What's New in 2023
- ‘My favourite reading experience, if I was going to choose one, would be a big, fat doorstep of a novel, so I always had in my mind that I would try to write the kind of book that I liked to read, the kind of multi-generational, big bed of a novel that you sink into...' British novelist Joanna Quinn, whose first novel The Whalebone Theatre was published last year, in the Bookseller.
- 'I wrote this book to explore why a privately educated middle-class boy rejected his semi-rural Surrey background to live in the 1970s squats of Hornsey Rise, north London, then reputed to be the largest squatting community in Europe... One significant challenge was in clarifying the relationship between the ‘autobiographical' and ‘fictional' aspects of my work. Jeremy Worman on his just-published book, The Way to Hornsey Rise: an Autobiographical Novel.
- How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth) asks writers who are not native English speakers with a manuscript which needs polishing or translating: "If your English is good enough, what about translating your book yourself or writing in English, and then getting your work 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, using our English Language Editing service.
- Our first set of links are from a lively London Book Fair: market forces, Brexit (in the UK), the rising costs of paper, energy and manufacturing, and the pandemic) are forcing all publishers to reconsider book prices, London Book Fair 2023: Despite Recommended Retail Prices Rise, Books Have Never Been Cheaper; 669m physical books were sold in the UK, the highest overall level ever recorded, UK publishing industry reports record-breaking year in 2022 | Books | The Guardian; literay agencies follow the trend to become more corporate, The Bookseller - News - United Talent Agency ‘would not rule out' further buyouts after LBF bow; and agents and publishers have hailed a "proper" return to London Book Fair this year, reporting back-to-back meetings and standing room only at packed-out events, The Bookseller - News - AI and rising costs dominate conversations at packed-out London Book Fair.
- 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, the Writer's edit, providing line-editing, and Proof-reading. The Cutting edit and Developmental editing are two new services. 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.
- A glowing endorsement from an enthusiastic author: ‘Absolutely first class job! Very professional. Thank you very much indeed. Wish I'd found you before, it would certainly have saved me a lot of unnecessary headaches. I'll now bin the rest of the editors I've so far dealt with, and hope to keep contact with you.' Steven Kocsis
- More links from a busy publishing world: more than half have said the process negatively affected their mental health, The Bookseller - News - Bookseller survey finds debut authors struggle with lack of support; Tree to Me campaign 'adds authors' voices to efforts to achieve net zero in the publishing industry', Society of Authors creates new campaign to help writers hold publishers to account on sustainability | Society of Authors | The Guardian; an alarming spike in book bans in US schools, PEN Report Shows State Legislation ‘Supercharging' Book Bans; and more on why this matters for young people's lives and careers, The Consequences of Book Bans.
- A new prize has just been set up, the Debut Writers Over 50 Award, which is open to unpublished and unagented writers over 50 living in the UK. There's no entry fee and the prize is £1,000 cash and a week-long residential course at Moniack Mhor. It opens on 1 May and closes on 31 May.
- Links about writers and writing: an important piece of research, The Bookseller - News - Self-published authors earn more than traditionally published counterparts; the worry about children never ends, no matter how big they grow, Writing what terrifies you; living in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, which has a magnificent medieval core, led me to wonder What Do Modern Mystery Novels and Medieval Mystery Plays Have in Common? Sin. ‹ CrimeReads; and a critic thinks Dahl's books are still harmful, Why Roald Dahl Does Not Deserve a Second Chance.
- Which service should I choose to help me get my work into good shape for submission or self-publishing? Which service do you want? Our editorial services have been added in response to demand, so whatever you want we've probably got it covered with our 22 different services.
- The fourth set of our pages of Tips for writers asks: Self-publishing - is it for you? Do you really want to get your book published? Self-publishing offers the chance to control your own publication and, if you are successful, you will make more money. Have you already tried agents and publishers, and made sure that your work is as good as you can get it before submitting it? If so, then you should consider self-publishing or indie publishing as it is often called.
- Our final set of links are to writers' own stories: the series has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, The Bookseller - Author Interviews - Ken Follett | 'I didn't foresee this becoming five books at all. If I had, I would have been more intimidated'; for nearly two decades of her soaring literary career, no one knew that the crime writer "Anne Perry" was actually the teenage murderer Juliet Hulme, Anne Perry dead: Writer murdered friend's mom as teen - Los Angeles Times; the Booker and Pulitzer winner on influences on his writing career, Colson Whitehead: ‘When I read Invisible Man I thought maybe there's room for a Black weirdo like me' | Colson Whitehead | The Guardian; and he went from a career of exciting journalism, and then boredom as a banker, to joining naval intelligence and then became a writer, How Ian Fleming Wrote Casino Royale and Changed Spy Fiction Forever ‹ CrimeReads.
- Get your poetry assessed before submitting it or entering it for competitions with our Poetry Critique service. If you're planning to submit a collection to publish or to self-publish, our unique Poetry Collection Editing service can help to get your work to a publishable standard.
- 'Being a writer in Hollywood is like going into Hitler's Eagle's Nest with a great idea for a Bar Mitzvah.' David Mamet in our Writers' Quotes.
- If you enjoy browsing through quotes, we have large collections on our website, More Writers' Quotes and Even More Quotes.
- 'Stories stay with us: tales of bravery visit us when fear peeps round the corner, comedies sprinkle us in smiles on a train ride to work. Characters become our friends and our confidantes, and worlds explored through the imagination, incredibly, share space with our memories. A story shared transports reader and listeners alike on a joint adventure never to be forgotten. When we open a book there's no telling where it may take us... Joseph Coelho, UK Children's Laureate and author of Werewolf Club Rules, the Luna Loves series Overheard in a Tower Block and How To Write Poems, in Bookbrunch.
- Our unique new service is The Cutting Edit. So you have finished your book, but it is too long; how do you go about reducing the word count without losing important parts of your work? We're here to help. Our experienced editors will work with you to reduce the word count of your book while preserving the main narrative elements and your individual style. This service is available for both fiction and non-fiction, and it's a dual service - as we reduce the word count of your manuscript we also copy edit it as part of the job.
- This new service sits alongside our existing range of Copy editing services.
- The 2023 Page Turner Awards are open to all writers over 18. Entry fees. The £35,000 prize fund is spread over the Writing, Young Writer, Screenplay and Book Awards and the Writing Mentorship. Closing on 31 May.
- The Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize is closing on 16 April, so there's still time to enter if you're fast.
- Tips for Writers offers easy access to information for writers. Tips for Writers 3 covers New Technology and the Internet: 'Sites such as WritersServices offer a vast amount of free information which can help you develop your writing and get published. Our 9,000+ pages can be accessed through the homepage or through Advice for Writers, which gives a breakdown of what is on the site. Look for other useful sites on the web.'
- Links from publishing and social media: there's a sea change in book publishing that has seen women surge ahead of men in almost every part of the industry in recent years, Women now dominate the book business. Why there and not other creative industries? : Planet Money : NPR; writers are the lifeblood of the publishing industry. Agents and publishers, who work with them every day, should understand and respect them, Writers Can Handle the Truth from Editors; this week, as #booktok hit over 121 billion views on TikTok, The Bookseller - Books - Books on BookTok: real-world impact; and from talking rabbits to schoolboy wizards, the greatest sellers of the last half-century have never been predictable, From Richard Charkin's 'My Back Pages': 'Accidental Successes'.
- From our Endorsements page: 'I've used two services with this company: The Editor's Plus Report and the Writer's Edit. I am completely satisfied with the service I received and said service has led to the completion and publication of my first novel: Lightforce. I would recommend any of these services to any aspiring author.' Jason Handleman, author of Lightforce (Everything Changes Book 1)
- 'So you want to be a crime writer? This is probably a good choice. Crime writing has long been popular with readers across the English-speaking world but it had a real resurgence a few years ago. Although publishers have reined back from the subsequent tendency towards over-production, there is still a solid market for good crime writing and many bestselling writers, such as Richard Osman, write in this category. As well as being a long term publishing staple in the main English-speaking markets, the US and UK, crime novels are much in demand in translation, especially in Europe...' Writing Crime Fiction in our Genre writing series.
- Are you ready to submit your synopsis and sample chapters to agents or publishers, but worried about whether you are presenting your work in the best possible way? It's dispiriting to receive rejections just because your submission package is not up to scratch. Our Submission Critique can help you get your submission package into the best possible shape, giving you a professional view of your submission material and clear suggestions for any improvements.
- Is your synopsis proving tricky? Our Synopsis-writing service can help.
- Links on writers' craft: more on the rapid and troubling progress of AI, On AI and the Intrinsic Value of Writing - The Millions; so often, a writer has spent years of their life working on a novel that runs to 300+ pages before they seek out qualified feedback, 3 Critical Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Draft (or Revise!) a Novel | Jane Friedman; the decisions historical novelists have to make to create a compelling narrative overlap with memoir more than you'd think, What Memoirists Can Learn from Historical Novelists | Jane Friedman; "I undertake a significant amount of research - then I let it go and just write my story from the heart." Jacqueline Winspear Considers the Art of Historical Fiction ‹ CrimeReads; the increasingly tricky role of translators, Spokesperson, Intellectual, and... More? On the New and Shifting Role of the Translator ‹ Literary Hub.
- From 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!'
- Choosing a service gives a rundown on all our services, in case you're not sure what you want.
- Are you hoping to submit your book to publishers? Will you plan to do this through an agent? Finding an agent shows you how to go about this: 'Many writers see being taken on by an agent as the first step in getting taken on by a publisher, because it is so difficult to get publishers to pay attention to unagented writers...'
- Our final set of links are to writers' own stories: there were stretches when I made so little money writing or editing that I couldn't blame my parents for assuming they were hobbies, The Costs of Becoming a Writer - Does It Pay to Be a Writer? From one of the most widely banned authors in American history, Judy Blume on Roald Dahl Censorship, Book Bans and Best Queer Books - Variety; two successful authors, ‘We want to read about people falling in love': Curtis Sittenfeld and Marian Keyes on the romcom revival | Books | The Guardian; I am drawn to the first half of the Twentieth Century because it is connected to my own time through my parents, grandparents and their stories, Rhys Bowen on Historical Fiction and Memorable Heroines ‹ CrimeReads; and my amateur pursuit of literary titans, When Literary Legends Meet ‹ CrimeReads.
- From our Writers' Quotes: 'You reach deep down and bring up what feels absolutely authentic to you as you move along with the book, but you don't know everything about it. You can't.' Anne Rice
