15 November 2021 - What's new
15 November 2021
- ‘What Hollywood needs is more and more content because of all the outlets, but in many cases, before studios buy the rights to a book, they need some form of validation, so they know something is good. I don't think [exclusively] writing books ever was a way to make a living. I mean, in the old days, authors were doctors and lawyers and had real jobs. Writing was rarely considered a full-time job. The difference is now, there are so many other opportunities for authors to write.' Peter Gethers, Knopf editor-at-large and co-producer.
- 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...'
- 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.
- Links about writing: film and tv offer more and more opportunities for writers, How Authors Are Becoming Hollywood Power Players | Marie Claire (US); how your book can contain dreadful errors, Getting It Wrong: How Thomas Perry Learned to Live With His Books' Errors ‹ CrimeReads; one name that is, conspicuously and appropriately, left off the press release, Ghostwriters Come Out of the Shadows; how do you write about real people in historical fiction? The Ethics of Literary Revivification - Writer's Digest; that so many former spies became novelists is not surprising, From Tradecraft and Trench Coats to Magic and Adventure: When Spies Write for Children; and literature that makes integral use of or is generated by digital technology, How Collaborating With Artificial Intelligence Could Help Writers of the Future ‹ Literary Hub.
- 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.
- Links from the publishing world: a cracking read in the niche genre of antitrust litigation? A $2.2 Billion Penguin Deal Can't Be Good for Books - The Washington Post; but there's another side to this story, Book-Industry Insiders Back the Biden Administration's Bid to Stop a Publishing Mega-Merger | Vanity Fair; how distribution problems are affecting authors, Singing the Supply Chain Blues; quadrupled but 'still not there', Report shows fourfold rise in minority ethnic characters in UK children's books | Children and teenagers | The Guardian; and book fairs (surprisingly) combine, Shanghai Children's Book Fair Postponed to Next Year.
- 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 from a professional copy-writer will make your book stand out.
- More links from writers: paratext fascinates me to no end, Why Don't Books Have A Credits Page? Embedded firmly between the cozy and the hard-boiled, like middle-aged and elder women ensconced between siren and senior, Soft Boiled Mysteries for Women Over 50 ‹ CrimeReads; a global bestseller whose novels have sold more than 140 million copies worldwide in over 30 languages, Tributes paid to 'icon' Wilbur Smith after death, aged 88 | The Bookseller; "Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn't." (Mark Twain) When Reality Is Too Strange To Make It Into Your Novel ‹ CrimeReads; and, to cheer us all up a bit, The Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year 2021 Shortlist is Revealed | The Bookseller.
- WritersServices editor Kay Gale 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...'
- ‘Poetry might seem like an inconsequential side-casualty in a larger, noisier war, but in fact it is central to the story of ownership of ideas and expressions.' Sam Riviere in our Writers' Quotes.
