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20 June 2016 - What's new

20 June 2016
  • ‘It isn't that I can't take the criticism. What you don't need is to hear yourself explained to yourself, or for any sliver of self-consciousness to come into your writing. ‘The greatest enemy to good art is the router in the hall. I have had conversations with other writers who say their concentration is totally shot by their need to check Twitter...' Maggie O'Farrell, author of This Must Be the Place and The Hand That First Held Mine in the Independent on Sunday. Our Comment
  • Suzy Jenvey, vastly experienced children's editorial director and now agent, has written a special series for WritersServices, the four-part The Essential Guide to Writing for Children. The first article looks at the all-important question of age groups and what you should be aware of in writing for each one. The second part is - Before You Write: What is My Story Going to be? The third part deals with Starting to Write and the fourth part is about Submitting Your Work to Agents and Editors.
  • New Nielsen research gives a clear picture of who romance readers are. It's no surprise that 84% are female and only 16% male, but in 2015 53% of readers were in the 18-44 age range, considerably younger than might have been expected, and only 13% are over 65. What is the current state of romance? News Review
  • Our Poetry Critique service and Poetry Collection Editing service might help you to work out where you've got to with your poetry. Do you want to make sure that your poetry is as good as it can be before you go ahead with submitting to competitions, magazines or websites, or do you want help to prepare a collection? Our Poetry Collection Editing service is unique and is a real help when what you need is editorial advice on preparing your collection for self-publishing or submission.
  • Our Writing Opportunity this week is the T S Eliot Prize 2016. Submissions may only come from publishers and the Prize is only open to single-author poetry collections published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland during the calendar year of 2016. No entry fee, closing date 5 August. The winner receives £20,000, the ten shortlisted poets £1,500 each.
  • Our links this week: international publishing this season lies downwind of hot blasts of political potentials that many feel could be damaging to various countries' books industries and their readerships, Publishing & Politics: 'Toxic Negotiations,' 'Trumpian Dystopia'; once upon a time, in the smoky, violent neverland of crime fiction, there were seductive creatures we called femmes fatales, ‘Gone Girl' and the Rise of Crime Novels by Women - The Atlantic; 1. Finish the book. You will annoy everybody you query if your novel isn't finished, 10 Steps To Getting A Literary Agent; and are liteary critics being too uncritical? Does Literary Criticism Have a Grade Inflation Problem? | New Republic.
  • Have you ever wondered why you don't win any of those competitions? Our tips on Entering Competitions will help you to improve your chances.
  • More links: do we no longer read because we don't have enough time? Is James Patterson's New Imprint the Second Coming of Pulp Fiction? - Flavorwire; how a novella turned into an 827 page novel, Don DeLillo on Underworld: 'there was no escape' | Books | The Guardian; a revival of the 1960s series that ran to 27 titles until the mid 1970s in a bid to usher in "a new golden age", Penguin Modern Poets series is revamped | The Bookseller; and is the resurgnece of print a "win" over ebooks and digital media, The Myth About Print Coming Back and Bookstores on the Rise | Jane Friedman.
  • 'Most beginning writers (and I was the same) are like chefs trying to cook great dishes that they've never tasted themselves. How can you make a great (or even an adequate) bouillabaisse if you've never had any? Daniel Quinn in our Writers' Quotes.