What's New in 2015
- 'According to some sources, the audiobook market is growing rapidly. Orion audio publisher Pandora White called the sector "the fastest-growing in publishing" and Booktrack is growing exponentially, but is the quality of the recordings being sacrificed in order to achieve the lowest price? The download has injected new life into a rather quiet corner of the book world, so what are the issues?' News Review
- ‘The prize thing was absolutely wonderful. It brings you readers and that's the thing you want with every bone in your body but - how to say this without sounding churlish? - I'm very aware that people will have been saying, "Huh? Really? when it won prizes, so I don't take it as a sign that I've got there yet. I'm still working out how to write books. I need more time...' Katherine Rundell, author of Rooftoppers and the forthcoming The Wolf Wilder, in the Bookseller, provides this week's Comment.
- Do you want to self-publish your work? WritersServices offers a suite of services which help writers get their work into shape before they self-publish. Services for Self-publishers.
- The USP of WritersServices' Copy editing service is that we send your edited manuscript back to you in two versions - at no extra cost - one showing track changes, so you can see what has been changed, and one with the changes accepted, to use for the printer.
- Our links this week: how about this for a dramatic headline? The ghostwriter, the secret plot and a ‘grave-robbing' Stieg Larsson sequel | Books | The Guardian; every so often, it's kind of instructive to look around at other new media and see how their problems compare to good ol' e-books', In a digital world, movies and books face different and similar problems « TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics; and it's becoming hard for crime-writers to keep up with advances in forensic medicine, Crime writers are the victims as Sherlock's too slow for forensics - Telegraph.
- Some more links: are Amazon actually getting ahead of publishers in terms of helping authors? Another wake-up call from Amazon as they serve author interests better than publishers have - The Shatzkin Files The Shatzkin Files; a headline you don't expect, Is Baby Boomer Lit the Next Hot Genre? - Publishing Perspectives; and an interesting angle as academic publishing is reduced to scale by the internet giants, Thinking about Internet Scale | The Scholarly Kitchen.
- Our series of six articles on writing in different categories covers a wide range of genre writing - Crime, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Romance, Non-fiction, Historical fiction and Memoir and Autobiography. So we've probably got the the genre you are interested in covered.
- 'Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.' Ed Doctorow in our Writers' Quotes.
- And the June Magazine is ready!
- For Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror writers, the Hodderscape open submission will soon be open to unagented writers from across the world, presenting a real Writing Opportunity. It closes on 16 August.
- A kind of fever seems to have gripped a large number of book-buyers who have rushed out to buy Harper Lee's ‘new' book Go Set a Watchman, making the book a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. HarperCollins in the States says that the book has broken its own record for the number sold. But why is there such a huge surge of interest? Go Set a Bestseller is this week's News Review.
- Another endorsement: 'I'd like to thank you so much for the reports on my work... I'm going to read the reports over and over, take the time to think and plan, and you can be sure you'll receive the revision a year from now, maybe less. You offer an excellent service for a very fair cost, and I'm grateful to have found you.' Bill Neenan
- Our Comment is from author and agent Bill Clegg: 'When I finish a week of writing, I'm sick of my own head and desperate to get into the work of someone else.(Going between agenting and writing) is like a series of reunions, you're always happy to be where you are.'
- Advice for writers is a way into the riches of our Archive.
- Links of the week: there are plenty of reasons for disliking Amazon, but here are some of them, 5 reasons to wish Amazon an unhappy birthday - Salon.com; a look at successful and integrated ebook publishing, Let the right edition in | The Bookseller; further advice on contracts from the British Society of Authors, UK Society of Authors Advises: Always Compare Contracts; and a wide-ranging and thoughtful article about what's going on on the web and how it affects writers Escaping the new media cargo cult - Boing Boing.
- More links: new publisher Canelo offers authors no advances but high royalties, New Publisher Canelo Offers UK Authors Strong Incentives - Publishing Perspectives; the Prime Writers start a campaign against ageism in publishing, UK Group to Fight Bias Against Older Debut Authors - Publishing Perspectives; once again the Hugo Award has become a battledground, George R R Martin urges fans to vote on Hugo Awards | The Bookseller.
- Rotten Rejections - Most of these are taken from Andre Bernard's wonderful little book Rotten Rejections: The Letters that Publishers Wish They'd Never Sent. This extraordinary collection of rejection letters sent by publishers to writers - many delivered to now famous authors of classic books - will make you laugh and provide comfort in the face of your own struggles to get published. Do send your own rejections.
- 'Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.' Jane Austen in our Writers' Quotes.
- 'At the London Short Story Festival a month ago writers lamented the lack of a publishing market for short stories. With one or two notable exceptions, such as Comma Press, which is publicly funded, publishers do not find it economic to publish short story collections.' News Review asks 'Can short stories find an audience?'
- Our Health Hazards series gives a good basic grounding in Repetitive Stain Injuries such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and advises you what to do about your computer chair and your eyes. Reading this will alert you to the dangers of spending a substantial amount of time at a keyboard.
- 'Most authors are driven to write - would probably write whether or not they were ever published or paid, just for the joy of it. This is their strength and their downfall. With the exception of a canny few who treat art as a business, writers are often reluctant to think of their work as just another product...' Joanne Harris, author of The Gospel of Loki and Chocolat, provides this week's Comment in the Daily Telegraph.
- Our Picture libraries page has a useful list of places to go if you need to source images for your book.
- This week's Writing Opportunity, the fantastic Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2015 is closing on 31 July. It's open to young poets from across the world who are aged 11-17 on the closing date. The top 15 winners are published in an anthology and are invited to attend a week's residential creative writing course at a prestigious Arvon centre or receive a poet residency in their school.
- This week's links: we misssed this in April but thought we should give it some space now, Ten ways self-publishing has changed the books world | Books | The Guardian; over a hundred years after its foundation, Mills and Boon sells 5.5 millions books a year, Mills & Boon: And you thought romance was dead! After 35,000 tender clinches, 30,000 kisses and 10,000 ‘I do's' Mills & Boon is still booming 100 years on | Daily Mail Online; in the week when the Go Set a Watchman embargo has been completely broken by the New York Times, Mike Shatzkin's comments seem on the buttion, Publisher strategies around first serials pretty obviously need to be rethought - The Shatzkin Files The Shatzkin Files; and reflections on the effect on translation of the global dominance of English, Found in Translation - The New York Times.
- More links: the winner of Africa's Caine Prize has decided to share her prize money with the other shortlisted authors, The Caine Prize; why on Earth would you start a literary magazine? The Persistence of Litmags - The New Yorker; and an affectionate piece about the much-loved children's writer and illustrator, Shirley Hughes: 'It's my job with a picture book to slow children down' - Telegraph
- Why your book contract needs vetting - 'You are a first-time author without an agent and you receive a contract to publish your book - just how do you evaluate it? Is it fair or biased against the author by prevailing industry standards? Is your publisher looking out for your interests as well as his own - or wording the clauses in a way only advantageous to the company? Would you, for example, know which rights to grant - for how long and on what terms...' Our contracts expert on why contract vetting is essential if you don't have an agent.
- 'I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first drafts. But I'm one of the world's great rewriters.I find that three or four readings are required to comb out the cliches, line up pronouns with their antecedents, and insure agreement in number between subject and verbs...' James Michener in our Writers' Quotes.
- The news that Scribd is reining back on successful erotica and romance titles exposes the weak link in the subscription model of bookselling. Readers who are addicted to reading these books read them in large quantities and at great speed, so any subscription model which offers as many books as you want for a fee are certainly going to be in trouble...' This week's News Review looks at a technical hitch with subscription services - readers are reading too much!
- ‘With a shortlist so splendid and accomplished, it was not surprising that in the end our final decision came down to taste... The issue of taste is important here because it is one that affects the decision-making process not only for prize judges but for the industry as a whole: and that's something all authors have to come to terms with throughout their careers. You can't please all of the people all of the time - even hugely well-known authors have some books that do better than others...' Our Comment is from Louise Doughty, author of Apple Tree Yard and chair of the judges for the Desmond Elliott Prize.
- ‘Twenty years as a teacher, ten years in educational research and five years of directing an educational charity, and in all that time, I hadn't published any fiction or poetry at all. I'd always had a feeling that if life ever did allow me a clear run at creative writing, I might just be able to do something with it...' Bruce Harris's Writing Short Fiction: A Personal Journey is about how he worked his way towards setting up the fantastic new website Writing Short Fiction.
- We have 24 pages offering hundreds of recommended links to sites, including Interesting Literature, which we've just added, and Writers Online Services.. Share with us any new links you'd recommend.
- There aren't many prizes for playwrights but this week's Writing Opportunity is just that. The Verity Bargate Award 2015 is open to writers resident in the UK or Ireland with fewer than three professional productions and offers £6,000 in respect of an exclusive option to produce the winning play at Soho Theatre, London.
- Our links: an expert looks at how indie authors should spend their promotional money, Should an Author Favor PR or Marketing? - Publishing Perspectives; as we've reported children's publishing is flourishing, but what about encouragement for reading? Boom time for children's books as sales soar, but where are readers? - Telegraph; and a round-up of some of the world's most weird and wonderful bookshops, 10 independent bookshops you should visit worldwide: our readers recommend | Books | The Guardian.
- Are you interested in Getting Your Manuscript Copy Edited? As well as this article we have one from our 19-part Inside Publishing series about Copy editing and proof-reading and we offer a Copy editing service, as well as a Proof-reading service and our special Manuscript Polishing service, which involves more intensive work, 'polishing' and improving the text, and correcting the English if you are writing in English as a second language.
- More links: what's been described as a digital-first "multi-layered story of history and time", Arcadia's vision for a new way of reading | The Bookseller; Gordon Wise had a long stint in publishing before he became an agent, How do I become ... a literary agent | Money | The Guardian; and, of special interest to romance and erotica writers, Scribd cuts romance and erotica titles | Books | The Guardian.
- 'There's no such thing as writer's block. That was invented by people in California who couldn't write.' Terry Pratchett in our Writers' Quotes.
