21 March 2022 - What's new
21 March 2022
- 'After all, one of the great things about books is that they don't disappear after the first year of their publication - barring floods and thieves, they can loiter forever on your shelves, waiting to be picked up and rediscovered, manic publicity cycle be damned. They can be revisited, loaned out, traded, forgotten and found. They can have strange, long lives.' Emily Temple, managing editor at Lit Hub and author of The Lightness.
- 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 The English Language Publishing World: 'Why does the traditional publishing world get divided up into publishing territories? How has this come about? How does it affect authors?'
- 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 from our professional editors. Our low-cost services represent exceptionally good value. Contact us to discuss what you want.
- The Laurel Prize 2022 closes on 17 April. Entries are open to all poets writing in the English language anywhere in the world. Self-published collections are not eligible. No entry fee. UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage is supporting this prize of an annual award for the best collection of nature or environmental poetry to highlight the climate crisis and raise awareness of the challenges and potential solutions at this critical point in our planet's life. First Prize - £5,000 Second Prize - £2,000 Third Prize - £1,000. Prize for Best First Collection - £500
- Links from publishing: People in the book community have strong feelings about it, Is Goodreads a good thing? | Book Riot; and reading is cool again, The reading renaissance: could the #BookTok bump save publishing? A local school board had voted to remove Art Spiegelman's Holocaust classic Maus from its curriculum, ‘It's a culture war that's totally out of control': the authors whose books are being banned in US schools | Books | The Guardian; until I started doing research for this article, I had no idea that Book of the Month is almost 100 years old, The Effect of Book of the Month on Book Sales | Book Riot; two links to articles about the key international children's book fair, Bologna 2022: The Bologna Book Fair Is Back for 2022; and Bologna 2022: Quieter Fair, But Good to Be Back; and from the largest trade publisher in the country, Russia's Eksmo Asks World to Rethink Boycott
- How to market your writing services online is a useful article from Joanne PhillipsUK-based freelance writer and ghostwriter. She has had articles published in national writing magazines, and has ghostwritten books on subjects as diverse as hairdressing and keeping chickens. Visit her at www.joannephillips.co.uk about selling yourself as a writer. 'Recently someone commented to me that I seem to be doing a pretty good job of promoting my writing services on the internet. I was touched by the observation - we writers get so many rejections that a little praise is especially gratifying. And I began to wonder - what does it take to market yourself successfully as a jobbing writer today?...'
- The most recent addition to our range of reports is the Editor's Report Plus, a substantial report which offers chapter-by-chapter commentary on your manuscript, with a helpful blueprint for any further work which is recommended. It gives you the kind of expert advice which is usually only available from an in-house editor, which is why it has quickly become our most popular report.
- Links from writers: I never once aspired to be a screenwriter in the glamorous world of film. It simply didn't occur to me. Until I moved to Los Angeles. Novels, Screenplays, and the Writers Who Do Both ‹ CrimeReads; it is a truth universally acknowledged - at least among romance readers - that whenever someone brings up the Regency romance, the sentence that follows must inevitably mention Jane Austen, When will Hollywood discover Georgette Heyer? - Vox; there was nowhere else Saunders would rather be than here, chopping it up with commenters young and old, near and far, longtime fans and first-time callers, Why Novelists Are Embracing Substack - Can Substack Reinvent the Social Internet? Crime fiction, what is it, anyway? The Two Camps of Crime: Christie's Cool, Cozy Tales of Ratiocination and Highsmith's Psycho-Sexual Deep Waters ‹ CrimeReads.
- Working with an agent: 'Don't ever take on an agent you don't like or don't trust, however desperate you may feel. You have to be able to work with them in what should be an extremely important relationship for you as a writer. You must also feel confident that they are competent, enthusiastic about your work and can be trusted, both in terms of the advice they offer and in relation to handling your money...'
- More links from writers: it's no wonder that so many spy writers have tunnelled their way into East Berlin over the years, Can Contemporary Spy Novels Ever Live Up to the Cold War Classics? ‹ CrimeReads; a writer on the fascinating subject of writers' relationships, ‘I couldn't face the resentment and rage': can artistic couples have successful relationships? | Books | The Guardian; Nancy Allen urges readers not to turn away from the dangers women face, In Defense of a Thriller Trope: "Damsels in Distress" ‹ CrimeReads; and Scotland's western metropolis, Glasgow: City of Business, City of Crime ‹ CrimeReads.
- 'An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.' Irwin Shaw in our Writers' Quotes.
