16 October 2017 - What's new
16 October 2017
- 'When you're writing a book, with people in it as opposed to animals, it is no good having people who are ordinary, because they are not going to interest your readers at all. Every writer in the world has to use the characters that have something interesting about them, and this is even more true in children's books...' Roald Dahl on Brainyquotes provides this week's Comment.
- The September Magazine, just launched, has a new article by Eleni Cotton, Fact to Fiction, about writing a novel based on your family history, and some great links, including Why science-fiction writers couldn't imagine the internet and Creating a Successful Book Tour: Five Tips From an Indie Author.
- Are you thinking of submitting your book to an agent? Try our Finding an Agent page or Your Submission package. Our Submission critique service may also help, as it's essential to get your package into the best possible shape before you start submitting.
- New copyright law in Canada has been described as a disaster that can spread, with dire effects for authors and publishers alike. Considerable concern was expressed in a panel at the Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two. about the effect of these changes to the law, the consequences of which are already apparent. News Review
- Our links: some bad news on authors' royalties, From Amazon, a Change That Hurts Authors - The New York Times; Lyra Silvertongue, Lyra Belacqua, but really just Lyra: one of those characters in literature who is on first-name terms with her public, Philip Pullman Returns to His Fantasy World - The New York Times; getting your copyright back, even if you've signed it away, New tool helps authors claim their copyrights back from publishers (even "perpetual assignments") / Boing Boing; and is this what it's really like to work as a freelance writer? A Day in the Life of a Freelancer | Literary Hub.
- 'Hardly any authors can copy edit their own writing. It is notoriously difficult to spot the errors in your own work. So professional copy editing does make sense, either if you are trying to give your work its best chance when submitting it or, even more crucially, if you are planning to self-publish...' Getting your manuscript copy edited
- More links: does the medium you read on affect your reading? This Is How The Way You Read Impacts Your Memory And Pr | Fast Company; for new writers, throwing in a few combat scenes can seem like an easy way to add some excitement to a novel, but the reality is that violence can be incredibly difficult to pull off effectively, How to Get Violence Right in Your Fiction | Jane Friedman; when Catton won the 2013 Man Booker prize, people in the bookstore were crying, How do you win the Man Booker prize? Move to New York or London | Lucy Diver | Opinion | The Guardian; and escapism and connection - this is what buyers are betting readers want, Frankfurt Book Fair 2017: With No Single Big Book, Multiple Memoirs Steal the Show.
- If you want to cheer yourself up, our Rotten Rejections page of awful rejections, often suffered by famous writers and administered mostly by publisher, is worth a look.
- 'Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.' T S Eliot in our Writers' Quotes.