We tend only to talk about the great books we know which were murdered by being made into terrible films, but we forget that there is another angle to this story. Producers of film and TV are always looking for new ideas, and screenwriting veterans will tell you that it’s a hell of a lot easier for an unknown writer to sell a script if it’s based on a published book – presuming  you have...

I said something disgusting last week. I was describing a book I’d read to a friend. “I think it’s for men,” I said to her. “I mean, it was good. But it wasn’t great, and I kind of waded through some of it. I think it was probably written for men.” To my credit, I slapped myself in the face with a large fresh monkfish after I said this, because it’s a really stupid thing...

In less than two weeks, the writing.ie team and I will be Ryanairing off in no style whatsoever to the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, Yorkshire. I was there last year, and I still even remember some of it, despite the disgraceful amount of fun I had. Writing.ie will be live tweeting as much as possible, so that readers sadly unable to attend can get some of the flavour, wisdom and entertainment which characterises this festival of books....

Here’s a quick literary joke for you: ************************************************ Q.　What’s the difference between Literary Fiction and Crime? A.　Two empty coffins. ************************************************ Isn’t that a brilliant joke? Aren’t you rolling around the floor laughing? Isn’t it crammed full of the sharp wit of the universe? Of course it isn’t. But if enough people said it was, you might believe it. Which seems to be increasingly how Literary Fiction once worked. Nobody’s saying that Lit-Fic (I know such snazz-tags are annoying,...

I have a stack of books on two shelves in my hallway which I liked enough to buy, but not enough to actually start reading. How did we come to this? They haven’t lost or put on weight. They should look just as good as they did on the day I bought them. But something happened to them in the time that they languished, horizontally, rather than standing upright and proud, on those shelves. Somehow, they...

Many great authors will tell you that it’s really hard to be successful in publishing. They will talk about doing boring things such as having a really good idea, perfecting your craft, editing, designing an expert marketing strategy, and all that other tedious stuff. I’m here to tell you they’re wrong. In fact, it’s quite easy. Here are three agonisingly simple ways of writing a smash bestseller. Method 1:   Spontaneously enshrine the cultural zeitgeist which began defining an entire generation...

They say don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t judge a reader by book cover, either Sometimes it feels like we’re all boxed off into horribly homogenous categories. We’re segmented into target markets for fashion, food, cars, and even umbrellas. When it comes to books, it’s worse. We’re either into crime, sports autobiographies, romance, or hamburger history, but never all four. Everything must be packaged according to its genre, and there are labelling rules....