Why some authors burn their work (This week in books)

This week! Books!

First off, a quick housekeeping matter. I’ve been working on some changes to the blog under the hood! These include:

• Last week we moved over to a new server so hopefully the pesky outages we’ve had will cease to be a thing.
• I’ll be launching a new home page at www.nathanbransford.com
• The URL structure of blog posts will be changing from nathanbransford.com/* to www.nathanbransford.com/blog/*

If everything goes well you shouldn’t notice a thing and all your old bookmarks should still work. But if you ever spot a broken link or if something goes wonky, please reach out to me!

Now then. It was a bit of a quiet week out there in books land, but I still have some links for you to enjoy.

When I’m in the depths of revision fatigue… I’m not going to lie, I’m occasionally tempted to just light everything on fire. LitHub took a look at authors who actually went through with it. Why some writers burn their work.

Authors who have previously self-published a book are sometimes tempted to rewrite it and try again with traditional publishing. Agent Jessica Faust talks about why that probably isn’t a good idea.

Also from Jessica: Top ten query tips!

After a lot of controversy, the Romance Writers of America’s RITA awards are no more. Say hello to The Vivian.

And Salman Rushdie has taken some of his quarantine time to engage in a time-honored literary tradition: beefing with critics.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. Camino Winds by John Grisham
2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
3. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
4. If It Bleeds by Stephen King
5. Walk the Wire by David Baldacci

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. Untamed by Glennon Doyle
2. Becoming by Michelle Obama
3. The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
4. Educated by Tara Westover
5. The Great Influenza by John M. Barry

Young adult hardcover:

1. The Betrothed by Kiera Cass
2. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
3. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare
4. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
5. Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

Middle grade hardcover:

1. The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate
2. The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids
3. The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids
4. Wonder by R.J Palacio
5. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid by Jeff Kinney

This week on the blog

Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:

• Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
• Nominate Your Query for a Critique on the Blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• How do you plan to publish your work in progress? (2020)
• How to diagnose big picture problems in your novel
• Let a scene unfold (page critique)

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Twitter
• Follow my page on Facebook
• Join the Facebook Group
• Check out the Bransforums

Comment! of! the! week! goes to John Shea, who has some ideas for how to publish his WIP:

Two words, people! STONE TABLETS! These new-fangled papyrus scrolls will never catch on.

And finally, The New Yorker has really been killing it lately with its “Nature: It’s Weird!” coverage. Highly recommend this article on mushrooms and this one on eels.

Have a great weekend!

Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!

For my best advice, check out my online classes, my guide to writing a novel and my guide to publishing a book.

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Art: Photo by me. Follow me on Instagram!