8 October 2018 - What's new
8 October 2018
- ‘I have always loved reading, but when I was at school, especially in primary school, I didn't realise that I did. The reason for this was that what seemed to count as ‘reading' was, in fact, something much more specific: reading meant fiction, and it meant chapter books. To read a book also meant to start at the beginning, and to finish at the end. When I was at school it was true that I didn't particularly enjoy reading fiction, and I found it hard to sit with a book for a long period of time, working my way through it in a linear fashion. Joshua Seigal, author of I Don't Like Poetry and two other children's poetry collections. Our Comment.
- Tips for writers is our 8-part crash course for writers who are starting out, taking you from Promoting Your Writing (and Yourself), from Self-publishing: is it for you? to Keep up to date and Submission to publishers and agents. 'Think about the market for your book. Research the category and read widely to see what other published writers in this area are doing. Which writers are successful and why? Visit bookshops and analyse what you find there. If you are reading this you are probably already writing, but it really is worth thinking right from the beginning about your readers, as that makes it far more likely you'll eventually find them...'
- 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.
- The links are rather quiet his week, with the Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two. preoccuping publishers: 'an exquisite balance of the practical, the philosophical, and the poetic', Zadie Smith's 10 Rules of Writing - Brain Pickings; rows, gaffes and disdainful speeches - the Booker prize has always been in the news. But now, a creeping sense of bad decision-making is undermining its cachet, Has the Booker prize lost its mojo? | Books | The Guardian; the total number of ISBNs issued last year rose 28% over 2016, to 1,009,188, The Number of Self-Published Titles Cracked 1 Million in 2017.
- 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...'
- More links: research data from 160,000 adults in 31 countries concludes that a sizeable home library gave teen school leavers skills equivalent to university graduates who didn't read, Growing up in a house full of books is major boost to literacy and numeracy, study finds | Books | The Guardian; the need for more diverse voices in literature, and for more "boldness" in storytelling in these uncertain political times, Frankfurt Book Fair 2018: Chimamanda Adichie Says It's Time for 'New Storytellers'; an accidental ghostwriter's story, ‘Steve Collins said I only helped him with the spelling. That hurt'; "I think of a title as a sort of skeleton key that unlocks a lot of different thematic doors inside the work." Barbara Kingsolver Heads to the Pine Barrens; and India's book market today is in fast, positive evolution, Publishing in India: Nitasha Devasar Has Written the Book on It.
- ‘A writer who waits for the ideal conditions under which to write will die without putting a word on paper.' E B White in our Writers' Quotes.