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March 2008 - Writers Magazine

News Review

  • Won’t anyone stick to what they’re good at?  London literary agency PFDRepresents authors of fiction and non-fiction, children's writers, screenwriters, playwrights, documentary makers, technicians, presenters and public speakers throughout the world. Has 85 years of international experience in all media. PDF now have a POD section. Some good advice for those seeking a representative. is setting up an agreement with print on demand printer Lightning Source to bring their authors’ work back into print. News Review reports.
  • Less successful writers’ income is under increasing pressure from the focus on bestsellers  and the Internet.  News Review finds some more positive trends.
  • Half of all book sales in the UK are at a discount but 6% more books were sold in 2007 than in 2006.  News Review also has good news on book sales and the Internet.
  • Do reading promotions work? News Review looks at the UK's World Book Day and the National Year of Reading.
  • C S Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the best children’s book of all time, according to a recent poll  conducted by the British charity Booktrust. News Review looks at how old favourites live on.

Comment

  • 'Skellig was taken by the first publisher to read it, won a string of prizes, and has been published in 30 languages. I was an overnight success after almost 20 years.' David Almond in The Times
  • 'My aim, as a poet in the community, is always the same: to make people go away thinking ‘Is that what poetry is? I can do that!’' Ian McMillan in his article on The Poet in the Community: A little adventure on 57 Productions’ website.
  • 'Why pay £16.99 ($35) for a novel by someone you've never heard of when you could buy three or four paperbacks for the same price?' Scott Pack of the Friday Project comments on the hardback/paperback debate in the Bookseller.
  • 'We whine a lot, but it's not so hard. You stay in fancy hotels, and go to signings where people buy your books and want your autograph and tell you lots of nice things…' Harlan Coben on authors on the road in Publishing News.
  • 'I tell them to forget about the business… They'll figure it out in the end.  If they haven't got talent, you're not going to give it to them, but they will have it because you've chosen them.' Peter Carey on teaching creative writing in The Times

Writers' Quote

‘There’s a lot of tasteful writing out there – nice, tidy, clean – but sometimes it’s excess, rawness and the unpolished that work.’
Dan Vyleta, author of Pavel & I

Help for Writers

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

 

The ABC Checklist for New Writers: Professionalism

This the third of six extracts from The ABC Checklist for New Writers: How to Open Doors and Get Noticed the First Time Around by Lorraine Mace and Maureen Vincent-Northam, published by Orana Publishing. This useful book gives succinct answers to the many problems writers face, making it an indispensable reference for the budding writer.

This week - why you should keep good records of submissions and financial information.

1 Agents - when and how to approach them

2 Editors: Who they are and what they do

3 Keeping records

4 Marketing

Links update

Our 21 sections of links reviews and listings - from Writers Organisations to Writers' Web Resources - have been updated with some useful new sites.

Magazine - Reader

Our Editorial Services for writers

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

An Editor's Advice

This new series is based on the advice Maureen Kincaid SpellerMaureen Kincaid Speller a reviewer, writer, editor and former librarian, is our book reviewer and also works for WritersServices as a freelance editor., a long-serving WritersServices freelance editor, has given writers over the years.  It deals with the most common problems she has encountered in the manuscripts which cross her desk.

The series covers Dialogue, Doing further drafts, genre writing, planning, points of view, autobiography and presentation.

See also Making submissions for how to approach publishers and agents.

Choosing a Service

Are you having difficulty deciding which service might be right for you? This useful new article by Chris HolifieldManaging director of WritersServices; spent working life in publishing,employed by everything from global corporations to start-ups; track record includes: editorial director of Sphere Books, publishing director of The Bodley Head, publishing director for start-up of upmarket book club, The Softback Preview, editorial director of Britain’s biggest book club group, BCA, and, most recently, deputy MD and publisher of Cassell & Co. She is also currently the Director of the Poetry Book Society; During all of this time aware of problems faced by writers, as publishing changed from idiosyncratic cottage industry, 'occupation for gentlemen', into corporate business of today. Writers encountered increasing difficulty in getting books edited or published. Authors create the books which are the raw material for the whole business. She believes it is time to bring them back to centre stage. offers advice on what to go for, depending on what stage you are at with your writing.

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March 2008

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Magazine index

Changes in the book trade

This new series by Chris HolifieldManaging director of WritersServices; spent working life in publishing,employed by everything from global corporations to start-ups; track record includes: editorial director of Sphere Books, publishing director of The Bodley Head, publishing director for start-up of upmarket book club, The Softback Preview, editorial director of Britain’s biggest book club group, BCA, and, most recently, deputy MD and publisher of Cassell & Co. She is also currently the Director of the Poetry Book Society; During all of this time aware of problems faced by writers, as publishing changed from idiosyncratic cottage industry, 'occupation for gentlemen', into corporate business of today. Writers encountered increasing difficulty in getting books edited or published. Authors create the books which are the raw material for the whole business. She believes it is time to bring them back to centre stage. looks at the book trade and investigates how fundamental changes in how it works are affecting writers.  First: Bookselling

Entering competitions

Have you ever wondered whether there’s any point in entering competitions? Someone must be winning, but why is it somehow never you?  Our checklist helps you to review how you approach competitions, to see if you can achieve a better result.

International Book Fairs 2008

Our newly-updated list of 2008 book fairs around the world.

My Say

Shortly-to-be-published American author Wendy Walker on her path to the writer's life as a stay-home mom:

'How was I going to write an entire novel in the midst of the sleepless nights and frenetic days that constituted my life? It was, ironically, from this core-shaking doubt that the four characters in my first novel were born.'

Bob's Journal goes into its 8th volume  

Bob's last column for WritersServices reflects on writing and the Internet:

'Still haven’t broken through my writer’s block. No longer even sure I want to. Why write? What’s writing for? Have absolutely no idea. How can one add anything worthwhile to the work of writers like Oscar Wilde? Yet the internet grows more vast by the minute with the words of the millions who are certain their opinions are worth airing.'
This week
We've really enjoyed publishing Bob's column and are glad to say that it's still available on the site for anyone to read. In the meantime we wish him the best of luck with his writing.

The 2007 pages
The 2001 pages (if you want to start at the beginning)

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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