8 June 2015 - What's new
8 June 2015
- No Exit has announced a crime short story competition for unpublished writers. It's open to crime stories of up to 3,000 words, with an entry fee of £5 and it closes on 22 June. This week's Writing Opportunity.
- 'It's been a pretty good surprise for the book trade that in two weeks' time (perfect timing for summer reading) E L James will publish a new book featuring the same characters as Fifty Shades of Grey. This time the story is told from Christian Grey's point of view and the book is simply called ‘Grey'...' Another big bestseller for E L James is our 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. Very few authors can copy edit their own writing and it is notoriously difficult to spot the errors in your own work. Getting your manuscript copy edited.
- ‘In talking to other writers and getting a bit older and realising how it works, (I discovered) that the gestation period for a new book is very tender - it's like a new shoot, you can't expose it to the light too quickly or it might wither. You'll lose the impetus, you'll lose the belief in it.' Laura Barnett, whose just-published three-pronged first novel, The Versions of Us, has sold in 18 countries, in the Bookseller provides this week's Comment.
- Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl has achieved sales of more than 1m copies recorded by BookScan in the UK. Added to this are her huge international sales, especially after the release of the highly successful film. Gillian Flynn was the subject of our Success Story back in 2013. We have other Success Stories on a wide range of authors, including Darren Shan and Tina Seskis.
- Some of our links this week are further follow-ups to BookExpo in New York: a session on subscription sales, Partners' Corner: BEA 2015 Edition - Publishing Trends; how online publishing platforms have changed things for indie authors, At BEA 2015, E-Books May Help Indie Authors Enter Publishing, But They're Not Ready To Give Up Print Just Yet : T-Lounge : Tech Times; analysis of the last 15 years of winners of six major literary awards, Books about women less likely to win prizes, study finds | Books | The Guardian; and while "times have changed in the world of publishing...the "standard" book contract has not kept up", 'Fair Contract Initiative' from Authors Guild | The Bookseller.
- And more: authors speak out, Major Publishers Are Screwing Readers with High e-book Prices; Ursula K Le Guin's adversarial view of Amazon, Up the Amazon with the BS Machine | Book View Cafe Blog; and Malorie Blackman comes to the end of her stint as UK Children's Laureate, Blackman tells of 'surprise' at laureate 'vitriol' | The Bookseller.
- Your submission package gives you a clear outline of what you should include, to make sure your submission is as strong as possible.
- 'Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money and fame from this state of being.' A A Milne of Winnie-the-Pooh fame, in our Writers' Quotes.
