October 2004

News Review

Man Booker winner is 'exciting, brilliantly written', but why does the prize work better than America's National Book Awards?
‘The world’s most popular search engine has swallowed four billion web pages, and is now coming after books. The prospect is both thrilling and frightening for the book industry…’ The Bookseller
News Review looks at the boom in self-publishing and asks: is this really a good route to publication for writers who can't find a publisher?
This week's Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest annual gathering of the book world, but it's strictly business only...

Comment

Can an advance be too big? 'But instead of doing a extravagant champagne-for-everyone, I thought: Oh...my... God.' Hari Kunzru
'All too often, it isn't the editor who calls the shots, but the dark forces of sales and marketing - the engine room of the business.' Simon Trewin of PFD, in the Independent on Sunday
‘Learning how to type does not make you a writer... I’m in my late 30s now and I’m still working in those messy little notebooks I had when I was six.’ Donna Tartt in the Observer
'At its best, internet reviewing provides a refreshing directness, a place where people say what they like and dislike without any of the baggage of literary criticism or knowledge of previous form, or grammar... ' Ben McIntyre, The Times

Writers' Quotes

‘Being a writer in Hollywood is like going into Hitler's Eagle's Nest with a great idea for a Bar Mitzvah.'
David Mamet

How Not to Write a Novel; Confessions of a Midlist Author

Our seventh excerpt from David Armstrong's entertaining book:

On How-to books:

Writers are 'a mixed bunch, male and female, British and American, tall, and short, gay and hetero, but they have one thing in common: none of them has learned to do what it is they do by reading a book about it.'

Print on Demand self-publishing

'An author willing to gamble on this self-publishing model can make ten times as much per book sold as compared with royalty income from a major trade house.' We reprint an article from Foner Books showing how, unless your books are bestsellers, publishing your own book can make much more money for you.

Picture libraries

Sourcing pictures for your book and links to the online picture libraries which allow you to find what you want quickly and easily.

Review of Storybase writing software

'The value of this software depends on how much you need to generate the emotional framework for the characters in your story.'

Check it out to see if you want help with defining the essence of your story.

NAWE conference

Details of this autumn's conference in York, England

NAWG 2004

Report on the National Association of Writers' Groups get-together in Durham

Bob's Journal goes into its 4th volume

Bob debates the relative importance of Balliol College, Oxford and the city library:

''Which, I wonder, has contributed most to the well-being of the nation? Which could we least do without? Which, if it came to it, would I choose to keep?'

This week

Agency listings

New this month - the UK, US and international agents' listings from the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook

Writing and publishing a biography

Chas Jones draws on his own experience to offer advice on how to go about it.

Writers' Forum Column

Sir James Barrie - 'When asked to join a committee to raise funds for the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children he declined but then, with typical Scottish financial perception, he generously granted the copyright of his play Peter Pan to the hospital... all proceeds direct to the hospital with the minimum of administration.'

From the Editor's View, written by the Editor of Writers' Forum magazine.

We Watch the web for writers

Our latest article updates our piece on Trojan horses with the latest scams

WritersPrintShop

Our design, print and distribution service for self-publishers.