15 June 2020 - What's new
15 June 2020
- '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 MD of London-based Pushkin Press 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. 'Today's indie author can feel confident that they are in good company - indeed, many traditionally published authors are leaving their publishers and going indie by choice. Tired of creative compromises, covers they can't stand, zero promotion and tiny royalty percentages, they are joining the ranks of self-publishing authors and reaping the benefits. If you have a book you are passionate about, if your main objective is to get your work in front of readers and make it professional and accessible, and if you're tired of doing the ‘rounds' of agents and publishers and facing soul-destroying rejection, there is an answer. Self publish...' Articles include What is Self-publishing and Choose Your Self-publishing Route.
- This week's competition is the Winchester Poetry Prize 2020, which is open to all poets aged 16 or over. The entry fee is £5 for the first poem and £4 for subsequent poems. First Prize: £1,000, 2nd Prize: £500 and 3rd Prize: £250. Closing 31 July.
- Other live competitions.
- 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.
- Links on bookselling and publishing in the Pandemic: scenes from the front line of bookselling, ‘We're so nervous': England's bookshops prepare to reopen on Monday | Books | The Guardian; several new realities are likely to survive the disease itself and lead to evolutionary leaps in book publishing, Independent Publishing in a Post-Covid World; and the "new normal" is taking shape, Selling in a post-lockdown world.
- 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 Black Lives Matter links: more than 100 writers have called on all major publishing houses in the UK to introduce sweeping reforms, Black Writers' Guild calls for sweeping change in UK publishing | Books | The Guardian; 'The publishing industry is stilted and archaic', Publishers want more black authors. Why have they silenced us for so long? | Candice Carty-Williams | Books | The Guardian; in 1962, the African Writers Series (AWS) was founded by London-based publisher, Heineman, but now How Women Are Changing the Face of African Publishing | Literary Hub; and a thoughtful interview with last year's T. S. Eliot Prize winner, Roger Robinson: 'Poets can translate trauma' | Books | The Guardian.
- Manuscript typing. 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 so that you can revise it, submit it or publish it. 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.
- More links: 'It took me many years and a lot of work to complete my first crime novel', Five tips for writing your first novel - National Centre for Writing; there is a voice, a reading voice not my own, the voice of a stranger who can cut through the chatter, In Utter Celebration of Juliet Stevenson's Brilliance as an Audiobook Narrator | Literary Hub; American Dirt was supposed to be a major book of the year, How Not to Write a Book about a Minority Experience | The Walrus; and 'When women stop reading, the novel will be dead', There's No Hype Machine for Selling Literature to Dudes.
- ‘The three most important things are character, character, character. Climb inside every character and live them from the inside. And remember: every character, even the most minor ones, think they are the true centre of the story.'
Andrew Davies in our Writers' Quotes.
