What's new 04

Writers' magazine

What's new 04

Log of the weekly changes on the site on 2004

This week's changes 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Some of the links are broken when items are archived - Please check the page address (url) and it should be fairly easy to find the original page or section.

30 December 2004

	Are you planning a bit of family history research over the holiday? check out our new page of links to the best sites. See also our page on Using the Web as a Research Tool.
	David Blow offers reassurance about Christmas in Publishing News: 'Shoppers will pile into the bookshops regardless of any qualms some booksellers might have about this year's range of seasonal bestsellers. They will come in droves. They always do. Wait and see.' From our Comment column.
	Deborah Lawrenson offers a cheering Good News update on her self-publishing success, as her book shoots up in value in the first edition book market.
	'It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.' S A Hayakawa on reading in our Writers' Quotes.
	Thinking about making a seasonal donation? There's still time to support Book Aid, WritersServices' Christmas charity which sends much-needed books to Africa and elsewhere.
	News Review in light-hearted mode on this year's Bad Sex Award, which draws attention to 'the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel'.
	If you're thinking of brushing up your writing skills, check out our reviews of writing books, including the new Children's Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, Screenwriting and The Creative Writing Coursebook, which can be ordered through the site.
	We'd like to send all our visitors our very best wishes for the festive season and the New Year. We'll return with our next update on 3rd January.

13 December 2004

	Bob's enjoying being back on EastEnders: 'Then write about what you know, goes the old adage. Rubbish, of course. If writers wrote only about what they know, writing would be a very dull occupation. Not to mention reading.' In his Journal.
	News Review looks at Christmas jitters in the book trade and at the effect of discounting on the UK market - and the opportunity it offers for American publishers.
	WritersServices' Christmas charity is Book Aid International, a really worthwhile attempt to get books to the millions who don't have any. Try their Reverse Book Club - 4 books for £5 a month and you never have a to receive a single book!
	Self-publishers using our WritersPrintShop can also sell their books through a new service provided by our just-launched online bookshop.
	Anita Shreve quoted in our Comment column on how being chosen by Oprah changed her life: 'She chose it because of its cover... It was very exciting, a little frightening to me...'
	'Poetry is not an assertion of truth, but the making of that truth more fully real to us.' T S Eliot, in our Writers' Quotes.

6 December 2004

	Our new survey investigates what you think about future formats for the written word. See also the fascinating results of the last survey on what new writers need - and your comments.
	Trenchant advice from agent-turned-author Carol Smith in our Comment column: 'Don't get it right, get it written. Most of all, believe in yourself.' From Writers' Forum magazine.
	‘When one of our authors sells a million books, we think he's a genius. When a book sells 20 million copies, we think we're geniuses.' Rupert Murdoch talking about The Purpose-Driven Life, in Writers' Quotes.
	'Reading work aloud is absolutely essential. There's something about hearing the words you've written, not merely within the confines of your imagination - in your head - but out in the air.' The ninth excerpt from David Armstrong's How not to write a novel deals with Reading Aloud.
	News Review on the clash of the titans - the launch of Google Scholar supported by the open access lobby and the large academic publishers who make their money out of selling subscriptions to online journals.
	John Johnson's Editor's View from Writers' Forum deals with the readability of the Booker list, John Humphrys' campaign for correct use of English and The Times going tabloid.
	Academi in Cardiff have announced a new international poetry competition, first prize £5,000.
	The December Magazine is ready!

29 November 2004

	My Say offers Phyllis McDuff's practical tips on Speaking for Writers and why it is so important as a way of publicising your book.
	'Children's writing is the Zeitgeist... When I was a child, the choice of titles was really limited. It's important that children like reading and the more choice there is for them, the better.' Philip Kerr, author of The Children of the Lamp in the Bookseller, quoted in our Comment column.
	Trying to decide about self-publishing? Our new page on doing a business plan shows you how to work out the economics for yourself.
	News Review looks at how the romantic novel has been forced to change, giving a new twist to the ‘boy meets girl’ plot - 'Girl saves the world and also meets boy’
	'It would be no loss to the world if most of the writers now writing had been strangled at birth.' Rebecca West's waspish comment in our Writers' Quotes
	Do you know you can sign up for our newsletter to get a weekly update of what's new on the site?

22 November 2004

	Check our our Review of the new Children's Writers' and Artists' Yearbook. Our reviewer Maureen Kincaid Speller said this was 'a fantastically valuable resource for anyone who wants to venture into this highly specialised area of publishing'.
	It's strange not to be writing for Eastenders any more... Bob ruminates sadly in his Journal: 'Non-fans, on the other hand, now feel free to tell me what they really think about the show... I spring to its defence. I did, after all, write for it.'
	Edinburgh's proud title of first World City of Literature looks like providing something to live up to. See News Review.
	'We really must get wise to what the supermarkets are doing.' Richard Barker in the Bookseller on their adverse effect on books in Comment.
	'It's all very well to be able to write books, but can you waggle your ears? J M Barrie to H G Wells - Writers' Quotes in frivolous mode.
	Check out our Writers' How-to for a mass of useful information about the web, including an article on the topical subject of phishing and how to avoid it.

15 November 2004

	Our What new writers need survey results provide a fascinating insight into what new writers want to help them get started. More help from big publishers is a top choice.
	Plus many interesting comments, such as: ‘publishing is like an impregnable mountain fortress that has to be broken into by force’.
	Kevan Manwaring's storytelling tour round the UK for his book The Long Woman shows how writers can still get out there and sell their own work. Check out More Work for Writers.
	'People think they can knock off a few words and watch them transform, like magic, into something they call a poem.' Christina Patterson on the craft of poetry in the Independent, quoted in our Comment column.
	‘In this climate of fear, the only way I can find the courage to continue speaking is from the knowledge that I belong to a community of writers' Sara Paretsky inspires News Review to ask if there really is a community of writers.
	If you can get to London on 28th November, don't miss the celebratory Next Generation Poets London event.
	'Any fool can write a novel but it takes real genius to sell it.' J G Ballard in our Writers' Quotes

8 November 2004

	A traumatic moment - Bob parts company from Eastenders: 'Then, as if mood could hardly get any worse, email arrives from EE. "Thanks Bob. We’ll contact you if appropriate." Despite odd choice of word, I get the message. I’m sacked.'
	‘Public libraries are on the verge of extinction. Action is needed now to halt their decline and renew their role in cultural life.’ Tim Coates. In this week's News Review.
	Check out our new estimating pages in WritersPrintShop. You can work out the cost and profits of self-publishing your book.
	'It’s a Catch 22 situation. The more successful you are, the less time you have to write.' Ian Rankin on author tours, in the Bookseller, quoted in our Comment column.
	‘We live in an age that reads too much to be wise.' Oscar Wilde in our Writers Quotes.

1 November 2004

	Working through WritersPrintshop, Chas Jones of WritersServices has just self-published Ordinary Heroes, which uses their own diaries and recollections to reveal the extraordinary true story of a group of British rail workers and miners sent to France right at the beginning of the war.
	Will authors threaten legal action? News Review looks at the unprecedented situation in which Penguin UK may be asked to compensate authors for loss of sales due to the publisher's acute warehouse problems.
	In the Editor's View John Johnson, editor of Writers' Forum recommends Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots: 'his is a book you should put at the top of your list.'
	'The investment in an illustrated book, the picture acquisition cost, the production, the design, is much, much greater than, let's say, a novel.' Jamie Camplin of Thames & Hudson, in Publishing News , quoted in our Comment column.
	In our eighth excerpt from How Not to Write a Novel, David Armstrong turns to the subject of names: 'The best approach is to give your main character a name that feels comfortable to you, that you're at ease with, and that you aren't going to mind typing a thousand times.'
	‘If ... it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that it is poetry.' Emily Dickinson in our Writers'Quotes.
	The November Magazine is here!

25 October 2004

	'An author willing to gamble on this self-publishing model can make ten times as much per book sold'. We reprint an article on Print on Demand from Foner Books showing how publishing your own book can make much more money for you.
	Man Booker winner is 'exciting, brilliantly written', but why does the prize work better than America's National Book Awards? In News Review
	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?' In his Journal.
	Can you ever think an advance is too big? 'But instead of doing a extravagant champagne-for-everyone, I thought: Oh...my... God.' Hari Kunzru ruminating on money is quoted in our Comment column.
	If you've ever considered our Services but have questions such as Why do I need a report on my manuscript? or What do I get for my money? look in our Services FAQs for the answers.
	‘Being a writer in Hollywood is like going into Hitler's Eagle's Nest with a great idea for a Bar Mitzvah.' David Mamet in our great collection of Writers' Quotes.

18 October 2004

	Need pictures for your book? We look at the rapid growth in online picture libraries and provide links to some of the best.
	News Review looks at Google Print ‘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
	'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.' See our Comment column, which quotes Simon Trewin's trenchant views on publishing from the Independent on Sunday.
	Are you thinking about self-publishing? Our WritersPrintShop is a self-publishing service for writers. Our typical costs show just how little it can cost to publish your own book.
	Flannery O'Connor's view was that: ‘When a book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others, but I think that for the writer to worry is to take over God’s business.’ In our Writers' Quotes.

11 October 2004

	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?
	Bob's Journal: As Bob settles into his new home office, it's all change at EastEnders too, with a new executive producer... 'If Virginia Woolf claimed all she needed in order to write was a room of her own, I can only assume she had a maid to do the vacuuming.'
	‘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, quoted in our Comment column.
	Keep up to date on search engines and tips on advanced searching on the web with our latest navigation tips. In our Writers Web section on the Internet and new technology for writers.
	'When you're writing, you're creating something out of nothing... A successful piece of writing is like doing a successful piece of magic.' Susanna Clarke, author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in our Writers' Quotes.
	Have you got an old typewritten or a handwritten manuscript that you need as a computer file so you can work on it? Our expert Scanning and Typing services can help.

4 October 2004

	Check out our review of Storybase software to see if you want help with defining the essence of your story. 'The value of this software depends on how much you need to generate the emotional framework for the characters in your story' our reviewer said.
	In News Review: this week's Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest annual gathering of the book world, but it's strictly for business ...
	Our seventh excerpt from David Armstrong's entertaining How not to Write a Novel: '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.'
	Check out the details of this autumn's NAWE conference in York, England.
	'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, quoted in our Comment column.
	John Johnson of Writers' Forum magazine on 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.'
	‘The best effect of any book is that it excites the reader to self activity.' Thomas Carlyle in our Writers' Quotes.

27 September 2004

	This week we're delighted to add the new UK, US and international agents' listings from the 2005 edition of the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook to the site, providing all the latest information on agents worldwide.
	The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook is the bestselling guide to markets in all areas of the media. It has been completely revised, redesigned and updated, with a mass of new information, including three brand new listings.
	News Review looks at the astonishing fact that this year’s favourite for the Booker, David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas (Sceptre) has the hottest bookmaker odds ever (5 to 4) highlights the way in which the Man Booker Prize now commands attention outside the book world.
	Bob's Journal looks at EastEnders and travel writing: 'Most travel writers do not write in order to reveal their innermost selves, they write in order to express their opinions about everyone else.'
	'Falling for a subject is more gradual than falling in love, though it soon gains something of the same irrational and fascinated compulsion.' Hattie Ellison on her book Sweetness and Light: the Mysterious History of the Honey Bee, quoted in our Comment column.
	Are you starting or teaching a creative writing course? Check out our Education Resource Centre section for over 50 useful handouts on publishing and writing specially formatted to print out.
	‘The most crucial thing is to learn the craft: how to string sentences together, how to make your dialogue sound like real people, how to properly pace a story, how to develop interesting characters.’ Stephen Coonts in our Writers' Quotes.

20 September 2004

	Talking about publishing for teenagers, 'You have to keep up with the times. There are always 14-year-old girls, but every three or four years, they are going to be completely different.' Brenda Gardner, founder of Piccadilly Press in Publishing News in our Comment column.
	Advice from Katherine Mansfield: ‘Far better to write twaddle or anything, anything, than nothing at all.' in Writers' Quotes
	News Review asks what the point of World Book Day - and comes up with someencouraging answers.
	BBC host 'Get Writing' with competitions and an online writer’s circle and forum for critical debate of writing.
	To help imagine your book in production, have a look at our print-works.

13 September 2004

	'..the closer to the essence of things the writer gets, the closer he edges towards literature.' Justin Cartwright writing in the Independent on Sunday in our Comment column.
	See yourself as others see you in Writers' Quotes: ‘Authors are easy enough to get on with – if you are fond of children.’ Michael Joseph, British publisher
	European Union survey shows British publishers turnover has overtaken Germany in the News Review. ‘Book sales remain resilient, despite the availability of a wide range of other media.’
	John Jenkins's, Editor of Writers' Forum Magazine, advice to writers: 'If you want to know something about writing, study Graham Greene and everything about him.'
	Report from the NAWG conference. 'A weekend well spent'.

6 September 2004

	Check out the sixth excerpt from How not to Write a Novel on the importance of getting the first draft written and the secret joys of being a writer.
	More on what gets you started from our Writers' Quotes: 'Inspiration is the act of drawing up a chair to the writing desk.' Anon
	News Review on the Germans rejecting 'new spelling': ‘Chaos has broken out… in no other major European country is the gap so deep between the language of the people and the language of literature.’
	'In the past 10 years an axe has been taken to the crime lists of all the biggest publishers... At the same time crime writing has achieved greater credibility among the lit crit brigade, thanks to a new generation of gifted writers working within the genre…’' Danuta Kean, quoted in our Comment column.
	Have you ever wondered why your manuscript has been rejected? Check through our guidelines on avoiding rejection.

30 August 2004

	'I also rediscover something I was taught by my father and have known most of my life, but of which I have always to keep reminding myself... In fact, we are all heroes and we all deserve to have our stories told.' Bob's Journal
	'That's what I've tried to do as a biographer: to keep death in its place, and not to let it have the final word.' Michael Holroyd, quoted in our Comment column.
	Have you ever dreamed of starting your own business? Do you want to know what it's like? I mean, what it's really like? Check out the White Ladder Press's 35 Golden Rules, gleaned from their publishing start-up.
	'It was a dark and stormy night' News Review on this year's winner of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.
	Considering self-publishing? Our WritersPrintShop offers several good-value packages.
	'Every time I read a Jane Austen novel, I feel like a bartender at the gates of heaven.' Mark Twain in our Writers' Quotes

23 August 2004

	The latest update to our selected Links provides 25 new sites of interest to writers from Guardian Unlimited to Ask about Writing and the rather entertaining Which Book?
	'The very words "creative writing course" can trigger a prolonged bilious attack in any critic whose skin crawls at the thought of all those earnest, soul-searching scribes munching digestive biscuits as they listen to one another's lyrical outpourings.' Rowan Pelling's controversial view quoted in our Comment column.
	‘Before this experience I was thinking: "Independent publishing is hopeless; I'm a terrible publisher; it's not working; I should give up". Now I think I'm a genius. But I'm still doing the same thing.’ News Review looks at how one hit can change everything.
	If you are thinking of upgrading your Microsoft XP system with service pack 2 ('SP2') check the ZDNetUK report. Microsoft recognise that as many as one application in 10 will experience problems due to the upgrade. Many believe this significantly understates the problem.
	'Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, the make his life full, significant and interesting.' Aldous Huxley in our Writers' Quotes.
	There are many tricks used to persuade you to download a Trojan. Read about the latest

16 August 2004

	Bob's latest crisis: 'Six scenes have to be rewritten. Now. This morning. To be approved, or if necessary re-rewritten, to be given to the cast by lunchtime. Help!' In this week's excerpt from his Journal.
	'The meat of the matter is to be had sitting down and reading the books - not by meeting the author.' John Updike on meeting authors in our Comment column.
	'He's the author of one of the top-selling books of all time, but the chances are that you’ve never heard of him.' Check out a 20 million copy bestseller in News Review.
	Ever thought of writing and publishing a family biography. Some advice from someone who has.
	Our book reviews cover a handy range of books for writers. Specially recommended are Research for Writers, The Creative Writing Coursebook and Solutions for Writers.
	'What the detective story is about is not murder but the restoration of order.' P D James in our Writers' Quotes.

9 August 2004

	Why not try out our new survey? We're investigating what new writers need. Check also the results of the last two, on Reading habits and Writing habits.
	News Review looks at the Hodder Headline sale: 'The next step for Hachette will be the world. As it positions itself for the global English language publishing market the group will have to look for an American acquisition.'
	From Writers' Forum magazine, John Jenkins' terrific advice to writers: rewrite and rewrite, using his checklist. Plus also Elmore Leonard's ten tips on writing and on cutting out the hooptedoodle.
	‘I think that the perception of genre in this country is an unconscious extension of the class system. Graham Joyce in Publishing News, quoted in our Comment column.
	Do you know what phishing is? If not, you should protect yourself from the latest threat on the web by reading our updated article on Hoaxes.
	Who are you writing for? 'My purpose is to entertain myself first and other people secondly' is John D MacDonald's view in our Writers' Quotes.

2 August 2004

	Our fifth excerpt from David Armstrong's entertaining book, How not to Write a Novel, offers a vital piece of advice for writers: 'Try to write every day... if you don't write, you'll lose the habit.'
	This month's new poster is More Wisdom from the Experts, including Murphy’s Fourth Law: ''If it is possible for several things to go wrong, the one that will cause the most damage is the one that will actually go wrong.'
	G K Chesterton in our Writers' Quotes on a truth which underpins reading ‘There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.'
	News Review looks at the way in which poetry and politics have joined together in John Kerry's use of *Let America be America again.*
	'It's both wonderful and troubling to me to see how we all read the same books, but we all read a completely different book. ' Karen Joy Fowler on Jane Austen and what people read, quoted in our Comment column..
	And the August Magazine is ready!

26 July 2004

	Bob's on his seventh EastEnders script and really enjoying it: 'Tell myself having my brilliantly original ideas chewed to pieces is all part of the collective process of creating a good script.'
	'You can have deep, interesting ideas, but the story must be there... No one reads anything without a story to carry them through... ' Nicola Morgan on writing for teenagers (and adults) in our Comment column.
	News Review reports on the world's biggest and best literary party - Edinburgh International Book Festival involving over 550 authors -next month in Edinburgh.
	‘The sole end of literature should be to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.' Samuel Johnson in our Writers' Quotes.
	There's a mass of material squirreled away in our Archive. Check it out for past News Reviews, Comments and excerpts from Bob Ritchie's Journal of a Virtually Unpublished Writer.

19 July 2004

	Our latest Web How to article deals with the alarming subject of hoaxes and tells you how to identify both the same old one and the dangerous new one associated with the 'netsky' virus.
	News Review reports on Reading at Risk, the NEA study which shows that less than half of American adults now read literature, but the steepest and most worrying decline is amongst younger age groups, where the decline is 28%.
	In our Comment column Robert McCrum in the Observer paints an unfamiliar picture: 'It's only 25 years ago, but go back to the British book trade of 1979 and you find London dotted with dozens of small, independent imprints run by strong-minded mavericks.'
	We offer a huge range of information for writers. Check out Help for Writers to see some of what's on the site.
	‘A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.' Italo Calvino in our Writers' Quotes.

12 July 2004

	Bob's on his sixth EastEnders script. 'Can’t help feeling rather pleased with myself. Am I becoming one of the regulars?' See his Journal.
	News Review on the boom in second-hand books: ‘Used books are to consumer books as Napster was to the music industry.’ Lorraine Shanley
	Is your computer maddeningly slow? Our latest Web How-to article is about dealing with slow computers.
	‘From the moment I picked it up until the moment I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.' Groucho Marx in our Writers' Quotes.
	And our Comment column quotes critic James Wood on the merits of literary essays: ‘Literary criticism as a discourse available for, and even attractive to, the common reader has all but disappeared.'
	Check out our software reviews for writers' software which can help you.

5 July 2004

	Our report from the Annual Writers Conference in Winchester, England gives a taste of Kevin's Crossley-Holland's inspiring introductory speech.
	I have no earthly idea if this is a great book, but it's a pretty good story.’ Bill Clinton, on his memoir, in our Writers' Quotes.
	We have our fourth excerpt from David Armstrong' s irreverent How not to Write a Novel: *'Well over 100,000 novels were published last year in the UK, and it often seems that only 9,999 of them are available in any bookshop that you* enter.'**
	Hodder Headline is on the block, as troubles at high street giant W H Smith force it to consider selling its publishing arm to plug a hole in the pension fund. In our News Review
	In the Editor's View from the July issue of Writers' Forum: 'To be a writer you must be published', but here's another lawyer turned writer who is making it into the big time and challenging John Grisham.
	In a novel or biography: 'its author can tap the reader on the shoulder, take us aside and share with us his or her own thoughts about the meaning of what is taking place.' Matthew Parris, quoted in our Comment column.
	Check out our current survey on future formats.
	The July Magazine is here!

28 June 2004

	Bob's Journal on writing Eastenders: 'Modestly try to convey the impression of fiendish difficulty. Yes, there are only a few of us who can do it.'
	How history has come in from the cold: 'It's not just perfectly OK but positively chic to watch or read history.' Publisher Susan Watt, quoted in our Comment column.
	News Review examines the remarkable career of Alexander McCall Smith: ‘I feel that writing is a moral act. I feel that those who portray an aggressive, vulgar, debased attitude towards life are conniving in that life, and I think publishers should reject them.’
	Trying your hand at children's writing? Have a look at our children's editorial services.
	*‘No-one is going to sit down and read Bleak House* to the family any more, but they can all huddle up happily in front of Charles Bronson.' Martin Amis in our Writer's Quotes.**

21 June 2004

	Our new page of typical costs shows you what you'd pay to publish your own book through WritersPrintShop.
	Why are dead poets dead? News Review looks at why poets die younger than other writers - any why writing is not the best career choice for a long life.
	Deborah Durbin, author of 8 published books, uses My Say to advise other writers on Rejecting Rejection.
	'Everybody should sit down and write the story of their life when they reach 50... Bill Clinton, on writing his memoir, My Life, quoted in our Comment column.
	Our newsletter is back in action! Our server has been under sustained attack by hackers since April. To avoid any risk to our data as the hypernet hyenas circled, we have not been sending out the newsletter, but happily the hunters have now moved on and we can resume normal service.
	‘Psmith … is the only thing in my literary career which was handed to me on a plate with watercress round it, thus enabling me to avoid the blood, sweat and tears inseparable from an author’s life. P G Wodehouse in our Writers' Quotes.

14 June

	Bob muses on script-writing and his WS journal: 'I write a diary about trying to be a writer…I become a writer…then another writer reads my diary…' In his Journal.
	'A book is like a stage. You've got people a little larger than life always. It's not photographic so you have to exaggerate a bit...' Muriel Spark quoted in our Comment column.
	If you hurry there's still time to book for the Annual Writers' Conference in Winchester, England.
	This week's News Review looks at *Bill Clinton's expensive and well-hyped memoir. Will My Life* be the biggest book of the year?**
	‘So are you still working, or just doing the books?' An old friend to Jack Higgins, in our Writers' Quotes

7 June 2004

	Who are the Next Generation Poets? News Review on the latest book promotion and who's on the list.
	In our third excerpt from How not to write a novel, David Armstrong looks at agents and what they do, and advises against rewriting to take account of publishers' comments on your ms.
	In Comment Anthony Forbes Watson, CEO of Penguin Group UK: 'Both sides are coming to understand that selling fewer books at greater discounts is not the way to go...'
	A new book which provides a search through the linguistic heritage of English, and football and poetry - what is Andrew Motion up to? The Editor's View from the Editor of *Writers' Forum* magazine.
	Our new poster features the experts: Heller's Law says that 'The first myth of management is that it exists.'
	‘The most original authors are not so because they advance what is new, but because they put what they have to say as if it had never been said before.' Goethe in our Writers' Quotes
	The June Magazine is ready!

31 May 2004

	The 14th article in our Inside Publishing series deals with Copyright and how you can protect your work.
	News Review looks at how Book Aid makes a real difference. ‘If education is the road out of poverty, books are the wheels needed for the journey.’
	A theatre company is looking for a play. Could this be your chance to get your work performed?
	‘That's why you get up in the morning with a bounce in your feet. You've discovered a new author you think is marvelous. Roger W Straus of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, who died last week, quoted in Comment.
	Are you trying to submit your work? Check out our tips on making submissions.
	‘It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.' Nietzsche on keeping to the point in our Writers' Quotes

24 May 2004

	In his Journal, Bob comments on Macbeth's surprising similarity to Eastenders. 'With 27 scenes it uses almost the same pace of cutting, and the plot fairly whistles along in the way TV viewers have come to expect, so much so I can hardly keep track of the bodies mounting up.'
	Eats, Shoots - and Sells. News Review looks at how Lynne Truss's book has powered on to achieve international sales in its home-grown English.
	We now have the work of 38 writers in our WritersShowcase. Check out recent arrivals Leyland Perree's The Tide of Endings and Fran Jacobs' The Dying Boy for some interesting writing.
	'The more I tried, the more I realised that I was involved with a book in which I would have to find a way to write myself in.' Novelist Sue Miller on writing about her father's Alzheimer's in our Comment column.
	Trying to find an agent? Check out our page of tips and our agents' listings.
	‘Every compulsion is put upon writers to become safe, polite, obedient and sterile.' Sinclair Lewis in our Writers' Quotes.

17 May 2004

	*Our latest magazine review looks at Writer's Digest* magazine, the grand-daddy of them all, and decides that it is essential reading for American writers.**
	N M Browne on children's writing: 'Anything that is just there because it's quite fun to write has to go.' In our Comment column.
	Our WritersPrintShop self-publishing service has not been accepting new business for 3 months because we've been overwhelmed by the level of interest. Now we've enlarged the team and are open for business again.
	Got a virus? Here's what to do if your computer is infected in the latest scourge sweeping the web.
	News Review has bad news and good news: declining book sales in the US contrasted with a growing market in the UK.
	'An author is one who can judge his own stuff’s worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.' Colette in our Writers Quotes

10 May 2004

	Bob wonders: 'Are we writers so paranoid we can’t tell other writers our ideas for fear of them being stolen? Of course we are.' In his Journal.
	Check out our new Survey and the results of the March Survey on Writers' motivation.
	Free Culture is free on the web. Will it help sales and is free download the right way to go? In this week's News Review.
	Is literary fiction better than genre fiction? 'Novels can perform two functions and most perform only one.’ Mark Haddon, quoted in our Comment column.
	Did you know that Shakespeare had a vocabulary of 28,000 words whereas the average person today gets by on 10,000? The Editor's View from Writers' Forum magazine.
	And we have Kathy Reichs' sardonic comment on life in our Writers' Quotes: ‘My line of work makes you aware of the fragility of life. You can get up in the morning, eat your cornflakes, blow-dry your hair, go to work and end up dead.’

3 May 2004

	Our May Competition offers the Writers' Guides as prizes. Why not have a go?
	'Cheap books are suddenly less attractive if they jeopardise bookshops.' David Blow quoted on 'an impossible race with the supermarket sector'. In our Comment column.
	The second excerpt from David Armstrong's How not to Write a Novel, in which he gives a wry account of his own search for a publisher.
	The celebrated American novelist Will Cather: 'Writing ought either to be the manufacture of stories for which there is a market demand... or it should be an art'. In our Writers' Quotes.
	Our new poster deals with the universal theme of Working under Pressure.
	Check out our 13-part Inside Publishing series to find out about advances and royalties, subsidiary rights, what the production department does, and much more.
	The May Magazine is ready!

26 April 2004

	Bob's latest bright idea: 'What we need is a nationwide literary mapping programme to pinpoint bookshops, libraries and landmarks of literary interest.' In his Journal.
	'Poetry is an art of translation, a connective strand between unlike individuals, times and cultures.' Adrienne Rich quoted in our Comment column.
	In our final report from the London Book Fair, we investigate standards in the computer world and how they 'could provide the world with some excellent, very low-cost applications to run on the astonishingly cheap computing power that hardware standards have given us.'
	Charities are setting up lucrative second-hand bookshops as books become consumer items. Read up on it in this week's News Review.
	Are you a published author? Although most of the site is devoted to helping writers get published, we do have a section for you.
	This week's quote is from John Grisham: 'The good thing about writing fiction is that you can get back at people.' In our Writers' Quotes.
	Our server was under some sort of attack during the weekend 24/25 April. This caused the server to shut down about every six hours to protect itself. Unfortunately this coincided with a fault with the system that should notify us of the fault. We are working hard to identify the source and prevent future occurrences. This is only the second time the site has been out of action for more than a few minutes in the last 4 years. We apologise for the inconvenience.

19 April 2004

	The number of UK universities offering postgraduate degree courses in creative writing has increased from eight to 85. See News Review on the boom in writing courses.
	The problem for the ebook is 'a publishing industry with unsustainable overheads and a shrinking catalogue which is printed on dead trees'. Check out our second report from the London Book Fair.
	Our Problem Page deals with one writer's difficulties in finding an agent.
	'A life is always a jolly good story, and what else do you want from a book but a jolly good story?' Barbara Schwepke on biography, quoted in our Comment column.
	If you need to do research, check out these pages: Ann Hoffman's excellent book Research for Writers, Michael Legat's Factsheet on Research, The Web as a Research Tool, Advanced Searching and Search Engines.
	'Writing a first novel takes so much effort, with such little promise of result or reward, that it must necessarily be a labour of love bordering on madness.' Steven Saylor in our Writers' Quotes

12 April 2004

	We're grateful to Writers' Forum magazine for permission to display their festivals listing, which gives information on all the book and writers' festivals in the UK in 2004.
	News Review looks at the 'unofficial laureate of the sleepover generation', who recently signed books for eight-and-a-half hours in one day for 3,000 children.
	'Why are we always so fascinated by writers’ private lives?’ Bob asks, and goes on to investigate the notion of literaphobia. In the latest excerpt from his Journal.
	'Where publishers have worked successfully to build an author over a number of books, agents shouldn't hold us to ransom every time there is a new contract. ' Martin Neild of Hodder Headline quoted in our Comment column..
	‘Nothing gives an author so much pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors.' Benjamin Franklin in our Writers' Quotes.
	Are you working on a children's novel? Check out our expert editorial services focusing on children's writing.

5 April 2004

	This month we have our first excerpt from David Armstrong's entertaining book How Not to Write a Novel: Confessions of a Midlist Author.
	Chas Jones's first report from the London Book Fair deals with the future of e-publishing.
	It’s not often that you can say a book may have changed the course of history, but Richard A Clarke's Against all Enemies may have done just that. See this week's News Review
	Check out this month's new poster on the endlessly amusing subject of computers:'Artificial Intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.'
	'This is one of the great strengths of the novel: the profoundly personal, private way it can immunise us to our surroundings.' Tobias Hill quoted in our Comment column.
	‘Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.' Salman Rushdie In our Writers' Quotes.

29 March 2004

	The first in a new series of writers' magazine reviews looks at the British publication Writers' Forum.
	News Review looks at a sea change in the way reference material is accessed and the effect on reference publishing.
	The new Style Sheet page in WritersPrintShop, our self-publishing service, helps you set the style for your book.
	'If publishing is to save itself from being a mere arm of the movie industry, executives must realize that they cannot divine a book's success through money tendered at contract time.' US editor Robert Weil quoted in our Comment column.
	‘If I could read a book, I'd definitely read one of yours.' Paris Hilton, currently selling her own book, to Jackie Collins. In our Writers' Quotes.
	Let us know what motivates you to write. The March survey.
	Check out our expert Scriptwriting assessment service if you're writing screenplays, scripts or plays.

22 March 2004

	'Is it my imagination, or do I recall coming up with a very similar idea myself?' In this week's Journal, Bob looks back at his invention of Pop Idol in his 2002 Journal.
	The second Masterclass report from the London Book Fair focuses on crime writing with Minette Walters and Mark Billingham. The Masterclass on Screenwriting was added to the site last week.
	'The time-honoured device of royalties to an author being expressed as a percentage of different discounts worked well in a different era. It has become a wildly unfair anachronism in our new century.' The late Giles Gordon in the Bookseller. From our Comment column
	The London Book Fair comes of age at a busy fair for international rights, with visitor figures up 7%. Catch up with our report in our News Review.
	‘You become a good writer just as you become a good joiner: by planing down your sentences.' Anatole France in our Writers' Quotes
	The March survey looks at what motivates you. The results of February's survey provides you a fascinating insight into your reading habits. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

15 March 2004

	Read our report back from Julian Fellowes' and Anthony Minghella's screenwriting Masterclass at the London Book Fair.
	News Review concludes that 'The real losers would be authors' if printed prices were removed from books.
	Check out our new page which helps you with Advanced Searching on the web.
	In a sardonic quote in our Comment column, Tania Kindersley looks at today's headlines and asks 'Maybe the final question is: what is fiction for?'
	Visit our thriving Discussion Forum, which has been temporarily suspended, but is now back in action, and see why it has become a hotbed of debate about current issues.
	An anonymous wag said: ‘It may be true that the real writer writes, but most people believe that a real writers is one who is published.’ In our Writers' Quotes

8 March 2004

	Bob suggests that 'Soon the only evidence of a writer’s work will be what he chooses to leave for posterity on his laptop.' In his Journal.
	'I’m interested in what it’s like to be a woman, a mother, a friend, a lover, to fear, to hope, to love.’ Rose Tremain quoted in our Comment column.
	The Story of the Trojan horse takes on new meaning on the Internet. Read this to protect yourself.
	News Review looks at two breakthrough older writers: ‘I am utterly astonished. The phrase “beyond my wildest dreams” has now taken on meaning for me.’ Charles Chadwick on being published at 71.
	Have you checked out Michael Legat's 19 Factsheets, which range from children's writing to first and last pages, from writing about what you know to plotting your novel?
	‘Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.' Robert Frost supports tradition in our Writers Quotes.
	Please send us your contributions for our new Problem Page, My Say and Good news pages.

1 March 2004

	Check out our new Competition featuring the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook.
	'...it's the story, stupid. The story has to come first, it's the heart of the thing. Michael Morpurgo, newly-appointed Children's Laureate, quoted in our Comment column.
	Our reviewer tackles Sol Stein's Solutions for Novelists: 'The reader needs to be hooked from the very beginning...'
	News Review on World Book Day on 4 March - what's the point of it?
	The March column from the Editor of Writers' Forum magazine: Nicky Gervais on philosophy and why shood Gilian Cros spel like this?
	There are plenty of virus hoaxes on the Internet, here's how to recognise a few.
	‘A book is so much a part of oneself that in delivering it to the public one feels as if one were pushing one’s own child out into the traffic.’ Quentin Bell in our Writers' Quotes
	The March Magazine is ready!

23 February 2004

	Measured by word-count, Bob Ritchie feels he shapes up well against Harold Pinter... but what about the question of quality? In his Journal.
	'Good books sell and make money' is the view of Morgan Entrekin of Grove-Atlantic, quoted in our Comment column.
	Introducing a new Web How-to series, Quality versus Quantity, about distinguishing good from bad on the web.
	News Review asks if the UK book trade is 'in serious danger of commercial suicide' in cosying-up to supermarkets.
	Check out the first contribution to our new 'Good News' feature, where a writer reports on positive news to cheer us up.
	It's still not too late to join the writers' Masterclassses at the London Book Fair.
	The great children's writer Roald Dahl's view was that: 'The life of a writer is absolute hell compared to the life of a businessman.' You can find this and much more in our Writers' Quotes.

16 February 2004

	Inside Publishing looks at Print on Demand and how it could change the way publishing works - as well as boosting self-publishing.
	News Review reports on the 40% of Americans who read for pleasure - and what they read.
	Check out our latest virus update.
	'Very occasionally I become aware of a pomposity and a preciousness associated with poetry...' Simon Armitage quoted in our Comment column.
	‘Writing is more than anything a compulsion, like some people wash their hands thirty times a day for fear of awful consequences if they do not.' Julie Burchill in our Writers' Quotes.
	Watch out for virus hoaxes - read up on how to recognise them.
	Have you looked at our Educational Resource Centre? If you're a teacher or writing student there's nearly 50 free articles formatted for downloading.
	We apologise for the fact that the WritersServices website was not always available last week.

9 Feburary 2004

	In his Journal, Bob reckons that if words are the issue, he has something to say: 'Most of us don’t need the education of an ex-lord chief justice of Northern Ireland to deduce that ‘to sex up’ therefore means ‘to make more sexy’, i.e. "to make more exciting or appealing"'.
	News Review looks at the The Lovely Bones and the forthcoming PS. I Love You to examine the puzzling question of what makes a bestseller.
	If you can get to London, now is the time to book for the highly-regarded London Book Fair Writing Masterclasses.
	Chris Manby is quoted in our Comment column: 'People pick up a chick-lit book... to feel a bit better about life when they close the last page. And what's wrong with that?’
	Are you writing for children? Check out our services in this increasingly popular area.
	Cyril Connolly comments on what he defines as the Mandarin style: ‘It is the style of all the writers whose tendency is to make their language convey more than they mean to and more than they feel.' In our Writers' Quotes
	We apologise to all our visitors for the site being occasionally unavailable this week because of server problems.

2 February 2004

	Check out our February Reading survey and catch up on the results of last month's Writing survey.
	News Review looks at the closing of Flamingo - 'how can the authors be happy when they have lost their publishing imprint and, worse still, been deprived of their editor?'
	The MyDoom.A computer virus has been crippling the net this week, causing a massive logjam of data traffic and infecting thousands of computers with official-sounding messages from the ‘Mail Administrator’. Check our list of free virus scans to protect your computer.
	'Book publishing is a surprisingly dynamic enterprise because you have to reinvent your product year after year…' John Makinson, Penguin CEO quoted in our Comment column
	Should writers reject literary prizes to express a political view? In the Editor's View, John Johnson of Writers' Forum looks at this knotty problem.
	Memorable words from Iris Murdoch in our Writers' Quotes: 'Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.'
	Our bigger and better February Magazine is ready!

26 January 2004

	In the latest excerpt from his Journal, Bob ruminates on the distraction of reading: 'I, for one, am glad people want to lose themselves in other worlds. If they didn’t, I'd be out of a job.'
	'If a cat solves the crime, I burn the book. If you love books in which a cat or a dog or even a damned goldfish is smarter than the detective and deduces the conclusion, skip this column.' Otto Penzler quoted in our Comment column.
	News Review looks at the shift to Internet shopping and the downsizing of publishers' sales forces.
	Check out our WritersShowcase: we have 8 new entries and 22 from last year - but there's still room for your work.
	Wordsworth in our Writers' Quotes: 'Every great and original writer, in proportion as he is great and original, must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished.'

19 January 2004

	We've updated our list of International Book Fairs to provide a listing for 2004.
	'Publishers 'are missing good, talented writers. It's a diabolical shame. Writers should look at new ways of publishing, like the internet and self-publishing... ' Reverend Graham Taylor in our Comment column.
	News Review on 'A nice little book' - the publishing phenomenon that is Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves, and what it means for the book world.
	Have you checked out our WritersForum and taken part in the fierce debates going on there? Am I being ripped off? is one.
	In our Writers' Quotes George Orwell's gloomy voice from the past: The novel is likely... to survive in some perfunctory, despised and hopelessly degenerate form.'

12 January 2004

	Bob's Journal starts the New Year slightly gloomily: 'Beginning to think series editor’s assurance I’d be given an episode in the next block was merely to make me feel good after the nine drafts I had to produce in November.'
	Don Marquis in our Writers' Quotes: ‘Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.'
	Our reviewer tackles Mortification: Writers' Stories of their Public Shame 'In the face of provocation these writers attempt to perform with grace and dignity...'
	In News Review we look at a tough year: 'the book world was on the whole glad to see the back of 2003.'
	Have you explored our Services? We've been offering Contract vetting right from the start, but have just added a Typing service.
	In our Comment section we quote Frank Cass: 'When I first entered publishing, the bookseller was the middle man to culture.'
	We are still working on our reorganisation and redesign, so apologies for any continuing disruption

5 January 2004

	A very happy New Year to you. The site is undergoing a major re-organisation to prepare for new services for writers. Not all the links will work while this work is undertaken. Our apologies for the disruption.
	News Review looks at some developments with Public Libraries: 'A recent report in the Denver Post highlighted the increasing focus on supplying videos rather than books through the US public library system.'
	‘Reading a novelization of your own screenplay is like watching someone else kiss your girlfriend.’ Nicholas Kazan in Writers' Quotes:
	On the lighter side, we have added another poster to the collection - Writers on Writing
	'I needed to be somebody. The only way I could think of was by writing.’ Hilary Mantel, in an interview with Kate Kellaway in the Observer on publication of her much-acclaimed memoir, Giving up the Ghost, quoted in our Comment column.
	The January Magazine is ready
	The monthly survey Can you spare a moment to tell us about your writing habits?