19 December 2016 - What's new
19 December 2016
- The power of authors to influence their publishers was shown this week when Penguin Random House UKPenguin Random House have more than 50 creative and autonomous imprints, publishing the very best books for all audiences, covering fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s books, autobiographies and much more. Click for Random House UK Publishers References listing, which was formed four years ago when Penguin and Random House merged to form the biggest international trade publisher with turnover of £2.4bn, had to climb down after announcing that it had terminated its formal relationship with Unite and the National Union of JournalistsRepresents British journalists and photographers. Has a useful list of links to media resources. http://media.gn.apc.org/The site links to a NUJ freelance fees site. News Review.
- Although there's only £500 prize money involved, the CWA Debut Dagger 2017 is well worth entering because of the promotion involved. Only unpublished authors are eligible and there's an entry fee of £30 + VAT, closing on 17 February.
- Are you a self-publisher? Do you want your book to be properly published? There's no reason why a self-publisher shouldn't have as good a chance of finding an audience as an author whose book is coming out from a publisher. But what really lets their work down is if it hasn't been professionally copy edited. Effectively a self-publisher who goes ahead without copy editing is just publishing a manuscript, a work-in-progress which readers will react against because of all the errors. Copy editing for self-publishers
- 'I wrote just three chapters to start with and sent them to ten agents. I received nine rejection letter in quick succession, but then the tenth letter arrived and it was an agent wanting to see the complete book. That changed everything. I moved in with my boyfriend to save on rent, took a part-time job and began writing two-and-a-half days a week...' Lisa Jewell, author of Ralph's Party, I Found You and ten other novels in our Comment column.
- From Tom Chalmers of IPR, two articles about rights for self-publishers, Self-publishing - the rights way and How to get your book in the hands of an international audience. 'It's a fact that most self-published authors understand the process that takes them from a written manuscript to a published book, but few realise the additional elements that make publishing a profitable business. Rights licensing is arguably the most vital element in this equation. Whether it's selling translation rights, audio rights or optioning the film rights, these all help balance the book's books...'
- Our links: an invaluable list for those getting started as writers, How to Be a Writer: 10 Tips from Rebecca Solnit | Literary Hub; the almost sacrilegious suggestion that a box set might be 'better' than a novel, Does Westworld tell a truer story than a novel can? | Books | The Guardian; why print books are better for you, Science Says You Should Still Keep Reading Print Books Over e-Books | GOOD; and a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how reviewers work, 10 Things You Didn't Know About How the NY Times Book Review Works | Literary Hub.
- Our Publishing Glossary is a really helpful way of finding your way about the business.
- More links: for years, I knew Octavia E. Butler, the famed African American science fiction and fantasy writer, by her first name only, Public Books - My Neighbor Octavia; the astounding economic impact of Amazon and what it really means to be a bookseller, Bookselling in the 21st Century: The Perils of Shopping Local | Literary Hub; and what does winning prizes really do to small publishers? Small Press, Big Prize: Inside Brooklyn Arts Press.
- To find a mass of useful material on the site, try this page - Advice for Writers.
- 'Sheer egoism... Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen - in short, with the whole top crust of humanity.' George Orwell in our Writers' Quotes.
