29 September 2014 - What's new
29 September 2014
- This week we take a look at some encouraging signs in the book world, including an improvement in print sales, and feature the 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.
- The book trade internationally does seem to have turned the corner after a difficult few years when a major format change at the same time as a deep global recession turned everything upside down... Bookshops are working out new ways of surviving, with a focus on events, local authors, school supply and so on. No doubt the fallout will continue but in the UK and US there are definite signs of more bookshops surviving and is the online competitors to Amazon who are having a hard time. Our News Review this week covers the good news that print book sales have recovered a bit, while children's leads the way.
- We've added the prize-winning Guardian children's books site to our recommended links to children's sites, but would welcome other suggestions for this section or any of the 23 other listings, which include Writers Online Services.
- This week's Writing Opportunity is the 2014 National Poetry Competition 2014, which closes on 31 October. With a first prize of £5,000 and an entry fee of £6, it is open to all poets from around the world.
- 'Publishing is the process of getting an author's thoughts and ideas to the mind of a reader. Book publishing was carried out in the traditional manner for so long that everyone began to believe that publishers, agents, publicists and bookshops were essential to the process. The multiplicity of options brought about by the digital age remind us that there are only two constants in the process: the author and the reader...' Nicola Solomon, CEO of the UK Society of Authors in the Bookseller in this week's Comment.
- Do you have an old typescript or even hand-written manuscript which you can't work on? Or even audio recordings which need typing up? Our manuscript typing service can do the job for you cheaply and efficiently.
- This week's links to topical stories: Futurebook's digital Survey, Measure for measure: the Digital Census since 2009 | FutureBook; should Agent Hunter have the right to demand that literary agents should be transparent, Row over literary agents' 'transparency' | The Bookseller; the prize-winning site about children's books, Guardian children's books site scoops World Young Reader prize | Books | theguardian.com; should famous authors be allowed to write stories about famous dead people, Mantel defends Thatcher story | The Bookseller; and a surprising preference for print amongst young people, Nearly three quarters of young people prefer print | The Bookseller.
- 'Writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz. Much of the time life is a sort of rhythmic progression of three characters. If one tells oneself that life is like that, one feels it less arbitrary.' Francoise Sagan in our Writers' Quotes.
