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25 April 2016 - What's new

25 April 2016
  • The Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2016 is open to all poets over 18 with an entry fee of £5/€6/$8 and a First Prize of £5,000, but closes on 21 June. This week's Writing Opportunity.
  • Subsidiary rights are very much in the news in this week when IPR Licensethe global, digital marketplace for authors, agents and publishers to list and license book rights; launched in 2012, whose former MD has written two articles for us, was bought by 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.. But don't think rights are just for publishers, the astute self-publisher also needs to have a clear handle on what might be possible. News Review
  • 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: 'I have just finished writing a report on a novel. I've pinpointed various areas of weakness and made various suggestions that the writer may or may not wish to follow. But the nub of the report is a recommendation that the writer produce a further draft of the novel rather than trying to submit it to a publisher now. I wonder sometimes how writers feel when they get my reports and see that recommendation...'
  • If you'd like to read the story by a British scientist which has just won the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award, and much else besides, you can find it on this page.
  • 'I think teenagers are drawn to both worlds so I try to tell stories that have all the darkness of adult books, but which are written with a younger audience in mind. I'm always conscious of not taking it too far, but at the same time I believe YA books can go very far...' Darren Shan, author of the just-published Zom-B: Goddess in Bookbrunch, in our Comment column.
  • Do you need to get your material typed up, but can't face doing the job yourself? We can provide a clean typed version of your work at very competitive rates. Our service offers help for writers who have an old or handwritten manuscript, or audio tapes, which need re-typing before the writer can proceed with submission or publication.
  • Our links: from the Literary Editor of the Sunday Times, Are Short Stories More Challenging to Write Than Novels? | Andrew Holgate; a fascinating discussion between two top book trade jornalists of the differences between publishing in the US and the UK, 'Tales of Two Markets' in London Book Fair's Big Week; from Lizzie Kremer of London agency David Higham AssociatesAgents for the negotiation of all rights in fiction, general non-fiction, children's fiction and picture books, plays, film and TV scripts (home 15%, USA/translation 20%, scripts 10%). Represented in all foreign markets. Preliminary letter and return postage. All adult submissions should be typed with double line spacing on one side only of A4 paper and pages should be numbered. Be sure to include a covering letter; a full plot synopsis of the proposed book; the first two or three chapters of the book; a CV and a stamped addressed envelope. Founded 1935, agents are under increasing pressure from the big corporates to make world rights deals, BookBrunch - World rights: why agents should hold firm; and, feeding into the discussion on literary prizes, Do Major Literary Awards Like The Pulitzer Help Boost Sales For Winners? - Forbes.
  • Under 24 different headings we have hundreds of recommended links to sites, including Interesting Literature, a new one, Web Resources, Magazines & Writing Sites and Writers Online Services. Share with us any new links you'd recommend.
  • More links: a lament for vanishing ebooks, I Wish Ebook Retailers Valued Ebooks; more on literary awards and how they deal with short stories, Should Literary Awards Do More to Recognize Short Stories? | Electric Literature; and, from Australia, an in-depth discussion of how editors impact on their authors' work, How an editor brings the writer's work squalling into the world | afr.com
  • From our Writers' Quotes, William Falukner's advice to writers:'Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.'