January 2005

News Review

News Review looks at three recent new writers' success stories, including a self-publishing triumph.
How second-hand book sales threaten authors' income: 'Amazon’s Marketplace facility is thought to be particularly damaging because it displays the second-hand version alongside the new book.'
Christmas sales were better than feared - books proved popular Christmas gifts and the book trade did in fact get its annual bonanza.
News Review looks at The Da Vinci Code and concludes that, since there's nothing new about the content or scintillating about the writing, it looks like it's the compelling page-turning plots which are making these books into such huge bestsellers.
It looks like a disappointing Christmas in retail, as online sales boom and, surprisingly, a fiction title, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, is the fastest selling book in the UK.

Comment

'One of the great cliches of novel writing is that pleasure and happiness don't make good subjects... ' work is 'a defining activity, a source of pleasure and obsession and self-esteem.' Ian McEwan
‘History is hot... you can't throw a canape in Manhattan after 6 p.m. without hitting a tweedy scholar wearing the dazed expression that comes with a sudden release from the past.’ Tina Brown in the Washington Post
'It's not widely understood that titles that fail to earn their advances can be very profitable.' Malcolm Edwards
'Being an agent is a wonderful job and I really believe in it. I’ve found my metier... It’s a selling job, let’s not be grand about it, but you have to have a firm belief in what you’re doing and it’s much more difficult than you think.' Ali Gunn in Publishing News
'I think the magic of these dead letters on the dead page is that once you surmount the difficulty of deciphering those characters, there is no boundary.' Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections

Writers' Quotations

'It is with books as with men - a very small number play a great part; the rest are lost in the multitude.' Voltaire

How Not to Write a Novel; Confessions of a Midlist Author

Our tenth excerpt from David Armstrong's entertaining book:

This month the author turns to the dreaded subject of the Slush Pile, quoting the American author Jacob Epstein, who says that 81 % of Americans feel they have a book in them and that they should write it.

'Fact is, it's a highly subjective business, and there’s no science involved at all. While the ads in the books pages might tell us that we’re all writers, publishers appear more sceptical about these claims.'

International Book Fairs

A new list, updated to include the 2005 dates for book fairs all over the world.

The 2004 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

Check out this year's peculiar winner!

What new writers need survey (see below)

Our latest survey results provide a fascinating insight into what new writers want to help them get started. More help from big publishers is a top choice.

Plus many interesting comments, such as: ‘publishing is like an impregnable mountain fortress that has to be broken into by force’

Researching family history?

It's easy on the web! Check out our new page with masses of links to the best sites to get you started.

Clearing copyright

In our WritersPrintShop self-publishing section, we have a new page on Clearing Copyright, with some useful addresses.

Ordinary Heroes

Working through WritersPrintshop, Chas Jones of WritersServices has just self-published a book using their own diaries and recollections to reveal the extraordinary true story of a group of British rail workers and miners sent to France right at the beginning of the war.

Bob's Journal goes into its 4th volume

Bob is still confined to bed, recovering from his accident:

'Although mine is the name that appears at the top of the script, I know that nearly all the names that follow make a contribution. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from working on EE, it’s that writers can’t be precious.

So am I offended? No, I’m not.'

This week

Newsletter statistics

Recent figures show that half our newsletter subscribers have been signed up for two years and over half are 'workers' or in education.

Sign up for our newsletter to get weekly updates of what's new on the site.

Book Aid International

We're extending our Christmas support for this charity to publicise their Tsunami initiative to help replenish the 52 school and community libraries destroyed in Sri Lanka.

Our new survey - see below

Good news

Deborah Lawrenson offers a cheering update to the good news about her self-publishing success, as her book shoots up in value in the first edition book market.

Writers' Forum Column

John Jenkins on the readability of the Booker list, John Humphrys' campaign for correct use of English and The Times going tabloid.

The Editor's View, written by the Editor of Writers' Forum magazine.

We Watch the web for writers

Our Editorial Services for writers

Check out the 13 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to Copy editing, Typing to Contract vetting.
Our latest article updates our piece on Trojan horses with the latest scams

WritersPrintShop

Our design, print and distribution service for self-publishers. The latest addition to the service is our WritersPrintShop online bookshop, which will sell your book for you on the Internet as soon as it's published.