24 April 2023 - What's new
24 April 2023
- ‘My favourite reading experience, if I was going to choose one, would be a big, fat doorstep of a novel, so I always had in my mind that I would try to write the kind of book that I liked to read, the kind of multi-generational, big bed of a novel that you sink into...' British novelist Joanna Quinn, whose first novel The Whalebone Theatre was published last year, in the Bookseller.
- 'I wrote this book to explore why a privately educated middle-class boy rejected his semi-rural Surrey background to live in the 1970s squats of Hornsey Rise, north London, then reputed to be the largest squatting community in Europe... One significant challenge was in clarifying the relationship between the ‘autobiographical' and ‘fictional' aspects of my work. Jeremy Worman on his just-published book, The Way to Hornsey Rise: an Autobiographical Novel.
- How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth) asks writers who are not native English speakers with a manuscript which needs polishing or translating: "If your English is good enough, what about translating your book yourself or writing in English, and then getting your work polished and copy edited by a professional editor who is a native English speaker?" This could be a cost-effective way of reaching the international English-speaking market, using our English Language Editing service.
- Our first set of links are from a lively London Book Fair: market forces, Brexit (in the UK), the rising costs of paper, energy and manufacturing, and the pandemic) are forcing all publishers to reconsider book prices, London Book Fair 2023: Despite Recommended Retail Prices Rise, Books Have Never Been Cheaper; 669m physical books were sold in the UK, the highest overall level ever recorded, UK publishing industry reports record-breaking year in 2022 | Books | The Guardian; literay agencies follow the trend to become more corporate, The Bookseller - News - United Talent Agency ‘would not rule out' further buyouts after LBF bow; and agents and publishers have hailed a "proper" return to London Book Fair this year, reporting back-to-back meetings and standing room only at packed-out events, The Bookseller - News - AI and rising costs dominate conversations at packed-out London Book Fair.
- As well as our highly-regarded Copy editing service, which will help you prepare your manuscript for submission or self-publishing, we have Manuscript Polishing, which provides a higher-level polishing service, English Language Editing for those for whom English is not a native language, the Writer's edit, providing line-editing, and Proof-reading. The Cutting edit and Developmental editing are two new services. Get the right level of editorial support for your needs from our professional editors. Our low-cost services represent exceptionally good value. Contact us to discuss what you want.
- A glowing endorsement from an enthusiastic author: ‘Absolutely first class job! Very professional. Thank you very much indeed. Wish I'd found you before, it would certainly have saved me a lot of unnecessary headaches. I'll now bin the rest of the editors I've so far dealt with, and hope to keep contact with you.' Steven Kocsis
- More links from a busy publishing world: more than half have said the process negatively affected their mental health, The Bookseller - News - Bookseller survey finds debut authors struggle with lack of support; Tree to Me campaign 'adds authors' voices to efforts to achieve net zero in the publishing industry', Society of Authors creates new campaign to help writers hold publishers to account on sustainability | Society of Authors | The Guardian; an alarming spike in book bans in US schools, PEN Report Shows State Legislation ‘Supercharging' Book Bans; and more on why this matters for young people's lives and careers, The Consequences of Book Bans.
- A new prize has just been set up, the Debut Writers Over 50 Award, which is open to unpublished and unagented writers over 50 living in the UK. There's no entry fee and the prize is £1,000 cash and a week-long residential course at Moniack Mhor. It opens on 1 May and closes on 31 May.
- Links about writers and writing: an important piece of research, The Bookseller - News - Self-published authors earn more than traditionally published counterparts; the worry about children never ends, no matter how big they grow, Writing what terrifies you; living in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, which has a magnificent medieval core, led me to wonder What Do Modern Mystery Novels and Medieval Mystery Plays Have in Common? Sin. ‹ CrimeReads; and a critic thinks Dahl's books are still harmful, Why Roald Dahl Does Not Deserve a Second Chance.
- Which service should I choose to help me get my work into good shape for submission or self-publishing? Which service do you want? Our editorial services have been added in response to demand, so whatever you want we've probably got it covered with our 22 different services.
- The fourth set of our pages of Tips for writers asks: Self-publishing - is it for you? Do you really want to get your book published? Self-publishing offers the chance to control your own publication and, if you are successful, you will make more money. Have you already tried agents and publishers, and made sure that your work is as good as you can get it before submitting it? If so, then you should consider self-publishing or indie publishing as it is often called.
- Our final set of links are to writers' own stories: the series has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, The Bookseller - Author Interviews - Ken Follett | 'I didn't foresee this becoming five books at all. If I had, I would have been more intimidated'; for nearly two decades of her soaring literary career, no one knew that the crime writer "Anne Perry" was actually the teenage murderer Juliet Hulme, Anne Perry dead: Writer murdered friend's mom as teen - Los Angeles Times; the Booker and Pulitzer winner on influences on his writing career, Colson Whitehead: ‘When I read Invisible Man I thought maybe there's room for a Black weirdo like me' | Colson Whitehead | The Guardian; and he went from a career of exciting journalism, and then boredom as a banker, to joining naval intelligence and then became a writer, How Ian Fleming Wrote Casino Royale and Changed Spy Fiction Forever ‹ CrimeReads.
- Get your poetry assessed before submitting it or entering it for competitions with our Poetry Critique service. If you're planning to submit a collection to publish or to self-publish, our unique Poetry Collection Editing service can help to get your work to a publishable standard.
- 'Being a writer in Hollywood is like going into Hitler's Eagle's Nest with a great idea for a Bar Mitzvah.' David Mamet in our Writers' Quotes.
- If you enjoy browsing through quotes, we have large collections on our website, More Writers' Quotes and Even More Quotes.
