Skip to Content

3 September 2018 - What's new

3 September 2018
  • 'Writing today is a funny business. You do wonder how long we're going to have books. I still tell young people with the imagination to go for it. Just be sure that if it doesn't work out, you have something else you can try...' Barbara Taylor Bradford, author of A Woman of Substance, Secrets of Cavendon and 33 other titles, in the Observer magazine. Our Comment
  • The Moth Poetry Prize 2018 for a single poem is open to all poets over 16 with an entry fee of £12 per poem. The First Prize is €10,000 and there are three runner-up prizes of €1,000. Closing 31 December.
  • The Inside Publishing series consists of 19 articles giving you an insider's view of publishing. The English Language Publishing World looks at the traditional way in which the international English-language publishing has been split between UK and US publishers. Why does the world get divided up into publishing territories? How has this come about? How does it affect authors? Then there's  The Writer/Publisher Financial Relationship: 'There's no escaping the fact that publishers and authors are essentially in an adversarial position. Even in the very best and most supportive publisher/writer relationships there is the tension caused by the fact that authors would like to earn as much as possible from their writing and publishers to pay as little as they can get away with...'
  • If you're aiming at traditional publishing, Finding an agent and Working with an agent are two practical checklists to help set up and maintain this vital relationship. 'Try to find an agency which is ‘hungry' for new clients. To keep their workload under control, an established independent agent might take on something like four new authors a year, but only to replace four departing clients. This may seem obvious, but whether or not an agent is actively looking to build their list of clients is probably the single most important factor affecting how closely they are looking at unsolicited submissions...'
  • Our links: contrary to what you might think, adult non-fiction revenues are soaring above fiction revenues and have been widening the gap for the past five years, Traditional Publishers Are Selling Way More Non-Fiction Than Fiction; how you can give your book another chance, 6 Reasons to Relaunch Your Book | Jane Friedman; these titles can give you the equipment, the insights, and the courage you need to make your book the best it can be, Three Books on Writing Well for Indie Authors; and it's part of the stunning boom in audiobooks, Audible UK revenue soars 45% | The Bookseller.
  • Have you translated your work into English? Or have you written it in English but it is not your native language? Now you need to make sure it's good enough to publish, or send to a publisher. If you need help to get your work into perfect condition, our Translation editing service is for you. We have just introduced a free assessment and a free sample of your editing as a standard part of our service.
  • More links: in a wish to have someone else take their place, or supply their words, plagiarists generally steal something better than they might write themselves, Getting Inside the Mind of a Plagiarist | Literary Hub; things are looking good in the Chinese market, Publishers praise 'successful' BIBF | The Bookseller; and, illuminating the changing role of agents,  an interview from the past with a veteran literary agent who has just died, Michael Sissons: Agent of change | The Bookseller.
  • Which service should I choose to help me get my work into good shape for submission or self-publishing? This is the question our page Which service? answers and it then goes on to give a quick rundown on our 20 editorial services for writers, the biggest range you can find on the internet.
  • 'Long books, when read, are usually overpraised, because the reader wishes to convince others and himself that he has not wasted his time.' E M Forster in Aspects of the Novel features in our Writers' Quotes.