This news about the site was published by Bookbrunch on 18 July 2013
Relaunch for WritersServices from Bookbrunch
18 July 2013
WritersServices has launched a revamped website with more than 4,000 pages of information for writers. The service also offers a weekly update and a monthly magazine. Read more
Reading is the paradigm of mobile entertainment. The home, in transit and in work-breaks are all seized as opportunities to turn a few pages. Alarmingly, a dozen respondents read in their cars. One must hope they were passengers. Read more
With schools and colleges around the world heading back, WritersServices has provided over 80 papers in their Education resource Centre to help those running. The pages can be used freely by any student or course tutor. Read more
The image of a writer bashing away at a clunky typewriter is dead. Only two people admitted to employing a typewriter in the January survey of writing habits conducted by WritersServices. The desktop computer and laptop have taken over as the preferred way for writers to set down their words Read more
This article by Chris Holifield was published in the May issue of Writers' Forum magazine. It provides a history of the setting-up and development of the
Where to find 1,300 pages of advice for writers
WritersServices.com
It was the height of the dotcom boom. Made redundant in spring 2000, by early 2001 I was keen to set up my own business. A website seemed an obvious idea and what better target than aspiring writers? I had always thought publishers’ slush piles a barrier for authors. Read more
WritersServices was mentioned in the trade press in the Bookseller dated 21 February 2003, in an article about the websites of 2003 book fairs which was part of the series Bookworm on the Net written by Anne Weale.
WritersServices had another mention in the trade press in the UK weekly Publishing News dated 14 March 2003
'WritersServices, the writers' website, now offers an increased range of services, including assistance with scriptwriting and children's writing and, for non-English speakers, a 'manuscript polishing' service. Read more
WritersServices was mentioned in the trade press in the Bookseller dated 11 October 2002, when Chris Holifield wrote a letter to the Editor as a contribution to an ongoing debate about the slush pile and what writers can do to get published:
'The continuing correspondence about the slush pile has prompted me to write to you about WritersServices.com. Our website is dedicat Read more
WritersServices, the website for writers, is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement with Pan Macmillan to publish the UK and US literary agents' listings for the 2002 edition of The Writer’s Handbook. Over 300 agents are listed with advice on the type of work to send and how to approach each agent. Read more
'I'm very reassuringly honest. It's a job as well as a calling. It's my living - I'm the chief breadwinner in my house. My husband is retired, he supported me through the two decades while I wasn't making enough to live on, and was doing all kinds of things to do with writing to survive - judging competitions, running workshops, appraising manuscripts.
‘My settings of Europe and English visitors weren't really doing it for them, so we decided Scotland would be good. I thought an island would be great, because it's a small community, and it's an opportunity for my main character to get away from it all. The team at HarperCollins have been so supportive and enthusiastic... Read more
For the past five years or so, I've read books on my phone. The practice started innocently enough. I write book reviews from time to time, and so publishers sometimes send me upcoming titles that fall roughly within my interests. Read more
The Guardian calls Irish-Indian poet Nikita Gill "Britain's most-followed poet on social media"-she has 780,000 Instagram followers and 180,000 TikTok followers, and her Instapoetry has been reshared by the likes of Khloe Kardashian, Alanis Morissette, and Sam Smith-and she has published seven volumes of poetry and two novels in the U.K. But she is far less known on this side of the pond. Read more
Nikkolas Smith knows a thing or two about book bans. The illustrator has created five picture books over the last three years-four of which have been yanked off library shelves. There's I am Ruby Bridges, about the civil rights icon; That Flag about the confederate flag; Born on the Water, which explores slavery; and The Artivist which features a child supporting trans kids.
Simon & Schuster has acquired the largest Dutch publishing group Veen Bosch & Keuning, including all of its publishers in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as sister companies Thinium and Bookchoice.
The Publishers Association (PA) has criticised the government's response to a House of Lords report on AI, saying that it has failed to make "any tangible commitments to protect the creative industries against mass copyright infringement".
'The novel is likely, if the best literary brains cannot be induced to return to it, to survive in some perfunctory, despised and hopelessly degenerate form, like modern tombstones, or the Punch and Judy show.’
'I'm very reassuringly honest'
‘My settings of Europe and English visitors weren't really doing it for them, so we decided Scotland would be good. I thought an island would be great, because it's a small community, and it's an opportunity for my main character to get away from it all. The team at HarperCollins have been so supportive and enthusiastic... Read more