21 September 2020 - What's new
21 September 2020
- 'Every article and review and book that I have ever published has constituted an appeal to the person or persons to whom I should have talked before I dared to write it. I never launch any little essay without the hope - and the fear, because the encounter may also be embarrassing - that I shall draw a letter that begins, 'Dear Mr. Hitchens, it seems that you are unaware that...' It is in this sense that authorship is collaborative with 'the reader.' And there's no help for it: you only find out what you ought to have known by pretending to know at least some of it already. The late Christopher Hitchens, author of Hitch 22: A Memoir and 18 other books.
- Our 20 Services for writers - just a list of what we offer at WritersServices.
- Health Hazards is our special series about the various health risks for writers, including the dreaded Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. If you know you're spending too much time at a keyboard, it's worth making sure you're being careful about how you're sitting, your eyes and your wrists. Although Covid 19 is probably the main health problem you're focused on at the moment, these special writers' risks are worth thinking about.
- The Moth Poetry Prize 2020 closes on 31 December and is open to all poets over 16 for an unpublished poem. The entry fee is €15 per poem. 1st prize €6,000, plus three runner-up prizes of €1,000 and eight commended poets will each receive €250.
- Other writing competitions which are still open.
- Links to articles from writers: we were inside a transformation. We just couldn't see it, Writing a History of a Pandemic During a Pandemic | Literary Hub; famous disappearances, The Art of Disappearing | CrimeReads; the translator is a writer. The writer is a translator. How many times have I run up against these assertions? The Writer-Translator Equation | by Tim Parks | The New York Review of Books; your book readers are moving online, and so should you, How to Create a Virtual Buzz Around Your Book; today, silent reading is the norm. The majority of us bottle the words in our heads as if sitting in the hushed confines of a library, Why you should read this out loud - BBC Future; and expectations for the new Dune movie from director Denis Villeneuve are sky-high, ‘Dune' Is a Behemoth of a Book to Adapt | WIRED.
- Are you writing for the children's market? Do you want to know if it has real commercial potential? Or are you planning to self-publish? Our Children's Editorial Services provide three levels of report, so you can get your work assessed, and copy editing by specialist children's editors.
- Links to stories from the publishing world: the departure of a much-loved publishing head is causing quite a stir, Macmillan C.E.O. John Sargent Is Departing - The New York Times; changes to the children's publishing and library marketing spheres over the years, Exit Interview with Michael Eisenberg; a mere 3% of books published in the U.S. are works in translation, Building Bridges: The Art of Children's Book Translation; and, latest surprise news, JK Rowling's new thriller takes No 1 spot amid transphobia row | Books | The Guardian.
- Our glossary of publishing and printing terms and abbreviations is a great reference tool for authors.
- 'Occasionally, there arises a writing situation where you see an alternative to what you are doing, a mad, wild gamble of a way for handling something, which may leave you looking stupid, ridiculous or brilliant - you just don't know which. You can play it safe there, too, and proceed along the route you'd mapped out for yourself.' Roger Zelazny's contribution to our Writers' Quotes.
