What's New in 2020
- ‘You write a biography from the vantage point of where you are: your gender, your race, your class. It's not a love affair or a marriage: it's a job. You're not writing autobiography; you're writing about some other person, usually a dead person. You can only access them in as far as you have materials and witnesses to allow you to access them. You are at the mercy of what you can find and read and hear and see. You become as intimate as you can with the life and work of this person... But there is always going to be a gap... Hermione Lee, author of many books including biographies of Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, Penelope Fitzgerald and now Tom Stoppard, her only living subject, in the New Statesman.
- Written exclusively for WritersServices - Trident Media Group Literary Agent Mark Gottlieb explains how literary agencies work. It's no surprise that they do a lot more than you think and that they bring a lot of expertise in a range of different areas to bear on behalf of their authors. How Literary Agents Work.
- Last year we launched the Writer's edit, a top-level new service for writers who want line-editing as well as copy editing. Does your manuscript need high-level input from an editor to help you get it into the best possible shape for submission or self-publishing? This may be the service for you, offering the kind of editing which publishers' senior editors used to do in-house on their authors' manuscripts and which is now hard to find. Our other copy editing services.
- Our links on writing: there's only one question to ask an author, Hilary Mantel on How Writers Learn to Trust Themselves | Literary Hub; terrible Hollywood adaptations, writing LGBTQ characters for YA and much more, Rick Riordan: 'I feel very protective of my fans. I am aware of my responsibility to make them feel safe' | Books | The Guardian; Why would you want to write a book this way? Why would you want to expose the early stages of your work to the World Wide Web? 10 Reasons Why You Should Blog a Book - How to Blog a Book; at last they're starting to get attention, Graphic novels are overlooked by book prizes, but that's starting to change; Can reading aloud help you write better? Does planning too far ahead overcomplicate things? Five writing tips for beginners - National Centre for Writing; and a leader who blazed a trail, Margaret Busby: how Britain's first black female publisher revolutionised literature - and never gave up | Society | The Guardian.
- Writers' stories - they're just a bit of fun, but in a rare moment of inspiration we wrote some fictionalised stories of how the services could turn out, to give you a better idea of how they might work for you. Joe's fantasy novel benefited from some professional input, when he signed up for an Editor's Report Plus. Tony needed Copy editing to get his manuscript into shape for publication or self-publishing.
- More links on writers and books: writing a book about my adventure? I Spent Nearly Two Decades Writing and Editing My Book. It Finally Found a Publisher. | Jane Friedman; transformed by a great writer into The Greengage Summer, My search for novelist Rumer Godden's famed French summer - BBC News; good news from his Nigerian publisher, Wole Soyinka to publish first novel in almost 50 years | Books | The Guardian; as usual, it's a crazy shortlist, The Bookseller announces the Diagram Prize 2020 shortlist | The Bookseller; and how Book Aid InternationalSupplies much-needed books to developing countries, raising funds from publishers and general public; 'Reverse Book Club' is masterly idea-for just £5 ($10) month you can provide 48 books to go to where they're most needed has been keeping young people supplied with books during the Covid-19 crisis, Pandemic: maintaining the books lifeline.
- Getting your poetry published - 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. This is because most poetry lists are pretty small... It's hard to achieve any sales for first collections and the publishers have to be realistic about this. Here's how to look at the options.
- 'After all everybody, that is, everybody who writes, is interested in living inside themselves in order to tell what is inside themselves. That is why writers have to have two countries, the one where they belong and the one in which they live really. The second one is romantic, it is separate from themselves, it is not real but it is really there.' Gertrude Stein in our Writers' Quotes.
- ‘Get on top of the computer program Final Draft. It's expensive and buggy, but it's the industry standard and for a first-time screenwriter like me there is something magical about the way it makes everything look like a Hollywood movie script. The other thing I have learnt is, the better the scene the less of it there is on the page. It's what your characters aren't saying that's important. Subtext is all.' Writing Scripts from Daisy Goodwin, scriptwriter for Victoria, the TV series, and author of several novels, including My Last Duchess and The Fortune Hunter and of 8 anthologies of poetry.
- Advice for writers provides your way in to a mass of material on the site.
- There's just time to enter the Gingko Prize for Ecopoetry 2020, closing on 31 October. A major international award for poems embracing ecological themes, it's open to all poets from across the world. Entry fee: first submission £7 then £4 for each additional poem. First prize £5,000, second prize £2,000 and third prize £1,000. UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and poet Jade Cuttle are the judges.
- The National Poetry Competition is closing on the same day, so hurry to get your entries in for that.
- Do you want some help with your writing but don't quite know what you want - or even if you need any help? Are you a bit puzzled by the various services on offer, and not sure what to go for? Choosing a service can help you work out which service is right for you.
- Links to stories from last week's Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two.: the book business has proven surprisingly resilient and adaptable, Frankfurt Participants See Silver Linings; reimagined for 2020 as an entirely virtual event, all in-person events were canceled, At This Year's Frankfurt Book Fair, Uncertainty Was Met with Optimism; authors can "Cease the burden" of the coronavirus outbreak with their "power of observation", David Grossman calls on writers to bear witness to pandemic | Books | The Guardian; and children's books, especially educational ones, are doing well, A Surprisingly Strong Year of Book Sales Continues.
- Our 19 Factsheets from the legendary Michael Legat are full of tips for the new writer or anyone who is trying to get their book published. From Literary agents to Copyright, from Libel to Submissions, this series is full of essential background information.
- Links from writers: Bonnie Garmus's debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, was discussed over email, on the phone and via Zoom, Copywriter's Debut Emerges as Big Book at Frankfurt; Oh Bill! This isn't the kind of news we need now, Bill Bryson says he's retiring - is he really putting away his pen? | Books | The Guardian; when I think back across my nearly nineteen novels, I find that no, I don't have a particular axe to grind. Quite the opposite, In crime fiction, anyone can be a murderer. That's what's so great about it. | CrimeReads; the literati is splitting into two rival camps, JK Rowling and the bitter battle of the book world | London Evening Standard.
- Finding an agent - 'Try to find an agency which is ‘hungry' for new clients. To keep their workload under control, an established agent might take on something like four new authors a year (this figure came from two agents I spoke to recently), 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...'
- Links about worldwide trends: contrasting with publishers' optimism, Pandemic taking mounting toll on author incomes, SoA survey finds | The Bookseller; it is an intolerable situation that a company that depends on the public services run by the state does not pay an appropriate level of taxes, The Guardian view on Amazon's dominance: we have to make different choices | Editorial | Opinion | The Guardian; changes in the cultural landscape, What Happens When Literary Events Move Online? | Literary Hub.
- 'It's the most satisfying occupation man has discovered yet, because you never can quite do it as well as you want to, so there's always something to wake up tomorrow morning to do.' William Faulkner in our Writers' Quotes.
- ‘Dear Aspiring Writer, you are not ready. Stop. Put that finished story away and start another one. In a month, go back and look at the first story. RE-EDIT it. Then send it to a person you respect in the field who will be hard on you. Pray for many many, many red marks. Fix them. Then put it away for two weeks. Work on something else. Finally, edit one last time. Now you are ready to sub your first work...' Inez Kelley, author of Sweet as Sin, Turn It Up, Taming the Alpha and 11 other books.
- Tips for writers is our 8-part crash course for writers who are starting out, taking you from Promoting Your Writing (and Yourself) to Self-publishing: is it for you? from Keep up to date to Submission to publishers and agents. 'Be prepared to redraft your work and to rethink it. Many new writers assume that their work will immediately be ready for publication, but the truth is that many highly successful writers produced several drafts of their first work before they got it published.' And 'When you've got your work into the best state you can, put it on one side for a few weeks and then look at it afresh. You'll be amazed what difference a fresh eye will make.'
- As well as our highly-regarded Copy editing service, which will help you prepare your manuscript for submission or self-publishing, we have Manuscript Polishing, which provides a higher-level polishing service, English Language Editing for those for whom English is not their native language, our latest new service Writer's edit, providing line-editing, and Proof-reading. Get the right level of editorial support for your needs. Our low-cost services represent exceptionally good value. Contact us to discuss what you want.
- Our links for and about writers: first, an exceptionally good article, What is Plot? A Writer's Guide to Creating Amazing Plots - The Art of Narrative; an American head of state publicly acknowledging the work of a private eye, in this case a former British spy named Christopher Steele, The Modern Detective: Inside the Secret World of Private Investigators | CrimeReads; they will not let their future novels be entered for the award after the prize asked them for information on their sex as defined "by law", Akwaeke Emezi shuns Women's prize over request for details of sex as defined 'by law' | Books | The Guardian; and her phone hadn't stopped ringing since 7 a.m., an onslaught of attention she described as "nightmarish", The Poet Louise Glück Talks About Winning the Nobel Prize in Literature - The New York Times.
- Here's a detailed article on how to prepare Your submission package - 'Given the difficulty of getting agents and publishers to take on your work, it's really important to make sure that you present it in the best possible way. Less is more, so don't send a full manuscript, as it's very unlikely to be read. Far better to tempt them with a submission package that will leave them wanting to see the rest of the manuscript...'
- Links from the publishing world: the pandemic persuaded Italians to overcome their reluctance to online shopping, Can Amazon Conquer the World? - The New York Times; one amazing success story, Why Hollywood has gobbled up book rights amid COVID-19 - Los Angeles Times; as the publisher prepares to release a highly controversial title later this week, it's the politics of American publishing that worries publisher Baldwin, Chelsea Green Prepares Naomi Wolf Release; and, more on this subject, Women's Prize confirms entrants 'must be legally defined as female' | The Bookseller.
- Our page of Picture library links provides a good starting-point for finding an image for your book, whether it's for the cover or inside. Gograph was added a while ago with its 18 million stock links.
- More links for writers: in my mind, "crime fiction" was exclusively written about crime and criminals from the perspective of detectives, Why I'm Proud to Have My Books Called "Crime Fiction" | CrimeReads; a shortlist that shows that poetry is "the most resilient, potent, capacious and universal art we have", TS Eliot prize unveils 'unsettling, captivating' shortlist | Books | The Guardian; a previously unpublished writer has described the "extraordinary" breakthrough moment, Children's fiction: Cardiff writer's debut book nets him six-figure deal - BBC News; right about that time, I stopped being interested in adults, Ramona Quimby and the Art of Writing From a Kid's Mind | Literary Hub; and no writer lives in a vacuum, their job is an endless task of paying attention, Top 10 books about creative writing | Books | The Guardian.
- 'A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.' The late Helen Dunmore in our Writers' Quotes.