June 2007
The website for writers
News Review
- News Review investigates the row over publishers’ attempts to rewrite author contracts to allow for changes in technology which make it possible to keep books perpetually ‘in print’.
- News Review on the news that the campaigning Michael Rosen has been appointed UK Children's Laureate, and will make children's poetry and picture books the focus of his Laureateship.
- I’ve been offered a deal for £50,000.' ‘New author scoops big publishing deal’ is always a cheering story about the launch of a first-time writer’s career... News Review follows Marie Phillips' progress.
- Following on from last week's look at the audiobook market, News Review investigates how downloads will lead the audio revolution.
- News Review looks at whether audiobooks are in decline, or staging a comeback and becoming sexy at last.
Comment
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'There are whole new generations of writers waiting to come to the fore via the internet rather than via the traditional route of agents and publishers...' Richard Bawden of KPMG in Publishing News
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'I never asked myself whether a 500-page novel about a Greek family told by a hermaphrodite would be the kind of thing people would read.' Jeffrey Eugenides, author of Middlesex, which has just been chosen by the Oprah Book Club.
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'Publishing one's first novel at 58 is both wonderful and terrifying...' Her advice to literary late-starters: ' Keep going, keep going. It's not too late.' Marina Lewycka, author of Two Caravans, in the Sunday Times.
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'I never liked that tradition of post-feminist writing which is all celebrating periods and pregnancy. I'm much more interested in the real nuts and bolts of how women experience their bodies.' Sarah Waters in the Independent on Sunday
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'Biographies have become the standard-bearers of Western culture, the lives by which we measure our lives.' Ben Macintrye in The Times
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'The idea that those of us who blog about books and reading might somehow be degrading literary taste is a patronising and ridiculous one…' Susan Hill in her blog
Writers' Quote
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'Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money from and fame from this state of being.'
A A Milne
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 will deal with the most common problems she has encountered in the fiction manuscripts which cross her desk.
In the fourth article Maureen deals with planning, using the example of three different kinds of walkers to illustrate different approaches:
'The point is that in some respects it doesn’t actually matter when you do the planning; the important thing to remember is that you’ll have to do it at some stage in the process of writing a novel, and to find the point in the process that works best for you.'
An Editor's Advice 1: Dialogue An Editor's Advice 2: why you need to do further drafts An Editor's Advice 3: genre writing
Setting as character
Timothy Hallinan, author of A Nail through the Heart on understanding the importance of the setting in a novel:
'Whatever your setting may be, I'd hope you'll work to make it active rather than passive... It will play a role in the story. It will affect your characters. In some ways it will reflect them.'
My Say
Our latest contribution is from Eliza Graham on how she finally got her novel, Playing with the Moon, published as part of the Macmillan New Writing programme.
Booktrust and Writers
This is the first in an occasional series about organisations of interest to
writers. The first article is by Chris Meade, the Director of the British book
promotion charity Booktrust, whose work provides a model for new initiatives to
promote books all over the world.
Preparing for submission
It is important to think hard about whether your manuscript is ready for
submission before you start submitting your work to agents and publishers. Here
are some tips on how to go about it.
Which service?
Do you think you need some help with getting your manuscript into good shape for
submission, but don't know which service to go for? Our new page helps you work
out what's best for you.WritersServices powers ahead
WritersServices goes from strength to strength. Every week over 60,000 visitors come to the site, with over 3 million in 2006 and 4 million expected this year. And there's a big new launch to come...
Bob's Journal goes into its 7th volume
Bob on suing if you get a bad reviews (but how do you judge what is good?) and Salman Rushdie's knighthood:
'Indeed, perhaps this could become a new, more reliable source of income for authors whose popularity is on the wane: find a bad review and sue... (and) has anyone – pro or con – actually read The Satanic Verses?'
WritersServices' freelance editor Colin Murray on his own tortuous path to publication:
'My agent did arrange a meeting with an editor from the publishing house who told me that my book was one of the most accomplished first novels he’d ever come across...
No matter how jaded and cynical one pretends to be, there is nothing like holding a copy of your first book.'
John Jenkins, editor of Writers Forum magazine, in his last column for the magazine, on sports books, Richard Hammond, winner of the Royal Society of Literature's Prize, and film options:
'When film deals are announced they create a great deal of excitement but it should be remembered that Paramount option around 100 scripts each year and make ten pictures.'
Check out The Best of Writers' Forum for a collection of useful articles.
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.
Where next for the web
Web 2.0 is the next development for the Internet, and then there's Web 3.0. So what does it all mean?
Contract vetting.
We Watch the web for writers
See also Finding an agent for how to go about getting someone to represent you.
Our Editorial Services for writers
Check out the 16 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to Copy editing, Typing to
Most recent Magazines
Previous serials & extracts
WritersServices.com Magazine June 2007