been a big fan of CBC Books and have it set as my default homepage.
Their regular free books newsletter is certainly worth a subscription. Click here or on the image above, then, to subscribe, scroll down a ways until you find and check the CBC Books newsletter box.
Note: The New York Times Book Review is conspicuously absent from this listing and that’s simply because the NYTBR stories are sequestered behind a pay wall. I love the NYTBR and had a subscription for years, but they don’t offer very much content for free anymore. You can sign up for a weekly NYTBR email, but it only offers quick summaries of what’s in that week’s Book Review but when you click on the story links the pay wall appears.
Wrapping up…
A quick update: So far, I’ve written 45,000 words in the manuscript for my 10th novel, The Marionette. More to go, but so far, so good.
Thanks for stopping by and happy free newsletter reading. I’ll be back in two weeks. And while we’re on the topic of free newsletters, this one is also free! Here’s hoping you’ll subscribe. Many thanks.
An historic Canadian publisher and a writing legend couldn’t have done better for us.
Congrats to you both
Congrats on the book deal -- and the book progression!