June 2006 - Writers Magazine

News Review

• ‘Multiplatform’ marketing, digital rights and print on demand change the way authors' intellectual property can be exploited.  News Review investigates.


• News Review looks at some innovative ideas around about how to promote books and reading.


• German publishers are taking Google to court. French publishers have threatened legal action.  But is Google winning the battle for hearts and minds?  News Review investigates.


• Is this ‘a land grab in continental Europe based on the thinnest of legal and business pretences’? News Review looks at the Brits v American publishers on the question of Europe.


• 'Just when those in the book trade had resigned themselves to huge annual growth in the numbers of books published, US figures have plummeted, although UK numbers continue to soar. '  News Review looks at an astonishing discrepancy.


• 'The allegation of large-scale plagiarism has raised its ugly head in a too-good-to-be-true story of a young writer who appeared to be writing well rather too well for her age. ' News Review reports on Kaavya Viswanathan

Comment

• 'What is the X-factor that turns a book into a bestseller?  They don't just happen by chance... At the centre of their efforts is the author, who nowadays has to put as much work into selling themselves as they did into writing their book.'  Danuta Kean in the Independent on Sunday


• 'Sometimes I fear that some writers want to get published more than they want to write.  Being a successful writer is a long apprenticeship.  Writing a novel is a slow, frustrating process. Julia Bell in MslexiaStylish and lively site for quarterly UK literary magazine read by 12,000 'committed' women writers. Good range of quality writing, information and advice with news, reviews, competitions and interviews, all presented in a friendly fashion. Praised by Helen Dunmore as 'astute, invigorating and above all an excellent read.' www.mslexia.co.uk


• 'Americans simply don't consider books (or culture generally) to be that newsworthy or debatable... Therefore, America seems like a place where you can only write a bestseller or a flop - you're either on Oprah, or you're not.' American author Wesley Stace in Publishing News


• 'It is easy to understand the mindset of those who feel uncomfortable with reading... But reading is generally looked on as a pleasure even by those who avoid it - a pleasure to some but not for them.' Ruth Rendell, writing about her Quick Read The Thief in the Sunday Telegraph


• 'Trips to the library with my mother are, in my memory, even more thrilling than trips to the sweet shop, and when I got my eldest daughter a library card I felt as though I had bought her citizenship of that same fabulous world.’ J K Rowling, in support of the innovative Love Libraries scheme

Writers' Quote

• 'Every author's fairy godmother should provide him not only with a pen but also with a blue pencil.'
  F L Lucas in Style

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