What's New in 2022
- ‘And then I was away, because you've got that structure with traditional crime fiction. You don't have to worry about the plot, really. You've got a body, you've got a limited number of suspects. And you've got some form of resolution. Somebody said it's like a corset to hold you up.' Ann Cleeves, author of 39 crime novels, including the Palmer Joe, Vera Stanhope, Matthew Venn, Jimmy Perez and Inspector Ramsay series in the Bookseller.
- From Tom Chalmers, formerly of IPR, two articles about rights for self-publishers, Self-publishing - the rights way and How to get your book in the hands of an international audience. 'It's a fact that most self-published authors understand the process that takes them from a written manuscript to a published book, but few realise the additional elements that make publishing a profitable business. Rights licensing is arguably the most vital element in this equation. Whether it's selling translation rights, audio rights or optioning the film rights, these all help balance the book's books...'
- WritersServices can provide a range of services working on your manuscript, to help you get it ready for submission or self-publishing. We are UK-based, offer exceptional value and our skilled professional editors have been working on writers' manuscripts for over 20 years. We have introduced free samples and free assessments on most of these services, please see the individual service page. Copy editing services.
- Closing on 30 June, The Moth Short Story Prize 2022 is open to all writers over 16. The entry fee is €15 per story. 1st prize €3,000, 2nd prize week-long writing retreat at Circle of Misse in France plus €250 travel stipend, 3rd prize €1,000.
- Links from publishers and bookellers: not so much a business meeting, more a family reunion, LBF: The verdict; it has grown from a weekly trade circular edited single-handedly into a publication that has recorded the history of the American book publishing business for a century and a half, ‘Publishers Weekly' at 150: Anatomy of a Magazine, 1872-2022; unit sales of print books in the US fell 8.9% in the first quarter, The Book Sales Boom Is Over; visiting Ukraine during the Soviet era, and searching in vain for Ukrainian books to read, and now Ukrainian publishing industry upended by Russian invasion : NPR; and 'we set up our tiny bookshop on a 1920s barge 12 years ago', Indie View: Word on the Water.
- If you're planning to submit to agents, you'll want to get your submission package into good shape before getting started, to give your book its best chance.
- 'Today I only want to say, "thank you". DM has done a truly great job. I have worked with her suggestions which have brought clarity and depth to my subject. Her work on my punctuation is brilliant. As I read through the manuscript now, it is like gliding on silk.' Helena Dodds on our Endorsements page.
- Links about writing: we all use it daily, but First Person Point of View: What it is & How to use it - The Art of Narrative; every writer I know has a finely honed system for avoiding writing, For This Historical Novelist Writing About Gilded Age New York, There's Always More Research to Be Done ‹ CrimeReads; writers have long been fascinated with themselves and their craft, 10 Essential Books About Writing | Bitch Media; why must you tell THIS story? What's the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? Why Write This Book? | Jane Friedman; and I had never written about the mysterious death of my mother - quite possibly at the hands of my father. My first true crime, On Writing and Living True Crime ‹ CrimeReads.
- Which service? provides a run through of our services so you can check what's right for you.
- Our printing and pubishing glossary is a useful tool for every writer.
- A miscellany of links: an interview with the bestselling children's writer, Jeff Kinney on his rise from ‘Wimpy Kid' to celebrated children's author | PBS News Weekend; so what did we learn from the deals made at LBF? What will we be reading next year? Five biggest trends from the London book fair | Books | The Guardian; the well-liked HarperCollins Children's executive publisher on her job, Questions for: Cally Poplak; and an ominous attempt to give politicians control of libraries, New Kentucky Law Hands Control of Libraries to Local Politicians.
- A cynical note in our Writers' Quotes from the bestselling thriller writer Jack Higgins, who died this week: 'The one thing you learn is that nobody knows what will sell.'
- The more I know about the characters, the easier it is to find the humour. How do I make it more exciting, funnier, more heartwarming? I'm aways asking myself these questions. The message of the book is finding friends who accept you for who you really are. It's about loving people even when it's hard, about doing the right thing even when it's scary.' A F Steadman, whose debut children's novel Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, the first in a five-book fantasy series, is published this month, in the Bookseller.
- Tips for writers is our 8-part crash course for writers who are starting out, taking you from Promoting Your Writing (and Yourself) to Self-publishing: is it for you? from Keep up to date to Submission to publishers and agents. 'Be prepared to redraft your work and to rethink it. Many new writers assume that their work will immediately be ready for publication, but the truth is that many highly successful writers produced several drafts of their first work before they got it published.' and 'When you've got your work into the best state you can, put it on one side for a few weeks and then look at it afresh. You'll be amazed what difference a fresh eye will make.'
- Are you getting ready to publish your book - perhaps planning to self-publish? WritersServices offers a suite of nine services which help writers get their work into shape before they self-publish. Services for Self-publishers
- Links from publishing: the first in-person fair for three years, London Book Fair 2022: Back to Britain; a spirit of international collaboration was in the air, The Bookseller - News - Excitement and international buzz in the air as publishers flock to LBF; some progress, but still a way to go, The Bookseller - News - Progress made on diversity but socio-economic background still 'major barrier', PA survey finds; and a graphic account from the front line, Ukraine's Vivat Publishing House Fights to Survive.
- From our Endorsements page: 'I cannot emphasise enough my gratitude to writerservices.com. I more or less expected that they would treat me and my texts professionally - after all, this is what the site offers. What I haven't expected was the extra mile they were prepared to go on my behalf, their beautiful attention to both the letter and the spirit of what I had to say. My manuscript has now found an agent - a happy development in which they have definitely played a role. All I can say is that if I ever produce anything else, I will definitely be their client again.' Sveta, Windsor, UK
- Advice for Writers is a really useful page which takes you into our archive and helps you explore our more than 8,000 pages of information for writers.
- Links from the Society of Authors and bookselling: a clash between personal views and organisational responsibility, The Bookseller - News - Philip Pullman quits as Society of Authors president in wake of Kate Clanchy criticism; customers can receive a full refund within 14 days of purchase, even if they have read every word, depriving authors of royalties from those sales, The Bookseller - News - SoA calls on Amazon to cut e-books refund window as petition against policy passes 33,000; in order for bookstores to thrive in the 21st century, we must rethink the whole enterprise, The endurance of good bookstores; and maybe booksellers have been written off too soon, Bookstores Tap Nostalgia for Borders, Barnes & Nobles - Bloomberg.
- If you are not a native English speaker but you want to publish your book in English to make it available to the international market, what do you do? If your English is good enough, what about writing it in English or translating your book into English yourself, and then getting your translation polished and copy edited by a professional editor who is a native English speaker? The result should be a publishable manuscript at a relatively low cost, provided by our English Language Editing Service. How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth).
- Links from writers and about genres: labels are fraught, but they are "highly useful" and we "actually need them more than ever", How Important Is Genre When Pitching and Promoting Your Book? | Jane Friedman; writing books that sell, How Writing a Serialized Novel Helped Carley Moore Connect With the World During a Time of Disconnection ‹ Literary Hub; is this a new genre? The Disaffected Narrators of Internet Gothic Fiction; and a fascinating account of how new covers - and a TV series - worked, Bridgerton's Netflix book covers reflect changing attitudes toward romance over the years.
- Have you ever wondered whether there's any point in entering competitions? Someone must be winning, but why is it somehow never you? Here's some tips to help you achieve a better result. Entering competitions.
- And finally, more links from writers: "Writing is a business and a business needs to be promoted or it will fail."My Tips on Public Speaking for Authors - Caroline James Author Blog; the ways adult gatekeepers encourage girls to read books about boys but discourage, prevent, or even shame boys from reading about girls, Soapbox: Have We Solved the Problem of Boy Books and Girl Books? How are stories about diversity, sexuality and even contemporary world events being deemed inappropriate for younger readers? ‘Out of touch': children's authors describe increasing censorship of books on diversity | Books | The Guardian; a poet describes how her poem reached a huge audience, When Poetry Goes Viral; and in the global refugee crisis millions of young people are in need of books, Book Aid International: now more than ever, books are a lifeline.
- Rotten Rejections provides a note of the things publishers wish they'd never said: on Animal Farm by George Orwell ‘It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA' and Carrie by Stephen King 'We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.'
- 'Writing after many years becomes a place you can hide. Because you acquire a certain amount of craft, it allows you to do something while not revealing yourself.' Anne Carson in our Writers' Quotes.
