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The site is normally updated every Monday (London dateline).

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12 May 2008

	What is the digital future? Digitisation at the London Book Fair is a report on the excellent LBF seminars on digitisation, the subject of the moment as far as the book world is concerned. The first of two articles focusing on issues most relevant to writers.
	'When it comes to women's fiction, critics have a condescension chromosome. The demeaning label chick-lit says it all.' Kathy Lette in The Times, quoted in our Comment column.
	Are print encyclopedias dead? It rather looks as if they might be. News Review looks at Brockhaus and Britannica.
	Are you thinking about taking out a subscription to a magazine for writers? Our magazine review section can help you decide which one to go for.
	Our latest new pages cover Getting your poetry published and putting together Your submission package.
	‘But those who cannot write, and those who can, All rhyme, and scrawl, and scribble, to a man.’ Alexander Pope from our listing of Writers' Quotes.

5 May 2008

	J K Rowling's recent appearance in court to protect her copyright raises key issues relating to copyright infringement and 'passing off'. News Review investigates.
	Our latest Success story looks at Colin Cotterill's unusual route to authorship and his entertaining website, featuring ‘The Writing Chappy’, ‘The Cartooning Chappy’ and ‘The normal having a life Chappy’.
	‘All prizes have eligibility criteria: nationality, or ethnic origin, or language, or country of residence, or subject matter, or religion. For those who see the world in negative terms, prizes celebrate the achievements of one group at the expense of another.' Kate Mosse defends the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. Quoted in our Comment column.
	An Editor's Advice is a new series is based on the advice Maureen Kincaid Speller, a long-serving WritersServices freelance editor, has given writers over the years. The series covers Dialogue, doing further drafts, genre writing, planning, points of view, autobiography and travel and manuscript presentation.
	Our latest Writing opportunity is the slightly elusive 2nd Annual RBA International Crime Fiction Award, which offers a substantial125,000 euros (£97,718 or $192,739) in prize money for the winning crime novel as an advance against publication.
	'Writing is a dog's life, but the only life worth living.' Gustave Flaubert's conclusion can be found in our Writers' Quotes, along with hundreds of other interesting remarks.
	The May magazine is ready!

21 April 2008

Top Ten Tips for nonfiction writers from Julie Wheelwright, programme director, MA Creative Writing Nonfiction provides a helpful checklist for all writers.

News Review on the Bologna and London Book Fairs: 'In summary, these were two lively and upbeat book fairs, showing that the global book business is in surprisingly strong shape.'

We've added some new quotes to Rotten Rejections On Jack Kerouac: 'His frenetic and scrambled prose perfectly express the feverish travels of the Beat Generation. But is that enough? I don't think so.'

Are you considering getting your work copy edited or proof-read? This article explains the difference.

'Done badly, fantasy is more risible than any other genre, perhaps because there is such a fine line between heroic endeavour and bathos.' Amanda Craig in The Times, quoted in our Comment column.

Have you ever thought of setting up your own small business? Ros Jay's The Golden Rules of Starting a Small Business is from our archives and is just as useful now a it was when we first published it.

'Literature, with a capital L, unless preserved by Time, has always been in a bad way, but books considered as merchandise have not.' Denys Val Baker in The Author, in our Writers' Quotes.

14 April 2008

The third article in our series Changes in the book trade deals with Print on demand and the Long Tail, looking at how they are changing the economics of publishing, enabling backlist to be kept in print and book buyers to source a vast range of books.

Earlier articles dealt with Bookselling and Publishing.

News Review focuses on the agency world. Agent Pat Kavanagh says: 'You can’t be thinking about what’s happening to the share price, or whether shareholders are going to be cross with you. All that matters is doing the right job for your writers, even if it means turning something down that’s very lucrative.’

'Malorie Blackman and Benjamin Zephaniah may entice a more ethnically mixed audience, but the answer can’t be black writers for black kids and white for white. We cannot be cosy about the debate any more.’ Anthony Horowitz, author of Snakehead in the Bookseller, quoted in our Comment column.

There's still time to seize our latest Writing Opportunity, which is the Templar Poetry Pamphlet & Collection Competition 2008, open to all poets writing in English and closing on 30 April.

If you're trying to get your work ready for publication, have a look at our 16 Services, everything from Reports to Scriptwriitng assessment, from Copy editing to Manuscript Polishing and including work intended for Children.

'I've been reading reviews of my stories for twenty-five years, and can't remember a single useful point in any of them, or the slightest good advice. The only reviewer who ever made an impression on me was Skabichevsky, who prophesied that I would die drunk in the bottom of a ditch.' Anton Chekhov, in our Writers' Quotes.

7 April 2008

The last extract from The ABC Checklist for New Writers deals with titles and why they matter: 'The title of your work is the first thing the editor will read and, if it doesn’t grab her attention, she may put down your submission in favour of one more intriguingly titled.'

The five earlier extracts deal with Agents, Editors, Keeping records, Marketing and Professionalism. The book provides an essential guide for writers.

The Friday Project goes into liquidation and Borders US puts itself up for sale. News Review looks at the latest bad news from the book world.

Competing against 8,000 anonymous entries, the Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition was won this year by Sinead Morrissey, with a superb poem, which you can find on this page.

Do you need to carry out research for your writing? Here's how to use the web as a research tool, or you could read our review of Ann Hoffmann's excellent Research for Writers.

‘I was in the airport lounge at Heathrow, wanting something big and juicy for the sun lounger and looking in the commercial women’s fiction section.' Novelist Tasmina Perry in The Times on why she's contributing to the return of the bonkbuster, in our Comment column.

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As Goethe wrote: 'The world is so great and rich, and life so full of variety, that you can never lack occasions for poems.' Find this and hundreds of interesting thoughts in our Writers' Quotes.

31 March 2008

What is Creative Commons? When WritersServices first covered Creative Commons in Inside Publishing, we felt we hadn't explained how it worked as clearly as we'd hoped to do. Now Frances Pinter, who works as a consultant on the project, explains this highly significant new approach to the licensing of rights.

'Skellig was taken by the first publisher to read it, won a string of prizes, and has been published in 30 languages. I was an overnight success after almost 20 years.' David Almond in The Times, quoted in our Comment column.

The 2007 Diagram Prize winner of the prize for the oddest book title of the year - a barmy winner from a vintage crop.

Won’t anyone stick to what they’re good at? London literary agency PFD is setting up an agreement with print on demand printer Lightning Source to bring their authors’ work back into print. News Review reports.

Having problems with Repetitive Strain Injury? Check your symptoms in our Health Hazards series before they get any worse.

‘There’s a lot of tasteful writing out there – nice, tidy, clean – but sometimes it’s excess, rawness and the unpolished that work.’ Dan Vyleta, author of Pavel & I, quoted in our Writers' Quotes.

24 March 2008

Less successful writers’ income is under increasing pressure from the focus on bestsellers and the Internet. News Review finds some more positive trends.

Our latest success story shows how Russell Ash's website for his title Potty, Fartwell and Knob, Extraordinary but True Names of British People has helped to create a buzz and make it into a bestseller.

'My aim, as a poet in the community, is always the same: to make people go away thinking ‘Is that what poetry is? I can do that!’' Ian McMillan's article on The Poet in the Community: A little adventure on 57 Productions’ website, is quoted from in our Comment column.

Our Writing Opportunity this week is the Dylan Thomas Prize for Young Writers who for a fee of £100 can submit commercially published work in a number of genres for the £60,000 prize.

If you've been brushing up your work over the break, have a look at our Services to help you get your work ready for submission or look through the hundreds of pages listed in our Advice for Writers.

And the last word goes to Francois-Rene, Vicomte de Chateaubriand, in our Writers' Quotes: An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.'

17 March 2008

Professionalism is the subject of the fourth extract from the ABC Checklist for New Writers, an indispensable reference for every writer.

Half of all book sales in the UK are at a discount but 6% more books were sold in 2007 than in 2006. News Review also has good news on book sales and the Internet.

The shortlist for the wonderful Diagram Prize for 2007 has been announced, giving us a whacky selection of the oddest titles of the year.

'Why pay £16.99 ($35) for a novel by someone you've never heard of when you could buy three or four paperbacks for the same price?' Scott Pack of the Friday Project on the hardback/paperback debate in the Bookseller, quoted in our Comment column.

Two opportunities directed to UK Black and Minority ethnic writers are the focus of this week's Writing Opportunities.

The 19-part Inside Publishing series gives you an insight to what's going on in publishing. From Advances and royalties to Copyright, this is the place to find the inside story on publishing.

'I dislike modern memoirs. They are generally written by people who have either entirely lost their memories, or have never done anything worth remembering.' Oscar Wilde in our Writers' Quotes.

10 March 2008

The second article in our new series Changes in the book trade deals with Publishing. Chris Holifield looks at the book trade and investigates how fundamental changes in how it works are affecting writers.

Do reading promotions work? News Review looks at the UK's World Book Day and the National Year of Reading and examines some figures which show that Quick Reads have changed attitudes to books.

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'We whine a lot, but it's not so hard. You stay in fancy hotels, and go to signings where people buy your books and want your autograph and tell you lots of nice things…' Harlan Coben on authors on the road in Publishing News, quoted in our Comment column.

Open to all unpublished writers writing in English, the fiendishly complicated Bookhabit Competition provides our latest Writing Opportunity.

Are you looking for a book to help with your writing? Our WritersBookStall lists over 200 titles, indexed by subject and available from Amazon, which could help you on your way.

Jane Austen on the novel: 'Oh it is only a novel... In short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.' In our Writers' Quotes.

3 March 2008

Marketing: how to promote your book is the fourth extract from the ABC Checklist for New Writers, an indispensable reference for the budding writer.

C S Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the best children’s book of all time, according to a recent poll conducted by the British charity Booktrust. News Review looks at how old favourites live on.

Our latest Links update has refreshed our 21 sections of links reviews and listings, which range from Writers Organisations to Writers' Web Resources. They've have been updated with some useful new sites.

Peter Carey in The Times on teaching creative writing, quoted in our Comment column.: 'I tell them to forget about the business… They'll figure it out in the end. If they haven't got talent, you're not going to give it to them, but they will have it because you've chosen them.'

Our new Writing Opportunity is the Mslexia Women's Poetry Competition, open to all women, to be judged by Carol Ann Duffy and closing on 25 April.

Michael Legat's superb Factsheets provide a superb brief introduction to writing. From Revision to Plagiarism and Copyright to Plotting the novel.

‘I don’t believe in writers’ block. Plumbers don’t get plumbers’ block. Why should writing be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working.’ Philip Pullman, in our Writers' Quotes.

The March Magazine is ready!

25 February 2008

Have you ever wondered whether there’s any point in Entering competitions? Someone must be winning, but why is it somehow never you? Our checklist helps you to review how you approach competitions, to see if you can achieve a better result.

'The recent news of the $300m (£153m) Amazon purchase of Audible, the digital audiobooks site, has made it the market leader.' News Review looks at the implications of Amazon's acquisition and also reports on the smash success of cellphone novels in Japan.

We've updated many of the the 90+ pages about our self-publishing service, WritersPrintShop, making this the best online resource for self-publishers. If you're wondering whether self-publishing is for you, this is the place to find out.

'When most books are sold on the net as downloads, how will this change their content? My hunch is that will finally spell the end of the novel.' Mark Booth in the Independent on Sunday on how the new literary form will arise on the Internet.

Our Writers' opportunity this week is the latest in Julia McCutchen's innovative series of of teleseminar interviews, available anywhere in the world down the phone. This one deals with How to Promote Your Writing Online.

In case this is all too much new technology, our pages on Finding an Agent and Working with an Agent may be what you're looking for.

And there's Dorothy Parker in reflective mode, in our Writers' Quotes: 'Why, after all, should readers never be harrowed? Surely there is enough happiness in life without having to go to books for it.'

18 February 2008

The third of six extracts from The ABC Checklist for New Writers by Lorraine Mace and Maureen Vincent-Northam gives essential but unglamorous advice on Keeping Records - why you need to keep on top of submissions and financial information.

'The e-book arrives - or does it? This week has seen two big publishers announcing initiatives to prepare for the e-book world. At the same time, battle has been joined on e-book royalties.' News Review reports.

Have you ever thought about setting up your own blog? This week's Writing Opportunity links to advice on doing just that.

'You can't mess around - everything has to be plausible and has to have happened, in some form, in the real world. So, I like my books to be open-ended.' Stephen Leather, on writing thrillers in our Comment column.

Are you trying to publish your poetry? If so, our review of 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell by publisher Chris Hamilton-Emery and our article on Getting your poetry published might be what you're looking for.

'Writing well is at one and the same time good thinking, good feeling and good expression; it is having wit, soul and taste, all together.' George-Louis Leclerc, Comte du Buffon, in our Writers' Quotes.

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11 February 2008

Changes in the book trade is a new series by Chris Holifield which looks at the book trade and investigates how fundamental changes in how it works are affecting writers. The first article deals with Bookselling.

'The writers have fought their corner and established their importance to the entertainment industry, as well as their key role as content-originators who must be paid for their contribution.' News Review on the end of the Writers' Guild strike.

'Publishers are suspicious of activities they don't engage in themselves, and it is increasingly up to the author/agent to prove an unfamiliar market exists.' Alison Baverstock, author of How to Market Books, in Publishing News, quoted in our Comment column.

Our WritersBookstall offers over 200 books for writers, so it's a good place to find a book to help you work on your writing.

Our latest Writing Opportunity is the Peterloo Poetry Competition, open to all and closing date 1 March 2008.

'Writers must fortify themselves with pride and egotism as best they can. The process is analogous to using sandbags and loose timbers to protect a house against flood. Writers are vulnerable creatures like anyone else. For what do they have in reality? Not sandbags, not timbers. Just a flimsy reputation and a name.' Brian Aldiss, quoted in our Writers' Quotes.

4 February 2008

The second extract from The ABC Checklist for New Writers deals with Editors - who they are and what they do and provides a useful summary covering book and magazine editors.

The Association of Writers and Writing Programs now has 400 US colleges and universities as members. News Review looks at the worldwide boom in creative writing courses.

Following on from last week's article on how to use Google placemarks, Chas Jones shows you how to add overlays to Google Earth, using photos or creating a tour of your chosen location.

If you're trying to get your work ready for publication, have a look at our 16 Services, everything from Reports to Scriptwriitng assessment, from Copy editing to Manuscript Polishing.

'Finding an agent can be even harder than finding a publisher...' Mandy Little, MD of Watson Little in the Sunday Times, quoted in our Comment columm.

This week's Writing Opportunity is the Chapter One Novel Competition, open to UK residents, closing date 29 February.

‘A writer is a maker, not a man of action: his private life is of no concern to anybody but himself, his family and his friends.’ W H Auden, discussing literary biography, in our Writers' Quotes.

The February Magazine is ready!

28 January 2008

International Book Fairs 2008 - our newly-updated list of 2008 book fairs around the world.

Google Placemarks - Google’s wonderful earth mapping offers you a way to supply a graphic to mark a particular location, say a venue for an event you are organising, or where you live. Chas Jones shows you how to use it.

'Joan Brady, the distinguished author of Theory of War, which won the Whitbread Book of the Year in 1993, has made the astonishing claim that the fumes from a factory next door to her home made her writing more downmarket.' News Review reports.

'For children who have difficulty with reading or just aren't interested, books based on familiar programming can be the vital hook that turns them into readers.' Sally Floyer in the Bookseller on TV tie-ins and reading, quoted in our Comment column.

Just a reminder that there's still time to enter our own Poetry Writers' Yearbook Competition, closing on 31 January.

Our Reviews section covers many books of interest to writers, including our Review of 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell. We said: 'A self-help book for poets, providing 101 suggestions about how develop your career as a poet and sell your work. If you’re serious about selling your poems, this book is a must.'

Our latest Writing Opportunity is the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Competition 2008, open to all and closing on 15 February.

'You who write, choose a subject suited to your abilities and think long and hard on what your powers are equal to and what they are unable to perform.' Horace, in our Writers' Quotes.

21 January 2008

This week we feature the first of six extracts from a useful new book, The ABC Checklist for New Writers: How to Open Doors and Get Noticed the First Time Around by Lorraine Mace and Maureen Vincent-Northam: Agents - When and how to approach them

The latest figures show growth in indie booksellers and their sales. The Independent Alliance has shown a way forward for smaller publishers. News Review looks at the good news and how it affects writers.

In our latest My Say shortly-to-be-published American author Wendy Walker on her path to the writer's life as a stay-home mom: 'How was I going to write an entire novel in the midst of the sleepless nights and frenetic days that constituted my life? It was, ironically, from this core-shaking doubt that the four characters in my first novel were born.'

'The sorry fact is that the conventional publishing industry is currently running round like a headless chicken, giving readers what they think it wants, and getting it wrong, and losing money hand over fist. ' Fay Weldon castigating publishers in Writing and Education, quoted in our Comment column.

Sign up for our free newsletter to keep in touch with what's new on the site and the latest news from the book world.

And Gunter Grass, in our Writers' Quotes, has the last word: 'Even bad books are books and therefore sacred.'

14 January 2008

'The current controversy surrounding cuts in grants to regularly-funded organisations by Arts Council England has raised the interesting question of whether publishing should be publicly funded.' News Review investigates state funding for literature.

Our competition sponsored by the Poetry Writers' Yearbook is still running till 31st January.

A & C Black are running their own competition related to the book.

You can also read the excellent poem by last year's winner and an article by the judge, the book's editor Gordon Kerr, on entering competitions.

'It is the storyteller, the dream-maker, that is our phoenix, that represents us at our best, and at our most creative.' Doris Lessing, in her Nobel Laureate's address, quoted in our Comment column.

Hot off the press, the winner of the T S Eliot Prize for Poetry, chosen on 14th January from nearly a hundred poetry collections published during the year.

'Writing is not a job description. A great deal of it is luck. Don't do it if you are not a gambler because a lot of people devote many years of their lives to it (for little reward). I think people become writers because they are compulsive wordsmiths.' Margaret Atwood in The Times, quoted in our Writers' Quotes.

7 January 2008

Bob's last column for WritersServices reflects on writing and the Internet: 'Still haven’t broken through my writer’s block. No longer even sure I want to. Why write? What’s writing for? Have absolutely no idea. How can one add anything worthwhile to the work of writers like Oscar Wilde? Yet the internet grows more vast by the minute with the words of the millions who are certain their opinions are worth airing.' In his Journal.

'Christmas 2007 was not the disaster that had been feared in the book trade.' News Review looks at how books might fare in a recession.

Our second Writer's Success Story is Janey Jones' Princess Poppy series of children's books.

'At the beginning there were people who said "She only got this deal because she's his daughter." Cecelia Ahern, daughter of the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, on having a famous father, in the Bookseller. In our Comment column.

Are you a creative writing tutor or student? Our Education Resource Centre contains nearly 80 pages formatted ready for use as handouts or in course material, freely available as downloads from the site.

'I have nothing to declare except my genius.' Oscar Wilde, on passing through the New York Customs House, in our Writers' Quotes.

1 January 2008

Bob wanders round London, thinking about the British Library and comes up with a Big Idea: 'Any individual who requires ID must simply memorize a single unique publication from the British Library... Literacy will, of necessity, become universal.' In his Journal.

News Review looks at the ongoing hunger for books and the success of Book Aid International, BookCrossings and BookMooch.

We've added some new entries to our Rotten Rejections, which show how famous authors' books were initially rejected by publishers. On Carrie by Stephen King:'We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.'

'There are four wars raging today that are changing the nature of publishing and putting us in the driver's seat: discoverability, print on demand (PoD), repositories, and e-ink readers. Evan Schnittman of OUP in Publishing News, quoted in our Comment column.

This week's Writing Opportunity is Chapter One Promotions Novel Writing Competition, closing date 29 February 2008.

If you've been working on your book over the holiday and are now ready to submit, here are some guidelines on Preparing Your Manuscript and putting together Your Submission Package.

'When you read a book, you're totally lost in your own private world, and society says that's a good and a wonderful thing. But if you play a game by yourself, it's this weird, f***ed-up socially damaging activity.' Douglas Coupland, in our Writers' Quotes.

17 December 2007

News Review on the clash of the titans, as Wikipedia squares up to Google and they both announce major new plans to dominate the delivery of information on the web.

Enjoy some early entries for the 2007 Diagram Prize including How to Write a How to Write Book (for those self help fanatics) and If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start with Your Legs.

'The most important job of a writer is to tell the truth and I feel I've done that… ' James Lee Burke on Katrina in Publishing News, quoted in our Comment column.

This week's Writing Opportunity for UK residents is at £15,000 the richest short story competition in the world.

Our An Editor's Advice series is by Maureen Kincaid Speller, a long-serving WritersServices freelance editor, and covers Dialogue, Doing further drafts, Genre writing, Planning, Points of view, Autobiography and Presentation.

'Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.' T S Eliot in our Writers' Quotes.

10 December 2007

Enter our new Poetry Writers' Yearbook Competition, with copies of the book for the winners.

Our article from the book is 'a useful and practical guide to the fast-growing world of the poetry ezine and epoetry'.

Chas Jones warns about the sinister Botnets which have taken over huge numbers of computers across the world, and shows you how to avoid being turned into a cyber zombie.

As Chinese author Jian Rong wins the inaugural $10,000 Man Asian Literary prize for his novel Wolf Totem, News Review focuses on the breathtakingly big Chinese book market.

We've just added another another piece of glowing praise to our Endorsements page.

'The best consequence of a novel selling well is that it gives you the freedom to carry on writing for a while longer and, hey, it's a great problem to have.' Kate Mosse on life after Labyrinth in Publishing News, quoted in our Comment column.

Working with an agent shows you how to get the most out of this key relationship. Preparing for Publication is a run-through of what will happen after you find a publisher, with specific information on the stages your manuscript goes through on its way to publication.

‘I feel that criticism is a letter to the public which the author, since it is not directed to him, does not have to open and read.' Rainer Maria Rilke from Letters to a Young Poet, in our Writers' Quotes.

3 December 2007

What's happening on the web? Webmaster Chas Jones writes about a ‘joe job’ - a spam attack - on WritersServices. Spam and some serious ill effects

'Ghostwriting has been very much in the news recently, with the host of celebrity memoirs fuelled by the public desire to read the inside story of the lives of the rich and famous.' News Review investigates the secrets of the ghostwriting fraternity.

'I'm here to answer reader expectations and my readers want a good feeling at the end of a book… Having grown up in category romance, you have to build an audience and then keep your name in front of it.' Debbie Macomber, in Publishing News, quoted in our Comment column.

A new writers' opportunity is literaturetraining's downloadalbe pdf with a 20-page listing of organisations, websites, magazines, publications and information sources in the UK.

Looking for an agent? Check out our new UK, US and International agency listings from the 2008 Writers' and Artists' Yearbook.

'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.' E L Doctorow in our Writers' Quotes.

The December Magazine is ready!

26 November 2007

'Why do aspiring writers want to write? Because we want to give up our jobs, because we want to be rich, because we want to be famous, because we have a burning need to entertain – lots of reasons, of course, but they all essentially boil down to one: we think it will make us happier.' Bob Ritchie in his Journal.

Does the Kindle herald a revolution in the book world? Have we arrived at what Evan Schnittman, Oxford University Press’s VP of Business Development, called in this week's Publishing News ‘the most significant moment in the history of e-books’? News Review jumps in.

Chas Jones' latest article on Audio formats helps you choose the best of the many available audio formats to use in your own sound recording.

It's part of our extensive new Audio Publishing section, which guides you through recording your own work.

'There is no scientific proof that you will become a better, wiser person if you plough your way through Dostoevsky...' Nick Hornby in The Times, quoted in our Comment column.

Are you wondering whether your work needs Copy editing? Read our articles on the difference between Copy editing and Proof-reading and the British/American divide. Our own Copy editing service can cope with it all.

This week's Writing Opportunity is for Brendan Somers' one-day Screenwriting Masterclass at the Society of Authors in London on 10 December.

'There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily.' Anthony Trollope, quoted in our Writers' Quotes.

19 November 2007

The new 2008 Poetry Writers Yearbook is an essential book for poets which helps you to survive and thrive as a poet.

The Internet provides poets with an exciting new outlet for their poetry. We are reprinting an excellent article on poetry ezines and epoetry by Kostas Hrisos, founder and editor of Interpoetry.

Bob on the latest from Writers' Block, Rosetta Stone mouse-mats, bibliotherapy (what we used to call ‘reading to people’) and his thriller: 'Walking home through city resolve to archive my thriller. Finally accept it’s going nowhere. Maybe without it weighing me down I’ll at last overcome two-year writing block.' In his Journal.

'We are no longer trying to entice people who don’t really want to buy the hardback to do so.’ Is this the paperback revolution at last? News Review investigates Picador's move to paperback.

'A great irony of creative nonfiction is that one of its chief assets is also one of its chief liabilities. The fact is that in nonfiction, everything actually happened. It’s all true.' Richard Goodman on writing creative nonfiction in The Writer’s Chronicle, quoted in our Comment column.

We have over 1800 pages. Our Help for Writers page and Site map will help you find the information you need.

You've only got until 30 November to get your entries in for The New Writer prizes for 2007!

'The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat's mat is a story.' John le Carre in our Writers' Quotes.

5 November 2007

Now available on the WritersServices website, the fully updated 2008 Writers' and Artists' Yearbook UK, US and International agents.

The 2008 edition of this essential reference book has a foreword by Alexander McCall Smith, and new articles by Claire Tomalin and Jane Green, as well as new pieces on Writing a Blog and Audio Publishing.

At midnight on Saturday the Writers Guild of America, representing 12,000 writers, went on strike, demanding an increase in the fees writers receive from residuals and new technology. News Review investigates.

The 2008 T S Eliot Prize shortlist (the world's top poetry award) is announced and the Shadowing Scheme starts now.

'"You're quite good are telling stories - why don't you make one up?" So I screwed my courage to the sticking place. At the end of the session they all shouted: 'Oh, sir!' They wanted more. In one afternoon I understood what it is to be a storyteller.' Michael Morpurgo, quoted in our Comment column.

To keep up-to-date with the writers' world, sign up for our free email newsletter. Newsletter stats show you who else subscribes.

'Except a living man there is nothing more wonderful than a book! A message to us from the dead - from human souls we never saw, who lived, perhaps, thousands of miles away. And yet these, in those little sheets of paper, speak to us, arouse us, terrify us, teach us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers.' Charles Kingsley, in our Writers' Quotes

29 October 2007

Bob wakes early with the rewrite of a violent scene in his TV drama playing itself out in his head. Meanwhile: 'Am now the darling of Writers Block – as I could have predicted after my sentimental piece on the untimely death of a pet cat loosely based on an incident from my childhood is read out to the class.' In his Journal.

Why is there a compulsive need to write about dreadful real-life murders? And why are their perpetrators sometimes so keen to unveil their crimes? News Review looks at O J Simpson and Krystian Bala.

Oxfam Life Lines 2 Oxfam have just launched the second Life Lines CD featuring 56 poets reading their own work.

Have a look at our page of endorsements from writers who have visited the site and used what we provide.

‘A poem is direct, and charged with energy. Its language is not clichéd nor second-hand. Its meaning, whether force or revelation, or slow truth, is something we can actually use.' Jeanette Winterson in her wonderful column in The Times, quoted in our Comment column.

Have you tried our page on Using the web as a research tool? There's also Advanced Searching to help you make the most of this wonderful tool.

'Contrary to what many of you may imagine, a career in letters is not without its drawbacks - chief among them the unpleasant fact that one is frequently called upon to sit down and write.' Fran Lebowitz, quoted in our Writers' Quotes.

22 October 2007

Our Review of The Handbook of Creative Writing concluded: 'This is a serious handbook for people who approach the business of writing in a particular fashion, for whom simply ‘doing’ isn’t quite enough; it’s for people who need to know ‘why’ as well as ‘how’. On that basis, I have no hesitation in recommending it.'

News Review on the e-book: 'But when Amazon’s Kindle is launched we should see the answer to the questions which have been hanging in the air for several years: Will the e-book have a real impact on traditional book sales? Is this the future for books?'

'Biography is still, all too often, viewed as the skill of finding as many facts as possible and assembling them into a definitive likeness, as if each piece of paper, each interview, were a clue leading to a solution.' Laura Thompson, author of Agatha Christie: An English Mystery, quoted in our Comment column.

This week's Writing Opportunity is the bluechrome Short Story Collection Award, which is open to all. The winner will receive £250, plus an offer of a contract to have a collection of ten of their short stories published.

Finding an Agent helps you to get the right one for you, Working with an agent suggests how to get the best out of the relationship.

'I am inclined t think that as I grow older I will come to be infatuated with the art of revision, and there may come a time when I will dread giving up a novel at all.' Joyce Carol Oates, in our Writers' Quotes.

15 October 2007

Bob on Nobel prize-winner Doris Lessing ('gave up after only a few pages') and competition to his own writing: 'Now why did I have to look him up? Only to learn he’s just completed a two-part TV film which looks worryingly like the play I’ve been trying to write for the last three years.' In his Journal.

Our updated review of the Children's Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2008 concluded that it provided 'superb listings of publishers and agents specialising in children's books across the world' and that it is still 'a fantastically valuable resource for anyone who wants to venture into this highly specialised area of publishing'.

'Books are different, as people have always argued through the ages... The amount of time a £6 (around $12) book provides - 20 hours of entertainment? - means they are fantastic value.' Luke Johnson, whose company has just bought Borders UK, in the Observer, quoted in our Comment column.

News Review looks a a hugely successful children's book project, Bookstart, the new Booked Up and Richard and Judy’s Best Kids Books Ever.

Are you worried about writer's cramp? Our Health Hazards series will bring you up to speed on Repetitive Strain Injury and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and suggest how to avoid them.

'I've always just wanted to earn my living by writing. The best thing is to go into my study in the morning and put words together.' Robert Harris, whose new political novel The Ghost is causing a furore, quoted in our Writers' Quotes.

8 October 2007

The Frankfurt Book Fair, which starts on Wednesday, is trying to broaden its appeal and secure its position as the global market place for content. News Review reports.

Does all this talk of Frankfurt make you think about submitting your own book? Have a look at our Editorial Services to get your book into shape and there are also pages on Making submissions, Finding an agent and Avoiding rejection.

'A self-help book for poets, providing 101 suggestions about how develop your career as a poet and sell your work. If you’re serious about selling your poems, this book is a must.' Our Review of 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell by Chris Hamilton-Emery of Salt Publishing.

'E-books will drive book demand: Amazon is expanding the market, not cannibalising it; print-on-demand will drive book production; and agents and publishers will both thrive because the cake itself, online and in print, will expand.' Bookseller editorial, quoted in our Comment column.

Our latest Writing Opportunity is the Amazon First Breakthrough Novel Award, with a $25,000 contract with Penguin USA as a first prize. You have until 5th November to enter.

'I used to think all poets were Byronic.
They’re mostly wicked as a ginless tonic’
is Wendy Cope's view as expressed in Triolet, quoted in our Writers' Quotes.

1 October 2007

Macmillan New Writing 'With around 80 submissions a week and 7,000 manuscripts sent in to date, MNW is not short of material but is still looking for more good manuscripts.' Chris Holifield takes a look at this ground-breaking imprint which is looking for submissions from unpublished writers.

Bob, back again with his Writers' Block writers' group, muses on reading novels and what novelists are for: '"What are novelists for?" ... to make things right, to correct the mistakes of real life. Or, to put it slightly less charitably, to get one’s own back.’ In his Journal.

Writing has been rated the top job to dream of in a recent YouGov poll. But why? News Review investigates this surprising statistic.

Our most recent Writing Opportunity is the Academi International Poetry Competition, closing 1 February 2008, so plenty of time to enter.

'For three years, you're alone with your thoughts, then for three weeks you're thrown to the microphones in the name of 'publicity'. The modern writer's life is like a cross between that of the Venerable Bede and Naomi Campbell.' Sebastian Faulks, quoted in our Comment column.

Does your work need Copy-editing? But do you know what the difference is between Copy editing and Proof-reading? Or do you want American<