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19 October 2014 - What's new

19 October 2014
  • This week News Review looks at how ebook buyers are increasing their reading because they're cheaper, an open submission from Little Brown UK's Blackfriars list and a Success Story from Jessie Burton.
  • 'Jessie Burton's road to success is interesting because it's only just happened, following the publication of her first novel The Miniaturist in July. Having spent four years writing the book she was quite overwhelmed by its reception, the competition to represent her and then the eleven-publisher auction at the 2013 London Book Fair. Previously an actor (which must come close to writing in terms of the difficulty of achieving success in your work), Burton supported herself through that four years mostly through temping in the City...' Jessie Burton's Success story
  • Our Comment comes from the same source: ‘I am wary of that romanticised idea of writing a novel, you just have to pick up a pencil or a pen and open your laptop and it is far more boring. It's not glamorous. I learnt that I can write anywhere. You do need time and space but you don't need a cottage in Wales, I'd say...' Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist.
  • Our Writing Opportunity this week is Little Brown Book Group's Blackfriars open submission for one week in early December. Get yourself geared up to go for this by having a look at their submission guidelines now.
  • Are you interested in Getting Your Manuscript Copy Edited? As well as this article we have one from our 19-part Inside Publishing series about Copy editing and proof-reading and we offer a Copy editing service, as well as a Proof-reading service ando our special Manuscript Polishing service, which involves more intensive work, 'polishing' and improving the text, and correcting the English if you are writing in English as a second language.
  • 'A new Mintel survey this week shows that ebook fans are increasing their reading because ebooks are cheaper. These UK figures show that 26% of consumers who have bought an e-book in the last year are reading more than they used to because e-books cost less than paperbacks, a figure that rises to 38% of 16 to 24-year-olds...' News Review
  • We have 24 pages offering hundreds of recommended links to sites, including Interesting Literature, which we've just added, Poetry Sites, Writers Online Services and Writers' Organisations. Share with us any new links you'd recommend.
  • Our links this week:an old subject but an important one at this time of declining advances, Are Publisher Advances Truly Critical? - The Digital Reader; thoughtful comments from Richard Flanagan, Man Booker winner echoes fears over inclusion of US writers | Books | The Guardian; an overview of publishing, Editorial from Frankfurt: Why We Can't Afford to Stand Still - Publishing Perspectives; and a practical and detailed article on How to Get Traffic to Your Author Website: 30+ Tips for Discouraged Writers | Your Writer Platform.
  • 'Writers may be disreputable, incorrigible, early to decay or late to bloom, but they dare to go it alone.' John Updike in our Writers' Quotes.
  • If it's more quotes you are looking for, we've been collecting them for years and have hundreds in Even More Quotes.