Half of UK adults don't regularly read and almost one in four (24%) young people aged 16 to 24 say they've never been readers according to research released by The Reading Agency.
When book sales spiked in 2020 and 2021, publishers believed one reason for the increase was that more people had turned to reading during the pandemic, and they were hopeful that some of those people would continue to read when things returned to normal. However, a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts seems to dash those hopes.
When I heard Covid was keeping inmates in cells, I drove a car load of donated books to Pentonville. It became a project that now delivers thousands of books to British jails
This generation, defined as people born between 1997 and 2015, is often considered phone-obsessed and addicted to technology. But when it comes to reading, Gen Zers say they prefer to pick up a printed book over an e-book.
As someone who's on their sixth novel and has had their ups and downs, I'm aware of how privileged and lucky I have been, and what a shock it can be for debut writers - all the reality of that world, and that new voice and when the book doesn't quite take off, it's a shock. Read more
‘Starting with a blank page is part of what makes writing a book so vulnerable. A novel can be anything, and the way it turns out is highly personal.'
This week we have broken through 10,000 pages on the WritersServices site! Our huge site contains an enormous amount of information which can be accessed through the homepage or through Advice for Writers, which gives a breakdown of what is on the site.
‘Georgette Heyer was my favourite author, then and now.
Mashing genres can be a tricky business. Do it right, and you've created a short story, book or movie that remixes those respective genres' elements in new and exciting ways-for instance, Philip K. Dick memorably using a detective narrative to explore the post-apocalyptic setting of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
POD started off being closely associated with the self-publishing market, as it allows authors to publish for hundreds of dollars, if not zero dollars. It has never really shaken off that association, even though it has been a godsend for authors and publishers alike. Read more
Royalties earned from The Golden Mole, published in the US this week as Vanishing Treasures, will be given towards counteracting ‘the election of a climate-change denier'
'Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.'
'I've been lucky'
As someone who's on their sixth novel and has had their ups and downs, I'm aware of how privileged and lucky I have been, and what a shock it can be for debut writers - all the reality of that world, and that new voice and when the book doesn't quite take off, it's a shock. Read more