December 2006
The website for writers
News Review
- 'The competition amongst publishers for these big celebrity memoirs is ferocious, meaning that they carry a high price tag.' News Review investigates the celebrity book market.
- The Guardian First Book Award boosts short stories with Chinese writer Yiyun Li’s collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. News Review reports.
- 'His Alfie’s Adventures series, which follow the time-travelling adventures of seven-year-old Alfie and his dog, has already sold 320,000 copies, largely due to a deal with Virgin Airlines.' News Review looks at successes in children's writing.
- 'Covered in blood' - News Review looks at O J Simpson's If I Did It and the media storm it caused.
- The last week has seen the sale announced of Blackwell and Readers Digest in an ongoing frenzy of acquisitions. News Review reports.
Comment
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'I like reading thrillers and I don't know why the literary world is sometimes snobbish about them. Vikram Chandra, author of Sacred Games in the Bookseller
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'But please, if you're reading a book that's killing you, put it down and read something else, just as you would reach for the remote if you weren't enjoying a television programme. Nick Hornby in the Sunday Telegraph
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'Academic publishing may not look particularly sexy, but in a richer, better-educated world it is no bad place to be.' Bookseller editorial
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'Books transported me to a place that was filled with endless possibilities, and it was all so much better than whatever it was I was doing in real life.' Jennifer Kaufman, author of Book Lover, in Stella
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'I could not have written Equinox had it not been for those 25 non-fiction titles that preceded it. ' Michael White in Publishing News
Writers' Quote
'That was the chief difference between literature and
life. In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is high; in
reality, very low.'
Aldous Huxley
The view from a publisher's desk
This is the fourth in a series of articles by Tom Chalmers, MD of Legend Press, giving a publisher's view of the submission process and what a publisher is looking for.
This month: The changing face of publishing:
'Writers shouldn’t be deluded into thinking they can just write a good thriller, send it around and they will get an offer to get it published over lunch with an editor.'
Free 20 minute telephone coaching session
We're relaunching our Coaching service and offering a free 20 minute telephone coaching session with Julia McCutchen if you register for any of the individual Coaching service packages by Friday 9 February 2007!
How does email get from one place to the other?
Are you baffled by email error codes and wondering what SMTP actually stands for? Our latest Writers Web Watch article will fill you in.
Where next for the web
Web 2.0 is the next development for the Internet, and then there's Web 3.0. So what does it all mean?
Vanity publishing
The latest in the Inside Publishing series deals with how to avoid being conned by the vanity publishers.
What is RSS?
Our latest Writers Web Watch article explains this 'Push' technology which allows new web content to be sent to you if you have expressed an interest.
Our new audio section
Check out our new audio section. This shows you how to record your work using the facilities built into your computer. You can start with Preparing your story and How to start recording.
It's easier than you think, so get recording! We'll provide a site for you to podcast your work soon.
Our Editorial Services for writers
Check out the 15 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to
Copy editing, Typing to Contract vetting. Our latest new service is
Coaching.
Bob's Journal goes into its 6th volume
Bob's on broadband at last! Resisting the temptations of the surfing the net, he's making progress on his thriller too:
'Having good week on TV thriller. Writing four or five pages a day on average... have finally trained myself not to go back over scenes already written, but just to keep going doggedly on.'
John Jenkins on the short story and Alice Munro's new collection, freedom of speech and a warning about 'participatory media' or 'citizen journalism':
'These organizations are intent on filling their online sites and hard copy publications on the cheap. It’s just like local radio stations which fill hours and hours with phone-ins. '
Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Flaubert were pretty good at it.'
Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2007
This is the 100th edition of this extremely useful book, which the Society of Authors calls 'A must for established and aspiring writers.'
The Editor's View
The Editor's View, written by the Editor of Writers' Forum magazine.
WritersPrintShop
We have revamped our WritersPrintShop website with lots more information. 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.
We Watch the web for writers
See also Finding an agent for how to go about getting someone to represent you.
Most recent Magazines
Previous serials & extracts
WritersServices.com Magazine December
2006
Competitions
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