19 February 2018 - What's new
19 February 2018
- 'Some people say the crime novel is not a social novel - that it's just entertainment. I would totally dispute that: it's exactly where society is at the moment. Psychological thrillers are usually written by women, with a female protagonist and male villain, often in a domestic setting. For many men, the experience of women is being illuminated for the first time via #MeToo, and that it's not a problem that exists just at the top of Hollywood but everywhere. Crime fiction is reflecting that...' Joseph Knobbs, crime fiction buyer at Waterstones, whose crime novels Sirens and The Smiling Man (published in March) have been published under the name Joseph Knox, in Bookbrunch. Our Comment
- Poetry continues to be very much in the news and, if you want to find a market for your own poems there's a book still avalilable on the Salt Publishing backlist, which we reviewed a while back and which helps you do just that. It's called 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell.
- Winchester Writers Festival 2018 Writing Competitions are open to all, no requirement to attend the Festival. There are ten different competitions with different prizes and it's £6 per entry + £10 for feedback. Closing 11 April.
- 'Hardly any authors can copy edit their own writing. It is notoriously difficult to spot the errors in your own work. So professional copy editing does make sense, either if you are trying to give your work its best chance when submitting it or, even more crucially, if you are planning to self-publish...' Getting your manuscript copy edited
- Our links: David Shelley, one of the hottest young talents in global publishing and CEO of Hachette UK, has a positive view, Publishing's remarkable resilience is amazing: Hachette UK's David Shelley - Livemint; a practical approach for self-publishers and others, with lots of links, 4 Affordable Ways to Master Book Marketing | Jane Friedman; an irresistible collection of writers' spats, 25 Legendary Literary Feuds, Ranked | Literary Hub; and writers' own ideas about getting to readers, How can we help more authors reach more readers? | The Bookseller.
- Our Services for Writers - just a list of 20 services to help you get your work ready for publication.
- More links: another positive view from the CEO of Penguin Random House worldwide, ‘I believe in the future of literary fiction' - OPINION - The Hindu; have romance novels evolved given the current social/political climate? Where are romance novels headed given the current state of women's issues? - Chicago Tribune; I first realized that literary genres existed - that certain books were, by dint of their cover designs and physical dimensions, suspect - in fifth grade, Why I'll Never Stop Reading "Junk" Fiction | Literary Hub.
- Advice for Writers is a really useful page which takes you into our archive and helps you explore our almost 6,500 pages of information for writers.
- 'After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.' Philip Pullman in our Writers' Quotes.