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January 2009 - Writers Magazine

News Review




  • This week's News Review looks at book discounting, actually higher in the UK in 2008 than 2007 - and asks whether it's a danger or an opportunity.



  • So who are the most popular fiction writers across the globe? News Review looks at a new study which shows that Ken Follett and Khaled Hosseini feature in more bestseller lists than any other writers in the nine countries studied.



  • Children’s books are still doing well in spite of the recession. News Review looks at what's working and some publicly-funded UK programmes which are making a difference.



  • No-one could call 2008 an easy year. As well as an unprecedented worldwide credit crisis it has ended with an abrupt slide into a severe global recession, which will affect every country in the world and all aspects of life.  So what about the book business in 2009? News Review gets out its crystal ball.


  • This week's News Review looks at the responsibility of publishers in the developed world to help the developing countries get books and access to them through Creative Commons and the work of the book charities.

  • Newspapers' book review sections are under threat as part of the general pressure on the papers to keep their print editions going. But does this matter for books? News Review takes a look.

Comment




  • 'Times Books as we know it will be no more, but books themselves, thankfully, seem shockproof against change.  Neither economics nor e-readers will oust the beloved book. We don't stop reading because we are poor, any more than book lovers will give up books for their electronic lookalikes.' Jeanette Winterson, in her final column in Times Books.



  • 'Through today’s gloom we may discern a spectacularly bright future in which the rewards to writers and readers and even to publishers will be unprecedented as world-wide multilingual backlists expand online in a cultural revolution orders of magnitude greater than Gutenberg’s world-changing technology generated five centuries ago.’ Jason Epstein, author of Book Business



  • 'The heart and soul of any publishing business is its editorial department, the men and women who, crudely, acquire the 'content' on which the imprint depends...  Gone are the days, with rare exceptions, when an editor's positive enthusiasm for a new book could trump the negative anxieties of the sales department, almost the only books that now generate much excitement among publishers are would-be bestsellers.  Robert McCrum in the Observer



  • Andrew MotionEnglish poet, novelist and biographer; Poet Laureate of United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009; during his laureateship founded the Poetry Archive, an online resource of poems and audio recordings of poets reading their own work, UK Poet Laureate on poetry: 'Sometimes rejoicing in things as they are, sometimes criticising them, sometimes welcoming, sometimes rejecting - always keeping its eyes peeled, its ears open, and its devotion to meaning as intense as its passion for mystery...  A primitive pleasure?  Absolutely.  But a primitive pleasure that is endlessly transformed and re-invented.


Writers' Quote



‘You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.’
C S Lewis


Our Editorial Services for writers


Check out the 16 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting.

Tips for Writers 6


The sixth set of our new pages of tips for writers deals with other kinds of writing and opportunities to extend your writing and develop your writing skills


Tips for Writers 1: Improving your writing



Tips for Writers 2: Learning on the job



Tips for Writers 3: New technology and the Internet



Tips for Writers 4: Self-publishing - is it for you?



Tips for Writers 5: Promoting your writing (and yourself)



 


 



International Book FairsInternational Book Fair Information 2009


Our annual updated listing of the world's book fairs is now available on the site.


T S Eliot Prize for Poetry


Winner announced - an interesting outsider winning with just her second collection.


New Categories series


Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy


This is the second article in a new series by Chris HolifieldManaging director of WritersServices; spent working life in publishing,employed by everything from global corporations to start-ups; track record includes: editorial director of Sphere Books, publishing director of The Bodley Head, publishing director for start-up of upmarket book club, The Softback Preview, editorial director of Britain’s biggest book club group, BCA, and, most recently, deputy MD and publisher of Cassell & Co. She is also currently the Director of the Poetry Book Society; During all of this time aware of problems faced by writers, as publishing changed from idiosyncratic cottage industry, 'occupation for gentlemen', into corporate business of today. Writers encountered increasing difficulty in getting books edited or published. Authors create the books which are the raw material for the whole business. She believes it is time to bring them back to centre stage. which will cover the major writing genres. This one looks at Science Fiction and Fantasy and suggests how you should get started, what special considerations you should bear in mind and what the market's like.


Writing Crime Fiction, the first article. looks at the international market for crime novels and shows what is working for this readership and how you can give your own crime fiction its best chance of getting published.


Magazine - trees


How to market your writing services online


Ghostwriter 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 shows you how you can market yourself online through your own website, optimisation, ezines and freelance writing websites.  Essential reading for any writer who wants to promote themself on the web.


We have an article on Copyright in our Inside Publishing series and our article Print on demand and the Long Tail in Changes in Publishing.


Choosing a Service


Are you having difficulty deciding which service might be right for you?  This useful new article by Chris Holifield offers advice on what to go for, depending on what stage you are at with your writing.


Help for Writers


Check out this page to find links to the huge number of useful articles on this site, including Finding an Agent and Making Submissions.



Agents' Listings


The new agents' listings are now available on the site. Coming from the 2009 Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, these listings can be searched and provide the most up-to-date information about literary agents across the world:


UK agents


US agents


Agents from the rest of the world


Children's specialist agents


Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2009


Our review of the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook


Changes in the book trade


This new series by Chris HolifieldManaging director of WritersServices; spent working life in publishing,employed by everything from global corporations to start-ups; track record includes: editorial director of Sphere Books, publishing director of The Bodley Head, publishing director for start-up of upmarket book club, The Softback Preview, editorial director of Britain’s biggest book club group, BCA, and, most recently, deputy MD and publisher of Cassell & Co. She is also currently the Director of the Poetry Book Society; During all of this time aware of problems faced by writers, as publishing changed from idiosyncratic cottage industry, 'occupation for gentlemen', into corporate business of today. Writers encountered increasing difficulty in getting books edited or published. Authors create the books which are the raw material for the whole business. She believes it is time to bring them back to centre stage. looks at the book trade and investigates how fundamental changes in how it works are affecting writers.


The first article is on Bookselling, the second on Publishing, the third on Print on demand, the fourth on Self-publishing - 'really great' or career suicide?, the fifth on Writers' routes to their audiences, the sixth at at copyright under pressure and the seventh deals with Creative Commons.


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