October 2007
The website for writers
News Review
- Why is there a compulsive need to write about dreadful real-life murders? And why are their perpetrators sometimes so keen to unveil their crimes? News Review looks at O J Simpson and Krystian Bala.
- News Review on the e-book: 'But when Amazon’s Kindle is launched we should see the answer to the questions which have been hanging in the air for several years: Will the e-book have a real impact on traditional book sales? Is this the future for books?'
- News Review looks at a hugely successful children's book project, Bookstart, the new Booked Up and Richard and Judy’s Best Kids Books Ever
- The Frankfurt Book Fair, which starts on Wednesday, is trying to broaden its appeal and secure its position as the global market place for content. News Review reports.
- Writing has been rated the top job to dream of in a recent YouGov poll. But why? News Review investigates this surprising statistic.
Comment
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‘A poem is direct, and charged with energy. Its language is not clichéd nor second-hand. Its meaning, whether force or revelation, or slow truth, is something we can actually use.' Jeanette Winterson in her wonderful column in The Times.
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'Biography is still, all too often, viewed as the skill of finding as many facts as possible and assembling them into a definitive likeness, as if each piece of paper, each interview, were a clue leading to a solution.' Laura Thompson, author of Agatha Christie: An English Mystery
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'Books are different, as people have always argued through the ages... The amount of time a £6 ($12.19) book provides - 20 hours of entertainment? - means they are fantastic value.' Luke Johnson, whose company has just bought Borders UK, in the Observer
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'E-books will drive book demand: Amazon is expanding the market, not cannibalising it; print-on-demand will drive book production; and agents and publishers will both thrive because the cake itself, online and in print, will expand.' Bookseller editorial
Writers' Quote
'Contrary to what many of you may imagine, a career in letters is not without its drawbacks - chief among them the unpleasant fact that one is frequently called upon to sit down and write.'
Fran Lebowitz
Our Editorial Services for writers
Check out the 16 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting.
Review of The Handbook of Creative Writing
Our reviewer concluded on this ambitious book:
'This is a serious handbook for people who approach the business of writing in a particular fashion, for whom simply ‘doing’ isn’t quite enough; it’s for people who need to know ‘why’ as well as ‘how’. On that basis, I have no hesitation in recommending it.'
Oxfam Life Lines 2
Oxfam have just launched the second Life Lines CD featuring 56 poets reading their own work.
Review of the Children's Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2008
Our updated review of the new edition concluded that it provided 'superb listings of publishers and agents specialising in children's books across the world' and that it is still 'a fantastically valuable resource for anyone who wants to venture into this highly specialised area of publishing'.
Review of 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell
Our reviewer felt that this guide to selling your poetry by Chris Hamilton-Emery of Salt Publishing does what it says on the tin:
'In effect it’s a self-help book for poets, providing 101 suggestions about how develop your career as a poet and sell your work.
If you’re serious about selling your poems, this book is a must.'
An Editor's Advice
This new series is based on the advice Maureen Kincaid Speller,
a
long-serving WritersServices freelance editor, has given writers over the
years. It deals with the most common problems she has encountered in
the manuscripts which cross her desk.
An Editor's Advice 1 on Dialogue An Editor's Advice 2 on doing further
drafts An Editor's Advice 3 on genre writing
An Editor's Advice 4 on planning An Editor's Advice 5 on points of
view An
Editor's Advice 6 on autobiography and travel
An Editor's Advice 7 on presentation
Bob's Journal goes into its 7th volume
Bob wakes early with the rewrite of a violent scene in his TV drama playing itself out in his head and realises he doesn’t have a single sympathetic female character in the entire cast... Meanwhile:
'Am now the darling of Writers Block – as I could have predicted after my sentimental piece on the untimely death of a pet cat loosely based on an incident from my childhood is read out to the class.'
The Writer/Publisher Financial Relationship
The latest new article in our 19-part Inside Publishing series deals with the tricky financial relationship between writers and publishers and gives useful advice on how to approach it.
Macmillan New Writing
'With around 80 submissions a week and 7,000 manuscripts sent in to date, MNW is not short of material but is still looking for more good manuscripts.'
Chris Holifield takes a look at this ground-breaking imprint which is looking for submissions from unpublished writers.
Choosing a Service
Are you having difficulty deciding which service might be right for you? This useful new article by Chris Holifield offers advice on what to go for, depending on what stage you are at with your writing.
Help for Writers
Check out this page to find links to the huge number of useful articles on this site.
WritersPrintShop
We have revamped our WritersPrintShop website with lots more information. If you're thinking about self-publishing, this is the place to find out what's involved. If you're ready to go ahead, our high quality service is second to none and there's an economy version for those who want to tackle some of the work themselves. You can estimate the cost for yourself.
We Watch the web for writers
See also Making submissions for how to approach publishers and agents.
Getting your poetry published
Are you keen to get your poetry published but don't know where to start? Our new article helps you to look at the best approach to help you make your way into print.
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WritersServices.com Magazine October 2007