23 October 2023 - What's new
23 October 2023
- 'Be really clear on what your book is about so that whoever's reading it can quickly get a sense of whether it would be interesting to them. You can research agents online, you can read their websites, but it can still be difficult to know who exactly likes what, so there's still some guesswork involved. But if you're really, really clear about what your book is, it will let the agent know if they're going to be interested in your book, and whether they want to invest the time to read it. If you're not clear, that's going to be a dangerous area - agents are busy, they read an awful lot of material, and if they don't see something they like in there because it isn't clear what the book is, it won't be looked at with much attention...' Kate Nash, founder of the Kate Nash Literary Agency, which represents commercial fiction, in Bookbrunch.
- 'Writing a non-fiction book is a very different project to writing a novel; the motivation, purpose, style and approach are quite distinct. ‘Non-fiction', of course, covers a wide range of genres and formats; however, there are some principles that apply across the board. In this article I will explore some of the basic requirements in writing a non-fiction book...' the new sixth article in our series Ask the Editor focuses on writing non-fiction.
- If you've come to the site looking for a report on your manuscript, how do you work out which one would suit you best? Which Report? includes our 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.
- The Moth Poetry Prize 2023 is open to all poets over 16 for an unpublished poem. Entry fee €15 per poem and you can enter as many poems as you like. 1st prize €6,000, plus three runner-up prizes of €1,000 and eight commended poets will each receive €250. The Prize closes on 31 December.
- The 2023 National Poetry Competition and National Novel Writing Month 2023 are still open.
- The many links this week include some from Frankfurt, the world's biggest book fair: agent Jonny Geller says 'What lies ahead leaves everyone filled with dread', The Bookseller - Comment - We need solidarity, now; expectations were high in the buildup to the 2023 fair, Frankfurt Book Fair 2023: Amid a World in Turmoil, Publishers Get Down to Business; two panels addressing two key concerns for the publishing industry, Frankfurt Book Fair 2023: Panels Take on AI, Sustainability in Publishing; and warnings from the CEO of the British Publishers' Association, Frankfurt Book Fair 2023: The AI Future Looks Bright - So Long As...'
- From our 19 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...'
- Our 22 Services for writers - just a list of what we offer at WritersServices. We believe it's the largest range on the internet.
- On English Language editing: 'The result? A book that reads like it's written by a native speaker for only 13% of the price a complete translation would have costed. Thank you, writersservices.' Anthony Fitzgerald on our Endorsements page.
- The Editor's Advice 4 is about Planning - just how should you go about planning your novel? Maureen concludes that '...The point is that in some respects it doesn't actually matter when you do the planning; the important thing to remember is that you'll have to do it at some stage in the process of writing a novel, and to find the point in the process that works best for you.'
- More links from the publishing world: the rich have got richer as the top 10 global publishing groups saw a collective double-digit jump in sales in 2022, The Bookseller - Spotlight - The world's biggest groups show huge gains in the latest publisher rankings; writers haven't been consulted and streaming will damage book sales, The Bookseller - News - Society of Authors slams 'lack of consultation' on Spotify audiobooks deals; the success of Britain's English-language export sales into some European markets is cannibalising local book sales, The Bookseller - News - Alarm across Europe as English-language export editions skewer domestic markets; a new survey on American literary agents' experience surfaces concerns about the business model's viability, diversity, and burnout in a demanding job, Outside the LitAG: A New Report on Agenting; and the first international rights fair in East Africa, Frankfurt Book Fair 2023: A New Rights Fair for Nairobi.
- Do you need to get your material typed up, but can't face doing the job yourself? We can provide a clean typed version of your work at very competitive rates. Our service offers help for writers who have an old or handwritten manuscript, or a printed book which needs re-typing, before the writer can proceed with revision, submission or publication. Typing manuscripts
- 'Why would you, as an unpublished writer, want to find an agent? Many writers see being taken on by an agent as the first step in getting taken on by a publisher, because it is so difficult to get publishers to pay attention to unagented writers. Agents use their contacts and knowledge of the publishing business on their clients' behalf, selling their work and then continuing to look after their authors' interests...' Finding an agent
- Links on writers' craft: a succinct and helpful article about preparing your setting, Five tips for 'setting' the setting | National Centre for Writing | NCW; so what does "Golden Age" actually mean? A matter of style: writing in the tradition of the Golden Age mystery; and a very well-informed look at the expansion of the US YA market, Who Is YA For?
- If you need to clear copyright for your book, Clearing Copyright shows you how to do this: 'Copyright provides a framework for trading in intellectual property. In practice it protects the author's position and ensures that the publisher is able to take on the risk of publication in the knowledge that the publisher's rights are protected. In effect authors, (the originators of intellectual property) sub-license their rights through their book contracts to different parties in individual territories and in specific forms...'
- 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 publishers or to self-publish, our unique Poetry Collection Editing service can help to get your work to a publishable standard.
- Links to writers' stories: commercial book publishing was (and is) unbearably white, Why Toni Morrison Left Publishing ‹ Literary Hub; when tackling social issues, it's best to tell a story, not preach, Why Genre Fiction Is So Effective in Tackling Social Issues; combining murder with a quickened pace to compete for the conscious mind of an Attention Deficit Disorder society, My First Thriller: Jeffery Deaver ‹ CrimeReads; celebrating your 80th birthday and having the busiest time of your life, ‘Goosebumps' Author R.L. Stine: ‘The World Has Gotten Scarier'; and a new writer tells his story, Q&A: debut novelist Dann McDorman.
- Writing Biography & Autobiography is a serialisation from our Archives of the book by Brian D Osborne. In the first excerpt, 'Managing the matters of truth and objectivity', the author says: 'Just as you need to remember that letters, reports, census forms, legal documents and so forth were not created simply for our convenience, so you also need to remember that what is written in them may not be true...'
- Our newly-revised FAQs page answers questions you may have, such as: Why do I need a report on my manuscript?
- Richard Bach in our Writers' Quotes: 'A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.'
