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28 August 2017 - What's new

28 August 2017
  • Two recent developments highlight what's happening to book reviewing and coverage. The New York Times' celebrated and influential bestseller lists have been the focus of controversy this week, with accusations that an author has been trying to get her book to the top of the lists. In the UK, crowdingfunding publisher Unbound has become so concerned about the lack of newspaper reviews that it is launching its own literary magazine. News Review
  • ‘To begin with, the novelist does not rely on someone to give them a job. They can pick up their pen, or add to a document, whenever they like. They can squeeze it around the day job, the nappy changes, the school day, the boiling of potatoes. There's no immediate pressure to "get it right" as there is with an audition...' P K Lynch, author of just-published Wildest of All, provides this week's Comment Actor to writer in Bookbrunch.
  • A must-read for children's authors - Suzy Jenvey's special series for WritersServices, the four-part The 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.
  • From the first article: 'Children's publishers divide their editorial departments according to age group. The editors and designers in each division are expert at the language, content, word length and style for their particular age group. As a children's writer, you have to aim for a specific age group, and show through your writing that you understand the requirements...'
  • And, talking about 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 particularly highly-skilled children's editors, including essential advice on age groups and vocabulary.
  • Our links: the crime writer discusses her own writing and what got her going, Val McDermid: 'Even on a romantic holiday my thoughts turn to murrrder' | Books | The Guardian; a pragmatic approach to making a success of your writing career, 14 Habits Of Highly Successful Authors | HuffPost; however it started, however you define it, and whether or not you read it, at this point you've probably heard of fan fiction, The Promise and Potential of Fan Fiction | The New Yorker; and is this reasonable pricing for author services? Driving Down the Price of Publishing.
  • 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 brief guide to the essentials your self-publishing business needs - because it is a business, even if you only publish one book!'
  • More links: an interesting perspective from a real authority on writing for writers, Jeff VanderMeer, The 7 Writer Types You Should Avoid Becoming - Chicago Review of Books; is it time to abandon 'the unwieldy off-the-rails woman', Why We Should Stop Searching for the Next Gone Girl; a great poet, who has been overlooked in the West, Before Dylan, Tagore: on the erasure of Indian literature | Overland literary journal; and another poet, but this time a young female one who is currently judging the T S Eliot Prize, Interview with Poet and Man Booker Prize judge, Helen Mort.
  • Finally, from a great poet of the past, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in our Writers' Quotes: 'Poetry has been to me 'its own exceeding great reward'; it has soothed my afflictions; it has multiplied my enjoyments; it has endeared solitude; and it has given me the habit of wishing to discover the good and the beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me.'