Bestselling author William Bernhardt provides a roundup of the latest news of interest to writers, followed by an interview with literary scouting agent for Franklin & Siegel, Erin Hennicke.

In the news roundup, Bernhardt discusses:
1) the results from PBS's Great American Read, and what writers can learn by studying the list of books selected by readers;

2) the pricing scheme for John Grisham's latest novel, which suggests that the Big Five New York publishers are trying to drive readers away from digital books and back to print;

3) the first American dwarsliggers, horizontal books about the size of a cellphone and no thicker than your thumb, designed to simulate the experience of reading on a phone but in a print format; and

4) a new Chinese bot that translated a 300-page English novel in thirty seconds with a 95% accuracy rate, requiring only a week of subsequent work by a translator, and the ramifications this innovation may have for writing enterpreneurs.

In the interview segment, Bernhardt talks with Erin Hennicke, who is the Director of TV/Film for the largest literary scouting agency in New York, Franklin & Siegel. Hennicke explains what she looks for when she considers books and stories for adaptations, and how you can make your book more attractive to Hollywood. Hennicke will speak and hear pitch at the next Red Sneaker writers conference, now called WriterCon 2019. Early bird discounts are now available for early registrants at www.writercon.org. Bernhardt will also host a small-group seminar in New Orleans December 9-13. For more information, visit: https://www.williambernhardt.com/writing-retreats.