13 April 2020 - What's new
13 April 2020
- ‘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.'
