December 2024
- 'As someone who's on their sixth novel and has had their ups and downs, I'm aware of how privileged and lucky I have been, and what a shock it can be for debut writers - all the reality of that world, and that new voice and when the book doesn't quite take off, it's a shock. I'm lucky that I had this other job as a screenwriter, also lucky to have a publisher who can ride out the ups and downs... I am concerned for those who don't find their way until their third novel, which might be the one where they find their voice and readers discover them. I feel for new voices and recognise I've been lucky to have been supported through the ups and downs of my career...' David Nichols, author of six novels, including the bestselling One Day, which was made into a highly successful Netflix series, in the Bookseller.
- The Pedant: how to make your editor happy 8: Grammar rants is the latest new article in this series. 'What is it about a misplaced apostrophe, or a dangling modifier, that provokes such ire in the hearts of otherwise well-meaning folk? Is language such a fragile construct that it needs protecting from the barbarians? I must confess to a shiver of indignation when I see a simple plural marred by a stray apostrophe (and some bemusement as to why greengrocers are the most common culprits: cabbage's, anyone?) but it's not a sea of troubles I'm prepared to take up arms against...'
- The Pedant series covers a range of subject-matter to help improve your writing and avoid common errors: Accents and dialects, Dialogue tags, The use of bold, italics and capital letters, Spoilt for choice: formats and fonts, The trouble with ‘as', What's all the fuss over hyphens? and Close encounters of the word kind.
- If you're looking for a report on your manuscript, how do you work out which one of our three reports would suit you best? Which Report? includes our latest top-of-the-range service, the Editor's Report Plus, introduced by popular demand to provide even more detail. This very substantial report takes the form of a chapter-by-chapter breakdown and many writers have found that this detail helps them to get their book right. It's now our most popular report. Through our specialist children's editors we can offer reports on children's books.
- Our first set of links relate to writers' issues: following a recent survey by the Bookseller on royalties and advances, which revealed widespread problems around payments, The Bookseller - News - Royalties survey sparks calls for change as Society of Authors reveals 'increased reliance on hardship grants'; what do you get when you poll 269 professional secret keepers about their craft? Comp survey how much does it cost - Gotham Ghostwriters; another novel written by a UK author has been withdrawn, Furore sparked by Jamie Oliver children's book cultural appropriation opens wider debate | Books | The Guardian; and author Sophie Haeder on translating fiction and how language shapes fantasy, The magic of words: why fantasy works better in English.
- Closing on 3 January, The Selfie Book Awards 2025 are open to self-published authors in the UK. Registration fee of £34.50 includes six-month subscription to Bookbrunch. Each category winner receives £750 plus a profile in Bookbrunch. The three categories are adult fiction, adult general non-fiction and children's books.
- Do you want to self-publish your work? WritersServices offers a suite of services which help writers get their work into shape before they self-publish. Get your manuscript ready for publication - Services for Self-publishers.
- From our Ask the Editor series, Why do I need a report? 'I think a good report is an advantage to every writer, but there are two groups of authors for whom they are especially useful. The first group comprises confident, competent writers; folk who feel they are in control of the process but would benefit from an objective view of their work. The second group consists of writers from the other end of the confidence scale; people who are not sure if they are heading in the right direction and need an outside view to help them along the writing journey...'
- Links to writers' stories: one of the giants of popular fiction, The Bookseller - News - Barbara Taylor Bradford dies aged 91; Lindsey Erith on the connections between her art and her writing, Capturing an essence; when it came to writing my second novel, I found myself setting the action in D'Arvor, a made-up mysterious and awe-inspiring medieval castle, Finding the Gothic in Arthurian Legends ‹ CrimeReads; the Pulitzer Prize winner and former poet laureate of the United States is as productive as ever, Just Follow the Thread: PW Talks with Ted Kooser.
- From our Endorsements page: 'I am delighted with the feedback and so pleased with all the great suggestions which were so much more than I expected. A really brilliant service.' Sally Gibbins , Birmingham, UK, on her children's copy editing.
- From our seven-part series An Editor's advice no 6 is It's my story - why can't I get it taken on by a publisher? 'For the individual writer, his or her life is naturally the most important thing in the world... The problem arises in trying to get such accounts taken on by a publisher. How to put this without in any way diminishing someone's experience?... This is precisely the time to think seriously about self-publishing...'
- Are you ready to submit your synopsis and sample chapters to agents or publishers, but worried about whether you are presenting your work in the best possible way? It's dispiriting to receive rejections just because your submission package is not up to scratch. Our Submission Critique has helped many authors to improve their submission packages, helping them to get published.
- Links relating to AI and social media: neuroscientist Christopher Summerfield explores how large language models work, Where Does AI Go from Here?: PW Talks with Christopher Summerfield; collective licensing will benefit both the creative sector and the AI industry argues Tom West, AI and copyright: the collective solution; and 8th Note Press will print novels in genres popular on BookTok including YA and contemporary fiction and ‘romantasy', TikTok owner ByteDance to publish print books | Books | The Guardian.
- If you're aiming at traditional publishing, Finding an agent and Working with an agent are two practical checklists to help set up and maintain this vital relationship. 'Try to find an agency which is ‘hungry' for new clients. To keep their workload under control, an established independent agent might take on something like four new authors a year, but only to replace four departing clients. This may seem obvious, but whether or not an agent is actively looking to build their list of clients is probably the single most important factor affecting how closely they are looking at unsolicited submissions...'
- So you want to be a romance writer? You've made an interesting choice because, although a lot of people scoff at romance, it is the most stable genre of all and has continued to keep its faithful readers when other categories have changed radically and sometimes lost their audiences. Romance has changed a bit in recent years and embraced a more complex story, sometimes with more explicit sex in it, but essentially this is a category which marches on, providing happy endings, when all around it the world has changed. Writing Romance
- Links from publishing: 8080 Books aims to ‘shorten the lag between the final manuscript and the book's arrival in the marketplace', Microsoft launches imprint that aims to be faster than traditional book publishing | Books | The Guardian; post-event statistics from co-organizer BolognaFiere showed that 41,262 attended the fair, including 17,081 professional visitors, Shanghai Children's Book Fair 2024: The Chinese Children's Book Market in Brief; publisher Spines will charge authors between $1,200 and $5,000 to have their books proofread, designed and distributed with the help of artificial intelligence, Writers condemn startup's plans to publish 8,000 books next year using AI | Books | The Guardian; and Dan Pye's posted nearly 500 videos on YouTube and even more on Facebook and Instagram, where he's amassed over 15,000 combined followers, Amazon side hustle: Self-publishing classic books has become a weird new way to "retire early."
- How to prepare your prelim pages. There is a set order for the pages at the beginning of a book (known in the business as 'prelims') and you will need to send them to the designer with the rest of the manuscript for them to work on if you are self-publishing. Here we provide detailed instructions for preparing your prelim pages, according to standard publishing practice.
- If you aren't sure which service you want, Choosing a service gives you a chance to browse through what is available.
- Poets are naturally keen to see their work in print but it's actually quite hard to get a first collection taken on by a publisher and self-publishing may make a lot of sense. Getting your poetry published.
- ‘Starting with a blank page is part of what makes writing a book so vulnerable. A novel can be anything, and the way it turns out is highly personal.' Laura Blackett in our Writers' Quotes.
