September 2007
The website for writers
News Review
- News Review looks at the storm in an agency teacup caused by Carline Michel's appointment to head PFD, and how this affects authors.
- Surviving the 'omnivores and the 'killer store' - last week News Review looked at how publishers are reacting to digitalisation. This week will investigates how it is affecting bookselling and the outlook for the future.
- Digitalisation has become such a huge issue in the book world that News Review will be investigating the latest developments over the next two weeks. First, what are publishers doing about it and how will this impact on writers?
- News Review looks at the effect of stock market turbulence on the book world and better news from Borders.
- After last week’s look at brand name authors whose books are written by others, this week News Review investigates those who continue their writing careers from beyond the grave.
Comment
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'Demographically women of my age group are the largest group in the population and certainly of the book buying population and we are not very well catered for.' Sarah Challis, author of Footprints in the Sand in Writers' Forum.
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A L Kennedy on reviewing the author and her own prolific output: 'If you're quite a fast cook, you don't have children, you don't have pets and you've got no-one to talk to, what else are you going to do? In the Observer.
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'So here's the essence of what I learned as a do-it-yourself author: a publisher is far, far more than a printer and distributor of books, and an agent is more than a deal-maker.' Jack Henderson on self-publishing, in Publishing News
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'In this blizzard of commentary, from blogosphere to talk radio, it's odd to discover that literary prizes now stand out as a remarkably reliable guide…' Robert McCrum in the Observer
Writers' Quote
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'In America only the successful writer is important, in France all writers are important, in England no writer is important, and in Australia you have to explain what a writer is.'
Geoffrey Cotterell
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.
In the seventh and final article Maureen deals with presentation - typefaces, layouts, page numbers, putting your material into one document and spell-checkers.
'So far, in these columns, I’ve been talking about the nuts and bolts of writing, and about the ways in which people come unstuck in terms of content. This time, I want to talk about the ways writers can make life easier for editors and readers like me.'
Poorly Outlook
Webmaster Chas Jones tells the sad story of losing his email and tells you what to do if your Outlook file is unreachable.
Have a look at our WritersWebWatch for over 100a useful articles on dealing with every aspect of technology.
1: Dialogue, 2: why you need to do further drafts, 3: genre writing, 4:planning; and 5:points of view.
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.
We Watch the web for writers
See also Making submissions for how to approach publishers and agents.
Our Editorial Services for writers
Check out the 16 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting.
Bob's Journal goes into its 7th volume
Bob on the strange power of language and his latest really good idea:
'In a smell-o-fiction novel certain pages, paragraphs, sentences or even individual words would be impregnated with an appropriate odour...'
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.
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.'
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.
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WritersServices.com Magazine September 2007