14 March 2016 - What's new
14 March 2016
- 'In our links this week we've teamed up a cosy story about finding an agent with a downbeat one about how publisher consolidation and focus on obvious big books is restricting authors' possibilities. If you are looking to get published traditionally, this is not a cheering situation...' News Review
- The International Rubery Book Award 2016 is open for all self-published and independently published books. The entry fee £35/$60 and the prize is £1,000 ($1590). Our Writing Opportunity.
- 'Do you find it difficult to get started on your writing? Is it always easier to put off finishing that research/ starting that novel/embarking on the second draft? You are not alone, for many writers suffer from procrastination...' Don't procrastinate!
- Which Report? gives the details of the three reports we offer: the full Editor's Report, the basic Reader's Report and the most substantial Editor's Report Plus. There's also our specialist Children's reports, part of our Children's Editorial Services. If you want a professional editor's assessment of your work, here's the place to start.
- ‘Quit your job! The day I quit my job was the best day of my life. I wanted to be a writer. It took me four months, and resulted in How I Live Now. I found my fame and fortune with it, and I thought, "Publishing people are so friendly!" But they aren't, not always! Despite that book being a big success, my second, Just in Case, was turned down flat by both my UK and US editors...' Meg Rosoff, author of Jonathan Unleashed, her first book for adults, in the Independent on Sunday provides this week's Comment.
- Our links: finding an agent, a dream-come-true, Wendy's Writing Now: Out of the Slush Pile - How I Found My Agent; publishing mergers and what they mean for authors, What Big Publishing Consolidation Means for Authors; the argument that "platform, and not content, is king", in our first report from Digital Book World, Taplin talks tech power at DBW | The Bookseller; and from a perceptive children's publisher, another one, An Independent Publisher at DBW: Nosy Crow's Tom Bonnick.
- From Tom Chalmers 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...'
- More links: the problem we're dealing with is simple. There's too much junk on Amazon, Amazon, spam and the biggest slushpile in history. | Literary Agents Advice; more "meaningful" for her to win the Man Booker Prize than the Women's Prize for Fiction, Women's literary prizes are 'problematic' says Lionel Shriver | The Bookseller; and, sorry, more DBW stuff, 'The Persistence of Print' at Digital Book World, but this one's about how well print is doing!
- Finding an agent and Working with an agent - two practical pieces to help set up and maintain this vital relationship.
- 'To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.' Anne Rice in our Writers' Quotes.
