9 September 2019 - What's new
9 September 2019
- 'I put my whole soul into this book, but I didn't allow myself to hope that it would lead to anything. In fact I firmly hedged my bets against it having any success at all, because it would have been too painful to hope and then be disappointed. But then this happens, and I'm proven miraculously, incredibly, joyously wrong...' 'Success is not particularly good for creativity' is our Comment this week from from Jessica Love, winner of the £5,000 Klaus Flugge award for illustrated books for her picture book about a trans child, Julian Is a Mermaid, in the Guardian.
- For anyone thinking about or embarked on self-publishing, our ten-part WritersServices Self-Publishing Guide by 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 is an essential starting-point, taking you through the process step-by-step. 'Indie authors access the same professional services as traditional publishing houses. They employ freelance editors, proofreaders and cover designers. They have their work professionally formatted for ebooks and typeset for print. They may use service providers to manage some or all of the publishing tasks, or they may go it alone...' Articles include Choose Your Self-publishing Route and Marketing and Promotion for Indie Authors: Online.
- From the same author, The Business of writing, 'Writing is undoubtedly a creative art. Whether we are working on the next Booker Prize winner or ghostwriting blog posts, writers need to be original, imaginative and inspired. But writing is also a business, with invoices to raise, accounts to be submitted and records to be kept. Writers, like artists, can find themselves floundering when it comes to the ‘business end' of the job.'
- This is the biggie, the very prestigious National Poetry Competition 2019, which closes on 31 October. It's open internationally to all poets who are 17 or over with an entry fee of £7 for the first poem and £4 for subsequent poems. The First Prize is £5,000, Second Prize £2,000, Third Prize £1,000 and 7 Commendations £200, but there's also a lot of kudos attached to being a winner.
- Our links: an interview with an irrepressible and very popular author, Stephen King: ‘I have outlived most of my critics. It gives me great pleasure' | Books | The Guardian; some sharp insights into the publishing business, A Book Biz Insider's Letter to a (Future) Assistant; video continues to grow in popularity and importance - with the original video sharing platform YouTube now the second most visited website in the world, The future of video in publishing | The Bookseller; and just this week, a Catholic elementary school in Tennessee removed the books from its library, When We Ban Books Like 'Harry Potter,' Students Lose Out On More Than Magic | HuffPost UK.
- If you're looking for a report on your manuscript, how do you work out which one of our three reports would suit you best? Which Report? includes our new top-of-the range service, the Editor's Report Plus, introduced by popular demand to provide even more detail. This very substantial report takes the form of a chapter-by-chapter breakdown and many writers have found this detail helps them to get their book right. Through our specialist children's editors we can offer reports on children's books.
- More links: an early decision which can have a long-term impact with little or no chance for fixing or correcting, short of re-publishing, Why Self-Publishing Authors Should Consider Establishing Their Own Imprint | Jane Friedman; what can books published during wartime tell us about ourselves? The Crime Novels of WWII | CrimeReads; he sold only 4 books, Just Because Walt Whitman Self-Published, Doesn't Mean You Should, Too | Literary Hub; and the backlash against modern "culture warriors", Enid Blyton had racist views. But I still read her | Sian Cain | Opinion | The Guardian.
- Meg Rosoff in our Writers' Quotes: 'Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are. The job of your voice is not to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences. In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul.'
- For quotes fans we have further superb collections in More Writers' Quotes and Even More Quotes.
