What's New in 2015
- Kevin Morley wrote his book Inside Eritrea: A Volunteer in East Africa in order to raise funds from its sales to support the Saltergate Children's Home which he founded in Addis Ababa. He tells his story in Becoming a writer to ‘help kids in Africa'
- 'It's the colouring books and a self-published sleep aid which are making the headlines and topping the charts as summer moves in to autumn in the northern hemisphere - not that those of us in the UK feel we've had much summer... News Review looks at surprise bestsellers for the silly season.
- An Editor's Advice is a series of seven articles by one of our editors on really useful subjects for writers such as Dialogue, Manuscript presentation and Doing further drafts: 'I have just finished writing a report on a novel. I've pinpointed various areas of weakness and made various suggestions that the writer may or may not wish to follow. But the nub of the report is a recommendation that the writer produce a further draft of the novel rather than trying to submit it to a publisher now. I wonder sometimes how writers feel when they get my reports and see that recommendation...'
- ‘By rejection number 45, I was truly neurotic. It was all I could think about - revising the book, making it better, getting an agent, getting it published. I insisted on rewriting the last chapter an hour before I was due at the hospital to give birth to my daughter. I would not go to the hospital until I'd typed The End...' Kathryn Stockett, author of the huge bestseller The Help, advises you to 'Give in to your obsession' in our Comment column.
- Our latest Writing Opportunity is the Twenty7 Books open submission, which started on 1 September and closes on 27 September. Submit a one-page pitch and 5,000 words from your debut novel.
- Our links: an unbelievable number of rejections, Kathryn Stockett's 'The Help' Turned Down 60 Times Before Becoming a Best Seller | MORE Magazine; what's going on in the book design world, Flat book cover design: Why do all the summer novels have the same look? so what about direct to consumer, A manifesto for reaching readers | The Bookseller; Authors United's campaign continues, Is Amazon Creating a Cultural Monopoly? - The New Yorker;
- 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 assessmen of your work, here's the place to start.
- More links: fans of the best-selling Millennium series have been rushing to get their copies of The Girl in the Spider's Web, Stieg Larsson's partner ‘casts a spell' to jynx Millennium series book launch | Daily Mail Online and how publishers miss opportunities to sell books and build their authors, Why Smart Publishers Build Bad Websites | Digital Book World.
- 'A book is a device to ignite the imagination.' Alan Bennett from our Writers' Quotes.
- Have you translated your work into English? Or do you have a translation that someone else has done? Now you need to make sure it's good enough to publish, or send to a publisher. If you need help to get your work into perfect condition, our new service, Translation Editing, is for you. Acknowledging the growth of world English, this new service is designed for the many non-native English speakers throughout the world who want to publish their work in English.
- 'I've learned that despite all the new bells and whistles, there's no substitute for giving the bookselling community time enough to read a book and get behind it... It starts with the book no matter what. Without that it doesn't matter how much you tweet. You'll get one wave of publicity and then it's over.' Dawn Davis, founder of 37 Ink, in Poets and Writers magazine, quoted in our Comment column.
- First excerpt - How to Open Doors and Get Noticed the First Time Around is from The ABC Checklist for New Writers, the first of a six-part series of extracts from this useful book by Lorraine Mace and Maureen Vincent-Northam. 'Plenty of authors have sold their books directly to a publisher, but there are a number of benefits in acquiring the services of an agent. Agents are well informed about market trends, able to assess your work and offer it to the most suitable publisher. They will advise, check over your publishing contract and negotiate the best terms on your behalf. So when is the right time to approach an agent and how do you go about it?...'
- You'd better be quick to catch this week's Writing Opportunity, which is the 2015 Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition, closing on 31 August. There are two prizes of £1,000 and the second one is for poets for whom English is a second language.
- Your Submission Package helps with getting your package exactly right: '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...'
- Our links this week: a new term for opportunities which are 'in the cracks', Interstitial Publishing | The Scholarly Kitchen; the New York Times investigation of Amazon's white collar workforce culture reveals that the company may be on the road to its own eventual demise, says Edward Nawotka, Editor in Chief of PP, in a thoughtful article, Is Amazon Eating Itself Alive? - Publishing Perspectives; one of Scotland's leading authors is bitter about publishers and publishing and where is new thinking in the publishing world coming from, Publisher or Author? Whose Job Is it to Innovate Anyway? - Publishing Perspectives.
- 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 might be what you need.
- More links: author Diana Kimpton presents A manifesto for author-publisher relations | The Bookseller; we're especially afraid of data deciding what gets published; Booktrack and Audible are becoming very successful but We're Spending $10 Billion On Kids' Classroom Technology-But Does It Help Them Learn? | Fast Company | Business + Innovation
- 'One of the conditions for reading what is good is that we must not read what is bad; for life is short and time and energy are limited.' Arthur Schopenhauer in our Writers' Quotes.
- Our new article How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth) asks writers with a manuscript which needs translating: "if your English is good enough, what about translating your book yourself, 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.
- 'One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph. I have spent many months on a first paragraph, and once I get it, the rest just comes out very easily. In the first paragraph you solve most of the problems with your book. The theme is defined, the style, the tone.' Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in an interview in Writers at Work, in our Comment column.
- Suzy Jenvey, vastly experienced children's editorial director and now agent, has written a special series for WritersServices, the four-part The 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.
- As many in the northern hemisphere are still sunning themselves (or sitting out the rain if they're in the UK), the book trade is hotting up for the autumn. In the UK it looks as if 8 October will be Super Thursday, when the combination of big books being launched reaches its peak. News Review this week is looking forward to the autumn.
- Our Poetry Critique service and Poetry Collection Editing might help you to work out where you've got to with your poetry. Do you want to make sure that your poetry is as good as it can be before you go ahead with submitting to magazines or websites, or do you want help to prepare a collection?
- Our links of the week: how ebooks might be changing the way we read - and even the way we write, Ebooks are changing the way we read, and the way novelists write | Comment is free | The Guardian; the Wall Street Journal thinks we are about to have an explosion of reading on phones, The Rise of Phone Reading - WSJ; determination really can get you there, Delhi Tea Seller Finds Success As Author on Amazon - Publishing Perspectives; and the answer back to the challenge of last week about communities supporting writers appears to be 'no', Can digital community support writing, really? | The Bookseller.
- Our Publishing Glossary is a really helpful way of finding your way about the business.
- More links: quoting Virginia Woolf in "How Should One Read a Book?", this takes a literay approach to writing, When the page is broken: Who writes the books? | The Bookseller; one author's day-to-day experience of living the dream of becoming a writer, Down, Up, Down Again: The Diary of a Debut Author - Publishing Perspectives; and Frankfurt has proudly announced a link to Shakespeare in the 1622 fair catalogue, which listed Shakespeare's First Folio, no less! How the Frankfurt Book Fair Helped Launch Shakespeare - Publishing Perspectives.
- 'One of the conditions for reading what is good is that we must not read what is bad; for life is short and time and energy are limited.' Arthur Schopenhauer provides this week's quote in our Writers' Quotes.
- Our Writing Opportunity this week is the poetry part of the Manchester Writing Prize, with a first prize of £10,000 and open to poets across the world. It closes on 25 September.
- A recent report from Enders Analysis has said that it would be a mistake to see the ebook revolution as the key disruption in the book trade. The authors of the report are much more concerned with the reduction in the time people spend on reading, due to time spent on mobile devices, which is eating into book reading time. News Review
- Have you got something you'd like to say to our community of writers? My Say gives writers a chance to air their views. So we have Natasha Mostert: There are few things as satisfying as typing THE END to a manuscript, Richard Hall "Write about what you know" and Jae Watson with his 'magic formula' for writers. Contributions should ideally be 200 to 400 words in length and of general interest. Email us.
- 'That's the essential goal of the writer: you slice out a piece of yourself and slap it down on the desk in front of you. You try to put it on paper, try to describe it in a way that the reader can see and feel and touch. You paste all your nerve endings into it and then give it out to strangers who don't know you or understand you. And you will feel everything that happens to that story...' Our Comment is from Stephen Leigh, author of The Crow of Connemara.
- 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!'
- Our links of the week; Once writing was the most solitary of professions. Now it's the most social. What has changed? Digital writing: If only community weren't so communal | The Bookseller; ebook sales for the big publishers seem to be declining, but what does Mike Shatzkin think the real catalyst for change might be? The publishing world is changing, but there is one big dog that has not yet barked - The Shatzkin Files The Shatzkin Files; an amazingly revealing interview with the great Sara Paretsky, Sara Paretsky interview: ‘I start each VI Warshawski book convinced I can't do it' | Books | The Guardian; and the inspiring story of how indie women writers are using ebooks, Kindle turns five: independent women thrive in ebook bestseller charts | Books | The Guardian.
- Getting ready to publish your book? Do you want to self-publish your work? WritersServices offers a set of Services for Self-publishers which help writers get their work into shape before they self-publish. From Copy editing to Blurb-writing with much else as well.
- More links: one writer's account (with video) of how he used YouTube to promote his work, Teymour Shahabi on YouTube for Writers; you might not have known that reading for pleasure can result in increased empathy, improved relationships with others, reductions in the symptoms of depression and dementia, and improved wellbeing, Why is reading for pleasure important? | Reading Agency; and a powerful account of one writer's route to success as a self-publisher - through his agent, "My Agent By My Side": An Author's Assisted Publishing Experience - Publishing Perspectives.
- 'When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.' Enrique Jardiel Poncela in our Writers' Quotes.
- 'The longlist for this year's Man Booker Prize is both diverse and international, with a wide range of different kinds of writers and a number of debuts. The longlist features three British writers, five US writers and one each from the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, India, Nigeria and Jamaica... News Review looks as the internationalisation of the Prize.
- 'It's all to do with fiction: life is mysterious, human beings are opaque - even your family, spouse, children, you don't know what goes on in their heads. How do you find out what makes people tick? The answer is the novel. That's why it endures and thrives, it's the best art form for making sense of the human condition. It deals with the messy, random business of our lives, this common adventure we're on, the human predicament. Fiction's the best way of getting at the truth, however paradoxical that sounds.' Our Comment is from William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart and the forthcoming Sweet Caress, in the Bookseller.
- Tips for writers is an eight-part series which goes from Improve your writing to Submisson to agents and publishers, and includes Self-pubishing - is it for you? and Keep up to date. Effectively it's a crash-course for writers who are starting out.
- Our Writing Opportunity this week is the MslexiaStylish and lively site for quarterly UK literary magazine read by 12,000 'committed' women writers. Good range of quality writing, information and advice with news, reviews, competitions and interviews, all presented in a friendly fashion. Praised by Helen Dunmore as 'astute, invigorating and above all an excellent read.' www.mslexia.co.uk Women's Novel Competition, closing on 21 September and open to unpublished women writers from across the world. The winner of this highly-regarded Prize gets £5,000 and there's an entry fee of £25.
- Do you want some help with your writing but don't quite know what you want? Are you a bit puzzled by the various services on offer, and not sure what to go for? This article will show you how to work out which is the right editorial service for you. Choosing a service.
- Our links this week: in our age of media saturation and, for all practical purposes, limitless entertainment options, how does a specific book find the right reader at the right time? Book Media Amplification is Key to Small Press Success - Publishing Perspectives; the US Authors' Guild has moved on to an attack on term of copyright, Authors Guild Urges More Book Contract Changes; and a publisher's research into which writers have influenced you, Publisher finds that writers' influences are mostly male | Books | The Guardian.
- More links: is the publishing world moving towards using freelancers on a large scale? In the Future, Will We All Be Freelancers? - Publishing Perspectives; a site which offers reviews of self-published writers, IndieReader's Top 10 Five-star Reviews of Self-Published Books - Publishing Perspectives; and the Zimbabwe Book Fair, once the key event in African publishing, has recently declined. This year, a focus on growing the knowledge economy is giving it new life, The Buzz at the Zimbabwe Book Fair is Growth.
- Getting Your Poetry Published has some suggestions on how to get started with this. 'Don't even try to approach publishers until you have a collection-length amount of material to offer. Your chances will be much better even then if you can point to publication of your poems in magazines. Don't waste any time trying to get a literary agent to represent you... You may feel that it is better to hedge your options by going the self-publishing route. Fortunately this is now very much cheaper than it used to be and the final result is much more satisfactory...'
- From our Writers' Quotes, Philip Larkin: 'It is fatal to decide, intellectually, what good poetry is because you are then in honour bound to try to write it, instead of the poems that only you can write.'
