15 August 2016 - What's new
15 August 2016
- 'A recent interview with Sheila Crowley in Bookbrunch throws an interesting light on changing patterns of agenting. She is a wonderfully enthusiastic agent at Curtis BrownSee Curtis Brown listing London, who prior to being an agent worked in publishing sales and marketing, so she is noted for her strong sales approach...'The changing role of the agent is this week's News Review.
- The editor of the new imprint in our Talking to pubishers series explains in the eleventh article what her new list is looking for - 'the freshest thinkers and the most successful practitioners in the areas of marketing, management, economics, finance and accounting, sustainable and ethical business, heart business, people management, leadership, motivation, biographies, business recovery and development and personal/executive development'.
- In Talking to publishers 2 Suzanne Ruthven of Compass BooksAn Imprint Of John Hunt Publishing. Focuses on practical and informative ‘how-to’ books for writers interviews her colleague Autumn Barlow, publisher of the new Top Hat historical fiction imprint at John Hunt PublishingExplore the "Our Imprints" section to learn more about our uniquely qualified publishers and their supporting teams. : 'Periodically we are told that the historical novel is dead - and then along comes Hilary Mantel winning the Man Booker for the second time, setting reading fashion on its head again...'
- 'I have heard it said that, if you want to know the preoccupations of a particular period of the last century, you should read the contemporary crime fiction. The kind of crimes featured in those books reflect the anxieties of the time. So international terrorism - the horror of the atrocity which can strike anyone at any moment - will continue to feature in crime novels of the next five years. So will domestic violence...' Our Comment this week is from Simon Brett in Bookbrunch.
- If you've come to the site looking for a report on your manuscript, how do you work out which one would suit you best? Which Report? includes our new top-of-the range service, the Editor's Report Plus, introduced by popular demand to provide even more detail. This very substantial report takes the form of a chapter-by-chapter breakdown and many writers have found this detail helps them to get their book right.
- Links of the week: Scribner's Katie Monaghan provides an exhilarating report on a fabulous barnstorming author tour, An Entourage of One: On the Road with Stephen King | Literary Hub; an excerpt from a veteran editor's account of his dealings with authors, The Accidental Life: An Editor's Notes on Writing and Writers | Literary Hub; different ways of getting your book published, There's More Than One Way to Publish. I Know. I Tried Many of Them; and do you know you are extending your life doing something you love? Benefits of reading include a longer life, claims study | The Bookseller.
- Top Ten Tips for non-fiction writers is a helpful checklist for writers, compiled by a Creative Writing tutor. No 1 is 'Story, story, story. Make sure that your story can sustain several chapters and tens of thousands of words. Keep asking yourself: Why would anyone want to read this story?'
- More links: these well-heeled wordsmiths earned a combined $269 million over the last 12 months, The World's Highest-Paid Authors 2016: James Patterson, Jeff Kinney and J.K. Rowling Top Ranking - Forbes; 'I have a large extended family, and only three of its members have read all 19 of my books...', Writing's A Career, Just Not According to My Family; and - of most interest to British writers but excruciating for anyone who loves libraries - BookBrunch - Libraries: no plans and no leadership.
- From our Writers Quotes, this gem from Jack Kerouac: 'It is not my fault that certain so-called bohemian elements have found in my writings something to hang their peculiar beatnik theories on.'
