What's New in 2021
- ‘Poetry is definitely having a renaissance. There's been a real sea-change in terms of how it's seen, especially in lockdown. Poetry is the perfectly transportable art form. Owning a book is all you need to experience it. Poetry doesn't necessarily give us the answers, but it does give us the tools to think with and helps us process issues. Writing poetry might be a slow art - but publishing it well is an extremely slow art...' Jane Commane, publisher of Nine Arches Press in Bookbrunch.
- My Say gives writers a chance to air their views about writing and the writer's life. So we have Natasha Mostert on typing 'The End', Mary Garden on writers' block, Timothy Hallinan on The Writing Session and Dominae Primus on WritersServices.
- Links from Hollywood, Netflix and the Canon: a marmite book, but a huge success in the end, Netflix smash Behind Her Eyes: Sarah Pinborough on writing 'that ending' | Books | The Guardian; 17 million people use Blinkist alone. What is going on? Why are there so many book summary apps? ‹ Literary Hub; a look behind the book-to-screen deals to the people who made them happen, 8 major players behind Amanda Gorman gigs, book adaptations - Los Angeles Times; and what should we read? Will Self on What to Read: Canons to the Left, Canons to the Right, and Everything in Between ‹ Literary Hub.
- 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 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 have been providing our services on writers' manuscripts through skilled professional editors for 20 years. We have recently introduced free samples and free assessments on most of these services, please see the individual service page. We have recently introduced free samples and free assessments on most of these services, please see the individual service page. Copy editing services.
- Links from the publishing world: the industry as a whole is a dismal underperformer, Big Fail for publishers? Just $92 per household spent on rec reading in 2019-and even that may decline long term; Which? found 10 websites selling fake reviews from £5 each, Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online; in the short term, sales of print books continued to ride a hot streak into February, New Releases Spark Another Big Book Sales Week.
- 'If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.' was Stephen King's view and Sarah Taylor-Fergusson argues that it's essential for nearly all authors to do a lot of reading. Writing for Children: Rule Number One.
- Links on writers adn writing: the second lockdown has been far bleaker and harder for creativity, Writer's blockdown: after a year inside, novelists are struggling to write | Books | The Guardian; a fascinating article about the writer's less-known role as an editor, Toni Morrison as an Editor Changed Book Publishing Forever | by Arielle Gray | Feb, 2021 | ZORA; and 'If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of apocalyptic times, even if it means sounding apocalyptic...', Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Peerless Poet-Publisher, Dies at 101.
- Advice for Writers provides access to the huge amount of material for writers on the site, including many series we've commissioned and published
- 'Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.' Neil Gaiman in our Writers' Quotes.
- 'It is all for the taking. All the manuals by frustrated fictioneers on how to write can't give you the first syllable of reality, at any cost, that any common conversation can. All the classics, read and re-read, can't help you catch the ring of truth as does the word heard first-hand...' Nelson Algren, author of The Man with the Golden Arm and A Walk on the Wild Side.
- 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.
- Our Children's Editorial Services help you to get your children's book 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 might find a publisher? Or are you planning to self-publish?
- Our links on writers and writing: more than 130 years on, Holmes remains our almost constant companion, 'I think I've written more Sherlock Holmes than even Conan Doyle': the ongoing fight to reimagine Holmes | Books | The Guardian; coming up, a series on Ernest Hemingway's life and death and the myth that surrounded both, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Turn Their Lens, and Jeff Daniels's Voice, to Hemingway; it's a difficult time to write police procedurals. Or at least it should be, The Future of Police Procedurals ‹ CrimeReads; is it right to proceed with a biography against the wishes of the family? Hitchens Biography Proceeds, Against His Widow's Wishes - The New York Times; and the awful search for a flatttering author photo, Let's Face It: In Search of the Alluring Author Photo | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog.
- Working with an agent explains how to get the best out of the relationship with your agent: 'It can be hard work finding an agent to represent you. Make sure though that, when you set up the relationship, you do so in a professional manner Don't let your eagerness to find representation mean that things are left vague. You will be depending on the agent to process all your income from the books they sell, so you need to have a written record of your arrangement, preferably a contract...'
- Do you want some help with your writing but don't know quite what you want? Choosing a service can help you work out which service is right for you, or you could just email us.
- Links from publishing and bookselling: rather shockingly, this bitter dispute has lasted two years, Feud Between Hollywood Agents and TV Writers Comes to an End - The New York Times; major changes may be coming for British publishers, Richard Charkin: Brexit Ushers British Publishing Into New Territory; more thoughtful articles on Amazon and Bezos, At last, the regime that enabled Amazon's monopoly power is crumbling | Amazon | The Guardian; and on the man himself, ‘A managerial Mephistopheles': inside the mind of Jeff Bezos | Jeff Bezos | The Guardian.
- 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. 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. Typing Manuscripts.
- 'Luckily for art, life is difficult, hard to understand, useless, and mysterious.' Grace Paley in our Writers' Quotes.
- ‘So in that sense, I and my fellow horror writers are absorbing and defusing all your fears and anxieties and insecurities and taking them upon ourselves. We're sitting in the darkness beyond the flickering warmth of your fire, cackling into our caldrons and spitting out spider webs of words, all the time sucking the sickness from your minds and spewing it out into the night.' Stephen King, whose scores of works include The Stand, Carrie, The Dark Tower and The Dead Zone.
- The Inside Publishing series consists of 19 articles giving you an insider's view of publishing. The English Language Publishing World looks at the traditional way in which the international English-language publishing has been split between UK and US publishers. Why does the world get divided up into publishing territories? How has this come about? How does it affect authors? Then there's 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...'
- The 2021 Page Turner Awards are closing on 30 May. Open to all fiction and non-fiction writers over 18. Five different awards aim to help writers and authors to get discovered with possible literary agency representation and potentially taking a published book from page to film. Entry fees £20 for entries received by 28 February and £30 after that. £10,000 prize fund.
- 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.
- Our links from the publishing world: will the Department of Justice block this acquisition? Authors Guild Asks DoJ to Stop PRH Purchase of S&S; "it is not our role to further judge or punish [people] as a result of their criminal convictions", US magazine Poetry faces outcry for publishing work by sex offender | Poetry | The Guardian; a surprise move from Bezos, As Revenue Tops $380 Billion, Bezos to Step Down as Amazon CEO; more on Bezos (if you want it) from a 2008 profile, PW's Person of the Year 2008: Amazon's Jeff Bezos; twenty-five years later, an updated piece on this was still timely, 'The Unbearable Whiteness of Publishing' Revisited.
- From our Endorsements page: ‘A wonderfully detailed and helpful report. The editorial advice and knowledge sharing is extensive and generous. Your editor has identified the points where and why my novel falls short and provided clear and practical advice on how to remedy the shortfalls... I would not hesitate to recommend your service to other writers both in terms of output and value for money.' Elspeth, UK.
- Links on writing and writers: a point of view character who you can't trust for one reason or another, Unreliable Narrator: Definition & How To Use Them - The Art of Narrative; have we become overwhelmed by mindless scrolling through social media? Page refresh: how the internet is transforming the novel | Fiction | The Guardian; should you write what you know? Stay in your lane? Find your niche? Pick Your Pond: How Nonfiction Authors Can Find the Right Positioning | Jane Friedman; J K Rowling was an unpublished, unemployed single mother in Edinburgh in 1995 when she sent him the first three chapters of her first book, Christopher Little, Who Built an Empire Around a Boy Wizard, Dies at 79 - The New York Times; and something completely different, Teaching stories about cancer.
- Our page of Picture library links provides a good starting-point for finding an image for your book, whether it's for the cover or inside. Gograph was the last one we added with its 18 million stock links.
- 'I believe that a writer is a person who writes. An author is a person who has written.' Dean Wesley Smith in our Writers' Quotes.