Poets? Poet’s? Poets’?
So I gather there are some questions about Taylor Swift, poets, and apostrophes.
Should it be The Tortured Poet’s Department? That would be correct if there is only one tortured poet in residence. Perhaps it’s a very small college.
Should it be The Tortured Poets’ Department? That would be correct if there is more than one tortured poet present. A seminar, maybe.
Should it be The Tortured Poets Department, as on the album cover? This is quite correct also, just as long as there is, again, more than one tortured poet. In this case, instead of a department belonging to tortured poets, it’s a department of or pertaining to tortured poets–kind of like the housewares department is not a department that belongs to housewares, but a department where housewares are relevant.
(There’s an argument for The Tortured-Poets Department, but honestly, it just looks clunky and awkward.)
Should it be The Department of Tortured Poets so that we don’t have to have this conversation anymore? I vote for this. When in a total grammatical quandary, rephrase!
Manticore
Working hard on revisions for The Griffin’s Boy…so will just share one fun legendary creature: the manticore. Body of a lion, head of a human, said to devour its victims completely and leave not even a bone behind.
Read MoreBecause Everybody Likes Quizzes
Check out this New York Times quiz of lines from classic middle grade and young adult books!
(Pet peeve–middle grade is ages 8-12. The first three Harry Potters are classic middle grade. Young adult is for ages 12 and up. Anything by Robert Cormier is classic young adult. People (I’m looking at you, New York Times) use young adult for all novels written for kids, and it’s not accurate. Thank your for listening to this public service announcement.)
Why We Do School Visits
And this, my friends, is why you want to invite an author to your kid’s school.
In case you have any difficulty with the handwriting, it reads:
“Dear Ms. Sarah, Thank you for showing us poetry. Sometimes I practice at home. Now I’m in love with poetry. Thank you for everything.”
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Audiobooks and Spotify
Well this is…horrifying? I think this is horrifying.
Spotify is going to offer audiobooks? This is nice.
Spotify is only going to pay authors the full royalty if someone listens to the entire book? This is…alarming.
Royalties are small enough already. Not everyone knows that an author typically gets 10% of the price of a hardcover book and 6% of a paperback. (If we’re talking about a picture book, those royalties are split between author and illustrator.) But at least you get that entire amount even if somebody only reads a chapter or two.
Maybe this will be a delightful way to open up a huge new market and get lots and lots of new listeners…but I don’t feel I can be blamed for being skittish. It just seems like a way to whittle down the already small share of profit that goes to people who build up the creative work that allows platforms like Spotify to profit. (Except apparently they’ve yet to turn a profit? This also alarms me.)
Read MoreIllustrator for The Griffin’s Boy!
I’m so excited to announce that Anna Aparicio Català is going to be doing cover and interior art for The Griffin’s Boy! I just love her lively, fluid, energetic line work and her utterly sweet animals. It will be a gorgeous book!
Sarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly