What's New

• ‘The majority of my books are set in north London, and it began to seem like an omission or a lie that when I open my door I'm in a multiracial neighbourhood, yet I haven't written about that. Should my books stay white for the rest of my life? I don't think so. That's all I can say, I wanted the book to represent my city... You write yourself out the further you go. The women thing started like that. I came to believe that women had more problems than white men, and white men's problems are mostly internal. That's certainly the case with High Fidelity and About a Boy. I tried to do the best I could with them, but there is something inert about that... Nick Hornby, author of 21 books, including 7 novels, amongst them Just Like You, published next week, About a Boy, Fever Pitch and High Fidelity, in the Sunday Times' Culture.
• 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. 'Self-publishing has changed so much over the past few years it's hard to believe it was once looked down upon by the publishing industry as the last resort of the vain and desperate. At the time of writing many self-publishing authors are identifying with the term ‘indie author', which acknowledges that to professionally publish today, you don't actually have to do everything yourself!' Articles include Formatting your book for Kindle and Marketing and Promotion for Indie Authors: Online.
• If on the other hand you're planning to submit to agents, you'll want to get your submission package into good shape before getting started, to give your book its best chance.
• Seven writing competitions are still open, though some are closing soon.
• This week's links are a varied bunch: there is no risk greater for a writer than emotional risk - which is why writing one's memoir is ultimately the riskiest of all, The Risky Writing Life; a comprehensive process in which, according to the definitive book on the subject, a trained checker works through your book? Why Nonfiction Book Fact Checking Should Be an Industry Standard; the big beasts of the ,publishing world are circling, eying up their prey, Bertelsmann, HarperCollins Show Interest in S&S; the acclaimed crime writer acknowledging that the fact that some people are perceived to have value attached to them and others aren't is really important, Denise Mina: 'I couldn't read until I was about nine' | Books | The Guardian; and 'An unhappy childhood is a writer's gold mine, Writing a path to redemption.
• Our article on How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth) asks writers with a manuscript which needs translating or has been written in English by a non-native speaker: 'if your English is good enough, what about translating your book yourself, or writing in English, and then getting your translation 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.
• English Language Editing is our polishing service for writers who have translated their work into English or written it in English when it is not their native language. If you need to make sure it's good enough to publish, or send to a publisher, this service is for you. Acknowledging the growth of world English, English Language Editing is designed for the many non-native English speakers throughout the world who want to publish their work in English.
• More links: here's a breakthrough first novel, a high-school thriller which tackles institutionalised racism, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé: the 21-year-old British student with a million-dollar book deal; this year, my detective Vera Stanhope turns 21, Stories have always been healing, so I'm funding bibliotherapists | Ann Cleeves | Books | The Guardian; 'a novel tells you far more about a writer than an essay, a poem, or even an autobiography', Martin Amis Gets Matter of Fact; and children's authors who also work in the children's publishing world, Children's Writers Who Wear Multiple Hats.
• Are you having difficulty producing a really good blurb to self-publish your book? Or do you need a synopsis to submit it to publishers? Our services can help.
• From our Writers' Quotes: 'Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else.' Gloria Steinem

‘I'm always interested in trying to use whodunit and murder mystery forms to do something a bit more profound than, after 400 pages, saying the butler did it, thank you, goodbye. Effectively, I didn't just want to write ordinary detective stories... They are the only form of literature that deals in absolute truths. When you read a whodunit, the joy of it is that you know that at the last chapter every ‘i' will be dotted, every ‘t' will be crossed, everything will be solved...' Anthony Horowitz, author of 73 books, including the Alex Rider series, the just-published Moonflower Murders, Magpie Murders and 14 TV series, in the Sunday Times Culture. Our Comment.

An Editor's Advice is a series of seven articles by one of our editors on really useful subjects for writers such as Manuscript presentation, Dialogue, Doing further drafts and Planning: 'The idea of planning doesn't fit well with the idea of the writer as inspired genius, frantically scribbling away. However, I am willing to bet that, no matter what they would have you think, most successful writers plan as much as they write. They just don't tell you about it. The biggest objection that most inexperienced writers raise when someone broaches the delicate matter of planning is that it will get in the way of their inventive powers. A plan will be like a straitjacket. They'll be stuck with this plan and if they come up with a good idea along the way, they will not be able to use it. They are genuinely horrified at the thought...'

Mslexia Fiction & Memoir Competition 2020 is open to women writers only from across the world with unpublished manuscripts (self-published work allowed) in four categories: Flash Fiction, Short Story, Children's & YA Novel and Memoir & Life Writing, with various entry fees and prizes. Closing 21 September.

Do you want some help with your writing but don't quite know what you want - or even if you need any help? 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. Or email us to ask about your requirements.

Our links: how readers are most engaged Maybe We Read Crime Fiction Because Deep Down, We All Know We're Complicit in Crime | CrimeReads; writers who find themselves mired in procrastination would do well to take a page from Marcel Proust's most famous book, Surprising secrets of writers' first book drafts - BBC Culture; an amalgamation of swashbuckling detective, political activist, and Catholic theologian, The Evolution of Dave Robicheaux and the Incredible Career of James Lee Burke | CrimeReads; from a writer, poet and editor from London, Will Harris on the Idea of Poetry as Interconnectedness | Literary Hub; and at least ten times a day I ask myself, "What the f*ck is wrong with people?" Why Writing About Psychopaths Keeps Me Sane | CrimeReads.

If you are trying to get your work into shape for publication, or for self-publishing, there's plenty of advice on the WritersServices website which may help. Advice for writers

More links: if Amazon's power is left unchecked, competition within publishing could diminish even more, Publishing Leaders Issuing Warning over Amazon's Market Power; it's now roughly halfway through a series of virtual meetings with publishers, Black Writers' Guild reports progress as publishers start to confront diversity deficit | The Bookseller; a sad side-effect of the success of charity bookshops, The demise of the second-hand bookshop | Alexander Larman | The Critic Magazine; until quite recently, I hadn't finished a book since the end of January, Get Happier by Rereading Your Favorite Books From Childhood.

Have you been working on your book over the holidays? Are you now ready to submit to publishers or to self-publish? We offer the widest range of editorial services on the web, tailored to writers' requirements and carried out by our professional editors, Our Services for writers.

Our final set of links are all about the Women's Prize for Fiction Reclaim Her Name programme and show just how a well-intentioned initiative can go wrong: ‘George Eliot' joins 24 female authors making debuts under their real names | Books | The Guardian; next, apologies, 'Sloppy': Baileys under fire over Reclaim Her Name books for Women's prize | Books | The Guardian; and then a more serious challenge to the whole idea of this list, The #ReclaimHerName initiative ignores the authorial choices of the writers it represents. | Literary Hub.

From our Writers' Quotes: 'Make no mistake, those who write long books have nothing to say. Of course those who write short books have even less to say.'

If quotes are your thing we have a  very large collection in our Archive, More Writers' Quotes and Even More Quotes.

• 'Well, the first six weeks I was not doing any writing at all. It was all about making sure the kids were all right and everyone was in a good mental state. Then, I thought maybe I can work for an hour or two a day and it was really hard work getting back in the groove. But, hey, the books aren't going to write themselves. The way I think about it is, what if I got struck down by plague or lightning? I'd rather finish the book than not...' Colson Whitehead, author of The Underground Railroad, The Nickel Boys and seven other novels in the Observer. Writing in a lockdown.
  
• A must-read for children's authors is Suzy Jenvey's special series for WritersServices, the four-part Essential Guide to Writing for Children. The first article looks at the all-important question of age groups and what you should be aware of in writing for each one. The second part is - Before You Write: What is My Story Going to be? The third part deals with Starting to Write and the fourth part is about Submitting Your Work to Agents and Editors. This series by a hugely experienced children's editorial director and agent helps you get started on your own story or develop what you're already working on. 
• We have a new endorsement on our Endorsements page: 'I am delighted with the feedback and so pleased with all the great suggestions which were so much more than I expected. A really brilliant service.' Sally Gibbins , Birmingham, UK, on her children's copy editing.
• Authors often find it difficult to write their own synopsis for submission to publishers, which is where our Synopsis-writing service can help. If you're preparing to self-publish and having difficulty with your blurb, our Blurb-writing service can provide professionally written cover copy.
• The rather generous 2020 Manchester Writing Competition is open to writers from across the world. Two £10,000 prizes are awarded: the Manchester Poetry Prize for the best portfolio of poems and the Manchester Fiction Prize for the best short story. Closing on 18 September.
• Our links: it's vital but one of the first things a budding storyteller can master with just a bit of practice and effort, How To Write Dialogue: 7 Steps To Writing Dialogue - The Art of Narrative; why Grandmother did most of her work in bed, Irish women writing fiction were dismissed as 'quiet'. Ireland wasn't listening | Books | The Guardian; US publishers will not be returning to their offices in anything resembling full force before 2021, Publishers Play the Pandemic Waiting Game; I had no idea my protagonist would end up working in a New York publishing house, My Novel's Heroine is Doing Better in the Publishing World Than I Did | Literary Hub and from the founder of Blackbird Books in South Africa, an independent publishing house that is dedicated to giving young black writers a platform, PublisHers: Thabiso Mahlape.
• Are you getting ready to publish your book - perhaps planning to self-publish? WritersServices offers a suite of nine services which help writers get their work into shape before they self-publish. Services for Self-publishers.
• More links: those were the days when it seemed like we could beat the pandemic by washing our hands, but now It's Time to Radically Rethink Online Book Events - Electric Literature; as much of the retail world faces crisis, book publishing is positioned to grow in terms of unit sales when compared to 2019, US Book Publishing Remains Resilient: Print and Ebook Sales Are Growing | Jane Friedman; after many years, can she live up to Twilight fans' expectations? In ‘Midnight Sun,' Stephenie Meyer Tells Edward Cullen's Story - The New York Times; and a picture book about a science-loving black girl, ‘Utterly joyful' Look Up! wins Waterstones children's book of the year | Books | The Guardian.
• Our Top Ten Tips for Nonfiction Writers are from Julie Wheelwright, programme director, MA Creative Writing Nonfiction, City University, London.
• From Isaac Asimov in our Writers' Quotes: 'Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil - but there is no way around them.'

• ‘If something in the script did not ring true in the context of early post-independence India - and how could Andrew possibly have known every detail of that? - I pointed it out, and he took it on board. As for plot cuts and changes; it had been a long time since I wrote A Suitable Boy, so I was somewhat teflonised against what happened to every minor incident or character...' Vikram Seth, author of A Suitable Boy, talking in The Times about his working relationship with scriptwriter Andrew Davies on the dramatisation of the book which is just about to be shown by the BBC in the UK and by Netflix in India. Bestselling book to major TV series.
• From Tom Chalmers, formerly of IPR, two articles about rights for self-publishers, Self-publishing - the rights way and How to get your book in the hands of an international audience. 'It's a fact that most self-published authors understand the process that takes them from a written manuscript to a published book, but few realise the additional elements that make publishing a profitable business. Rights licensing is arguably the most vital element in this equation. Whether it's selling translation rights, audio rights or optioning the film rights, these all help balance the book's books...'
• It's well worth entering this unusual prize in terms of the oppportuities it offers. Closing on 24 September, The Bodley Head/FT Essay Prize 2020 is open to anyone from across the world aged between 18 and 35 years of age and there's no entry fee. The First Prize is £1,000 cash and an e-publication with The Bodley Head, publication in the FT of their winning essay and a mentoring session with The Bodley Head. Two runners-up get £300.
• 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, our latest new service Writer's edit, providing line-editing, and Proof-reading. Get the right level of editorial support for your needs. Our low-cost services represent exceptionally good value. Contact us to discuss what you want.
• Our links: it's been almost thirty years since I laid eyes on this single xeroxed sheet, but I can still remember one rule: You will not write stories about serial murderers, or even regular murderers, How I Stopped Worrying About the Rules and Learned to Write a Mystery Novel | CrimeReads; being able to describe yourself as a bona fide bestseller is key to conferring your career with a certain gravitas, An author bought his own book to get higher on bestseller lists. Is that fair? | Books | The Guardian; two initiatives that made sense for all publishers to employ to raise revenues and profits, Both the supply chain and book marketing are forever changed by Coronavirus | The Idea Logical Company; Ann and Jeff VanderMeer Preview The Big Book of Modern Fantasy, On the Biggest Collection of Fantasy Tales Since WWII | Literary Hub; and new CEO James Daunt began his tenure with a baptism by fire, Barnes & Noble Regroups and Looks Ahead.
• Finding an agent - 'Try to find an agency which is ‘hungry' for new clients. To keep their workload under control, an established agent might take on something like four new authors a year (this figure came from two agents I spoke to recently), but only to replace four departing clients. This may seem obvious, but whether or not an agent is actively looking to build their list of clients is probably the single most important factor affecting how closely they are looking at unsolicited submissions...'
• More links: Could the Covid-19 pandemic create a moment of opportunity for writing? How does a young writer pay the rent? | Books | The Guardian; in this moment of political upheaval, we must ask what role has crime fiction played in getting us here, Crime Fiction Is Complicit in Police Violence - But It's Not Too Late to Change - Electric Literature; what matters is that I've spent that time with my work. The most important thing, for me, is to keep at it, day by day, How I Started Writing Every Day; dubbed "the nation's favourite storyteller", since 1998 she had sold 6.13 million books in the UK alone, Bestselling novelist Josephine Cox dies, aged 82 | The Bookseller.
• If you are not a native English speaker but you want to publish your book in English to make it available to the international market, what do you do? If your English is good enough, what about writing it in English or translating your book into English yourself, and then getting your translation polished and copy edited by a professional editor who is a native English speaker? The result should be a publishable manuscript at a relatively low cost, provided by our English Language Editing Service. How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth).
• 'In my experience, writing doesn't get any easier the more you do it. But there is a growth of confidence, not much, but a nugget, like a pearl, like a tumour.' The late Jenny Diski in our Writers' Quotes.

• 'Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do - the actual act of writing - turns out to be the best part. It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.' Anne Lamott, author of seven non-fiction books, and the forthcoming Hallelujah Anyway, and two novels, Imperfect Birds and Rosie. Our Comment.
• Tips for writers is our 8-part crash course for writers who are starting out, taking you from Promoting Your Writing (and Yourself) to Self-publishing: is it for you? from Keep up to date to Submission to publishers and agents. 'Be prepared to redraft your work and to rethink it. Many new writers assume that their work will immediately be ready for publication, but the truth is that many highly successful writers produced several drafts of their first work before they got it published.' and 'When you've got your work into the best state you can, put it on one side for a few weeks and then look at it afresh. You'll be amazed what difference a fresh eye will make.'
• Are you writing for children? Our Children's Editorial Services can help you get your work ready for publication or self-publishing. Three reports and copy editing are available from our highly-skilled children's editors, including essential advice on age groups and vocabulary.
• Our links: a lengthy but superb analysis of the great crime-writer's work, P. D. James: A Crime Reader's Guide to the Classics | CrimeReads; latest evidence of the way the new and ever more successful tv and streaming services are filming authors' work, Maurice Sendak Foundation Teams with Apple TV Plus; from Nicola Upson, whose crime novels feature the author and playwright Josephine Tey, Five top tips for writing historical crime fiction - National Centre for Writing; from the late, great Discworld creator, Final Terry Pratchett stories to be published in September | Books | The Guardian; and the bestselling author talks about his approach to collaboration, Four Questions for James Patterson.
• From 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, The Business of Writing for Self-publishing authors offers terrific advice for all writers: 'Self-publishing authors - also known as ‘indie' authors or author-publishers - have had a steep learning curve these past few years. Getting to grips with the various sales channels available to them, producing top quality ebooks and paperbacks, and finding a place in mainstream outlets have left many writers struggling to keep up with the paperwork. What follows is a brief guide to the essentials your self-publishing business needs - because it is a business, even if you only publish one book!'
• Last year we launched the Writer's edit, a top-level new service for writers who want line-editing as well as copy editing. Does your manuscript need high-level input from an editor to help you get it into the best possible shape for submission or self-publishing? This may be the service for you, offering the kind of editing which publishers' senior editors used to do in-house on their authors' manuscripts and which is now hard to find. Our other copy editing services.
• More links: encouraging news for crime-writers, Crime fiction boom as book sales rocket past 2019 levels | Books | The Guardian; sobering views from black professionals in publishing, who share long-suppressed frustrations about how racial prejudice has affected their work, ‘A Conflicted Cultural Force': What It's Like to Be Black in Publishing - The New York Times; bestselling authors team up with the giant internet retailer, Amazon joins Scott Turow, John Grisham, other top authors in effort to take down ‘pirate' book site - GeekWire; more campaigning, JK Rowling joins 150 authors and academics calling for an end of 'cancel culture' | Daily Mail Online; how children, particularly boys, are enticed into reading through audiobooks, UK's National Literary Trust Research Finds Benefits of Audiobooks for Kids.
• If you are submitting your work to an agent or directly to a publishing house, check through our guidelines to give it its best chance. Making Submissions.
• 'The best way to become a successful writer is to read good writing, remember it, and then forget where you remember it from.' Gene Fowler in our Writers' Quotes.

• 'The demands that are made of women can be ferocious, but the demands made of men can be equally tough. I don't know what it is to be a boy. I have a lot of male friends and my best friend when I was nine was a boy, but there is an extra imaginative leap you have to make, I know intricately what it means to be a girl and I don't know who gets to say whether a character is real. Do only boys get to say if a boy character is real and a girl if a girl character is?' Katherine Rundell, author of The Explorer, which she writes about here, Rooftoppers, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, The Wolf Wilder and The Good Thieves in The Times on A female children's writer with a boy hero.
• Our 19 Factsheets from the legendary Michael Legat are full of tips for the new writer or anyone who is trying to get their book published. From Literary agents to Copyright, from Libel to Submissions, this series is full of essential background information.
• This is the big one - the highly prestigious National Poetry Competition receives entries, which are judged anonymously, from all over the world. The 2020 Competition is open to anyone 18 or over from all over the world. You can enter an unpublished poem of up to 40 lines. The entry fee is £7 for the first entry, £4 for subsequent entries. The First Prize is £5,000, Second Prize £2,000 and Third Prize £1,000 and there are 7 Commendations which receive £200. Closing date 31 October.
• There are eight other writing opportunities which are still open.
• Our 20 Services for writers - just a list of what we offer at WritersServices.
• Our links: a woman picking her way through a reinvention of her life, Toni Morrison Did Not Find Success Overnight | ZORA; his vast army of fans is waiting eagerly, George RR Martin predicts penultimate Game of Thrones book will be finished 'next year' | Books | The Guardian; for most of my life, I didn't want to call myself a writer, Emily Temple on Translating a Decade of Internet Writing into a Debut Novel | Literary Hub; and untangling the Gordian knot holding together Poe's tumultuous life and fragmented personality, Can You Really Separate Edgar Allan Poe's Work from His Life? | CrimeReads.
• Here's a detailed article on how to prepare Your submission package - 'Given the difficulty of getting agents and publishers to take on your work, it's really important to make sure that you present it in the best possible way. Less is more, so don't send a full manuscript, as it's very unlikely to be read. Far better to tempt them with a submission package that will leave them wanting to see the rest of the manuscript...'
• More links from this week's headlines: why print on demand is going to win out, Covid-19: the book trade out of joint; highlighing a stark lack of diversity within poetry publishing and, particularly, poetry criticism, Poetry sector 'too white' by far, report finds | The Bookseller; UK bookshops reported a jump of over 30% on the same week last year as desperate readers returned to browse the aisles for the first time in three months, 'We're back in business': UK bookshops see sales soar | Books | The Guardian; and how are the players, big and small, planning the next phase? Literary figures on why booksellers thrived during lockdown - and what's next | London Evening Standard.
• 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 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.
• Even more links: an excellent guide to Joseph Campbell's book, A Complete Guide to The Hero's Journey (or The Monomyth) - The Art of Narrative; launching Discoveries, a writers' development programme for aspiring female writers, Women's Prize Trust launches writers' development programme | The Bookseller; highlighting how books narratives are becoming more popular with film companies, Cannes' Shoot the Book Spotlights 10 Novels Primed for the Big Screen - Variety; and "That wouldn't happen in real life." How to Write Legal Thrillers That Won't Drive Lawyers Crazy with Mistakes and Inventions | CrimeReads.
• Neil Gaiman from our Writers' Quotes: 'The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.'

• 'I feel optimistic about the sector. Independents are well placed as they've been for a number of years now. We are small, flexible and nimble businesses with relatively low overheads, and as long as we can continue to find and successfully publish wonderful authors and their books I'm sure we'll not only survive but thrive no matter what the future landscape looks like.' Adam Freudenheim, publisher and managing director of London-based Pushkin Press in Bookbrunch. Independent publishers will ‘not only survive but thrive'
• My Say gives writers a chance to air their views about writing and the writer's life. So we have Lynda Finn about the isolation of New Zealand writers and their problems with getting published, British author Eliza Graham, author of Playing with the Moon, on her route to publication and Zoe Jenny, who is Swiss, on writing in English and why it was liberating. Send us your contributions, ideally up to 400 words in length and of general interest. Please email them to us.
• The Moth Nature Writing Prize is a new prize which is open to anyone over the age of 16 with an unpublished piece of nature writing. Entry fee is €15 per entry and the Prize is €1,000 and a week-long stay at The Moth Retreat in rural Ireland. Closing 15 September.
• Do you want some help with your writing but don't quite know what you want - or even if you need any help? 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.
• Our links, first, Black Lives Matter: amid all the fury, corporations have been quick to express solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and publishers have been among them, but Publishing has ignored and pigeonholed black authors for too long | Magdalene Abraha | Books | The Guardian; books afford us the opportunity to read about our past and present while engaging with ideas that will help us to imagine our future, How the Book Business Can, and Must, Build a New Future; the disparity between the advances paid by publishers to non-Black authors versus Black authors, #PublishingPaidMe lays advances bare | The Bookseller; a little over half a century ago, but the editorial might as well have been written yesterday, It's Time for the Book Business to Change; and an open letter from a group of its fellows and programmatic partners and signed by more than 1,800 individuals, Poets Call for Change at Poetry Foundation.
• 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 audio tapes, which need re-typing before the writer can proceed with submission or publication. Typing manuscripts.
• More links on writers: second real-time survey from the UK confirms extent of impact of COVID-19 on authors' income, News | The Society of Authors; one of the most rewarding experiences a writer can have - but also the scariest, How to and (Especially) How Not to Write About Family | Jane Friedman; and a new children's book, Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell announce new 'piratical adventure' | Books | The Guardian.
• Written exclusively for WritersServices - Trident Media Group Literary Agent Mark Gottlieb explains how literary agencies work. It's no surprise that they do a lot more than you think and that they bring a lot of expertise in a range of different areas to bear on behalf of their authors. How Literary Agents Work.
• Working with an agent explains how to get the best out of the relationship with your agent: 'It can be hard work finding an agent to represent you. Make sure though that, when you set up the relationship, you do so in a professional manner Don't let your eagerness to find representation mean that things are left vague. You will be depending on the agent to process all your income from the books they sell, so you need to have a written record of your arrangement, preferably a contract...'
• Links on how publishers are coping with the pandemic: corporate publishing has a different economic imperative, but ‘Small presses are the coral reefs of publishing, attracting the most colourful fish'; how readers have helped booksellers, Book Lovers' Donations Helped Independent Sellers During Virus; a warning that physical booksellers could have difficulty clawing back trade from online retailers after lockdown, Ingram sees 'huge swing' to print on demand during coronavirus | The Bookseller; only a limited reopening, New York's Publishers Won't Reopen Until September.
• 'An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.' Irwin Shaw in our Writers' Quotes.

• 'The rules for writing under lockdown are no different to other ties. It won't happen unless you make it happen. It's incremental and frustrating, and your chances of being paid for it are tiny, but it's a fascinating process, with all the glamour and excitement of an affair but with less chance of divorce. Once you discover the joys of it, and the pains, it will bring you the deepest pleasure. Good luck...' Writing under Lockdown from Louise Doughty, author of nine novels including Platform Seven, Apple Tree Yard and Black Water, and the how-to-write guide A Novel in a Year, in the Sunday Times Magazine.
• From our 19-part Inside Publishing series - on Copyright: 'Many writers worry about losing their copyright. Before sending out your manuscript it is always advisable to put a copyright line consisting of the copyright sign ©, the year and your name on the title page...' On The Writer/Publisher Financial Relationship: 'There's no escaping the fact that publishers and authors are essentially in an adversarial position. Even in the very best and most supportive publisher/writer relationships there is the tension caused by the fact that authors would like to earn as much as possible from their writing and publishers to pay as little as they can get away with...'
• You'll have to be very quick to enter The Bridport Prize 2020, which closes on 31 May. There are four parts to this Prize, as follows: Poetry, Short Story and Flash Fiction are open to unpublished work from any writer writing in English over 16. The Novel Award is restricted to UK writers. The entry fees are £10 per poem, £12 per story, £9 for flash fiction and £20 per novel. Poetry and Short Story 1st Prize £5,000, 2nd Prize £1,000, 3rd Prize £500. Flash Fiction 1st Prize £1,000, 2nd Prize £500 and 3rd Prize £250. Novel Award 1st Prize £1500, 2nd Prize £750 and 3 awards of £150. Go for it!
• Other competitions which are still open.
• We have a new endorsement from Daniela Stanciulescu in Paris, on her English Language Editing for writers who are not native English speakers: ‘WritersServices editors are not just excellent professionals, they are persons of letters involved in helping the writers who are trying to enter in the world of British books... I am impressed. I am grateful. I'm delighted. Thank you so much.'
• Our links: the impact on publishing and authors, How Book Publishers Decided To Move Publication Dates During The COVID-19 Pandemic; hundreds of YA book releases and publicity plans have been altered by the Covid-19 pandemic, YA Authors Move Online; this will be a very different Frankfurt. The plan is to run the event not only on the fair's grounds but also decentralized at locations in the city, and as a virtual event, Frankfurt Book Fair 2020 to go ahead | The Bookseller; a lively conversation with Judy Blume, Curtis Sittenfeld Rewrites Hillary Clinton's Life Without Bill; and "like watching an IMAX movie from the front row," NPD's Kristen McLean on US Book Sales During the Pandemic.
• Rotten Rejections provides a note of the things publishers wish they'd never said: on Animal Farm by George Orwell ‘It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA' and Carrie by Stephen King 'We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.'
• More links: the Pandemic will hit many industries hard, there is a particularly deep fear for those in the relatively privileged cultural industries, Radical Publishing in a Pandemic; making sure your readers are on the edge of their seats, Five tips for keeping your readers gripped - National Centre for Writing; in 1909, long before the invention of the World Wide Web or the prospect of a world where we must live socially distant from each other, he arguably predicted both, How E.M. Forster's Only Foray Into Sci-Fi Predicted Social Distancing | Literary Hub; and what a truly amazing row, Romance Writers of America aims for happy end to racism row with new prize | Books | The Guardian.
• Our 20 Services for writers - just a list of what we offer at WritersServices.
• From our Writers' Quotes 'Sometimes the ideas just come to me. Other times I have to sweat and almost bleed to make ideas come. It's a mysterious process, but I hope I never find out exactly how it works. I like a mystery, as you may have noticed.' J K Rowling.

• ‘The last four or five years in publishing have been great. We're in mourning for them. But you can only dwell on that for a few moments before you say: the reading and the writing are still there. Original work will come out of this lockdown, just as it did out of austerity; it has shone a light on globalisation, and the inconveniences that we have, to a degree forgotten, like mortality...' Publisher Stephen Page, CEO of Faber & Faber, in the Observer. Our 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. Copy editing is the painstaking job of going through a manuscript line by line to correct the spelling, grammar and punctuation. Proof-reading at a later stage is a separate check through the book when it is set up in pages, before it goes to press or is finalised for ebook publishing.
• 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, Writer's edit, a new line-editing service, and English Language Editing for writers who are not native English speakers. We also provide a Proof-reading service. Now with free samples for nearly all, plus some free assessments. Our UK-based Editing services for writers have a solid professional reputation and we often have authors coming back to us for further assistance, see our Endorsements.
• Our links - how Coronavirus is affecting booksellers and publishers: is this an opportunity to drag the book world into the 21st century? Could lockdown herald an exciting new chapter for the book trade? | Books | The Guardian; last fall, Kyle Hall's bookstore was destroyed by a tornado. This spring, it was almost wiped out by a pandemic, For Bookstore Owners, Reopening Holds Promise and Peril - The New York Times; big publishers are still awaiting the impact, For Publishers, It's Still the Calm Before the Storm; and, on a lighter note, Working from Home: An Editor's Tale.
• Advice for Writers is a really useful page which takes you into our archive and helps you explore our more than 7,000 pages of information for writers.
• More links: genre is a funny thing, Genre Labels: What Makes a Book More Thriller Than Sci-Fi? | CrimeReads; novelist N.K. Jemisin was a teenager the first time she read Octavia Butler, and nothing had prepared her for it, Octavia Butler's prescient sci-fi resonates years after her death; families! Look no further for a source of fears, How Having Kids Can Change Your Life - And Your Horror Fiction | CrimeReads; it's been 15 years since Little, Brown published Stephenie Meyer's Twilight - a book that sold more than 100 million copies, launched a multi-billion-dollar movie franchise, and kicked off a vampire craze, The Return of the YA Vampire; and you can't have a good thriller without a nasty and formidable opponent for your hero, How to Write a Killer Villain 2 | Jane Friedman.
• Have you ever wondered whether there's any point in entering competitions? Someone must be winning, but why is it somehow never you? Here's some tips to help you achieve a better result. Entering competitions.
• Seven prizes and competitions which are still open.
• 'Only Southerners have taken horsewhips and pistols to editors about the treatment or maltreatment of their manuscript. This - the actual pistols - was in the old days, of course, we no longer succumb to the impulse. But it is still there, within us.' William Faulkner in our Writers' Quotes.

• ‘I often write everything all at once. Memory isn't linear for me, nor is experience, but I try to keep it as straight as I can. A sense of fluidity and shift, and that energy, that is about change. It's really integral to my work, which is not about the past becoming a stable object. The past very rarely settles down. It shifts under our gaze all the time...' Anne Enright, author of just-published Actress, Booker Prize-winning A Gathering, The Green Road, The Forgotten Waltz and three other novels in the Bookseller. Our Comment.
• WritersServices can provide a range of services working on your manuscript, to help you get it ready for submission or self-publishing. We are UK-based, offer exceptional value and our skilled professional editors have been working on writers' manuscripts for us for 19 years. We have recently introduced free samples and free assessments on most of these services, please see the individual service page. Copy editing services.
• Closing on 31 August, The Kindle Storyteller Award 2020 is open to writers publishing in English in any genre, who publish their work through Kindle Direct Publishing. No entry fee. The Prize is £20,000. You need to read their terms and conditions carefully.
• Other competitions which are still open.
• Why has my manuscript been rejected? It is demoralising to get your manuscript rejected by publishers or agents. Here are some of the reasons why this happens and suggestions of what you can do about it. Rejection.
• Our links: is this heresy? Letter to the Editor: Why These Agents Argue Books Aren't Essential; Mike Shatzkin casts a clear eye on the basics, The supply chain for book publishing is being changed by Coronavirus too | The Idea Logical Company; given all the disruptions to the global economy caused by the new coronavirus, unit sales of print books held up relatively well in the first quarter of 2020, The Pandemic Is Changing Book-Buying Patterns; and the situation is critical in South Africa, ‘SA could lose its book industry.' Top authors urge Ramaphosa to allow trade.
• Writers' stories - they're just a bit of fun, but in a rare moment of inspiration we wrote some fictionalised stories of how the services could turn out, to give you a better idea of how they might work for you. Joe's fantasy novel benefited from some professional editing, when he signed up for an Editor's Report Plus. Tony needed Copy editing to get his manuscript into shape for publication or self-publishing.
• More links: a complete, essential guide from the wonderful Jane Friedman, How to Start Blogging: A Definitive Guide for Authors | Jane Friedman; some authors have really bad luck - My first novel bombed spectacularly. This was about 20 years ago, Two Novels, Two Global Catastrophes, Two Decades Apart | Literary Hub; Nicola Upson on how to get started on a new project, How to start writing crime fiction - National Centre for Writing; and crime writers in residence, Waines, Veitch Smith and Watt headline virtual National Crime Reading Month | The Bookseller.
• Our page of Picture library links provides a good starting-point for finding an image for your book, whether it's for the cover or inside. Gograph was added a while ago with its 18 million stock links.
• A few more links: coming down the track - "truly authentic ... prestige adaptations", Terry Pratchett novels to get 'absolutely faithful' TV adaptations | Books | The Guardian; a writer's life-long obsession with Florence Nightingale, Revisiting Florence; Rights are invariably seen to be the poor relation, but showing their value at the moment, Richard Charkin: Let's Hear It for Book Rights Sales People Worldwide; and what are we looking for? Why Are We Obsessed With Writers' Houses? | Literary Hub.
• Do you want some help with your writing but don't know quite what you want? Choosing a service can help you work out which service is right for you, or you could just email us.
• Finally, Anita Diamant in our Writers' Quotes: 'I tell writers to keep reading, reading, reading. Read widely and deeply. And I tell them not to give up even after getting rejection letters. And only write what you love.'

• ‘I've taken on four new clients over the last couple of weeks for various non-fiction projects, and as an agency we're very active in pursuit of new clients and ideas. It's a great time to work on manuscripts and proposals with authors, while we've all got additional time and space. And it's hugely important that, when we all emerge from this, we're in good shape for the remainder of this year, and next...' Tim Bates of the Peters Fraser + Dunlop agency in Bookbrunch (behind paywall). Our Comment
• 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. 'Self-publishing has changed so much over the past few years it's hard to believe it was once looked down upon by the publishing industry as the last resort of the vain and desperate. At the time of writing many self-publishing authors are identifying with the term ‘indie author', which acknowledges that to professionally publish today, you don't actually have to do everything yourself!' Articles include Formatting your book for Kindle and Marketing and Promotion for Indie Authors: Online.
• From a new UK publisher, the Guppy YA Novel Competition Open Submission will run from 11 to 15 May. Unagented YA authors from all over the world can enter and there's no entry fee. The prize is publication.
• Are you getting ready to publish your book - perhaps planning to self-publish? WritersServices offers a suite of nine services which help writers get their work into shape before they self-publish. Services for Self-publishers
• Our links - from our Coronavirus world: when is the best time to submit their clients' new manuscripts? Agents Weigh Whether to Submit Projects During the Pandemic; writing a novel presupposes the existence of a stable reality, Coronavirus effect on book publishing: The virus is messing up the plot of my novel set in 2020; it's hard to imagine what the world and publishing will look like even six months from now, Starling Days: how Covid-19 affected the release of Rowan Hisayo Buchanan's second novel; and from the patron saint of staying at home and doing nothing, Fran Lebowitz Is Never Leaving New York | The New Yorker.
• Are you thinking of submitting your book to an agent? Try our Finding an Agent page or Your Submission package. Our Submission critique service may also help, as it's essential to get your package into the best possible shape before you start submitting.
• More links about writing and writers: the historical novels I've loved best were edgy and featured characters who were not only deeply flawed, but downright dubious, Historical Novels and the Morally Gray Character | CrimeReads; Elizabeth George's impressive schedule, My Writing Schedule is for Satisfaction, Not Fun | Literary Hub; and over the last 25 years, this prize has become arguably one of the three most important literary prizes for novels in the UK, 'A prize for readers' - Kate Mosse on the Women's Prize for Fiction.
• Are you struggling to get someone to look at your poetry? Our Poetry Critique service for 150 lines of poetry can help. Our Poetry Collection Editing service, unique to WritersServices, edits your collection to prepare it for submission or self-publishing. Both can provide the professional editorial input you need.
• Our final links, fascinating literary history and two lighter-hearted articles: T S Eliot: 'This woman lives in a most beautiful dilapidated old square, which I had never heard of before; a square in the middle of town, near King's Cross station, but with spacious old gardens about it,' In a quiet London Enclave, Five Iconic Women Writers Forged a Home | Literary Hub; How Did England Get Its Bizarro Street Names? | Literary Hub; and Here Are People's Strongest Unpopular Young Adult Book Opinions.
• William Gibson in our Writers' Quotes: 'To present a whole world that doesn't exist and make it seem real, we have to more or less pretend we're polymaths. That's just the act of all good writing.'

• As we all work our way through lockdown, now is a perfect time to finish your manuscript and to get it ready for publication or submission. This page provides a list of our editorial services for writers.
• 'It was only after two years' work that it occurred to me that I was a writer. I had no particular expectation that the novel would ever be published, because it was sort of a mess. It was only when I found myself writing things I didn't realise I knew that I said, 'I'm a writer now'...
  Don DeLillo, author of 17 novels, including Americana, Running Dog, White Noise, Underworld, Libra, Falling Man and Zero. Our Comment.
• WritersServices can provide a range of services working on your manuscript, to help you get it ready for submission or self-publishing. We are UK-based, offer exceptional value and our skilled professional editors have been working on writers' manuscripts for 17 years. We have introduced free samples and free assessments on most of these services, please see the individual service page. Copy editing services.
• My Say gives writers a chance to air their views about writing and the writer's life. So we have Natasha Mostert on typing 'The End', Mary Garden on writers' block, Timothy Hallinan on The Writing Session and Dominae Primus on WritersServices.
• Our links: bookshops reporting a significant increase in sales of longer novels and classic fiction, Book sales surge as self-isolating readers buy ‘bucket list' novels | Books | The Guardian; entertainment and educational support for parents, carers and children, Egmont offers 14 days of free content for children stuck at home; with cities and towns across the country under quarantine, bookstores closing, and in-person promotional events canceled, it's not a great time to be publishing a book, As Coronavirus Spreads, Publishers Struggle with When, and How, to Move Pub Dates; and if you're one of those people who always said they would write a novel if only they had the time: this is your moment, Finally working on that novel as you self-isolate? You're not alone | Books | The Guardian.
• If you're looking for a report on your manuscript, how do you work out which one of our four 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: I was an audiobook failure. Not a failure at writing the books, mind you, but at listening to them, How to Start a Love Affair with Audiobooks | CrimeReads; one member of the homebound publishing community still trying to find a way to work, Coronavirus: How book publishing may change forever - Los Angeles Times; the outcry from publisher and author groups has been swift and furious, Authors Guild, AAP Outraged by IA's 'National Emergency Library'; from the megaselling author of legal thrillers, Scott Turow Finds the Thrilling Life, in Court and in Books; and I'm a hardboiled kind of gal, The Evolution-and the Future-of the Private Eye | CrimeReads.
• From Julian Barnes in our Writers' Quotes: 'Everything you invent is true: you can be sure of that. Poetry is a subject as precise as geometry.'
• If quotes are your bag, we have superb collections in More Writers' Quotes and Even More Quotes.

• 'Anyone who has ever tried to write a novel knows what an arduous task it is, undoubtedly one of the worst ways of occupying oneself. You have to remain within yourself all the time, in solitary confinement. It's a controlled psychosis, an obsessive paranoia manacled to work completely lacking in the feather pens and bustles and Venetian masks we would ordinarily associate with it, clothed instead in a butcher's apron and rubber boots, eviscerating knife in hand. You can only barely see from that writerly cellar the feet of passers-by, hear the rapping of their heels...' Olga Tokarczuk, Polish Nobel Laureate for Literature and author of House of Day, House of Night and Primeval and Other Tales. Our Comment.
• Last year we launched the Writer's edit, a top-level new service for writers who want line-editing as well as copy editing. Does your manuscript need high-level input from an editor to help you get it into the best possible shape for submission or self-publishing? This may be the service for you, offering the kind of editing which publishers' senior editors used to do in-house on their authors' manuscripts and which is now hard to find. Our other copy editing services.
• The Moth Short Story Prize 2020 has now launched and is open to all writers over 16. The entry fee is €15 per story. 1st prize is €3,000, 2nd prize a week-long writing retreat at Circle of Misse in France plus €250 travel stipend and 3rd prize €1,000. Closing date 30 June.
• An must-read for children's authors is Suzy Jenvey's special series for WritersServices, the four-part Essential Guide to Writing for Children. The first article looks at the all-important question of age groups and what you should be aware of in writing for each one. The second part is - Before You Write: What is My Story Going to be? The third part deals with Starting to Write and the fourth part is about Submitting Your Work to Agents and Editors. This series by a hugely experienced children's editorial director and agent helps you get started on your own story or develop what you're already working on.
• Our links: was the delay in calling it off putting people's health at risk and placing an unfair financial strain on publishers? London book fair cancelled over coronavirus fears, amid growing anger | Books | The Guardian; an excellent guide to setting up that author's essential, your own website, How to Build an Author Website: Getting Started Guide | Jane Friedman; there is nothing more sustaining to long-term creative work than time and space - and these things cost money, A dirty secret: you can only be a writer if you can afford it | Life and style | The Guardian; and editing is energising, where you take your solid creation and nudge it into brilliance, When Revising Your Novel, Look for These 4 Problem Areas | Jane Friedman.
• Rotten Rejections an extraordinary collection of rejection letters sent by publishers to writers - many delivered to now famous authors of classic books - will make you laugh and provide comfort if you're having a struggle to get published. 'I regret we have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we could not publish it with commercial success...' An unnamed editor at Constable and Robinson, in turning down J K Rowling's first Harry Potter book.
• More links: as a reader of thrillers and mysteries for close to my whole life, I've always been drawn to the flawed protagonist, The New Vulnerability in the Mystery Genre | CrimeReads; Writing in the Observer in 1980, Martin Amis took to task a young New York-based writer, Jacob Epstein, for plagiarising him, Appropriation or plagiarism? Booker novel poses difficult question | Books | The Guardian; as we celebrate World Book Day in the UK, it is a reminder of how fortunate we are to have a strong children's book publishing industry, Ending illiteracy begins with children seeing themselves in books; and our world, more than at any time in history, is all about stories, but Are novelists obliged to tell the story of their private life? | Books | The Guardian.
• Which service should I choose to help me get my work into good shape for submission or self-publishing? Our editorial services have been added in response to demand, so whatever you want we've probably got it covered with our 20 different services.
• From our Writers' Quotes: 'Writers are liars, my dear, surely you know that by now? And yet, things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.' Neil Gaiman.

• Modern children have ‘a yearning for a world without screens. Yes it's rough and Torak and Renn go through some difficult times, but it's this amazing world where there's no climate change, lots of animals, no pollution. It doesn't matter what you look like. What matters is you don't make any noise when you're hunting... Michelle Paver, author of Wolf Brother, Dark Matter and Spirit Walker, talking about her new book Viper's Daughter, published next month, in the Bookseller. Our Comment.
• Advice for Writers is a really useful page which takes you into our archive and helps you explore our more than 7,000 pages of information for writers.
• If you have written a poem you think would appeal to 7-11-year olds, then why not enter the The Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2020? It is open to all poets across the world over the age of 16. Entry fee €14 per poem and the prize is €1,000. Closing date 31 March and the Prize will be judged by Roger McGough.
• 'Professional copy editing does make sense, either if you are trying to give your work its best chance when submitting it or, even more crucially, if you are planning to self-publish. But how are you supposed to tell who will do a good job, when the editorial services on the web all sound pretty much the same and it's tempting to go for the cheapest?' Getting your manuscript copy edited
• Our links:"What did you find to be the biggest difference between writing crime and writing fantasy?" Worldbuilding: Crime and Fantasy Books Have More in Common Than You Might Think | CrimeReads; not for everyone perhaps, but 'I use a systematic and business-like approach to help take the sting out of rejections and keep me focused on moving forward with querying', Here's a System and Template for Tracking Your Submissions; 'You ask yourself if you are a writer if there is no novel to prove that you are what you say you are,' Brandon Taylor, Reluctant Novelist | Literary Hub; erased from my zine's page, Did Amazon Throttle My Sales After I Criticized Them in the New York Times? | Literary Hub; and Fanny Blake reports on the crucial contribution of the Quick Reads programme to improving adult literacy, Making a difference - quickly.
• Working with an agent: 'Don't ever take on an agent you don't like or don't trust, however desperate you may feel. You have to be able to work with them in what should be an extremely important relationship for you as a writer. You must also feel confident that they are competent, enthusiastic about your work and can be trusted, both in terms of the advice they offer and in relation to handling your money...
• 'We have a new page which gives an editor's take on using pdfs, So what's wrong with PDFs? 'If you need your file to be edited, PDF is not the ideal format; in fact, it is practically the worst format you can choose. Why? Precisely because PDFs are designed not to be tampered with or changed. When you stop to think about it, editing is no more or less than a process of changing - and correcting - your file...'
• More links: political books are selling like Donald Trump merchandise at Mar-a-Lago, dominating nonfiction bestseller lists for the past few years, John Bolton's $2 million book deal about the Trump administration isn't brave - Vox; finally moving into the limelight, Asian American Writers Are Finally Breaking Out on Their Own Terms; cover presentations designed by Amazon Publishing did by far the best job of luring in prospective buyers, Judging a Book by Its Title; and it's pretty clear what's unfair. Not paying on time. Breaking the terms of an agreement between publishers, booksellers, authors, agents. But fairness is more difficult to pin down, Opinion: Richard Charkin on Fairness in Book Publishing.
• Our 20 Services for writers - just a list of what we offer at WritersServices.
• From Tom Clancy in our Writers' Quotes: 'The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.'

• ‘I do feel that the world in which I grew up and have lived all my life is ending. And that's true in all the countries that I've cared about in my life and written about: India, England and here. What I thought was the given, how the places worked, has changed in all three cases...' Salman Rushdie, author of Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses, Quichotte and Shame in The Times. Our Comment.
• An endorsement from Anthony Fitzgerald for our English Language Editing Service: '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.'
• Closing on 28 February, the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition 2020. It's open to all cartoonists, and writers and artists working as a team, who have not previously published a full-length graphic work and are resident in the UK. Entry fee £10. The prize is publication on the Myriad list.
• Four other live Writing opportunities.
• Tips for writers is our 8-part crash course for writers who are starting out, taking you from Improving your writing to Self-publishing: is it for you? to Keep up to date and Submission to publishers and agents. 'Be prepared to redraft your work and to rethink it. Many new writers assume that their work will immediately be ready for publication, but the truth is that many highly successful writers produced several drafts of their first work before they got it published.' and 'When you've got your work into the best state you can, put it on one side for a few weeks and then look at it afresh. You'll be amazed what difference a fresh eye will make.'
• Our links: based on what you're seeing here, should I bother to pursue this? How to Tell If You Have What It Takes to Succeed as a Writer | Jane Friedman; for the first time since 2011, the news about book publishing has seemed less than dire (an interesting article in spite of the strange title), Smorgasbords Don't Have Bottoms | Issue 36 | n+1; Netflix's adaptation of his Witcher series is a sensation, Toss a Coin to Your Author: PW Talks with Andrzej Sapkowski; in his 1951 novel Requiem for a Nun, William Faulkner famously wrote that "The past is never dead. It's not even past." What We Write About When We Write About the Past | CrimeReads; and, surprising news perhaps, UK Publishers Association Study: Women Hold 55 Percent of Top Roles.
• Last year we launched the Writer's edit, a top-level new service for writers who want line-editing as well as copy editing. Does your manuscript need high-level input from an editor to help you get it into the best possible shape for submission or self-publishing? This may be the service for you, offering the kind of editing which publishers' senior editors used to do in-house on their authors' manuscripts and which is now hard to find. Our other copy editing services.
• More links: "Anyone can be a critic." It's a common lament these days, now that the book review landscape is changing, Everyone Can Be a Book Reviewer. Should They Be? | Literary Hub (there's a riposte below); "My writing has always been where I've gone to work through my problems," In N.K. Jemisin's Next Trilogy, the City Is On Fire; why is literary Twitter piling on Jeanine Cummins' book? American Dirt controversy, explained; although I've been reviewing books for half a century, this little treatise caused me to do some anxious head-scratching, Inside the Critics' Circle by Phillipa K Chong review - rickety scaffolding | Books | The Guardian.
• 'It's a common enough fantasy for writers: maybe now I can leave that dreary job and devote myself whole-heartedly to writing... But how practical is it? Is it something you can realistically aspire to, or just a distant fantasy? What are your chances of making your dream come true? Don't give up the day job.
• 'If you're going to be a writer you have to be one of the great ones... After all, there are better ways to starve to death.' Gabriel Garcia Marquez in our Writers' Quotes.

• ‘Writers make everybody nervous but we terrify Silly Service workers. Our apartments always look like a front for something, and no matter how carefully we tidy up for guests we always seem to miss the note card that says, "Margaret has to die soon." We own the kind of books that spies use to construct codes, like The Letters of Mme. de Sevigne, and we are the only people in the world who write oxymoron in the margin of the Bible...' Florence King, author of Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady and nine other books in our Comment.
• Our 19 Factsheets from the legendary Michael Legat are full of tips for the new writer or anyone who is trying to get their book published. From Literary agents to Copyright, from Libel to Submissions, this series is full of essential background information.
• Closing on 24 January, so you need to be quick about this one - Emma Press's open submission 2020. Calling for poetry pamphlet submissions and for children's poetry collection submissions. It's open to all poets internationally and the entry fee is £10. The prizes are publication.
• Other competitions which are still open.
• Are you struggling to get someone to look at your poetry? Our Poetry Critique service for 150 lines of poetry can help. Our Poetry Collection Editing, unique to WritersServices, edits your collection to prepare it for submission or self-publishing. Both can provide the professional editorial input you may feel you need.
• Our links: home to a vast warehouse of illegally pirated books, E-book piracy on LinkedIn SlideShare hurts smaller authors; in this decade, writers have found themselves at an unsettling and unpredictable moment in publishing as well as history, The New Rude Masters of Fantasy & Science Fiction - and Romance | The World Remains Mysterious; the Norwegian crime writer has sold more than 33m books worldwide, Jo Nesbø: ‘We should talk about violence against women' | Books | The Guardian; it is the nature of progress that what is now cutting-edge will, with the passing of time, become traditional, Reviving the Traditional Mystery for a 21st Century Audience | CrimeReads; and I realised I'm here now: I'm black British, TS Eliot prize-winner Roger Robinson: ‘I want these poems to help people to practise empathy' | Books | The Guardian.
• From our Endorsements page: 'Please extend my gratitude to the editor for his/her thoughtful and detailed edit. I could not ask for better work! Its value far exceeded the cost.' Jim, Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA)
• More links: a scary report - the mature stage of a book-to-film boom that is quietly transforming how Americans read and tell stories - and not for the better, They Made a Movie Out of It | James Pogue; are indie authors relying too much on Amazon? Indie Means Indie | Fiction Notes; the Olof Palme prize, an award given for an "outstanding achievement" in the spirit of the assassinated Swedish prime minister, John le Carré wins $100,000 prize for 'contribution to democracy' | Books | The Guardian; and a cheering story from a small bookshop, Oh what a night! Twitter brings £1,000 worth of orders to empty bookshop | Books | The Guardian.
• 'If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's research.' Wilson Mizner in our Writers' Quotes.

• ‘The thing I like about novels is that they are a more forgiving form. You can make missteps. It's harder to write a really good short story - I'm more aware of the flaws in my short stories. There's pleasure in being able to spend that much time with people and ideas in novels, but if you write a short story, the magical period of an idea to the excitement of composition and the first draft is short, but deeply pleasurable in a way novels are not...' Elizabeth McCracken, author of Bowlaway, Thunderstruck and four other books of novels, short stories and a memoir, in the Observer. Our Comment.
• From our 19-part Inside Publishing series, Subsidiary Rights: 'My first job in publishing was in a subsidiary rights department. I'm ashamed to admit that I accepted the job without having much idea what subsidiary rights were. Many writers may feel just as vague about this part of publishing, so here's a quick breakdown...' and Vanity Publishing: 'It is natural for writers to be eager to get published but it pays to be wary of the vanity publishers who will take your money and give you very little in return...' Vanity publishing is quite distinct from Self-publishing, you need to be aware of the differences.
• The 2020 International Book & Pamphlet Competition is open to all poets. Entry fee £28. Four winners will published by Smith|Doorstop books. All winners will also receive a share of £2,000, publication in The North magazine and a reading at The Wordsworth Trust. There's a chance of a collection being published too. Closing 1 March.
• Which service should I choose to help me get my work into good shape for submission or self-publishing? This is the question our page Which service? answers and it then goes on to give a quick rundown on our 20 editorial services for writers, which we think is the biggest and most comprehensive you can find on the internet.
• A good crop of links this week, with lots of valedictory articles about the past decade and year: starting with new year reading reolutions, 'I'm on the hunt for humour and hope': what will authors be reading in 2020? | Books | The Guardian; in 2019 we were obliged to say goodbye to far too many members of the worldwide literary community - from the universally beloved to the highly controversial, Notable Literary Deaths in 2019 | Literary Hub; it stood ready to supply them with plenty of action, cliffhangers, supernatural beings, mustache-twirling bad guys, and true love, Young adult literature entered the decade like a lion, but now it seems to be eating itself alive; and let's just start with the women, Female novelists replaced white male authors in the 2010s.
• Are you thinking of submitting your book to an agent? Try our Finding an Agent page or Your Submission package. Our Submission critique service may also help, as it's essential to get your package into the best possible shape before you start submitting.
• More links: the first 400 words of my novel, Adjustments, were written mostly to prove to my publisher, who had asked for the story, that I had no novel to write, The Joys (and Perils) of Serial Novel Writing | Jane Friedman; an unusual debut novel by a retired wildlife biologist named Delia Owens had an odd title and didn't fit neatly into any genre, so it hardly seemed destined to be a blockbuster, The Long Tail of ‘Where the Crawdads Sing' - The New York Times; so here's the more global version, The Rising Stars of Crime Fiction in the 2010s: International Edition | CrimeReads; and is TV better than film, whether big changes work, and more, Which Oft-Rebooted Story Yields the Highest Tomatometer Scores? We're Breaking Down the Ultimate Reboots << Rotten Tomatoes - Movie and TV News.
• 'Coleridge was a drug addict. Poe was an alcoholic. Marlowe was killed by a man whom he was treacherously trying to stab. Pope took money to keep a woman's name out of a satire, then wrote a piece so that she could still be recognized, anyhow. Chatterton killed himself. Byron was accused of incest. Do you still want to be a writer - and if so, why?' Bennett Cerf, founder of Random House, in our Writers' Quotes.

• 'Dear Aspiring Writer, you are not ready. Stop. Put that finished story away and start another one. In a month, go back and look at the first story. RE-EDIT it. Then send it to a person you respect in the field who will be hard on you. Pray for many many many red marks. Fix them. Then put it away for two weeks. Work on something else. Finally, edit one last time. Now you are ready to sub your first work... Inez Kelley, author of Turn it Up, Myla by Moonlight, Jinxed and five other romance novels. Our Comment.
• My Say gives writers a chance to air their views about writing and the writer's life. So we have Natasha Mostert on typing 'The End', Mary Garden on writers' block, Timothy Hallinan on The Writing Session and Dominae Primus on WritersServices.
• Here's a detailed article on how to prepare Your submission package - 'Given the difficulty of getting agents and publishers to take on your work, it's really important to make sure that you present it in the best possible way. Less is more, so don't send a full manuscript, as it's very unlikely to be read. Far better to tempt them with a submission package that will leave them wanting to see the rest of the manuscript...'
• Our links: as we move into the 2020s there are plenty of reasons to celebrate the resurgence of the book, BBC - Culture - How reading has changed in the 2010s; the writer who, for four decades, has imagined the near future more convincingly than anyone else, How William Gibson Keeps His Science Fiction Real | The New Yorker; my grandmother read one novel in her life, Reading the Unpublished Novel My Mother Took 30 Years to Write | Literary Hub; and Fern Michaels is women's fiction royalty and a publishing legend, Grande Dame of Women's Fiction Marks a Career Milestone.
• 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, our new Writer's edit, providing line-editing, and Proof-reading. Get the right level of editorial support for your needs. Our low-cost services represent exceptionally good value. Contact us to discuss what you want.
• More links: when our writing resists us - when it refuses to do as we hope - we often respond with ever more force, pushing it to bend to our will, What Your Draft (and Its Problems) Says About You | Literary Hub; the antithesis of a hardbitten banker or financier, How Hong Kong poet Mary Jean Chan is wowing Britain's literary circles with first collection, Flèche | South China Morning Post; and, a bit crass but rather fascinating, The 10 Richest Children's Authors Of All Time, Ranked By Net Worth.
• From our Endorsements page: ‘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.
• 'Everything in art depends on execution: the story of a louse can be as beautiful as the story of Alexander. You must write according to your feelings, be sure those feelings are true, and let everything else go hang. When a line is good it ceases to belong to any school. A line of prose must be as immutable as a line of poetry.' Julian Barnes in our Writers' Quotes.

• ‘What really annoys me are the ones who write to say, I am doing your book for my final examinations and could you please tell me what the meaning of it is. I find it just so staggering - that you're supposed to explain the meaning of your book to some total stranger! If I knew what the meanings of my books were, I wouldn't have bothered to write them.' Our Comment is from Margaret Drabble, author of 20 novels, including The Dark Flood Rises, A Summer Bird-Cage, The Needle's Eye and The Ice Age.
• From our 19-part Inside Publishing series: on Copyright: 'Many writers worry about losing their copyright. Before sending out your manuscript it is always advisable to put a copyright line consisting of the copyright sign ©, the year and your name on the title page...'
• On The Writer/Publisher Financial Relationship: 'There's no escaping the fact that publishers and authors are essentially in an adversarial position. Even in the very best and most supportive publisher/writer relationships there is the tension caused by the fact that authors would like to earn as much as possible from their writing and publishers to pay as little as they can get away with...'
• Advice for Writers is a really useful page which takes you into our archive and helps you explore over 7,500 pages of information for writers.
• Our links: in two decades the audiobook market has grown from a publishing industry side hustle into a huge global business, 'Your throat hurts. Your brain hurts': the secret life of the audiobook star | Books | The Guardian; how do you stand out? Presentations (true for any author), 6 Tips for Securing Speaking Engagements as a Self-Published Author | Jane Friedman; the Chinese children's book market is immense (with 370 million people under the age of 18), Shanghai Children's Book Fair Gets Bigger and More Ambitious; and the new British Poet Laureate's prize for a collection that focuses on the environment, Simon Armitage: ‘Nature has come back to the centre of poetry' | Books | The Guardian.
• 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 their native language and our new Writer's edit, providing line-editing. Get the right level of editorial support for your needs. Contact us to discuss what you want and take advantage of our free samples - and written assessments - on most of these services.
• More links: the big political books have been huge bestsellers, Why the Publishing Industry Just Can't Quit Donald Trump Jr. and Company | Vanity Fair; a new service designed to help self-published authors reach readers, BookLife Launches Paid Review Service for Self-Pubbed Books; a new biography about the writer, 10 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About C.S. Lewis; and Book Aid InternationalSupplies much-needed books to developing countries, raising funds from publishers and general public; 'Reverse Book Club' is masterly idea-for just £5 ($10) month you can provide 48 books to go to where they're most needed steams ahead, Books for 10 Million.
• If you are submitting your work to an agent or directly to a publishing house, check through our guidelines to give it its best chance. Making Submissions.
• From the late Fran Lebowitz in our Writers' Quotes: 'All the time I'm not writing I feel like a criminal. It's horrible to feel felonious every second of the day. It's much more relaxing to actually write.'

• ‘When the last autumn of Dickens's life was over, he continued to work through his final winter and into spring. This is how all of us writers give away the days and years and decades of our lives in exchange for stacks of paper with scratches and squiggles on them. And when Death calls, how many of us would trade all those pages, all that squandered lifetime-worth of painfully achieved scratches and squiggles, for just one more day, one more fully lived and experienced day?... ' Dan Simmons, author of 37 horror, science fiction, fantasy and historical novels and collections of short stories, including Drood, Hyperion and The Terror. Our 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...'
• The Bookbrunch Selfies Awards 2020 is for self-published titles published since January 2018, and entries will be accepted from authors based in the UK who are predominantly or only self-published. There is an entrance fee of £25+VAT per title, and all those submitting work will receive six-month subscriptions to BookBrunch. The winners will get £1,000 in each category and other prizes.
• WritersServices can provide a range of services working on your manuscript, to help you get it ready for submission or self-publishing. We are UK-based, offer exceptional value and our skilled professional editors have been working on writers' manuscripts for 17 years. We have just introduced free samples and free assessments on most of these services, please see the individual service page. Copy editing services.
• Our links: Jane Friedman argues that the secret to selling a book is understanding its readers and how to deliver on their expectations, No Clear Readership, No Clear Sales; what's behind our heightened connection with children's books? Why the books we read as children are the ones that shape our psyche | Books | The Guardian; book publishing has changed dramatically over the last twenty years, Intellectual Property: The Big Picture for Authors | Jane Friedman; and how do you tackle writers block? I don't believe in writer's block, Bernardine Evaristo on the Illusion of Writer's Block | Literary Hub.
• Why your book contract needs vetting - 'You are a first-time author without an agent and you receive a contract to publish your book - just how do you evaluate it? Is it fair or biased against the author by prevailing industry standards? Is your publisher looking out for your interests as well as his own - or wording the clauses in a way only advantageous to the company? Would you, for example, know which rights to grant - for how long and on what terms...' Our contracts expert on why contract vetting is essential if you don't have an agent.
• More links: should only writers from marginalized backgrounds tell stories about people who share their cultural histories? Who Gave You the Right to Tell That Story? What interests me most is that I think the different eco-systems within publishing are settling down somewhat, Questions for: John Bond; lost or found languages, Conlangers invent languages for science, pleasure-and the occasional hoax; his prison memoir I Will Never See the World Again, was longlisted for the £50,000 Baillie Gifford prize in September, Jailed Turkish author Ahmet Altan freed after three years | Books | The Guardian.
• Are you thinking of submitting your book to an agent? Try our Finding an Agent page or Your Submission package. Our Submission critique service may also help, as it's essential to get your package into the best possible shape before you start submitting.
• 'It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.' P D James in our Writers' Quotes.

• ‘I had always wanted to be a writer as a child but couldn't spell out this dream to myself because during the Cultural Revolution all writers were condemned. To be a writer was the most dangerous profession. I wrote my first poem aged 16 and destroyed it. When I was working spreading manure in the paddy fields aged 16 and 17, I was always writing in my head...' Jung Chang, author of the bestselling Wild Swans, Empress Dowager Cixi (with Jon Halliday) Mao The Untold Story and the just-published Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister, about the sisters who helped shape modern China, in the Observer. Our Comment
• Inside Publishing is a 19-part series looking at publishing from the writer's point of view. Our article on Copyright: 'Unless there is a very good reason, authors should in general seek to retain copyright in what they write. The most obvious exceptions are if a writer is employed by a newspaper, journal or company, when the writer is producing the work as part of their job...' On Children's Publishing: 'Age groups are an important element of the way publishers look at publishing for children. The storyline and language must be appropriate for the intended age-group and this is where many writers who haven't written for children before are likely to go wrong...'
• Our new page Copy editing services covers our six services working on writers' manuscripts, a range which includes our top of the range Writer's Edit and English Language Editing. We offer free samples and free short written assessments on most of these services, which are provided by our skilled professional editors. We are transparent about our rates and our high quality copy editing services are also very good value.
• Our links: overall visitor numbers were up at the 2019 Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two., where rights trade was brisk and events addressed timely topics including Brexit, feminism, racism, and climate crisis, Frankfurt 2019: Big Crowds, Upbeat Industry, Social Purpose; Writing well is hard. All writers know this. So why don't we talk about it more? Demystifying the Writer's Fear of Failure | Literary Hub; these days, a huge following on social media, particularly Instagram, is a must for a book deal, What's an Influencer Worth to Books? You don't expect an author with more than 100 million copies of her books sold into 36 languages and 120 countries to tell you that she's out on a limb, Cornwell's New Spacewalk: 'Not Just About Putting a Flag on the Moon'; and writing the book had broken me open, filling me with a giddy joy, On the Darkness, Strangeness, and Unbridled Joy of Children's Books | Literary Hub.
• We have a new page which gives an editor's take on using pdfs, So what's wrong with PDFs? 'If you need your file to be edited, PDF is not the ideal format; in fact, it is practically the worst format you can choose. Why? Precisely because PDFs are designed not to be tampered with or changed. When you stop to think about it, editing is no more or less than a process of changing - and correcting - your file...'
• More links: writing books - which requires solitude and stamina and more solitude, Deborah Levy Beats Writers' Block by... Swimming | Literary Hub; speaking with editors about three areas of expansion, YA Publishing Widens Its Lens; one of the most daring writers working (in my opinion), Joyce Carol Oates Talks Crime Fiction, Character, and Cats | CrimeReads; and when the "Queen of Crime", who counts London gangsters such as Krays' rival Eddie Richardson as friends, gives you an order it would be foolish not to listen, Martina Cole: Best-selling author says she is 'victim of snobbery in publishing' | Books | Entertainment | Express.co.uk.
• Putting together Your submission package - 'given the difficulty of getting agents and publishers to take on your work, it's really important to make sure that you present it in the best possible way. Less is more, so don't send a full manuscript, as it's very unlikely to be read. Far better to tempt them with a submission package that will leave them wanting to see the rest of the manuscript'.
• 'Read, read, read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window.' William Faulkner in our Writers' Quotes.

• ‘Before the actual placing of words on pages, The Testaments was written partly in the minds of the readers of its predecessor, The Handmaid's Tale, who kept asking what happened after the end of that novel. Thirty-five years is a long time to think about possible answers, and the answers have changed as society itself has changed and as possibilities have become actualities. Margaret Atwood, author of 17 novels, including The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments, which is shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize, in the Sunday Times Culture. Our Comment.
• Our article on How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth) asks writers with a manuscript which needs translating or has been written in English by a non-native speaker: "if your English is good enough, what about translating your book yourself, or writing in English, and then getting your translation 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.
• English Language Editing is a polishing service for writers who have translated their work into English or written it in English when it is not their native language. If you need to make sure it's good enough to publish, or send to a publisher, this service is for you. Acknowledging the growth of world English, English Language Editing is designed for the many non-native English speakers throughout the world who want to publish their work in English.
• There are two poetry competitions, two short story competitions and one wonderful competition for a debut novel still open on our Writing Opportunities page.
• Our links: as the publishing world grinds its way towards the Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two., An Unsolicited Manuscript Becomes a Hot Pre-Frankfurt Property; how one author drew on his own childhood experience in setting up a bookshop, Diary of a small town sensation: how the Wimpy Kid author built his dream bookshop | Books | The Guardian; how one author's 'wholly one-sided and indecorous obsession with another author' led her into looking at famous rivalries, Headbutts, snark and furious obsession: a toxic history of literary rivalries | Books | The Guardian; and an economical opportunity to have your work reviewed by a professional editor before you begin querying and submitting, Manuscript Evaluations: What They Are and What to Expect | Jane Friedman.
• Our Services for Writers - just a list of 20 services to help you get your work ready for publication.
• More links: where do prize-winning authors find their inspiration? How to write a Booker contender - by Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and others | Books | The Guardian; for Martina Myers, a high school English teacher on the Navajo reservation in Arizona, a novel which seemed too good to be true, Do Works by Men Toppled by #MeToo Belong in the Classroom? - The New York Times; and a troubling plagiarism accusation when two authors have been mining the same historical events, Jojo Moyes Has Been Accused Of Publishing A Novel With "Alarming Similarities" To Another Author's Book.
• The Web as a Research tool - there are some sensational research resources for writers on the web. The search engines and other directories have made these accessible.
• In our Writers Quotes, the great northern Irish poet Ciaran Carson, who died this week: ‘If you know exactly what you are going to say in a poem, that poem will be a failure. Besides, there is no interest or fun, in saying what you already know.'

• 'Every time you write a poem you start again. Sometimes things happen quickly, sometimes it can take years for a poem to find its proper mode of habitation. I think as writers we enter into a contract of trust, with ourselves, with our friends, with our editors, with our readers, when sending a poem out. Yes, practically, we have to think about stopping work on a poem. But isn't it more about when a poem is properly ready to be part of a useful exchange? Deryn Rees-Jones, poet and author of The Memory Tree, Signs Round a Dead Body and Quiver, and editor of Modern Women Poets,  in the PBS's Poetips. Our Comment.
• My Say gives writers a chance to air their views about writing and the writer's life. So we have Dominae Primus on her impressions of Writersservices, now and then, Richard Hall on "Write about what you know" - does this adage always make sense? Mary Garden on Writer's Block. Send us your contributions, ideally 200 to 400 words in length and of general interest. Please email them to us.
• Closing on 21 October, the Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2019 is open to all poets internationally. The entry fee is £5/€6/$7 per poem and the 1st Prize is £2,000, 2nd Prize £1,000 and 3rd Prize £500 plus 20 commendeds.
• Are you getting ready to publish your book - perhaps planning to self-publish? WritersServices offers a suite of nine services which help writers get their work into shape before they self-publish. Services for Self-publishers
• Our links: "Write every day, every second of the day. Is this a joke? Everyone Writes. But Is Everyone a Writer? - The New York Times; are they "punishing an author for her human rights advocacy", Hundreds of authors protest after Kamila Shamsie's book award is revoked | Books | The Guardian; turning around the fortunes of Barnes & Noble, B&N's James Daunt Isn't Daunted At All; in an era plagued by deep fakes and online disinformation campaigns, we still tend to trust what we read in books. But should we? It's a Fact: Mistakes Are Embarrassing the Publishing Industry - The New York Times; and everyone wants to write a book, or to say they have written a book. Publishing a book is still an honour, a point of pride, An Agent Explains the Ins and Outs of Book Deals - Electric Literature.
• Are you thinking of submitting your book to an agent? Try our Finding an Agent page or Your Submission package. Our Submission critique service may also help, as it's essential to get your package into the best possible shape before you start submitting.
• More links: the new Waterstones Children's Laureate on why children's engagement with books must be encouraged at every opportunity, Cressida Cowell warns industry will become 'dead in the water' without school libraries | The Bookseller; publishers allege copyright infringement, the audiobook company asserts fair use, Points, Counterpoints: The Publishers v. Audible Lawsuit Lines Are Drawn; the Chocolat author urges publishers to support existing writers in their careers rather than pursuing one debut after another, Joanne Harris speaks out against publishing's focus on debuts | The Bookseller; and after two decades of immense popularity, this style of storytelling fell out of fashion, The Golden Age Detective Fiction Renaissance | CrimeReads.
• Advice for Writers is a really useful page which takes you into our archive and helps you explore over 7,000 pages of information for writers.
• In our Writers' Quotes: 'It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop.' Vita Sackville-West

• '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.

• ‘I think people don't often realise that a lot of the joy of Jane Austen is that these books are funny. People think that, to adapt her, you've got to use long words and fancy sentences, and that's not the case at all. She could be very succinct and to the point and had a great sense of humour... Andrew Davies, acclaimed 82-year-old screenwriter of Pride and Prejudice, War and Peace and many other successful TV series, whose version of Sanditon has just started airing on the BBC, in the Observer. Our Comment.
• Tips for writers is our 8-part crash course for writers who are starting out, taking you from Promoting Your Writing (and Yourself), from Self-publishing: is it for you? to Keep up to date and Submission to publishers and agents. 'Be prepared to redraft your work and to rethink it. Many new writers assume that their work will immediately be ready for publication, but the truth is that many highly successful writers produced several drafts of their first work before they got it published.' and 'When you've got your work into the best state you can, put it on one side for a few weeks and then look at it afresh. You'll be amazed what difference a fresh eye will make.'
• 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, our new Writer's edit, providing line-editing, and Proof-reading. Get the right level of editorial support for your needs. Our low-cost services represent exceptionally good value - contact us to discuss what you want.
• Our links: celebrating the generosity of writers, I'm not surprised Olivia Laing is sharing her book prize money - I did the same | Daniel Hahn | Opinion | The Guardian; copyright is under attack this week, first - actions undertaken by a goup of American publshers, American Publishers Sue To Stop 'Audible Captions'; then - a contrary view, Audible Captions vs. The Publishing Industry - EContent Magazine; and are celebrity book clubs undermining literary culture? The new literary tastemakers: can they be trusted? | The Bookseller.
• Literary magazines with one week's response time is Sandeep Kumar Mishra's useful list, which we added to the site. They range from literary fiction to non-fiction and include science fiction and fantasy, popular non-fiction, politics, flash fiction, reviews, humour, social issues, the economy, lifestyle, horror, artwork and much more. If you've ever despaired at how long magazine submissions can take, or wanted to extend your range, this is the list you need.
• More links: ironically, while creative nonfiction and memoir writing can be a tool of self-discovery, you must have some distance from the self to write effectively, The Big Memoir Pitfall to Avoid | Jane Friedman; more on the subject of piracy and copyright from an author's SOA blog, Blogs | The Society of Authors; looking at celebrated children's author Malorie Blackman, ‘Do black people read?' What my years in publishing have taught me about diversity in books | Natalie Jerome | Opinion | The Guardian; and had the beloved author not had the confidence to publish the book on her own terms, we might not have ever known her name, Why Beatrix Potter Ended Up Self-Publishing The Tale of Peter Rabbit | Mental Floss.
• WritersServices editor Kay GaleWritersServices editor who has worked for many years as a freelance editor for number of publishers. on The Slush pile: 'When I started working in publishing over thirty years ago it was part of my job to check through the pile of unsolicited manuscripts that arrived on a daily basis, and like every other enthusiastic young editorial assistant, I dreamed of finding the next bestseller in the ‘slush pile'. I was soon disillusioned...'
• 'Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.' Jane Yolen in our Writers' Quotes.