28 November 2016 - What's new
28 November 2016
- 'The question of how to price ebooks is still of great concern to indie authors and to publishers alike, and recent research from Good e-Reader reveals that readers are prepared to pay disappointingly little. Over the last two months they asked 553 Americans how much they were prepared to pay for a new e-book and the results are sobering...' News Review on the latest research into readers' price expectations.
- ‘Well, the great thing about reading is that it's not a competition. People tell me: he's read this and he's moved on to this. That's not what it is about. I want them to spend time looking, learn how to turn the page. But I do think these phones are a problem for all ages...' Shirley Hughes provides this week's Comment on children's reading from the Guardian.
- Which Report? gives the details of the three reports we offer: the full Editor's Report, the basic Reader's Report and the most substantial Editor's Report Plus. There's also our specialist Children's reports, part of our Children's Editorial Services. If you want a professional editor's assessment of your work, here's the place to start.
- Our Writing Opportunity is the The Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize 2016, with a prize of €10,000, closing on 31 December and open to all poets over 18.
- Our links: a challenging account of the crisis affecting newpapers, Digital in harmony with print: what news organisations can teach the book world | The Bookseller; a psychoanalyst claims that fiction trumps theory in its illumination of the hidden recesses of our consciousness, Move over Freud: literary fiction is the best therapy | Books | The Guardian; the answer to this question may not be what any particular interest group, be it authors or editors, wants to hear, Should I get book I plan to self-publish professionally edited? and other writers call for the Man Booker prize to exclude US writers once again, Authors join Julian Barnes in condemning US authors' admission to Booker prize | Books | The Guardian.
- Our series of six articles on writing in different categories covers a wide range of genre writing - Crime, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Romance, Non-fiction, Historical fiction and Memoir and Autobiography. So, if you're a genre writer, we've probably got an article on the genre you are interested in.
- More links: an article acknowledging what publishers have learnt from self-publishers, How Publishers Can Build on Self-Publishing's Victories - DBW; it's critical to feed the passion and provide for myself and find the perfect levels for each, Want To Write Full Time? It Takes A Work/Life Balance | BookBaby Blog; and staggering numbers and unusual circumstances are converging to create a bubbling segment, The Booming Rights Scene for Children's Books in China.
- 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. Working with an agent.
- 'Writing isn't generally a lucrative source of income; only a few, exceptional writers reach the income levels associated with the best-sellers. Rather, most of us write because we can make a modest living, or even supplement our day jobs, doing something about which we feel passionately. Melissa Scott in our Writers' Quotes.
