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17 June 2013 - What's new

17 June 2013
  • Recent data from Bowker confirms that self-published books now make up 20% of all ebook sales in the UK and it's more than that in the most successful ebook categories - crime, science fiction and fantasy, romance and humour. News Review
  • 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. Our page on Getting your manuscript copy edited may help.
  • This week's Writing Opportunity is the world-famous Foyle Young Poets Award 2013.  Open to all young poets aged 11-17, it closes on 21 July, so hurry to get your entry in.
  • 'Most of the time, I'm just like, "Ah, you're right, I'm horrible: I should just quit now. But for a long time, y'know, I heard nothing but positive. At the very beginning, in fact, it was my sister who pretty much bullied me into sending out letters to agents, and it took me maybe only two months to get one - and then, a month later, to get a book deal. So it wasn't the normal paying-your-dues kind of thing. I got my negative later...' Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series in The Times magazine, quoted in our Comment column.
  • Are you thinking of becoming a ful-time writer? Read our article entitled Don't give up the day job before you take that important step.
  • Our links of the week are Blackman named Children's Laureate, Will Self-Publishing Counterbalance Trade Publishng Consolidation and The Digital Consultancy: Writing in a Digital Age.
  • ‘Songwriting is about getting the demon out of me. It's like being possessed. You try to go to sleep, but the song won't let you. So you have to get up and make it into something, and then you're allowed to sleep. It's always in the middle of the night, or you're half-awake or tired, when your critical faculties are switched off. So letting go is what the whole game is. John Lennon in our Writers' Quotes.