What's New in 2024
- 'Over the past 20 years, some of the best novels written, as it were, or writing that serves the function of a novel, have been on Netflix and HBO. The writing is complicated, the plotting is complicated. It has subtext, and people are really responding to it in a way that, unfortunately, is not happening with books... Also, if you look at the history of writing, writers tend to shift to wherever the work is. In the 1950s everybody wanted to be a playwright but it's very hard to imagine if a writer had any choice of career now they would start with the theatre. Same with fiction, I'm afraid if you want an audience then the place to go looks like it's TV.' Nick Hornby is the bestselling author of eight novels, including Just Like You, High Fidelity and About a Boy, several works of non-fiction including Fever Pitch and numerous award-winning screenplays for film and television.
- Our 8 UK-based Copy editing services specialise in writers' needs, offering competitive rates and providing highly experienced professional editors. We offer a wide range of editorial services to help you prepare your manuscript for submission to an agent or publisher, or for self-publication. Our team of expert editors has years of experience in helping and advising authors; we can help you to bring your work to a professional level of excellence. Most of our editing services offer a free sample and they are all excellent value for money.
- The Pedant: How to make your editor happy 7: Close encounters of the word kind is the latest addition to this series by a seasoned editor: 'To coin a rather hackneyed online expression, I tried a paraphrasing tool so you don't have to. And my experience suggests that you probably don't want to. Whatever a paraphrasing tool is for, it's definitely not for writers; though it might, alas, be an invaluable gift for plagiarists. This was not a comprehensive survey of the available tools; I have instead provided a snapshot...'
- The Pedant series covers a range of subject-matter to help improve your writing and avoid common errors: Accents and dialects, Dialogue tags, The use of bold, italics and capital letters, Spoilt for choice: formats and fonts, The trouble with ‘as' and What's all the fuss over hyphens?
- Links to writers' stories: Peter May on revisiting the characters and locations of his hit Hebridean trilogy, Return to Lewis; are book launches an essential marketing tool... or an expensive waste of time? The Bookseller - Comment - Failure to launch; an author who wants her readers to love dragons - and John Donne - as much as she does, Katherine Rundell discusses ‘Impossible Creatures,' ‘Super-Infinite' - The Washington Post; and The One on One author describes her writing process, her favourite authors, and why she loves romance, Q&A: romantic comedy author Jamie Harrow.
- The National Poetry Competition 2024 is open to all writers worldwide aged 18+. Entry fees are £8 for the first poem and £5 for subsequent poems. There's a first prize of £5,000, a second prize of £2,000, a third prize of £1,000 and commendations of £500 each. Run by the UK's The Poetry SocietyLively and well-presented UK site supporting poetry with 4,000 members internationally and some thoughtful content. www.poetrysociety.org.uk, this prestigious international competition closes on 31 October.
- Michael Legat's 19 Factsheets for writers provide a pithy introduction for the writer, covering Plagiarism, Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar, The Qualities that Make a Writer, Revision and much more. From Revision: 'Professionals revise, amateurs all too often don't. If you are writing a book, you should not begin revision until you have a completed draft. If you are tempted to revise the first chapter, it is all too easy to find yourself revising it over and over again and never getting around to writing the rest of the book. A completed first draft should be put away for as long as you can bear, so that when you next look at it you will do so with slightly new eyes...'
- How to work out which is the right editorial service for you. Do you want some help with your writing but don't know quite what you want? Are you a bit puzzled by the various services on offer, and not sure what to go for? Chris HolifieldManaging director of WritersServices; spent working life in publishing,employed by everything from global corporations to start-ups; track record includes: editorial director of Sphere Books, publishing director of The Bodley Head, publishing director for start-up of upmarket book club, The Softback Preview, editorial director of Britain’s biggest book club group, BCA, and, most recently, deputy MD and publisher of Cassell & Co. She is also currently the Director of the Poetry Book Society;
During all of this time aware of problems faced by writers, as publishing changed from idiosyncratic cottage industry, 'occupation for gentlemen', into corporate business of today. Writers encountered increasing difficulty in getting books edited or published. Authors create the books which are the raw material for the whole business. She believes it is time to bring them back to centre stage. can help you work out which service is right for you. Choosing a service.
- Links from publishing: the audiobook market in the U.S. is continuing to grow, International Audiobook Publishers See More Growth Ahead; a typical paperback book accounts for around 1kg of carbon dioxide, Carbon emissions: Publishers try skinnier books to cut CO2 - BBC News; "range and depth of bookshop contributions to our culture and society", The Bookseller - News - Independent bookshops' 'impressive' cultural impact revealed in new Arts Council report; New York Comic Con is adding more industry programming - and fewer comics publishers than ever are attending, NYCC 2024 Preview: A Transitional Year for the Con; I wasn't prepared for how disarmingly compelling it would be to listen to Google's NotebookLM condense my recent book about Minesweeper into a tight, 12.5-minute, podcast-style conversation between two people who don't exist, Fake AI "podcasters" are reviewing my book and it's freaking me out | Ars Technica and authors, editors, and booksellers discuss how to reinvigorate middle grade books in a tough attention economy, How to Make Reading Fun Again.
- An Endorsement for our newsletter from Alison Chaplin, Manchester: 'Hi, I'm on your email list and just wanted to say thanks for the great emails you put out. I've entered one or two competitions as a result of seeing them on your email and, although I haven't won yet I have come close! But the information you give out is brilliant - so I just wanted to say thanks. Your efforts are appreciated.'
- Do you want to self-publish your work? WritersServices offers a suite of services which help writers get their work into shape before they self-publish. Get your manuscript ready for your publication - Services for Self-publishers.
- From our 13-part Ask the Editor series, Writing your blurb or cover copy: 'So what is a blurb? It is, properly speaking, a species of what some in the trade call 'teaser copy'; an invitation to read a book that offers a promise of excitement, drama, romance, or whatever the genre provides. It is not a summary or synopsis of the book; rather, it is a snapshot of the reading experience, an advance taster of what the reader can expect from the text...'
- More writers' links: why the best-selling author has always moved across genres, Dean Koontz: On Writing Novels That Make Your Publisher Extremely Uneasy ‹ CrimeReads; by the time The Bookseller released in 2015, Harper had been throwing around the marketing and PR muscle that every author dreams of, My First Novel Was a New York Times Bestseller. I'm Self-Publishing My Third Novel Today. | Jane Friedman; I was fortunate enough to soak up her wisdom for the next 15 years, Hilary Mantel was my mentor. Here are seven things she taught me about writing - and life | Hilary Mantel | The Guardian; the author of numerous adult and young adult books including Practical Magic and Aquamarine, has a new middle grade book, Four Questions for Alice Hoffman; and I have a small confession to make: I've never been told I need to cut words from my manuscripts, 4 Questions to Strengthen Lean Manuscripts | Jane Friedman.
- Are you struggling to get someone to look at your poetry? Our Poetry Critique service for up to 150 lines of poetry can help. Our Poetry Collection Editing, unique to Writersservices, edits your collection to prepare it for submission or self-publishing. Both can provide the professional editorial input you need. We've just edited our first poetry collection which was a translation, so the service was a bespoke combination of Poetry Collection editing and English Language Editing.
- How to prepare your prelim pages. There is a set order for the pages at the beginning of a book (known in the business as 'prelims') and you will need to send them to the designer with the rest of the manuscript for them to work on if you are self-publishing. Here we provide detailed instructions for preparing your prelim pages, according to standard publishing practice.
- More links: as the Guardian's fiction editor, I've been writing about the Booker prize for years. Now, as a judge, I've seen behind the curtain, Each of the six Booker novels does something unique | Booker prize | The Guardian; the effect on children's authors whose books have been challenged, Children's Authors on the Real-World Cost of Book Banning; Ann Patty on the life of a a successful young editor in New York publishing's golden days, To All the Books I Published Before - The Millions; and publishers are starting to catch on to dyslexia-friendly books for adults; now we need more shelf space, The Bookseller - Comment - Dyslexia on the shelves.
- For a down-to-earth and practical account, How Literary Agents Work - an article written exclusively for Writersservices by literary agent Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media in New York: 'I have often heard that authors are interested in how literary agents work. It is very simple: a literary agent exists to provide services to authors...'
- 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 a printed book which needs re-typing, before the writer can proceed with revision, submission or publication. Typing manuscripts
- ‘I'm interested in the effects of kindness. When I see kindness, I'm greatly moved by it, and I think most people are - they yearn for it. We live in a harsh world. People want to see the possibilities and the healing power of love.' Alexander McCall Smith in our Writers' Quotes.
- If quotes are your thing we have a very large collection in our Archive, More Writers' Quotes and Even More Quotes.
- ‘It's difficult, perhaps impossible, to write a character well in the past who is not a projection back of modern sensibilities. My defence would be that the 16th century was the time when rational, sceptical inquiry was beginning. This was the age of the humanists: we're leaving medieval thought patterns behind. I'm not saying a man like Shardlake did exist then, but he could have, when even 20 years earlier he couldn't. That's enough for me...' C J Sansom, who died in April and was the author of the seven-volume Shardlake series - Dissolution, Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation, Heartstone, Lamentation and Tombland - and Dominion and Winter in Madrid, in the Guardian.
- Ask the Editor 13: Beginnings... is the latest addition to this series: 'How to begin? That innocuous little question can be rather troubling. The beginning of a book in particular feels critical; this is where you get the chance to capture the reader's attention but, equally, it is the most likely place to lose them. In this article I will look at some simple strategies for opening a book. These are principles rather than rules and by no means set in stone; good writers tend to test the rules and boundaries of a genre as a matter of creative course. But they may save you a good deal of futile agonising at a crucial juncture in your writing journey...'
- The 12 other articles in the Ask the Editor series cover subjects as diverse as Writing non-fiction, How I assess a manuscript and The submission letter.
- If you've come to the site looking for a report on your manuscript, how do you work out which one would suit you best? Which Report? answers this question. The Reader's Report is a short, introductory report. The Editor's Report offers more detail. The Editor's Report Plus, which we introduced comparatively recently, is our most popular report and offers an overview and a detailed chapter-by-chapter report, which makes it the most substantial of the three and can help the writer by providing a framework for further work.
- If you are a children's writer then we have our Children's Editorial services, a suite of services specially for you, carried out by one of our skilled children's writers. This includes reports and copy editing.
- Our first set of links are from the publishing world: a truly shocking story, The Bookseller - News - Authors report 'worst ever delays' with advances and royalties as some forced to survive on loans - survey; an author shares the emotional impact of late royalty payments, The Bookseller - Comment - A royal mess; after rising costs and sluggish sales cut into profits at HarperCollins, Lagardère Publishing, and Penguin Random House in the first half of 2023, operating margins have bounced back for all three, Big Publishers Saw Earnings Rebound in the First Half of 2024; and programme to scan and lend print library books is copyright infringement, Appeals Court Upholds Decision Against Internet Archive's Book Scanning Program.
- More publishing links: the new horror-dedicated publisher launching next year is reportedly off to a strong start, The Bookseller - News - New horror publisher Black Crow Books aiming to open up 'booming' genre to everyone; and we developed fantasy, sci-fi and more children's, TikTok meets Tolkien: how the Folio Society attracted gen Z readers | Books | The Guardian.
- From our Endorsements page: 'The copy-editor perfectly captured the spirit of my story, making not only pertinent corrections, but also a string of brilliant suggestions and comments that inspired me to improve the text on my own. So happy I chose Writers Services.' Rasmus, Chile.
- Our English Language Editing Service is specially designed to help non-native speakers of English to find success in the international publishing market. With the rapid rise of English as a world language, an increasing number of authors who are not native English speakers, or who speak English as a second language, are writing in English. You may require extra help to take your work to a professional standard. Our specialist editors have years of experience working with authors writing in English as a second language. We can help you to bring your work to a native level of fluency, and a professional level of excellence.
- So you want to be a romance writer? You've made an interesting choice because, although a lot of people scoff at romance, it is the most stable genre of all and has continued to keep its faithful readers when other categories have changed radically and sometimes lost their audiences. It has changed a bit in recent years and embraced a more complex story, sometimes with more explicit sex in it, but essentially this is a category which marches on, providing happy endings, when all around it the world has changed. Writing romance
- Links to writers' stories: when I was asked to write The Shortest History of Japan, it seemed the perfect opportunity to pull together all my love and knowledge of the country, From the world's first pots to Cool Japan; after 14 novels into my career as an author, here are my tips for surviving the rollercoaster ride, The Bookseller - Comment - Emotional resilience for authors; forensic anthropologist turned author Clea Koff on how her work has inspired her debut novel, Silent Evidence, Confessions from the other side of the crime scene tape; and her third novel, The Secrets of Flowers, tells the story of a trainee florist who begins to research the flowers on the Titanic, Q&A: novelist Sally Page.
- An excerpt from Bob Ritchie's Journal of a Virtually Unpublished Writer, written exclusively for WritersServices: 'Worrying about money. In The Observer Julie Myerson writes about swanning off to Milan for a five-star shopping and eating weekend. Jealously wonder if her novels really earn that kind of money or if she lives with a banker. John Updike once said that no one ever wrote for any reason other than to make money. Suspect on the contrary that in my case I made more out of writing when I was what the Japanese call a salaryman. As an employee in IT I once had to write a massive technical manual with a total intended readership of six. A depressing calculation tells me I was paid about £5000 a copy. Think maybe I should go back to a proper job...'
- So you have finished your book, but you know 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. The Cutting edit is just one of our eight copy editing services.
- Show rather than tell. With narrative nonfiction writing you should have plenty of opportunities to develop drama. New writers often give far too much information too quickly. Borrow from fiction by dropping hints about the unfolding drama, use foreshadowing, develop timing and by building characters. Top Ten Tips for Nonfiction Writers.
- Links on AI and tech: 'Artificial Intelligence has the capacity to radically improve the responsiveness and effectiveness of public services and turbocharge economic growth. However, we must not let AI shape us - we must shape AI.' The Bookseller - News - International AI treaty: ALCS calls on government to go further and protect 'mass violation' of creatives' rights; one day in 2017 I had a realisation that seems obvious now but had the power to shock back then: almost everything I did was being mediated by computer code, I learned the language of computer programming in my 50s - here's what I discovered | Technology | The Guardian; and why authors in Zimbabwe are channelling Dickens by serialising their novels through the messaging app, The rise of the WhatsApp novelists | The Week UK.
- Our 19 part Inside Publishing series provides a useful guide to the publishing world. Inside Publishing The Frankfurt Book Fair starts with: 'Book fairs are an important part of the way publishing works. No book fair is more central to the publishing year than the giant annual international get-together known as the Frankfurt Book Fair...'. On Vanity Publishing: 'It is natural for writers to be eager to get published but it pays to be wary of the vanity publishers who will take your money and give you very little in return. The term ‘vanity' was coined by campaigner Jonathan Clifford in 1959 to cover this kind of activity where the author is effectively conned into paying over a sometimes quite substantial sum by the publisher's willingness to publish their book...'
- 'Why would you, as an unpublished writer, want to find an agent? Agents use their contacts and knowledge of the publishing business on their clients' behalf, selling their work and then continuing to look after their authors' interests...' Finding an agent
- We all know that computers can do everything far better than mere humans, right? In this computer age we are (understandably) turning more and more tasks over to computers... but very few works of non-fiction can do without an index of some description. From the simple cookery book to the mammoth legal tome, each book has a reader, and each reader will at some point want to look something up in the book. The Ins and Outs of Indexing
- Miscellaneous links: books, comics, films, video games... does it matter how children discover stories? Can fairytales and fantasy compete with Fortnite? How to get kids reading at any age | Children and teenagers | The Guardian; over the past decade or so we've seen space for book coverage at general media outlets decline overall, Author Profiles Are No Replacement for Book Criticism But I Love Them Anyway ‹ Literary Hub; this author remembers well the years she couldn't imagine receiving such honors, 'Demon Copperhead' author Barbara Kingsolver to receive National Book Award for lifetime achievement | AP News; so what's happenuing in book covers? The New Trend In Book Covers Is Old-Timey Animals | Defector; and more than 180 council-run libraries have either closed or been handed over to volunteer groups in the UK since 2016, Public libraries in 'crisis' as councils cut services - BBC News.
- WritersServices editor Kay GaleWritersServices editor who has worked for many years as a freelance editor for number of publishers. 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...'
- 'Anybody who claims that one genre is categorically superior to all others must be ready and able to defend their prejudice. And that involves knowing what the ‘inferior' genres actually consist of, their nature and their forms of excellence. It involves reading them.' Ursula K. Le Guin in our Writers' Quotes.
