What's New in 2016
- There's a great Writing Opportunity this week with the Daily Mail First Novel Competition, open to UK and Irish writers of 16 and over and has no entry fee. Prizes include a £20,000 advance, the services of a top literary agent - and guaranteed publication by 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.
- 'The battle rages on about whether self-publishing or traditional publishing is best from the author's point of view and it all seems to come down to your own experience. If you're happily settled with a publisher and content with what they're doing for you, then of course you'll advocate that...' News Review this week - To self-publish or be traditionally published?
- Our 19-part Inside Publishing series gives you an insider's take on the publishing world, covering everything from subsidiary rights to the world English language market, from advances and royalties to the writer/publisher financial relationship. 'There's no escaping the fact that publishers and authors are essentially in an adversarial position. Even in the very best and most supportive publisher/writer relationships there is the tension caused by the fact that authors would like to earn as much as possible from their writing and publishers to pay as little as they can get away with. Understanding this is part of working your way through the relationship so as to come out of it in the way that best suits you as the writer...'
- ‘The debate about whether you can teach creative writing is a funny one. Nobody ever says to a pianist, "Oh, you don't need a conservatoire, why don't you just practice your piano, then you'll get good." Good creative writing courses provide discipline, advice and criticism... But there is that extra magic fairy dust that good writers have that can't be taught...' Tracy Chevalier, author of At the Edge of the Orchard and Girl with a Pearl Earring, in the Sunday Telegraph's Stella provides this week's Comment.
- Kevin Morley on how he turned to writing to support the Saltergate Children's Home: 'One of the things I have set up here in Addis Ababa is a small children's home - you need to start somewhere. It is a tiny place but it provides food and shelter for a few kids. Tsege is getting on a bit but she manages the day to day running of the place and makes sure the children behave themselves. Abel, Filimon and Daniel might be too proud to ask for hand-outs but I'm not. Simple request - if you can help with a donation that would be great....'
- Our links: one writer with strong views about publishing herself, For me, traditional publishing means poverty. But self-publish? No way | Books | The Guardian; a concerted campaign against writers being asked to work without payment is gathering pace on a number of fronts, Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society - The Price Still Ain't Right; there isn't a company that more directly affects book publishing than Amazon, Why Are Amazon and KDP So Weird? | Digital Book World; and the saddening story of Canada's recent copyright reforms, Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society - Oh Canada! How Not to Reform Copyright.
- If you are looking for copy editing online, it is difficult to ensure that you are getting a professional copy editor who will do a good job on your manuscript. Hardly any authors can copy edit their own writing or know much about what is involved. It is in any case notoriously difficult to spot the errors in your own work. So professional copy editing does make sense, either if you are trying to give your work its best chance when submitting it or, even more crucially, if you are planning to self-publish. Getting your manuscript copy edited.
- More links: the amazing story of the publishing factory that works on the bestselling author's work, It Takes 16 People Working Full Time to Publish All of James Patterson's Books; an interesting plan from the same source for getting non-readers reading - rather like Quick Books, James Patterson Has a Big Plan for Small Books - The New York Times; and, also featured this week as a competition but containing some great advice for writers from an agent, author and publisher, Your chance to become a novelist! The winner gets a book deal with £20k advance! | Daily Mail Online.
- And from Booker Prize-winning Anita Brokner, who died recently, 'If I were happy, married with six children, I wouldn't be writing. And I doubt if I should want to.' from our Writers' Quotes.
- ‘I tend to do what I want to do. For a long time I did not write fiction. Then suddenly a fictional world was in my imagination, so I wrote it. It's ridiculous to say I'm passive in relation to these things, because obviously I do exactly what I want to do...' Marilynne Robinson, author of The Givenness of Things and Housekeeping, in the Observer provides this week's Comment.
- Our Writing Opportunity is the Winchester Writing Festival which has no less than eleven competitions, including two poetry ones, three by and for children, flash fiction, short story, crime, memoir and the first three pages of a novel, all closing on 13 May - and you don't need to attend the festival to enter!
- An Editor's Advice is a series of seven articles by one of our editors on really useful subjects for writers such as Dialogue, Manuscript presentation and Doing further drafts: 'I have just finished writing a report on a novel. I've pinpointed various areas of weakness and made various suggestions that the writer may or may not wish to follow. But the nub of the report is a recommendation that the writer produce a further draft of the novel rather than trying to submit it to a publisher now. I wonder sometimes how writers feel when they get my reports and see that recommendation...'
- 'One of our links this week points the way to a final article from Digital Book World about hybrid authors, those who manage to combine the benefits of self-publishing in terms of control with the advantages of being published by a traditional publisher. Not every author wants to market their own book and many are not comfortable or confident about their ability to do so...' News Review
- Links of the week: a highly practical approach to the writing of fiction, 9 Reasons To Index-Card Your Manuscript | You Write Fiction; exploring a new approach to getting published, How Publishers and 'Hybrid' Authors Are Working Together | Digital Book World; and the story of one successful small poetry press, BookBrunch - Poetry, and the rest is noise: An interview with Jenny Swann from Candlestick Press.
- Getting your poetry published can be quite hard, but here are a few general pointers: 'Poetry is not in general given much space in bookshops and it is difficult to find poetry sections that go much beyond some bestselling backlist and a few new volumes. It's hard therefore to achieve any sales for first collections and the publishers have to be realistic about this...'
- Our Poetry Critique service and Poetry Collection Editing service might help you to work out where you've got to with your poetry. Do you want to make sure that your poetry is as good as it can be before you go ahead with submitting to competitions, magazines or websites, or do you want help to prepare a collection? Our Poetry Collection Editing service is unique and is a real help when what you need is editorial advice on preparing your collection for self-publishing or submission.
- More links: some amazing insights into reader analytics, with worrying implications for authors, Moneyball for Book Publishers: A Detailed Look at How We Read - The New York Times; can reading and listening at the same time prove really attractive? Why Podcasts Like 'Serial' Are Helping English Teachers Encourage Literacy - The Atlantic; and the 2016 winner of the Bookseller's entertaining prize Too Naked For the Nazis claims 38th Diagram Prize | The Bookseller.
- 'If you do not have an alert and curious interest in character and dramatic situation, if you have no visual imagination and are unable to distinguish between honest emotional reactions and sentimental approaches to life, you will never write a competent short story.' Edward J O'Brien in our Writers' Quotes.
- 'In our links this week we've teamed up a cosy story about finding an agent with a downbeat one about how publisher consolidation and focus on obvious big books is restricting authors' possibilities. If you are looking to get published traditionally, this is not a cheering situation...' News Review
- The International Rubery Book Award 2016 is open for all self-published and independently published books. The entry fee £35/$60 and the prize is £1,000 ($1590). Our Writing Opportunity.
- 'Do you find it difficult to get started on your writing? Is it always easier to put off finishing that research/ starting that novel/embarking on the second draft? You are not alone, for many writers suffer from procrastination...' Don't procrastinate!
- Which Report? gives the details of the three reports we offer: the full Editor's Report, the basic Reader's Report and the most substantial Editor's Report Plus. There's also our specialist Children's reports, part of our Children's Editorial Services. If you want a professional editor's assessment of your work, here's the place to start.
- ‘Quit your job! The day I quit my job was the best day of my life. I wanted to be a writer. It took me four months, and resulted in How I Live Now. I found my fame and fortune with it, and I thought, "Publishing people are so friendly!" But they aren't, not always! Despite that book being a big success, my second, Just in Case, was turned down flat by both my UK and US editors...' Meg Rosoff, author of Jonathan Unleashed, her first book for adults, in the Independent on Sunday provides this week's Comment.
- Our links: finding an agent, a dream-come-true, Wendy's Writing Now: Out of the Slush Pile - How I Found My Agent; publishing mergers and what they mean for authors, What Big Publishing Consolidation Means for Authors; the argument that "platform, and not content, is king", in our first report from Digital Book World, Taplin talks tech power at DBW | The Bookseller; and from a perceptive children's publisher, another one, An Independent Publisher at DBW: Nosy Crow's Tom Bonnick.
- From Tom Chalmers of IPR, two articles about rights for self-publishers, Self-publishing - the rights way and How to get your book in the hands of an international audience. 'It's a fact that most self-published authors understand the process that takes them from a written manuscript to a published book, but few realise the additional elements that make publishing a profitable business. Rights licensing is arguably the most vital element in this equation. Whether it's selling translation rights, audio rights or optioning the film rights, these all help balance the book's books...'
- More links: the problem we're dealing with is simple. There's too much junk on Amazon, Amazon, spam and the biggest slushpile in history. | Literary Agents Advice; more "meaningful" for her to win the Man Booker Prize than the Women's Prize for Fiction, Women's literary prizes are 'problematic' says Lionel Shriver | The Bookseller; and, sorry, more DBW stuff, 'The Persistence of Print' at Digital Book World, but this one's about how well print is doing!
- Finding an agent and Working with an agent - two practical pieces to help set up and maintain this vital relationship.
- 'To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.' Anne Rice in our Writers' Quotes.
- Ebook sales plunged in October 2015, with adult books dropping 22% in one month, compared to children's ebooks which went down a whopping 44.7%. As we've discussed elsewhere, the children's market has a strong preference for print books, with both parents and children preferring them. News Review looks at the way ebooks are finding their level.
- It's a common enough fantasy for writers: maybe now I can leave that dreary job and devote myself whole-heartedly to writing... Perhaps you've even been indulging in it as you lay on the beach this summer, or more likely spent your precious holiday working on your latest novel. But how practical is it? Is it something you can realistically aspire to, or just a distant fantasy? What are your chances of making your dream come true? Don't give up the day job.
- ‘I can't talk to people. I'm very shy. It feels like an enormous restriction in my life, like I'm exploding because I can't express anything. But if I'm writing then I don't have that problem. For me, literature is a place where I can gain some freedom, to write whatever I want...' Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle, a six-part autobiographical sequence which has been an international literary sensation provides this week's Comment, Writing bestsellers about your inner life.
- Authors often find it difficult to write their own synopsis for submission to publishers, which is where our Synopsis-writing service can help. If you're preparing to self-publish and having difficulty with your blurb, our Blurb-writing service might be what you need.
- Our links: an author who thought a big prize win was a hoax, Helen Garner learns of $207,000 literary prize win after checking junk email | Books | The Guardian; from the highly regarded Hungarian/English poet, ten ways of thinking about poetry, George Szirtes - TEN PROPOSITIONS ABOUT POETRY; a prizewinning translator explains how he taps into the "rhythm" of each book he translates, Translator Burton Pike Accepts 2016 Friedrich Ulfers Prize; and who gets to decide which works make the cut? At What Point Does a Novel Become Literature? | Mental Floss UK.
- Translation is always difficult but if you want to publish your book in English to make it available to the international market, what do you do? if your English is good enough, what about translating your book yourself, and then getting your translation polished and copy edited by a professional editor who is a native English speaker? The result should be a publishable manuscript. How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth)
- More links: from the perspective of an internationally prominent children's illustrator, Axel Scheffler: the Gruffalo wouldn't exist without UK in EU | Books | The Guardian; your tallest TBR pile nearly collapsed on your cat the other day. You're out of both bookshelf space and space for more bookshelves, 16 Reasons To Be Proud Of Being A Book Hoarder; how a big prize can overshadow everything else, Man Booker Prize has an unhealthy effect on the market, says author Deborah Moggagh | News | Culture | The Independent.
- 'There are some things one can only achieve by a deliberate leap in the opposite direction.' Franz Kafka in our Writers' Quotes.
