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6 November 2017 - What's new

6 November 2017
  • ‘There were some things about Agatha Christie's writing that I did want to emulate: not the prose style itself, but her blueprint for what the ideal crime novel should be and do. She often started with an outlandish, almost impossible-seeming plot premise that cranked up the suspense level to maximum right from the start; her stories have the strongest bone structure I've ever read..' Sophie Hannah, author of two Poirot novels and 19 other novels in the Observer. Taking on Poirot.
  • The Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers' Award 2018 closes on 13 December. Prose writers must must write in the English language and reside within the British Commonwealth and Eire. There's no entry fee and a prize of £10,000. Our Writing Opportunity.
  • Our Health Hazards series which looks at all the particular dangers faced by writers, from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome to Looking after your eyes, and advises on how to position your desk and chair. Essential reading for anyone who spends a lot of time at the computer, especially if you're already anxious about your mouse hand, back or eyes.
  • Our links: in the battle for people's attention, Nick Wells writes, we must be where our readers want to be, Finding readers in a perma-free world; this particular piece in my collection was taking a long time, How Long Is Writing Supposed to Take? - Electric Literature; an author who chose not to hire a publicist. Without one, I wondered, who but she would promote her book? Taking Charge of Your Book's Buzz; and three-volume novels, it turns out, get better (at least in terms of reviews), while film trilogies get worse (ditto), Triple trouble: why book trilogies are better than film | Books | The Guardian.
  • As well as our highly-regarded Copy editing service, which will help you prepare your manuscript for submission or self-publishing, we have Manuscript Polishing, which provides a higher-level polishing service, Translation editing for those for whom English is not a native language and our new Writer's edit, providing line-editing. Get the right level of editorial support for your needs. Contact us to discuss what you want.
  • More links: most writers these days are advised to keep their day jobs, How to Keep Your Day Job from Destroying Your Writing Dreams | Writing and Wellness; an interview with the author and illustrator of the beloved and bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Four Questions for Jeff Kinney; "How did you do you it?" people want to know, Do You Dream of Writing a Book? | HuffPost; Despite its usefulness, "show don't tell" is probably the most commonly given advice in writing. So why is it so hated? Changing Telling into Showing - The Manuscript Shredder.
  • 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.
  • From our Writers' Quotes we have 'There is nothing more dreadful to an author than neglect, compared with which, reproach, hatred and opposition are names of happiness.' from Dr Samuel Johnson