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30 January 2017 - What's new

30 January 2017
  • "I've never had writer's block yet, which I attribute, not just to luck, but also to my technique. I would advise anyone looking to ward-off writer's block to start writing something else, a completely different project. I'm always working on about six different projects at various stages of development, so if I don't feel like working on one I just turn to another. Basically, monogamy is hard, in writing as in life!" Our Comment is from Emma Donoghue, author of Room, and of the screenplay for the film, which has just been released.
  • The Kindle UK Storyteller Award is this week's Writing Opportunity. Open to submissions of new English Language books from all authors and genres, but entries must be submitted using Kindle Direct Publishing. Titles must be previously unpublished.There's a Prize of £20,000 and recognition at a central London award ceremony this summer. Entries by 19 May.
  • If you've come to the site looking for a report on your manuscript, how do you work out which one would suit you best? Which Report? includes our new top-of-the range service, the Editor's Report Plus, introduced by popular demand to provide even more detail. This very substantial report takes the form of a chapter-by-chapter breakdown and many writers have found this detail helps them to get their book right. Through our specialist children's editors we can offer reports on children's books.
  • Nielsen has just reported that ebook sales in the US declined a rather surprising 15% in 2016, as compared with 2015. There seem to have been two reasons for this... Most amazingly, hardback sales have overtaken ebook sales for the first time since 2012. If you look back to the early days of ebooks, this is a long way from the commonly-asserted prediction that ebooks would totally replace print books within five years! News Review reports on this and some good news from children's publishing.
  • Michael Legat's Factsheets are a series of 19 specially commissioned information-packed Factsheets for WritersServices, which cover the essentials for writers from an industry veteran - a former publisher, novelist and author of 12 books on writing. For a quick update on First and Last Pages, Literary Agents or Shall I be Famous? Shall I be Rich? and much more, this is the place to look.
  • Our links: his fictional Detective Inspector John Rebus has as high a profile across the UK as his creator does, Ian Rankin: There's Nothing Crime Fiction Can't Do | Literary Hub; it's an incredible time to be an author. We can now reach readers all over the world and make a diverse income with our words through the internet, Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society 5 Ways to Make More Money from your Books in 2017; an absorbing interview with this week's second-time Costa Award winner about his novel drawing on American history, Sebastian Barry | 'It's terrifying, but fascinating that human groups have these impulses' | The Bookseller; and indie authors and publishers are having to navigate a fast-growing industry filled with new opportunities, but one that also presents challenges related to that expansion, Self-Publishing in 2017: The Year in Preview.
  • Have you ever wondered why you don't win any of those competitions? What can yo do to improve your chances? Our tips on Entering Competitions.
  • More links: the opening lines of a novel act as an invitation for the reader to keep reading, How to Start a Story: 9 Tips From Our Editors • Reedsy Blog; Write a novel: it's on many people's bucket lists, but how does one even begin such a mammoth task? An author reveals what it's (really) like to write a novel | Stylist Magazine; her 20 novels mined her experience as a black single mother in Britain to produce work that inspired a generation of black British writers, Buchi Emecheta, pioneering Nigerian novelist, dies aged 72 | Books | The Guardian; ‘The real increase in sales recently has been the spread of business to Asian countries,' says Lownie Agency author Roger Crowley as new opportunities offer themselves, Agent Andrew Lownie Looks East to More Rights Activity.
  • An entry on our Endorsements page: ‘The site covers EVERYTHING a new writer, established writer, or a wannabe writer could possibly want or need to know.' Hester Mundis, author many books, including My Chimp Friday, Heart Songs For Animal Lovers and The Vitamin Bible.
  • 'A blank piece of paper is God's way of telling us how hard it is to be God.' Sidney Sheldon in our Writers' Quotes.