What's New in 2014
- 'In an article in the print edition of the Bookseller, Philip Gwyn Jones offered a clear-sighted analysis of the current model of funding literary writing. He is the former publisher of Granta, a very highly-regarded editor with msses of experience in this area and the independence currently to call it like it is. Gwynn Jones says that serious non-fiction publishing is in trouble and that publishers are simply not prepared to come up with the advances which will enable writers to spend the time they need researching their books, perhaps over several years. News Review
- We've added two brilliant new links to our big listing of 24 pages of links to recommended sites for writers, Life Cycle of a Book and Life Cycle of a Book in Translation. Both have videos of young publishing professionals explaining their part in the process.
- ‘There's a paradox as a writer where you're encouraged to put everything of yourself in your books, to take things to the furthest extreme, to hold back nothing. But when you're talking in your own voice, you have to reassure people that you share their values and agree with them about everything and nobody need be perturbed by the content of the book because we're in this consensus about how we see each other and see art.' Ned Beauman, author of Glow and the youngest of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists, in the Independent on Sunday, quoted in our Comment column.
- The web as a research tool is a useful page showing you what a great research tool the web is for writers.
- Our links this week: more on the debate about literary fiction, Self-publishing will save literary fiction | Hugh Howey; a look at how Harlequin is faring and its prospects under its new owners, Harlequin Romance Tries to Adjust to Changing Times | Publishing Perspectives; this week's BEABookExpo America, commonly referred to within the book publishing industry as BEA. The largest annual book trade fair in the United States - Self-Publishers Go to the Library: SELF-e at BEA's Author Hub | Publishing Perspectives; the shameful joys of the franchise novel ... and why the force is with them | Books | theguardian.com; how an open submission process led to success, Former East Kilbride News reporter secures publishing deal - Daily Record; and, as anxiety deepens across the publishing world about this problem, AAR Calls Out Amazon in Hachette Dispute.
- This week's Writing Opportunity is the Mslexia Women's Poetry Competition 2014, for women only, closing on 31 May and with a £2,000 First Prize. Mslexia are also offering their Pamphlet Competition, with the same closing date.
- Are you sturggling to get someone to look at your poetry? Our Poetry Critique service for 150 lines of poetry and our Poetry Collection editing, to help you prepare your collection for submission or self-publishing, might be able to help.
- 'I can't write without a reader. It's precisely like a kiss - you can't do it alone.' John Cheever in our Writers' Quotes.
- This week we're delighted to publish the last article in Joanne PhillipsUK-based freelance writer and ghostwriter. She has had articles published in national writing magazines, and has ghostwritten books on subjects as diverse as hairdressing and keeping chickens. Visit her at www.joannephillips.co.uk' WritersServices Publishing Guide, we look at creative writing courses on both sides of the Atlantic and our Writing Opportunity is the very first MMU Novella Award 2014.
- Joanne Phillips completes her ten-part WritersServices Self-publishing Guide: 'Self-publishing has changed so much over the past few years it's hard to believe it was once looked down upon by the publishing industry as the last resort of the vain and desperate. At the time of writing (July 2013) many self-publishing authors are identifying with the term ‘indie author', which acknowledges that to professionally publish today, you don't actually have to do everything yourself!...' The tenth article deals with Marketing and Promotion for Indie Authors: Offline.
- ‘Television is a fine medium and I love cinema more than most. I listen to music all the time and have been known to glance at the web too, but for me nothing quite compares to that moment when you read some marks on the page and think "yes, I know exactly what you mean". David Nicholls talks about the experience of reading a wonderful book in our Comment column.
- From our Archive: excerpts from Inspired Creative Writing by Alexander Gordon Smith from the brisk and entertaining 52 Brilliant Ideas series. The first of six excerpts is on Limbering Up: 'Looking down at that blank page can send tsunami-sized shivers down your spine, but don't give in to the temptation to run for cover screaming, victory is just a scribble away.'
- Creative writing courses continue to proliferate on both sides of the Atlantic .Many writers believe that enrolling on a course, particularly a university one, will make all the difference to their writing careers. In the UK the rapid growth in courses has been described by the Bookseller as ‘a viral contagion'. Writers have rushed to sign up to the new university courses for writers, with growth from 64 writing programmes in 2003 and 504 degree programmes offered by Higher Education institutions a decade later. This week's News Review asks the question Creative writing courses - a good investment for writers?
- Our Publishing Glossary is very useful if you come across a printing or publishing term you don't understand.
- This week's links: a really fundamental question - Are Literary Agents Really Worth Their Commission? | Digital Book World; an interesting spat between Will Self in the Guardian, The novel is dead (this time it's for real) | Books | The Guardian and David L Ulin in the Los Angeles Times, Notes on the (non-)death of the book - Los Angeles Times; Reasons to Be Optimistic During the Disruption of Publishing; and Mills & Boon announces 'totally new' digital storytelling format | Books | theguardian.com.
- Our Writing Opportunity this week is the inaugural MMU Novella Award 2014, an unusual one as novellas are not often eleigible for prizes, and closes on 24 May, so you need to get your skates on to enter.
- ‘If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.' George Orwell in our Writers' Quotes.
- 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.
- 'Writing a great book is only part of the picture. Getting it uploaded to Amazon with a great cover, and perhaps printed via POD, isn't the whole picture either. However great your book, however beautiful or useful your product, no one will be able to buy it if they don't know it's there...' In article no 9 of WritersServices Self-publishing Guide, Joanne PhillipsUK-based freelance writer and ghostwriter. She has had articles published in national writing magazines, and has ghostwritten books on subjects as diverse as hairdressing and keeping chickens. Visit her at www.joannephillips.co.uk looks at Marketing and Promotion for Indie Authors: Online.
- 'When I first came into publishing, paperbacks seemed the coming thing. Surely it was only a question of time before the power of consumers drove paperbacks to centre stage and ousted those expensive hardbacks? In book auctions most of the money came from the paperback publisher, so it seemed logical to expect that shortly paperbacks would win the day and books would be published straight into paperback.' This week's News Review looks at where paperbacks stand in the era of ebooks.
- Our Talking to publishers series offers nine articles or interviews with editors of different genres and tyes of publishing list.
- ‘Writing can be taught. The desire and will to do it cannot. Living the life of a writer means you're either starving in a garret or you're living a very leisured life. My lifestyle isn't middle class; it's upper class. I don't mean that in a smug way. I don't have the burden pf getting up and going to work...' Irvine Welsh, author of The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins, in The Times, quoted in our Comment column.
- Our Writing Opportunity this week is the Bridport Prize, actually three prizes, for a poem a short story and a flash fiction, with generous first prizes of £5,000 for two of them.. It closes on 31 May and is open to all writers of 16 and over across the world. They've also just announced a first novel prize.
- The first link this week asks the interesting question: Is It O.K. to Mine Real Relationships for Literary Material? - NYTimes.com. Then we have More work, no pay: Why I detest "Literary Citizenship" - Salon.com; Guerrilla marketing for books | Business; How Retailers, Publishers And Indies Can Fix The E-Book Industry; and BookBrunch - The market for ebooks in the UK and US.
- Have you got a contract with a publisher but no agent? Use our expert Contract vetting service to check out that your contract is OK.
- 'A "bestseller" is a celebrity among books. It is a book known primarily (sometimes exclusively) for its well-knowness.' Daniel Boorstin in our Writers' Quotes.
