January 2008
The website for writers
News Review
- 'Joan Brady, the distinguished author of Theory of War, which won the Whitbread Book of the Year in 1993, has made the astonishing claim that the fumes from a factory next door to her home made her writing more downmarket.' News Review reports.
- The latest figures show growth in indie booksellers and their sales. The Independent Alliance has shown a way forward for smaller publishers. News Review looks at the good news and how it affects writers.
- 'The current controversy surrounding cuts in grants to regularly-funded organisations by Arts Council England has raised the interesting question of whether publishing should be publicly funded.' News Review investigates state funding for literature.
- 'Christmas 2007 was not the disaster that had been feared in the book trade.' News Review looks at how books might fare in a recession.
- News Review looks at the ongoing hunger for books and the success of Book Aid International, BookCrossings and Bookmooch.
- News Review on the clash of the titans, as Wikipedia squares up to Google and they both announce major new plans to dominate the delivery of information on the web.
Comment
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'For children who have difficulty with reading or just aren't interested, books based on familiar programming can be the vital hook that turns them into readers.' Sally Floyer in the Bookseller on TV tie-ins and reading.
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'The sorry fact is that the conventional publishing industry is currently running round like a headless chicken, giving readers what they think it wants, and getting it wrong, and losing money hand over fist. ' Fay Weldon castigates publishers in Writing and Education.
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'It is the storyteller, the dream-maker, that is our phoenix, that represents us at our best, and at our most creative.' Doris Lessing, in her Nobel Laureate's address
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'At the beginning there were people who said "She only got this deal because she's his daughter." Cecelia Ahern, daughter of the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, in the Bookseller
Writers' Quote
'You who write, choose a subject suited to your abilities and think long and hard on what your powers are equal to and what they are unable to perform.'
Horace
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.
The series covers Dialogue, Doing further drafts, genre writing, planning, points of view, autobiography and presentation.
The ABC Checklist for New Writers:
Agents - When and how to approach
them
This the first of six extracts from The ABC Checklist for New Writers: How to Open Doors and Get Noticed the First Time Around by Lorraine Mace and Maureen Vincent-Northam, published by Orana Publishing at £10.99. This useful book gives succinct answers to the many problems writers face, making it an indispensable reference for the budding writer.
Google Placemarks
Google’s wonderful earth mapping offers you a way to supply a graphic to mark a particular location, say a venue for an event you are organising, or where you live. And it’s all free.
Chas Jones shows you how to use it.
Poetry Writers' Yearbook own competition
A & C Black are running their own competition related to the book. You can also read the excellent poem by last year's winner and an article by the judge, the book's editor Gordon Kerr, on entering competitions.
The winner of the T S Eliot Prize for Poetry
Hot off the press, the news of the winner and the full shortlist.
WritersServices Competition
Enter our Poetry Writers' Yearbook competition (closing date 31 January), with copies of the book for the winners.
There's also an article from the book - 'a useful and practical guide to the fast-growing world of the poetry ezine and epoetry' - (see below).
Early entries for the 2007 Diagram Prize
Including How to Write a How to Write Book (for those self help fanatics) and If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start with Your Legs.
Spam and some serious ill effects
What's happening on the web? Webmaster Chas Jones writes about a ‘joe job’ - a spam attack - on WritersServices
Audio formats
Chas Jones' latest article helps you choose the best of the many available audio formats to use in your own sound recording.
It's part of our new Audio Publishing section, which guides you through recording your own work.
Our Editorial Services for writers
Check out the 16 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting.
International Book Fairs 2008
Our newly-updated list of 2008 book fairs around the world.
My Say
Shortly-to-be-published American author Wendy Walker on her path to the writer's life as a stay-home mom:
'How was I going to write an entire novel in the midst of the sleepless nights and frenetic days that constituted my life? It was, ironically, from this core-shaking doubt that the four characters in my first novel were born.'
Bob's Journal goes into its 8th volume
Bob's last column for WritersServices reflects on writing and the Internet:
'Still haven’t broken through my writer’s block. No longer even sure I want to. Why write? What’s writing for? Have absolutely no idea. How can one add anything worthwhile to the work of writers like Oscar Wilde? Yet the internet grows more vast by the minute with the words of the millions who are certain their opinions are worth airing.'
We've really enjoyed publishing Bob's column and are glad to say that it's still available on the site for anyone to read. In the meantime we wish him the best of luck with his writing.
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.
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.
Most recent Magazines
Previous serials & extracts
WritersServices.com Magazine January 2008