May 2025
- 'I did something which I haven't done before, which was really just play. I went into the British Library, looked at a whole load of books about subjects I was interested in, and just waited to see anything that jumped out at me. One of the books was about animal symbolism, particularly motifs in embroidery and visual arts and what animal symbols within them often mean in different cultures. Then I started thinking about these different animals and what they represent symbolically. My mind tends to work quite intuitively when I'm first thinking, and then goes to character. So, if there was this world that was guided by these guardian animals, how would the world be divided up? Would there be monasteries where people learned skills based around those guardians? Antonia Hodgson, author of The Devil in the Marshalsea, The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins, Death at Fountains Abbey and The Silver Collar, talking about her new book, The Raven Scholar, in Publishers WeeklyInternational news website of book publishing and bookselling including business news, reviews, bestseller lists, commentaries http://www.publishersweekly.com/.
- How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth) asks writers who are not native English speakers with a manuscript which needs polishing or translating: "If your English is good enough, what about translating your book yourself or writing in English, and then getting your work polished and copy edited by a professional editor who is a native English speaker?" This could be a cost-effective way of reaching the international English-speaking market. English Language Editing
- It closes on 6 June, but there's still time to enter the top competition for writing for children. The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition 2025 is open to unpublished, unagented children's writers based anywhere in the world. The entry fee is £20. The First Prize is a publishing contract with Chicken House with an advance of £10,000.
- Writersservices offers six different reports: our most popular Editor's Report Plus, which provides a chapter-by-chapter commentary, the Editor's Report, which offers an overview, and the introductory Reader's Report. Then we have the same services for children's writers, which are carried out by our skilled children's editors. Get in touch if you need any help with deciding what you need.
- Our first set of links are to writers' stories: when readers first met her in The Golden Compass Lyra Belacqua was a young orphan, Highly Anticipated Final Volume of Philip Pullman's Book of Dust Trilogy Slated for October; promoting a new book is almost as much a full-time occupation for an author these days as is the job of actually writing of it, says Mark Ellis, Promoting Merlin; literary agent and writer Peter Buckman has embarked upon a voyage into the world of self-publishing, Peter Buckman on his latest adventure in publishing; and Lisa Harding tells BookBrunch about her new novel, creating complex protagonists, and her inspirations, Q&A: The Wildelings author Lisa Harding.
- 'Writing a non-fiction book is a very different project to writing a novel; the motivation, purpose, style and approach are quite distinct. ‘Non-fiction', of course, covers a wide range of genres and formats; however, there are some principles that apply across the board. In this article I will explore some of the basic requirements in writing a non-fiction book...' From Ask the Editor 6: Writing non-fiction.
- There are 17 titles in the Ask the Editor series, which includes Writing your blurb or cover copy, What genre is my book? and The limitations of editing software.
- Our endorsement this week is for the newsletter 'Hi, I'm on your email list and just wanted to say thanks for the great emails you put out. I've entered one or two competitions as a result of seeing them on your email and, although I haven't won yet I have come close! But the information you give out is brilliant - so I just wanted to say thanks. Your efforts are appreciated.' Alison Chaplin, Manchester Endorsements
- Editor's advice 3 deals with Genre writing: 'Go into any high street bookstore and the shelves are heaving with genre novels. Most people read genre novels somewhere along the way, and genre novels are what most people, intentionally or not, set out to write. The intentional thought process goes something like this: there are loads of genre novels being published, ergo, there's a market for genre novels, so I'll read a couple of these, get a feel for what's needed, and hey presto, I too can knock out a few genre novels and make some money as well... I've been reading science fiction, fantasy and crime novels since I was a teenager, and I can spot when a writer doesn't fully understand the mechanics of their chosen genre. It may not matter to a casual reader but it really matters to the fans...'
- More links for writers: a writer shares five things she wishes she'd known before publishing her first book, Avoiding Rookie Errors; here are some tips for avoiding getting scammed, Red Flags for Indie Authors; Conduit Books will not ‘seek an adversarial stance... but the emphasis at first will be on ambitious, funny, political and cerebral fiction by men that is being passed by', New independent press to focus on male writers | Publishing | The Guardian; a hand-picked digest of news stories from the past month that emerging writers should know about, The Bookseller - Comment - News for emerging authors: April; a report from Nielsen and HarperCollins shows that parents see reading as a literacy skill, rather than something to encourage their children to love, Most parents don't enjoy reading to their children, survey suggests | Books | The Guardian.
- Do you want some help with your writing but don't know quite what you want? Are you a bit puzzled by the various services on offer, and not sure what to go for? Choosing a service helps you work out which is the right editorial service for you.
- 'So you want to be a crime writer? This is probably a good choice. Crime writing has long been popular with readers across the English-speaking world but it had a real resurgence a few years ago. Although publishers have reined back from the subsequent tendency towards over-production, there is still a solid market for good crime writing and many bestselling writers, such as Richard Osman, write in this category. As well as being a long term publishing staple in the main English-speaking markets, the US and UK, crime novels are much in demand in translation, especially in Europe...' Writing Crime Fiction in our Genre writing series.
- Our last set of links relates to AI: threatening to take legal action against the company, 'Two ways' of pursuing legal case against Meta, says former Waitrose boss Mark Price; protection of copyright has always been a top priority, Publishers Prepare for Battle with Big Tech Over AI; on Saturday the Trump administration fired Shira Perlmutter, the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright OfficeThe US copyright office has information on its website about how to register and what advantages there are in doing so. www.copyright.gov/register/, Copyright Chief Fired Amid AI Debate; and Kate Thompson was horrified to discover that her book, The Sunday Times bestseller, A Mother's Promise, had been plagiarised and rewritten by AI, An open letter to the thieves who used AI to copy my book.
- Do you want to self-publish your work? WritersServices offers a suite of services which help writers get their work into shape before they self-publish. Get your manuscript ready for your publication - Services for Self-publishers.
- ‘All of writing is a huge lake. There are great rivers that feed the lake, like Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky. And then there are mere trickles, like Jean Rhys. All that matters is feeding the lake. I don't matter. The lake matters. You must keep feeding the lake.' Jean Rhys in our Writers Quotes.
