29 October 2018 - What's new
29 October 2018
- ‘I couldn't believe they'd built something that had come out of my brain on that scale. It was really mid-blowing - and humbling. I thought, there are hundreds of people who've done this from me just writing something in my bedroom...' From helping out on Netflix's The Crown, Mika Watkins has more recently been overseeing Origin, her own blockbuster YouTube series with a multimillion budget, launching on 14 November. Our Comment is from the Observer.
- Our new page Copy editing services covers our six services working on writers' manuscripts, a range which includes our top of the range Writer's Edit and Translation editing. We have just introduced free samples and free short written assessments on most of these services, which are provided by our skilled professional editors. We are transparent about our rates and our high quality copy editing services are also very good value.
- If You're a YA writer, you've got until 30 November to enter the Urban YA competition. It's open to any writer living in the UK, agented or without an agent, for a first YA novel. No entry fee. The prizes are £1,000 and possible publication by Everything with Words.
- For anyone thinking about or embarked on self-publishing, our ten-part WritersServices Self-Publishing Guide by 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 is an essential starting-point, taking you through the process step-by-step. 'Indie authors access the same professional services as traditional publishing houses. They employ freelance editors, proofreaders and cover designers. They have their work professionally formatted for ebooks and typeset for print. They may use service providers to manage some or all of the publishing tasks, or they may go it alone...' Articles include Choose Your Self-publishing Route and Marketing and Promotion for Indie Authors: Online.
- This week's links: sales of US adult fiction fell 16% between 2013 and 2017, What's the Matter with Fiction Sales? In an unusual move, the groundbreaking comics author has bequeathed his fantasy universe to a new generation of writers, Bigger dreams: how Neil Gaiman's Sandman universe is expanding | Books | The Guardian; "Writing was always my way to make sense of the world." From Self-Published to Mainstream: An Indie Success Story; and if you've got a great book idea, or maybe a completed manuscript, and are ready to get someone to represent it, DIY: How to Pitch an Agent.
- Over the years there's been an explosion in sales and confidence affecting children's books. With our specialist children's services we can help you get your children's or YA book ready for publication or self-publishing. Do you want to know if it has real commercial potential? Or are you planning to self-publish? Get some expert editorial input on your work. Children's editorial services.
- More links: from the self-publishing guru, a roundup to help however you're planning to publish your book, Marketing Advice Roundup: Best of the Last Year | Jane Friedman; from a veteran publisher, how is it that publishers rarely go broke? Richard Charkin: How Do We Measure Commercial Success in Books? Tim Gutteridge, a British translator based in Spain, has suggested that criticising a translation for plain errors is hardly a crime - language competence lies at the core of translation, does it not? Why Translation Deserves Scrutiny | by Tim Parks | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books; for conoisseurs of the truly odd, the shortlist for the 40th Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year, The Diagram Prize 2018 shortlist revealed | The Bookseller.
- From a really dedicated writer: 'I never want to see anyone, and I never want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to write.' P G Wodehouse in our Writers' Quotes.
- If quotes are your thing we have a large collection in our Archive, More Writers' Quotes and Even More Quotes.
