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August 2008 - Writers Magazine

News Review

  • 'The book trade is beginning to wonder if books will weather the economic storm. The received wisdom is that they do well in a recession because they are small-ticket items, but is this really true?' News Review asks:  are books recession-proof?
  • 'A new star has burst upon the publishing firmament. Stephenie Meyer, whose new book Breaking Dawn already has 1.3 million copies in print in the US, recorded the largest-ever first-day sale when it was published there on August 4th.' News Review on the latest superselling author.
  • The Sony Reader launches soon in the UK, with the international launch of Amazon's Kindle expected to follow.  So is this the autumn when e-books finally arrive in most of the world? And what effect will they have? News Review has the story.
  • The closure of Publishing News on 25 July marked the end of an era in book trade journalism. News Review looks back over the years.

Comment

  • 'Books are the most important thing in life to me... It's a need to process life, instead of just taking what life throws at you and being passive, a need to take life and make something of it.' Sophie Hannah in the Independent on Sunday
  • ‘What I have described are the birth pangs of a golden age.  The market for the printed book is now global; the opportunities for the digital book are almost unimaginable.  To be a writer in the English language today is to be one of the luckiest people alive.' Robert McCrum in the Observer
  • 'There are more books sold than ever before, the market is growing and more people are reading...  I think the trade should be confident and optimistic.' Luke Johnson, Chairman of Borders UK in Publishing News.

Writers' Quote

''Publishing is a very mysterious business. It is hard to predict what kind of sale or reception a book will have, and advertising seems to do very little good.'
Thomas Wolfe

Review of Writers and Artists' Yearbook 2009

Our reviewer concluded that what makes this book an outstandingly good buy is the many articles about every aspect of getting published and called it: 'an essential companion for all writers'.

Services stories

We've added Manuscript Polishing to the fictionalised stories which show how our Services can help writers get their work into shape.  Makito Sato has successfully completed the research for his PhD on an obscure new area in molecular biology, but is finding it difficult to get the work into good English to submit to his tutor at MIT...

Also available, stories on the Reader's Report, the Editor's Report, Editing, Contract vetting and Self-publishing.

Magazine - Looking up

Review of The Self-Publishing Magazine

Our reviewer concluded: 'You wouldn’t really compare it to the other magazines reviewed here, but for anyone who is thinking about self-publishing it provides advice and reassurance.’

Writers' magazines reviews index

Writing for the web

Writing effectively for the web is quite different from writing for the printed page. Our latest new checklist shows you how to write web pages to attract and keep visitors.

Magazines around
August 2008

January 2008
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April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
Magazine index

Changes in the book trade

This new series by Chris Holifield looks at the book trade and investigates how fundamental changes in how it works are affecting writers.

The seventh deals with Creative Commons, an innovative new way of licensing material which makes it widely available and also protects and controls the license given.

The first article is on: Bookselling, the second on Publishing and the third on Print on demand and the fourth on Self-publishing - 'really great' or career suicide? and the fifth on Writers' routes to their audiences and the sixth at copyright under pressure.

My Say

Timothy Hallinan's 'The Writing Session' offers 6 tips on how to approach your writing:  'The universe has a vast amount of material to offer you, free of charge, for your book. If you write regularly, you’ll recognize that material when it comes along. It could, ultimately, be the thing that either saves your book or takes it to a higher level.'

WritersServices Self-publishing

If you're thinking about self-publishing, this is the place to find out what's involved. If you're ready to go ahead, our high quality service is second to none and there's an economy version for those who want to tackle some of the work themselves. You can estimate the cost for yourself.

Our Editorial Services for writers

Check out the 16 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting.

Help for Writers

Check out this page to find links to the huge number of useful articles on this site.

Choosing a Service

Are you having difficulty deciding which service might be right for you? This useful new article by Chris Holifield offers advice on what to go for, depending on what stage you are at with your writing.

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