8 May 2017 - What's new
8 May 2017
- 'I don't blame the authors. They've got to make a living and a bigger advance that I can't afford to match is obviously something they have to consider. They know that the door is open if they ever get stuck in that hellish midlist place. But I feel that so many of the big companies lack imagination. Instead of going out there and finding their own talent, they're cherry-picking the bestselling authors...' Our Comment is from Karen Sullivan, Orenda Books, interviewed by Jasmin Kirkbride in Bookbrunch.
- The Booklife Prize in Fiction 2017 is open to unpublished or self-published novels in the English language. The entry fee is $99 and the Grand Prize is $5,000 but all entries also get a brief critical assessment of your manuscript. Categories are Romance/Erotica; Mystery/Thriller; Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror; General Fiction; Memoir/Autobiography; YA Fiction; and Middle-Grade Fiction.
- Five other attractive Writing Opportunities are still live.
- 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.
- In the annual jamboree which is the annual Sunday Times Rich List three children's authors have featured for the first time. In another first from across the world, British authors have achieved Public Lending Right on ebooks. News Review
- Do you want to self-publish your work? WritersServices offers a suite of services which help writers get their work into shape before they self-publish, which includes Copy editing, Blurb-writing, Poetry Collection Editing, Typing manuscripts. Our Services for Self-publishers are just a few of the 20 services on offer.
- Links of the week: writing a book is really, really hard (surprise, surprise) and getting it published is a long goddam slog, 15 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Publishing a Book | | Observer; a recent tweak in the way Amazon sells books has publishers and authors very worried, Amazon Steps Up Its Battle With the Book Industry | New Republic; allowing readers to step inside the minds of those who have shaped the world we live in, and to imagine the all-too human side of history, Historical Fiction is More Important Than Ever: 10 Writers Weigh In | Literary Hub; and three months ago, the New York Times cut 10 categories from its Best Sellers list, As best-seller lists are cut, a looming disaster for publishers | The Outline.
- How to market your writing services online is a useful article from 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 about selling yourself as a writer. 'Recently someone commented to me that I seem to be doing a pretty good job of promoting my writing services on the internet. I was touched by the observation - we writers get so many rejections that a little praise is especially gratifying. And I began to wonder - what does it take to market yourself successfully as a jobbing writer today?...'
- More links: a really useful article about crowd-funding, 7 things you definitely shouldn't do when crowdfunding a book | The Bookseller; three important issues facing the international book world, After His IPA Stint: Richard Charkin on Publishing's Challenges and Promise; I've known writers who've lost friends after becoming successful. I've witnessed authors nurse wounds and hold grudges, What Writers Need to Know About Envy.
- From our Writers' Quotes: 'I know that if I have been working on one paragraph and I have written it three times, it goes in the bin. Unless it comes straight out, it is wrong, it is awkward, it does not fit.' from Robert Rankin.