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May 2009
The website for writers
News Review
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'Astonishing new figures just released by Bowker in the States show that US book production declined by 3% in 2008 but print on demand publishing almost doubled. ' News Review looks at print on the latest figures from the States.
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'Authors who have struggled to find an agent may not feel sympathetic to their plight, but this is the reason why it is so hard for unpublished writers to persuade an agent to take them on - the agents have to be convinced not only that the writers are producing good work but also that they can sell that work in an increasingly tough market.' News Review looks at changes in the agency world.
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'The announcement of the new UK Poet Laureate, combined with a series of BBC programmes on poets, has brought poetry into the headlines in the UK in the last couple of weeks.' But what is the state of poetry and how is it being affected by the recession? News Review takes a look.
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'The surprise announcement of a new novel from Dan Brown to be published in the autumn has emphasised yet again the importance of big bestsellers to the book world.' News Review looks at expectations for The Lost Symbol and Audrey Niffenhegger's Her Fearful Symmetry.
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'So how on earth have we reached this extraordinary situation where authors may find their books have been digitised without their knowledge or consent, just because copies of them are in US libraries? Just how has Google managed to gain the initiative and what should authors do? The first thing is that if you want to opt out, you must do so by 5th May.' News Review reports.
Comment
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'Writers like Jeanette Winterson have resisted the lesbian label, but it's never felt like a problem to me. I'm very lucky. I have a lesbian audience but a mainstream one as well... Sarah Waters, author of The Little Stranger, in the Sunday Times.
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‘The enemy of most authors is not that they are not making money, it’s that they are not being read. Eighty or 90% of authors don’t make a living from it, so why do they write? For other reasons that don’t pay the mortgage: attention, reputation and expression. For them, free is great because it minimizes the barriers to entry.' Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail in the Bookseller
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'Commercial fiction will be interesting. I have a feeling there's changes in taste afoot: a move back to more 'big', 'airport' novels; historical moving into different eras; a real reduction in 'chic'.' Trevor Dolby of Random House UK on books in the recession.
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'Above all else, we object to the assumption that it's 'easy' to write commercial fiction - that 'chick-lit' (an umbrella term I've always loathed...if anyone called me a chick I'd belt them...) is but a dumbed-down genre that 'anyone' can turn their hand to. It’s great commercial fiction, it’s perennially popular and there should be quality controls!!!' Freya North in a Bookseller blog
Writers' Quote
‘I see the role of the writer as creating a room with big windows and leaving the reader to imagine. It’s a meeting on the page.’
Kevin Crossley-Holland
3rd Report from the London Book Fair
Chas Jones's final report from the LBF looks at academic publishing, where the author's wish to publish quickly may conflict with the publisher's preference for the slow and considered approach.
2nd Report from the London Book Fair
Chas Jones reports on ebooks, where the focus was on the adoption of an ebook design standard, which will offer publishers inter-operability between present and future hardware platforms.
1st Report from the London Book Fair
Reports on Twenty twenty vision - a view of the future, a future which will be fundamentally altered by digitisation.
Our article on the Poetry Archive.
Latest changes in the book trade
Bookselling
Chris Holifield gives an update on recent changes in the bookselling world, including the effects of recession and an even greater focus on bestsellers.
London Book Fair Masterclass 2009
Here's our report from the 2009 Masterclass at the London Book Fair, where a packed audience listened intently to a varied group of speakers in a session chaired by journalist Danuta Kean. Bill Swainson, senior editor at Bloomsbury and Simon Trewin, co-head of the book department at new agency United Agents, were joined by authors Kate Mosse, Lola Joye and Gareth Sibson.
Writing for Children 1
Writing for Children 2
Since many writers who come to the site are interested in writing for the booming children's market, we are delighted, by kind permission of the publisher, to be featuring two extracts from Linda Strachan's Writing for Children:
'One of the most exciting things about writing for children is the sheer diversity. You have different ages to choose from; you can write picture books, easy readers, short books for more confident readers, or novels – each quite different in length and often in content.'
Poetry: Notes from a passionate poet
Benjamin Zephaniah describes his fascinating route to being published in an excerpt from the Writers and Artists’ Yearbook 2009.
Tips for WritersOur new series to help writers improve their writing , consider self-publishing and make submissions to publishers and agents.
New technology and the Internet
Self-publishing - is it for you?
Kate Mosse's advice to unpublished writers
'There’s only one difference between published and unpublished writers and it is this – the first group see their work in print on the shelves of Waterstone’s or Tesco or online at Amazon; the second group are yet to have physical evidence of the hours, weeks, years spent fashioning words into their patterns. You are already a writer.' From the Foreword to the Writers and Artists' Yearbook 2009.
New Categories series
Writing Romance
This is the third article in a new series by Chris Holifield which will cover the major writing genres. It looks at romance, which is dominated in the UK and the US by Mills and Boon Harlequin, which brings out 120 books a month. Study their guidelines before you get started or at least before you submit to them.
Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Winner of the 2008 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year
Here's the winner and shortlist for the 2008 Diagram Prize. It's been another strong year. So, was it Baboon Metaphysics, Strip and Knit with Style or The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-miligram Containers of Fromage Frais?
Agents' Listings
The agents' listings from the 2009 Writers' and Artists' Yearbook can be searched and provide the most up-to-date information about literary agents across the world:
Agents from the rest of the world
Our Editorial Services for writers
Check out the 16 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting.
WritersPrintShop
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
Our huge section on technology and the web, and how writers can make use of them, takes you from beginner-level articles to advanced technology.
Help for Writers
Check out this page to find links to the huge number of useful articles on this site, including Finding an Agent and Making Submissions.
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.
WritersServices editor Kay Gale has many years of experience dealing with the slush-pile. Here are her tips on how to get your submission through it.
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WritersServices.com Magazine May 2009