18 December 2017 - What's new
18 December 2017
- 'I look at a good many poetry scripts every week. Of the great majority, I may say that there is no part of my work which costs me less time and trouble. That is one thing about verse: you can judge from a very small quantity whether the author has any possibilities or not; you can often say, ‘The man who can write as bad a line as that simply hasn't got it in him.' The rarest experience is to come across a new poet who strikes you as so good that you don't need anybody's judgment but your own...' T S Eliot's address to the Society of Young Publishers, on The Publishing of Poetry is this week's Comment.
- From our nineteen-part Inside Publishing series, you can read up on Advances and royalties: 'Publishers usually offer to pay authors advances against royalties. How do you work out how much money you might earn from your book? You need to understand for yourself how advances and royalties work and what they mean for you...'
- From the same series, Copy editing and proof-reading explains the difference between the two 'Proof-reading is a separate activity from copy editing and should always be done afterwards as part of a final check that the text is in good order. Traditionally, proof-reading was done at galley stage, when the text was set up in type but not yet made into pages...'
- 'Two of our links this week relate to the report just published by Arts Council England which looks at literary fiction and concludes that it is in sharp decline. A close look at the figures suggests however that literary fiction is not alone, the problem relates to fiction sales in general. Genre sales have gravitated to ebooks, especially in some genres such as romance, where they are enjoying considerable success. But it is in literary fiction where the starkest outcome can be seen...' Our News Review is entitled Authors face declining incomes - should literary novelists receive more state support?
- Our links: Mike Shatzkin with a magisterial view of the current gradual decline in international publishing, Stability in the book marketplace does not mean commercial publishers continue to maintain their share; finally it's official: literary fiction is in crisis, and writers across the land are burning the midnight oil in their garrets, teaching or slogging away in unrelated jobs to keep the fire ablaze in the grate, Literary fiction is in crisis. A new chapter of funding authors must begin; more on this - Arts Council England has pledged its support, Literary fiction under threat, ACE report concludes; and a demonstration of what can be done in the foreign rights world, How Bookcase Literary Agency Sells Self-Published Authors' Rights to Editors.
- Do you want some help with your writing but don't quite know what you want? Are you a bit puzzled by the various services on offer, and not sure what to go for? Choosing a service can help you work out which service is right for you.
- More links: the backbone of the publishing industry in India very much remains non-fiction and commercial fiction, Why HarperCollins India is pushing hard to sign up the biggest names in Indian commercial fiction; this controversy has gone viral, Cat Person is 'mundane', Austen is 'dross': why do so many men hate female writing? and fascinating insights into which books which made their publishers proud - and which ones made them envious, Best books of 2017: the hits and misses of the publishers' year.
- Top Ten Tips for non-fiction writers is a helpful checklist for writers, compiled by a Creative Writing tutor. No 1 is 'Story, story, story. Make sure that your story can sustain several chapters and tens of thousands of words. Keep asking yourself: Why would anyone want to read this story?' Now doesn't that sound like fiction? But it's not, it's non-fiction...'
- 'Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.' Virginia Woolf in our Writers' Quotes.
