-
'In the internet age it has become especially dominant and over half of all
web pages are currently written in English. This gives authors writing in English an immense advantage, a market
potentially of both the 400 million and the 1.4 billion mentioned above. Without
your work needing to go through the expensive and difficult process of
translation, it can in theory be made available to all the readers in these huge
groups.' News Review looks at the remarkable spread of English.
-
'Libraries are under threat as governments carry out
major cuts to public services in both the US and the UK... It’s a bad lookout for libraries, which are all too
easy to cut, especially as regards their book budgets and staff, but this time
local authorities are going for large-scale closure of branch libraries...
News Review reports
-
'So, what has changed in the world of short stories?
Well, the biggest change is that the internet has made short stories more viable
by creating the possibility of publishing them online and using the internet to
find an audience for them. Because of the brief form, short stories can be read
online or even printed out, which, just like poetry, gives them a head-start
over novels. The short form also suits a time-pressured audience with an
increasingly short attention span.' News Review looks at what's happening.
-
'A recent posting on Publishing Perspectives took
the reader to their article on Pitchapalooza, written by authors David Henry
Sterry and his wife Arielle Eckstut, the duo known as The Book Doctors. The Book
Doctors invented ‘Putting Your Passion Into Print’, now known as
Pitchapalooza. This is an American Idol for books, where writers get
one minute to pitch their books to a panel of book professionals. The panel then
critiques their idea, evaluating everything from character to plot, presentation
to marketing, title to comparative books, befriending booksellers to finding an
agent... ' News Review reports.
-
'Male writers write books with themselves as
characters in them, because we never cease to feel that there's something less
than manly about the way that we earn our living. Literary creation is an
isolated business involving nothing in the way of physical aptitude, courage,
leadership or business acumen. Writers are cut off from all of the male-bonding
rituals that gestate in the world of work...' Will Self in The Times
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‘The idea that publishers 'now appear frozen in the
headlights of the onrushing digital revolution' is simply untrue. Long before
the digital revolution had become a reality for readers, most major publishing
houses have been planning and investing in their digital divisions in addition
to 'doing the day job', publishing and selling their authors in all formats and
in all markets... 'Ursula Mackenzie, CEO of Little Brown UK, on the Guardian website
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'I always look back to that and tell people if I had given up then, if I had said well I tried it and I'm
not good enough, it didn't work out, I would still be practising law right
now... I think so much of whatever we do in life is about hard work and it's
about luck... Emma Giffin, author
of Heart of the Matter in the Bookseller.
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'Fundamentally,
though, the need for publishers endures, even if not in their current form.
Readers will be best served by publishers who can marry the best of what is
sometimes labelled "legacy" publishing to the new means of developing and
delivering what readers want and writers need. And if that marriage is achieved,
then the persistent reporting of the death of old publishing will continue to be
mere exaggeration.’ Stephen Page, MD of Faber and Faber, in the
Guardian blog.
'The poet is the man
made to solve the riddle of the universe' who 'brings the whole soul of
man into activity'.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
|
My e-book reader
Chas Jones relates his own experience with a new
e-book reader and looks at what's going on in the e-reader world.
What is bandwidth?
Chas Jones investigates: 'High bandwidth has been
likened to a multi-lane highway. This is a poor physical analogy because the
carrying capacity is increased by packing the digits nose to tail rather than
side by side but it will do.'
Crowd-sourcing
'The idea of turning a blog into a story is not
original but the idea of bloggers getting together to co-operate on the story
did seem to be original, combining the contributions, whether they are art work,
a soundscape, or a few words, which are brought together by an editor: or is the
editor really the author...?'
Chas Jones on crowd-sourcing 'one of the most
exciting ideas as the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Epub: Version 3
The business of international standards is not
normally the most exciting story in the world. But there was an infectious buzz
at the meeting where the latest version of Epub was being discussed at the
Frankfurt Book Fair 2010. Chas Jones' latest report from the Frankfurt Book Fair
looks at thisimportant new standard and what it means.
What is a
widget?
Chas Jones looks at how writers can use widgets to
promote their work and how viral marketing works.
John Jenkins' November
column
This month John has put together a hilarious
collection of howlers, ranging from
'Man kills self before shooting wife and daughter' to 'College dropouts cut in
half'.
Matera Women's
Fiction Festival: Writing historical fiction
Elizabeth Edmonson gave a masterclass at the Matera
Women’s Fiction Festival 2010.
Her opening point was that
'you must know yourself... creating a historical fiction
requires an extra dose of confidence, plus a real feel for the period and
subject. The challenge for the writer is to generate the complete,
imaginative environment for the reader which often means that they have to
distance them from their familiar frame of reference.'
Great review of WritersServices
We're complimented by Stuart Aken's review of our site in his blog
for 27 July:
'It is the Resources pages that really make this site stand out from the
crowd. Here you’ll find reviews of books and software, listings of agents,
self-publishing facts, educational matters, health and safety advice, and
there’s a new feature, reviewing writing magazines. You’ll see there is a
great deal of information on this site. It’s well presented and easily
navigated, which is as well, considering the number of pages. It’s a site I
browse often and I think you’ll benefit from a good look at this one.'
Read more.
Writing Memoir and
Autobiography
Writing
Historical Fiction
Writing Romance
Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Writing Crime Fiction
Writing non-fiction
|
John Jenkins' December
column 'Show the reader, don't
tell him:
Sooner or later most good
tutors will advise you to stop "telling" the reader what has happened and
instead "show them." The point is to involve the reader. There are many times
when tell is more important but nine times out of ten go for show.'
Inside Publishing
series
This extremely useful 19-part series is in the
midst of being revised to take account of changes in the publishing world. The
introduction, How the publishing business
works,
Advances and royalties,
The Relationship between agents and
publishers, Subsidiary rights,
The English-speaking publishing
world and The Marketing
department have all just been brought up-to-date.
This second week we're on to
The Frankfurt Book Fair,
the Sales Department,
the Production Department,
Pricing and
Distribution.
And the third week it's
Books clubs and
Direct selling. The fourth
covers Creative Commons.
Agents'
listings
Our agents'
listings have been compiled from agents' own websites and other
information they publish about what they're looking for. You can use
them to research which agents to submit to.
The listings cover UK and US agents,
with separate listings for children's agents in the UK, and
international agents from all over the world.
Improving your writing, Learning on the job, New
technology and the Internet,
Self-publishing - is it for you?,
Promoting your writing (and yourself), Other kinds of writing, Keep up to date
and Submission to
publishers and agents
Previous magazines:
August 2010
July 2010
Magazine index
Check out this page to find links to the huge number of useful articles on this site,
including Finding an Agent
and Making Submissions.
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.
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.
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.
Our book review section
Our Editorial
Services for writers
Check out the 17 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to
Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting. |
