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2 October 2017 - What's new

2 October 2017
  • Great excitement in the UK publishing community over the Anglo/Japanese author's surprise win of this year's Nobel Prize for Literature, just announced, Kazuo Ishiguro wins the Nobel prize in literature | Books | The Guardian.
  • 'Next week it's 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., the biggest annual book fair and a huge meeting of publishers from all over the world. Publishers are putting together their projects and packing their bags in preparation for five days of intensive back-to-back meetings...' News Review
  • We've just launched the August Magazine which has some great links, including Val McDermid: 'Even on a romantic holiday my thoughts turn to murrrder' | Books | The Guardian, The Difference Between a Press Release and a Pitch (You Need Both) | Jane Friedman and 10 Writing Rules You Can (and Should) Break.
  • As well as our highly-regarded Copy editing service, which will help you prepare your manuscript for submission or self-publishing, we have Manuscript Polishing, which provides a higher-level polishing service, Writer's edit, a new line-editing service, and Translation editing for writers who are not native English speakers.
  • The National Poetry Competition 2017 is open to all poets of 17 and over internationally. The entry fee is £6.50 and First prize £5,000, Second prize: £2,000, Third prize: £1,000, with seven commendations of £200 each. Closing on 31 October.
  • 'I started with a desire to explore marriage this round. My previous two books were told from the point of view of women who were decidedly single - who didn't really even know how to sustain any kind of relationships, romantic or not. So I wanted to deal with a married couple, and do it as a "he said, she said" kind of narrative, because marriages are, in a way, one long version of a "he said she said" story. No matter how close we are to someone, there will always be a disconnect...' Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl and Dark Places, on her novel Sharp Objects, on her website. Our Comment.
  • An Editor's Advice is a series of seven articles by one of our editors on really useful subjects for writers such as Dialogue, Manuscript presentation and Doing further drafts and Planning: 'The idea of planning doesn't fit well with the idea of the writer as inspired genius, frantically scribbling away. However, I am willing to bet that, no matter what they would have you think, most successful writers plan as much as they write. They just don't tell you about it. The biggest objection that most inexperienced writers raise when someone broaches the delicate matter of planning is that it will get in the way of their inventive powers. A plan will be like a straitjacket. They'll be stuck with this plan and if they come up with a good idea along the way, they will not be able to use it. They are genuinely horrified at the thought...'
  • Our links: does reading interfere with your writing? When I'm Writing Fiction, I Cannot Read It | Literary Hub; this is a question we're often asked, How Many Words in a Novel? Our Editors Have the Answers; covers sell books, but how can they be so different, Cover versions: why are UK and US book jackets often so different? | Books | The Guardian; and big relaunch plans reveal interesting romance reader behaviour, Mills & Boon woos new readers | The Bookseller.
  • Advice for Writers is a really useful page which takes you into our archive and helps you explore our more than 6,000 pages of information for writers.
  • More links: advice from a bestselling author, 'You can always fix bad pages. You can't fix no pages. So write. Just write. Try to turn off that voice of doom that paralyzes you.' 5 Writing Tips: Harlan Coben; fascinating insights into his relationship with the famous poet, Philip Larkin and Me: A Friendship with Holes in It | The New Yorker; writers have spoken out against stress on famous names in works chosen, Children's authors slam celebrity-heavy World Book Day lineup | Books | The Guardian; and even if you don't write in the romance genre, don't be too quick to dismiss adding the element of romance to your story, Tips for Weaving Romance into Your Novel - WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.
  • 'Being a writer means you get to live vicariously through your characters.' Lisa Marbly-Warir in our Writers' Quotes.