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30 June 2014 - What's new

30 June 2014
  • The fourth and final part of Suzy Jenvey's The Essential Guide to Writing for Children is about Submitting Your Work to Agents and Editors: ' In my 26 years in publishing, I have read thousands of manuscript submissions. The way they were presented varied enormously. My main tip is to let your writing do the talking; the editor or agent is ONLY interested in how good your writing is, and unusual presentation ideas aren't going to make an unoriginal idea original, or a weak writer strong. The previous articles dealt with Which age group should I write for?, Before You Write: What is My Story Going to be? and Starting to Write.
  •  'This week's Bookseller reports that E L James made £33m before tax in the year to the end of September 2013, more than three times her pre-tax earnings from the year before. This astonishing amount of money shows how very much an internationalyl bestselling author can make, especially when it's actually a trilogy. Fifty Shades Ltd said it ‘had a very successful year, during which it secured royalty agreements with numerous international publishing houses and licensing agreements with other organisations'. This week's News Review is on Bestsellers.
  • 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 is the author of the ten-part WritersServices Guide to Self-pubishing and other articles on the site and she's just pubished her sixth novel  Cupid's Way, a romantic comedy about Evie's attempts to help save her grandparents' home from destruction for redevelopment. You can check it out on her website.
  • Do you want a professional assessment of your work? As well as specialist Children's reports, we also offer three grades of report, the substantial Editor's Report, the briefer Reader's Report and the most detailed of the three, the Editor's Report Plus.
  • Our Writing Opportunity this week is the MslexiaStylish and lively site for quarterly UK literary magazine read by 12,000 'committed' women writers. Good range of quality writing, information and advice with news, reviews, competitions and interviews, all presented in a friendly fashion. Praised by Helen Dunmore as 'astute, invigorating and above all an excellent read.' www.mslexia.co.uk Women's Memoir Competition 2014. Women from any country who have not published a memoir, but may have published something else, are eligible. Entry fee £25 and the Prize is £5,000.Closing on 22 September.
  • 'I'm amazingly fortunate to have a chance to write a second book that people will be interested in reading because they liked the first. It would be awfully pessimistic if an author with enthusiastic potential readers sat around in anguish... The book has your chromosomes all the way through it, you feel squeamish about someone critiquing your inner life...' Tom Rachman, author of The Imperfectionists and The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, in the Evening Standard, quoted in our Comment column.
  • Our links this week: are we at the beginnings of a backlash against big tech? Philip Jones asks some fundamental questions - They might be giants | FutureBook; Literary agent Juliet Mushenson How To Become A Literary Agent | Marie Claire; what is the Poetry Book SocietySpecialist book club founded by T S Eliot in 1953, which aims to offer the best new poetry published in the UK and Ireland. Members buy at 25% discount. The PBS has a handsome new website at  www.poetrybooks.co.uk - BookBrunch - Putting poets first.
  • Preparing for Publication - Have you managed to find a publisher for your work and are now enjoying the thrill of knowing that your book will soon be published? If you're wondering what happens next, here is an outline of the processes involved.
  • 'Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.' Franklin Jones in our Writers' Quotes.