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'The staggering number of 285,000 new titles and
editions were self-published and published by community presses in the US last
year, balanced against a slightly lower figure of 275,000 coming from
traditional publishing houses... The Nielsen figures for the UK are 133,224,
quite modest by comparison... So, what do these huge figures mean for authors? At
a time when it’s increasingly hard to get published, why are there so many
titles coming out? The main answer of course is self-publishing and print on
demand in general. News Review reports.
-
'Quick Reads
recently surveyed over 30,000 of their readers and found that 100% said
Quick Reads had made a positive impact on their lives. 88% were more
confident and 41% felt their job prospects had improved since reading a
Quick Read. Significantly, in terms of encouraging book reading, 82%
said they were more likely to read another book after reading a Quick
Read.' News Review investigates Quick Reads with World Book Day
coming up on 4 March.
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‘I am saddened that yet another claim has
been made that I have taken material from another source to write Harry.
The fact is I had never heard of the author or the book before the first
accusation by those connected to the author's estate in 2004; I have
certainly never read the book.' J K Rowling
News Review looks at the latest plagiarism claim.
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The end of the slush-pile is upon us. Big
publishers don't even bother to read it and it's a rare author who can make it
into print that way. News Review looks at the odds and at the big
writers who have beaten the trend.
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Figures for 2009 just released by the big UK
publishers show just how tough a time they had and what a difficult book market
we’ve had in the past year.
Seven of the top UK publishers had negative sales
growth last year measured by the Total Consumer Market figures, as did half of
the top 20 publishers. The only one of the top four to do well was the market
leader Hachette and that was because of Stephenie Meyer, whose £29.4m ($46m) of
sales accounted for an extraordinary 10.2% of the group’s total UK sales. News Review reflects on what all this means for authors.
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'If you feel sorry for publishers spare a thought – and
a dime – for writers, on whose shoulders this huge, discounting,
rights-trading, jargon-babbling profiteering melée rests. As things are,
the writer’s share of a book that sells for £10, after his or her agent’s fee,
hovers between 35p and 40p: more than 95% is kept by the agent, publisher and
retailer.' Henry Porter in the
Guardian.
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‘Books are not a
threatened species. They are ordinary features of the ordinary world... Should
we, who read books and believe that books and the stories within them contain
such power, be surprised that kids read, that books survive? Of course not. We
should be celebrating these facts.’ David Almond, author of Skellig,
in The Times
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'I think John Irving
said in an interview something which nobody says about writing, which is that
writing is sitting down and typing that sentence, and that sentence creates the
next sentence and the character grows and the story grows from the physical act
of typing what is going on in your head .'
Deborah Moggach in Scriptwriter.
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'The idea of what constitutes literary value has
changed or become less consensual. It’s harder to establish what is good and
what is not, and that is one of the things that forms the canon. Barnes, Amis,
McEwan were the last people through the door, and then the door closed, and then
the building fell down.’ Giles Foden, author of Turbulence, in the
Bookseller
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‘Every agent has
their own style. Ed Victor goes to a party and signs up someone. Luigi Bonomi goes and talks to a film company or football agent.
But I like doing
it this way (through his website) because it brings in interesting books, often
ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I love the range and serendipity…'
Andrew Lownie on finding agency clients through the web.
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‘According to Amazon Kindle's vice-president, Ian
Freed, the success of the Kindle signals the end of physical books: 'The only
question is does it take three years, five years or 20 years?' I remain to
be persuaded that e-readers are capable of matching the varied activities we
engage in when reading. More is required to satisfy the dedicated reader than
replicating the content and appearance of a printed book, or emulating the
action of "turning pages" using a tap on a touch-sensitive screen.'
Lisa Jardine in A Point of View on BBC Radio
Four
'The writer's intention hasn't anything to do with what he achieves. The
intent to earn money or the intent to be famous or the intent to be great
doesn't matter in the end. Just what comes out.'
Lillian Hellman
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If you want to write a memoir you’re in good
company – lots of writers want to try their hand at this category. In the latest
in our new Categories series Chris Holifield looks at how to set about
writing your memoir and how to publish it.
Other articles in the series:
Writing
Historical Fiction
Writing Romance
Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Writing Crime Fiction
Writing non-fiction
John looks at the writing of memoirs and
shows how his students have approached writing in this genre. He then
provides an elegant essay on the semi-colon.
Alison needed our children's editorial
services to get her magic unicorn story right.
Plus
other stories, including:
Having completed a creative writing
degree, Josh Spears thought he would become a bestselling writer or at
least be able to get a job. Neither of these has happened, so was it
worth it and would he advise other writers to put themselves through the
course?
'Do you find it difficult to get started on your writing? Is it always
easier to put off finishing that research/ starting that novel/embarking on
the second draft? You are not alone, for many writers suffer from
procrastination.'
Chris Holifield looks at how to get yourself going.
'This is primarily because writing is such a uniquely lonely job. Where else
would you be sitting by yourself and supplying your own self-discipline?
Most jobs have a structure and a time-frame which really help the individual
to get on with the job. Even consultants and freelancers have deadlines to
meet, but for the writer there is generally no specific outside pressure to
help things along – it’s up to them to get themselves motivated, get started
and get on with it.'
This book by the former editor of Writers’
Forum, our columnist John Jenkins, is packed with answers
to all the questions you have ever thought of asking.
Chris Holifield's review concludes that: 'All in
all, this is a valuable resource, especially for the new writer, but
also for anyone who has tried to work their way through the writing
jungle.'
John Jenkins' February
column
In his February column John deals with the famous piece of advice to
writers: 'Show, don't tell'.
If you've ever wondered exactly what this means in practice, John's
examples provide a quick tutorial and will help you to make your own
writing work much better.
From Gillian Clarke, National Poet for Wales, a beautiful poem which
is a lament for Haiti.
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In the seventh part of this series, Chris Holifield
looks at the subject of Creative Commons and how these special licenses
might transform authors' capacity to the license use of their books for all
sorts of purposes.
First article:
Bookselling
Second article: Publishing
Third article: Print on Demand and the
Long Tail
Fourth article: Self-publishing - career
suicide or 'really great'
Fifth article:
Writers' Routes to their audiences
Sixth article:
Copyright
Fauzia Burke explores the online
activities you can do in real time -- from status updates on Facebook,
to microblogging on Twitter to uploading photos and videos on other
social media sites. If you want to explore how social networking can
help you market your book, her article provides a starting-point.
The
2009 Diagram Prize shortlist
Click through to find the shortlist for
the oddest title of the year
In the seventh part of this series, Chris Holifield
looks at the subject of Creative Commons and how these special licenses
might transform authors' capacity to the license use of their books for all
sorts of purposes.
First article:
Bookselling
Second article: Publishing
Third article: Print on Demand and the
Long Tail
Fourth article: Self-publishing - career
suicide or 'really great'
Fifth article:
Writers' Routes to their audiences
Sixth article:
Copyright
Improving your writing, Learning on the job, New
technology and the Internet,
Self-publishing - is it for you?,
Promoting your writing (and yourself), Other kinds of writing, Keep up to date
and Submission to
publishers and agents
Our Editorial
Services for writers
Check out the 17 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to
Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting.
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.
Our huge section on technology and the web, and how writers can make use of
them, takes you from beginner-level articles to advanced technology.
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.
The talented Evie Wyld, who has just won the
prestigious John Llewelyn Rhys Prize with her novel After the Fire, A
Still Small Voice.
Check out this page to find links to the huge number of useful articles on this site,
including Finding an Agent
and Making Submissions.
International Book Fairs 2010
Our updated line-up of the year's book fairs across the world, a
unique feature of the site which is much in demand. Is there a
book fair near you? It might be worth planning to attend it if so.
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