What's New in 2019
- ‘I go through a very intense process when I'm writing a book, so the idea of repeating that for a film seems exhausting. You want to have a point where you are really done with something, you know? Much better to let other people do it and then occasionally you show up and eat their food on set or come to their gala premieres and, you know, excitedly meet everyone. For me, that's a good role...' Meg Wolitzer, author of The Wife, The Uncoupling and The Female Persuasion, in the Observer. 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. 'In this series of articles we'll be looking in more detail at the various self-publishing routes currently available to new indie authors. When you first start out on your indie journey, the array of options can be overwhelming...'
- From the same author, 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: The Authors' Guild have labelled it 'a crisis of epic proportions', Breaking Down Financial Woes for Writers; The Man Group have pulled out of sponsoring the world-famous £50,000 prize, might this mean a rule change? No more Americans? What a new sponsor could mean for the Man Booker prize | Books | The Guardian; the multiple award-winning author who burst on the scene three decades ago, when his genre-defying Sandman took the comic-book world by storm, Neil Gaiman on His New Storytelling MasterClass, Good Omens, and the Upside of Twitter | Vanity Fair; and the Toronto-based online reading and writing community which says it has received 565 million story uploads since its launch, Wattpad Launches Publishing Division.
- 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 just introduced free samples and free assessments on most of these services, please see the individual service page. Copy editing services.
- More links: UK Children's Laureate Lauren Child thinks children's book publishing still gets a bad deal, 'We need to talk about children's books in a grown-up way' | London Evening Standard (mind the intrusive video ad); many poets still need part time jobs to fund their passion, but The rock stars of poetry explain why the art is in demand - BBC News; he might be the most successful author you might not have heard of, Adam Croft: Meet the independent author who at one point was outselling JK Rowling | Books | Entertainment | Express.co.uk; and crowdfunding can be a fun and creative way to raise money to support a new book, DIY: Crowdfunding 101.
- Are you ready to self-publish your poetry? Have you concluded that, given the scarcity of publishers taking on new work, it's too difficult to find a poetry publisher who will take on your collection? You can get your poetry collection edited for self-publishing or submission to publishers using our unique Poetry Collection Editing Service.
- 'I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to me is a miracle.' Kurt Vonnegut in our Writers' Quotes.
- 'Your book is special to you and may one day be to other people but at the moment it is just another submission. Authors need to remember that agents are inundated with submissions. Most have full lists already and need to concentrate on their existing clients. Of course we are looking for new talent but the chances of selling books from the slush pile are small...' Andrew Lownie of his eponymous agency on how best to present yourself to an agent. Our Comment
- 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. Do get in touch if we can help.
- The Borough Press and The Good Literary Agency have an unusual open submissions closing on 31 March. It's open to UK residents and British Citizens (including those residing abroad) without a literary agent and of black, Asian or minority ethnic background. There's no entry fee and the prize is a £10,000 publishing contract, agency representation and mentoring from writer Nikesh Shukla.
- There are a good number of other Writing Opportunities still open.
- An essential read for children's authors is Suzy Jenvey's special series for WritersServices, the four-part 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. This series by a hugely experienced children's editorial director and agent helps you get started on your own story or develop what you're already working on.
- Are you writing for children? Our Children's Editorial Services can help you get your work ready for publication or self-publishing. Have you found it difficult to get expert editorial input on your work ? Do you want to know if it has real commercial potential? Or are you planning to self-publish? Three reports and copy editing are available from our highly-skilled children's editors, including essential advice on age groups and vocabulary.
- Our links: the rise of "liber non grata", Corporate Censorship Is a Serious, and Mostly Invisible, Threat to Publishing; author and self-publishing entrepreneur Michael Anderle on how it's done, Helping Indie Authors Help Themselves; a passion for politics, particularly among teenagers and young millennials, is fuelling a dramatic growth in the popularity of poetry, Poetry sales soar as political millennials search for clarity | Books | The Guardian; and the litany of bookshops that have disappeared from the UK's high streets over the last two decades is long and sobering: chains such as Ottakars, Books etc, Dillons and Borders, and more than 1,000 independents, Independent bookshops grow for second year after 20-year decline | Books | The Guardian.
- If you are trying to get your work into shape for publication, or for self-publishing, there's plenty of advice on the WritersServices website which you may find useful. Advice for Writers provides a summary.
- More links: bestselling urban fantasy novelist Sherrilyn Kenyon, author of the chart-topping Dark-Hunter series, is suing her husband Lawrence R Kenyon II, as well as two individuals employed by the Kenyons, for up to $20m (£15.5m), Sherrilyn Kenyon accuses husband of 'Shakespearean plot' to poison her | Books | The Guardian; the Slowdown, from U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith, the Poetry Foundation, and American Public Media, Could a Daily Poetry Podcast Save Your Mental Health? 1.28 million books to libraries, schools, prisons, hospitals, and refugee camps in 25 countries, Book Aid International 2018 Reports Biggest Year Yet, in Africa and Middle East.
- 'You see, in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.' Junot Diaz in our Writers' Quotes.
- 'Be ruthless about protecting writing days, i.e., do not cave in to endless requests to have "essential" and "long overdue" meetings on those days. The funny thing is that, although writing has been my actual job for several years now, I still seem to have to fight for time in which to do it. Some people do not seem to grasp that I still have to sit down in peace and write the books...' J K Rowling, author of the hugely bestselling Harry Potter books and the Cormoran Strike books writtten under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Our Comment.
- Our Success Stories series includes Darren Shan and Tina Seskis, of whom we said: 'an irresistible subject for a Success Story because she lives just up the road from WritersServices in north London and because her success as a writer is like a textbook illustration of how to do it'. We have other Success Stories on a wide range of authors.
- The 2019 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is really two prizes, one for published writers and one for unpublished ones. It closes on 1 March and is open to writers of any nationality writing in English with no entry fee. The Prizes are £15,000 for each Prize plus a publishing deal with Bonnier for Best Unpublished Manuscript.
- 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, Translation editing for those for whom English is not a native language, our new Writer's edit, providing line-editing, and Proof-reading. Get the right level of editorial support for your needs from our professional editors. Our low-cost services represent exceptionally good value. Contact us to discuss what you want.
- Our links: rather amazingly, figures show writers' income dropping by the same dismal amount - 42% - on both sides of the Atlantic, New, Larger Authors Guild Survey: Falling Incomes for Writers; but can it be blamed on Amazon? Amazon hits back at claims it is to blame for falling author earnings | Books | The Guardian; new avenues where content can find more digital life - and profit, Books, Games, Film: Choose the Next Path for Storytelling; are writers and publishers on the same side - the side of great literature and the free flow of ideas? Opinion | Must Writers Be Moral? Their Contracts May Require It - The New York Times; and the third debut to land the award in its 25-year history, and a sign that the poetry world is hunting for a new generation of voices, 'A star is born': TS Eliot prize goes to Hannah Sullivan's debut | Books | The Guardian.
- 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell by Chris Hamilton-Emery is a tremendously useful book for any poet, , an insider's guide to the poetry business, focusing on the issues that matter: building profile, finding readers and selling books.
- More links: a labor of love dedicated to one man's love of literature, The Millions Will Live on, But the Indie Book Blog Is Dead; editing The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Sci-Fi Writers Are Grappling With a Post-Trump Reality | WIRED; one of the most dynamic creations in literature, Superficial Villainous Bitches Have Taken Over Novels; and 'one of the most overlooked writers of the twentieth century', The Best Daphne Du Maurier Books | Five Books Expert Recommendations.
- If you need to get your material typed up, but can't face doing the job yourself, Typing manuscripts is a service for writers who have an old or handwritten manuscript or audio tapes, which need typing before they can proceed with reworking, submission or publication.
- From our Writers' Quotes:'You know how writers are... they create themselves as they create their work. Or perhaps they create their work in order to create themselves.' From Orson Scott Card