What's New in 2019
- ‘The thing I like about novels is that they are a more forgiving form. You can make missteps. It's harder to write a really good short story - I'm more aware of the flaws in my short stories. There's pleasure in being able to spend that much time with people and ideas in novels, but if you write a short story, the magical period of an idea to the excitement of composition and the first draft is short, but deeply pleasurable in a way novels are not...' Elizabeth McCracken, author of Bowlaway, Thunderstruck and four other books of novels, short stories and a memoir, in the Observer. Our Comment.
- From our 19-part Inside Publishing series, Subsidiary Rights: 'My first job in publishing was in a subsidiary rights department. I'm ashamed to admit that I accepted the job without having much idea what subsidiary rights were. Many writers may feel just as vague about this part of publishing, so here's a quick breakdown...' and Vanity Publishing: 'It is natural for writers to be eager to get published but it pays to be wary of the vanity publishers who will take your money and give you very little in return...' Vanity publishing is quite distinct from Self-publishing, you need to be aware of the differences.
- The 2020 International Book & Pamphlet Competition is open to all poets. Entry fee £28. Four winners will published by Smith|Doorstop books. All winners will also receive a share of £2,000, publication in The North magazine and a reading at The Wordsworth Trust. There's a chance of a collection being published too. Closing 1 March.
- Which service should I choose to help me get my work into good shape for submission or self-publishing? This is the question our page Which service? answers and it then goes on to give a quick rundown on our 20 editorial services for writers, which we think is the biggest and most comprehensive you can find on the internet.
- A good crop of links this week, with lots of valedictory articles about the past decade and year: starting with new year reading reolutions, 'I'm on the hunt for humour and hope': what will authors be reading in 2020? | Books | The Guardian; in 2019 we were obliged to say goodbye to far too many members of the worldwide literary community - from the universally beloved to the highly controversial, Notable Literary Deaths in 2019 | Literary Hub; it stood ready to supply them with plenty of action, cliffhangers, supernatural beings, mustache-twirling bad guys, and true love, Young adult literature entered the decade like a lion, but now it seems to be eating itself alive; and let's just start with the women, Female novelists replaced white male authors in the 2010s.
- Are you thinking of submitting your book to an agent? Try our Finding an Agent page or Your Submission package. Our Submission critique service may also help, as it's essential to get your package into the best possible shape before you start submitting.
- More links: the first 400 words of my novel, Adjustments, were written mostly to prove to my publisher, who had asked for the story, that I had no novel to write, The Joys (and Perils) of Serial Novel Writing | Jane Friedman; an unusual debut novel by a retired wildlife biologist named Delia Owens had an odd title and didn't fit neatly into any genre, so it hardly seemed destined to be a blockbuster, The Long Tail of ‘Where the Crawdads Sing' - The New York Times; so here's the more global version, The Rising Stars of Crime Fiction in the 2010s: International Edition | CrimeReads; and is TV better than film, whether big changes work, and more, Which Oft-Rebooted Story Yields the Highest Tomatometer Scores? We're Breaking Down the Ultimate Reboots << Rotten Tomatoes - Movie and TV News.
- 'Coleridge was a drug addict. Poe was an alcoholic. Marlowe was killed by a man whom he was treacherously trying to stab. Pope took money to keep a woman's name out of a satire, then wrote a piece so that she could still be recognized, anyhow. Chatterton killed himself. Byron was accused of incest. Do you still want to be a writer - and if so, why?' Bennett Cerf, founder of Random House, in our Writers' Quotes.
- ‘There were a couple of years where, if I could have finished the book, I could have stayed ahead of the show for another couple of years, and the stress was enormous. I don't think it was very good for me, because the very thing that should have speeded me up actually slowed me down. Every day I sat down to write and even if I had a good day - and a good day for me is three or four pages - I'd feel terrible because I'd be thinking: "My God, I have to finish the book. I've only written four pages when I should have written 40."...' George R R Martin, whose epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire has been made into the hugely successful tv series, Game of Thrones, and which still has two more volumes to come, in the Observer. Our Comment.
- Our Services for Writers - just a list of 20 services to help you get your work ready for publication.
- The Spread the Word Life Writing Prize 2020 is open to writers who have yet to publish a full-length work or to have a literary agent, living in the UK and aged 18 or over. There's no entry fee. The winner gets £1,500, an Arvon course, a writing mentor and two years' membership of the Royal Society of LiteratureThis British site may seem rather formal (stated aim ‘to sustain and encourage all that is perceived as best whether traditional or experimental in English letters, and to strive for a Catholic appreciation of literature’), but has a lively series of lectures and discussions involving distinguished authors. Also administers literary prizes. http://www.rslit.org/index1.html, and the Prize closes on 3 February.
- Other active competitions and prizes.
- We have a new endorsement for WritersServices: 'The outcome of my experience with Writerservices has far exceeded my expectation and I was amazed by their professionalism, hard work, knowledge and keenness to edit my manuscript of the novel, Uncle Thesiger's Mashhuf, in every detail, thereby ensuring it will appeal to English readers. Their services are very helpful to all writers', Ammar Al Thuwaini, an Iraqi novelist and translator.
- Our links: she felt it was not for people like her, Who Has the Right to Be a Writer? | Literary Hub; you know them as bodice rippers. But during the last 10 or so years, that perception has started to shift, Romance Is a Billion-Dollar Literary Industry. So Why Is It Still So Overlooked? | Glamour; my editor slashed through my sentences, slathering them with ink, making me read my version first, then his, and tell him why his was better! The Wonderful Thing About Line Edits | Jane Friedman; former winner Jane Davis on what success in our awards for self-publishing meant to her, The Selfies - what it means to win and a writer with an ability to create believably strange natural worlds from a place of granular fascination, Visiting Jeff VanderMeer's Weird, Wondrous Worlds | Literary Hub.
- 'You are a first-time author without an agent and you receive a contract to publish your book - just how do you evaluate it? Is it fair or biased against the author by prevailing industry standards? Is your publisher looking out for your interests as well as his own - or wording the clauses in a way only advantageous to the company?' Why your book contract needs vetting.
- More links: how to gain access to the gatekeepers - that is, get your idea in front of book editors, What to Say (and Not to Say) in Query Letters to Book Editors - The Chronicle of Higher Education; the knock-on effect of going bust (but this story has a happy ending for some) Book People collapse plunges small publisher Galley Beggar into crisis | Books | The Guardian; the epic role of one translator, How Chinese Sci-Fi Conquered America - The New York Times; and the controversies surrounding literary prizes, A year of literary prizes and surprises in 2019.
- Have you ever wondered why you don't win any of those competitions? What can you do to improve your chances? Our tipsheet on Entering Competitions.
- 'You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.' Annie Proulx in our Writers' Quotes.
- 'Dear Aspiring Writer, you are not ready. Stop. Put that finished story away and start another one. In a month, go back and look at the first story. RE-EDIT it. Then send it to a person you respect in the field who will be hard on you. Pray for many many many red marks. Fix them. Then put it away for two weeks. Work on something else. Finally, edit one last time. Now you are ready to sub your first work... Inez Kelley, author of Turn it Up, Myla by Moonlight, Jinxed and five other romance novels. Our Comment.
- My Say gives writers a chance to air their views about writing and the writer's life. So we have Natasha Mostert on typing 'The End', Mary Garden on writers' block, Timothy Hallinan on The Writing Session and Dominae Primus on WritersServices.
- Here's a detailed article on how to prepare Your submission package - 'Given the difficulty of getting agents and publishers to take on your work, it's really important to make sure that you present it in the best possible way. Less is more, so don't send a full manuscript, as it's very unlikely to be read. Far better to tempt them with a submission package that will leave them wanting to see the rest of the manuscript...'
- Our links: as we move into the 2020s there are plenty of reasons to celebrate the resurgence of the book, BBC - Culture - How reading has changed in the 2010s; the writer who, for four decades, has imagined the near future more convincingly than anyone else, How William Gibson Keeps His Science Fiction Real | The New Yorker; my grandmother read one novel in her life, Reading the Unpublished Novel My Mother Took 30 Years to Write | Literary Hub; and Fern Michaels is women's fiction royalty and a publishing legend, Grande Dame of Women's Fiction Marks a Career Milestone.
- As well as our highly-regarded Copy editing service, which will help you prepare your manuscript for submission or self-publishing, we have Manuscript Polishing, which provides a higher-level polishing service, English Language Editing for those for whom English is not a native language, our new Writer's edit, providing line-editing, and Proof-reading. Get the right level of editorial support for your needs. Our low-cost services represent exceptionally good value. Contact us to discuss what you want.
- More links: when our writing resists us - when it refuses to do as we hope - we often respond with ever more force, pushing it to bend to our will, What Your Draft (and Its Problems) Says About You | Literary Hub; the antithesis of a hardbitten banker or financier, How Hong Kong poet Mary Jean Chan is wowing Britain's literary circles with first collection, Flèche | South China Morning Post; and, a bit crass but rather fascinating, The 10 Richest Children's Authors Of All Time, Ranked By Net Worth.
- From our Endorsements page: ‘Absolutely first class job! Very professional. Thank you very much indeed. Wish I'd found you before, it would certainly have saved me a lot of unnecessary headaches. I'll now bin the rest of the editors I've so far dealt with, and hope to keep contact with you.' Steven Kocsis.
- 'Everything in art depends on execution: the story of a louse can be as beautiful as the story of Alexander. You must write according to your feelings, be sure those feelings are true, and let everything else go hang. When a line is good it ceases to belong to any school. A line of prose must be as immutable as a line of poetry.' Julian Barnes in our Writers' Quotes.