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12 May 2014 - What's new

12 May 2014
  • This week we continue our look at book formats with the hardback, an extraordinary survivor; offer some wide-ranging links to articles on the web, including two on translation, one of them about poetry, and much looking into crystal balls on the future of writing and publishing; and our Writing Opportunity is an unusual open submission month.
  • Hardbacks, rather than ebooks, are the wild cards of the publishing industry. Who would have thought that they would survive and prosper in the age of the ebook? Wouldn't you assume that hardbacks would simply fade away once they were so radically undercut on price by ebooks, never mind paperbacks? News Review this week: Hardbacks - still a success story
  • We've got an interesting kind of Writing Opportunity this week, Penguin Random House UKPenguin Random House have more than 50 creative and autonomous imprints, publishing the very best books for all audiences, covering fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s books, autobiographies and much more. Click for Random House UK Publishers References listing's literary imprint Jonathan Cape is having an open submission month  in June, a real chance for aspiring literary novelists to get their foot in the door.
  • Getting your manuscript copy edited is a useful page about why you need to do this. Our copy editing service uses professional editors to make sure you get a good result. Check out this page for other Editorial Services for Self-publishers.
  • ‘I think as you get older you realise you will die with projects unfinished. I have long been conscious about the fact that when you have the idea for a story that does not mean you are ready to write it. I wanted to write the Thomas Cromwell books right at the beginning of my career as a writer. He was not ready to come out into the light and I wasn't ready for him. Hilary Mantel, two-time Booker Prize winner and author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies in the Observer, quoted in our Comment column.
  • Our links this week: the curious question about why publishers were not alert to self-publishing, Why Major Publishers Missed the Boat on Self-Publishing; a thoughtful piece on how publishers find translators, How Can Publishers and Translators Meet More Efficiently? | Publishing Perspectives; a useful overview of publishing, Publishing's messy re-mix | FutureBook; the challenge of digital, Bridging the Gap: Why Publishing's Future is at Risk | Publishing Perspectives; more on translation, Is Poetry More Difficult to Translate Than Prose? | Publishing Perspectives; and Charlie Redmayne, CEO of HarperCollins UK on how publishing companies can do better, BookBrunch - Bigger, better, faster.
  • Do you need to write for the web, perhaps for your own website or material to promote your book? Our page on Writing for the web provides a basic outline on how to go about it.
  • 'To write fiction, one needs a whole series of inspirations about people in an actual environment, and then a whole lot of work on the basis of those inspirations.' Aldous Huxley in our Writers Quotes.