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April 2008 - Writers Magazine

News Review



  • News Review on the Bologna and London Book FairsInternational Book Fair Information: 'In summary, these were two lively and upbeat book fairs, showing that the global book business is in surprisingly strong shape.'

  • Agent Pat Kavanagh: 'You can’t be thinking about what’s happening to the share price, or whether shareholders are going to be cross with you. All that matters is doing the right job for your writers, even if it means turning something down that’s very lucrative.’ News Review focuses on the agency world.

  • The Friday Project goes into liquidation and Borders US puts itself up for sale. News Review looks at the latest bad news from the book world.

  • Won’t anyone stick to what they’re good at?  London literary agency PFDRepresents authors of fiction and non-fiction, children's writers, screenwriters, playwrights, documentary makers, technicians, presenters and public speakers throughout the world. Has 85 years of international experience in all media. PDF now have a POD section. Some good advice for those seeking a representative. is setting up an agreement with print on demand printer Lightning Source to bring their authors’ work back into print. News Review reports.

  • Less successful writers’ income is under increasing pressure from the focus on bestsellers  and the Internet.  News Review finds some more positive trends.

Comment



  • 'Done badly, fantasy is more risible than any other genre, perhaps because there is such a fine line between heroic endeavour and bathos.' Amanda Craig in The Times

  • 'Malorie Blackman and Benjamin Zephaniah may entice a more ethnically mixed audience, but the answer can’t be black writers for black kids and white for white.  We cannot be cosy about the debate any more.’ Anthony Horowitz, author of Snakehead in the Bookseller.

  • ‘I was in the airport lounge at Heathrow, wanting something big and juicy for the sun lounger and looking in the commercial women’s fiction section.' Tasmina Perry in The Times on why she's contributing to the return of the bonkbuster.

  • 'Skellig was taken by the first publisher to read it, won a string of prizes, and has been published in 30 languages. I was an overnight success after almost 20 years.' David Almond in The Times

  • 'My aim, as a poet in the community, is always the same: to make people go away thinking ‘Is that what poetry is? I can do that!’' Ian McMillan in his article on The Poet in the Community: A little adventure on 57 Productions’ website.

Writers' Quote



'Literature, with a capital L, unless preserved by Time, has always been in a bad way, but books considered as merchandise have not.'
Denys Val Baker in The Author


Help for Writers


Check out this page to find links to the huge number of useful articles on this site.


Our Editorial Services for writers


Check out the 16 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting.

Top Ten Tips for nonfiction writers


Julie Wheelwright, programme director, MA Creative Writing Nonfiction, City University, London gives a helpful checklist for nonfiction writers.


The ABC Checklist for New Writers: Titles


This the last of six extracts from The ABC Checklist for New Writers: How to Open Doors and Get Noticed the First Time Around by Lorraine Mace and Maureen Vincent-Northam, published by Orana Publishing. This useful book gives succinct answers to the many problems writers face, making it an indispensable reference for the budding writer.


This week - the authors look at titles and why they matter: 'The title of your work is the first thing the editor will read and, if it doesn’t grab her attention, she may put down your submission in favour of one more intriguingly titled.'


The ABC Checklist For New Writers


1: Agents - when and how to approach them
2: Editors - who they are and what they do
3: Keeping Records
4: Marketing
5: Professionalism
6: Titles


National Poetry CompetitionAnnual poetry prize run by the UK-based Poetry Society established in 1978; accepts entries from all over the world; over 10,000 poems submitted each year winner


Sinead Morrissey is the winner of this year's Competition. Read the winning poem here.


Links update


Our 21 sections of links reviews and listings - from Writers Organisations to Writers' Web Resources - have been updated with some useful new sites.


Magazine - Lightbulb


An Editor's Advice


This new series is based on the advice Maureen Kincaid SpellerMaureen Kincaid Speller a reviewer, writer, editor and former librarian, is our book reviewer and also works for WritersServices as a freelance editor., 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.


The series covers Dialogue, Doing further drafts, genre writing, planning, points of view, autobiography and presentation.


See also Making submissions for how to approach publishers and agents.


Choosing a Service


Are you having difficulty deciding which service might be right for you? This useful new article by Chris HolifieldManaging director of WritersServices; spent working life in publishing,employed by everything from global corporations to start-ups; track record includes: editorial director of Sphere Books, publishing director of The Bodley Head, publishing director for start-up of upmarket book club, The Softback Preview, editorial director of Britain’s biggest book club group, BCA, and, most recently, deputy MD and publisher of Cassell & Co. She is also currently the Director of the Poetry Book Society; During all of this time aware of problems faced by writers, as publishing changed from idiosyncratic cottage industry, 'occupation for gentlemen', into corporate business of today. Writers encountered increasing difficulty in getting books edited or published. Authors create the books which are the raw material for the whole business. She believes it is time to bring them back to centre stage. offers advice on what to go for, depending on what stage you are at with your writing.

Changes in the book trade


This new series by Chris HolifieldManaging director of WritersServices; spent working life in publishing,employed by everything from global corporations to start-ups; track record includes: editorial director of Sphere Books, publishing director of The Bodley Head, publishing director for start-up of upmarket book club, The Softback Preview, editorial director of Britain’s biggest book club group, BCA, and, most recently, deputy MD and publisher of Cassell & Co. She is also currently the Director of the Poetry Book Society; During all of this time aware of problems faced by writers, as publishing changed from idiosyncratic cottage industry, 'occupation for gentlemen', into corporate business of today. Writers encountered increasing difficulty in getting books edited or published. Authors create the books which are the raw material for the whole business. She believes it is time to bring them back to centre stage. looks at the book trade and investigates how fundamental changes in how it works are affecting writers.  The third article deals with Print on demand and the Long Tail.  It looks at how POD is changing the economics of publishing, enabling backlist to be kept in print and book buyers to source a vast range of books.


The first article is on: Bookselling, the second on Publishing.


Rotten Rejections


We've added some new quotes from publishers' rejections to this record of how they got it wrong. On Jack Kerouac:


'His frenetic and scrambled prose perfectly express the feverish travels of the Beat Generation.  But is that enough?  I don't think so.'



Creative Commons explained


When WritersServices first covered Creative Commons in Inside Publishing, we felt that we hadn't explained how it worked as clearly as we'd hoped to do.  Now Frances Pinter, who works as a consultant on the project, explains this highly significant new approach to the licensing of rights.


Writer's success story


Russell Ash's entertaining book Potty, Fartwell and Knob, Extraordinary but True Names of British People has been promoted by a website which shows how the admittedly amusing material in the book can be used to good effect online.


The 2007 Diagram Prize


Here is the announcement of the winner for the oddest book title of the year - a barmy winner from a vintage crop.


Bob's Journal goes into its 8th volume  


Bob's last column for WritersServices reflects on writing and the Internet:


'Still haven’t broken through my writer’s block. No longer even sure I want to. Why write? What’s writing for? Have absolutely no idea. How can one add anything worthwhile to the work of writers like Oscar Wilde? Yet the internet grows more vast by the minute with the words of the millions who are certain their opinions are worth airing.'
This week
We've really enjoyed publishing Bob's column and are glad to say that it's still available on the site for anyone to read. In the meantime we wish him the best of luck with his writing.


The 2007 pages
The 2001 pages (if you want to start at the beginning)

Linked pages...