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7 April 2025 - What's new

April 2025
  • Poets ‘are the great people in literature because they manage to gather thought and feeling, and intellectual and emotional intensity into words in a way that I haven't done in my writing... I notice, going into bookshops, the brand of fantasy novel that has exactly the same way of beaming what it is to children: brighter and shinier...' Michael Morpurgo, author of 30 books for children and young people, including War Horse, on publication of his second book for adults, Spring, in the Sunday Times Culture.
  • If you've come to the site looking for a report on your manuscript, how do you work out which one would suit you best? Which Report? answers this question. The Reader's Report is a short, introductory report. The Editor's Report offers more detail. The Editor's Report Plus, which we introduced comparatively recently, is our most popular report and offers an overview and a detailed chapter-by-chapter report, which makes it the most substantial of the three and can help the writer by providing a framework for further work.
  • If you are a children's writer then we have our Children's Editorial Services, a suite of services specially for you, carried out by our skilled children's writers. This includes reports and copy editing.
  • A new prize, the Oxford/42 New Writing Prize is for novelists, playwrights and screenwriters and open to anyone over the age of 18 living, working or studying in the UK and Ireland at the closing date for submissions. There's no entry fee and the winner will receive £1,500 along with professional representation by 42. It's closing on 30 April.
  • Links on writers' stories and careers: Hanna Thomas Uose on the publication of her debut novel, Who Wants to Live Forever, Debuting at forty one: the perfect age to publish? From The Wolves of Willoughby Chase to Black Hearts in Battersea, her tales of plucky orphans surviving in industrial Britain are a keystone of children's literature, ‘One of the most beloved writers of all time': the genius of Joan Aiken at 100 | Children and teenagers | The Guardian; a survey has suggested female ghostwriters earn about half as much as their male counterparts as well as major pay differences between the UK and US, Ghostwriting survey suggests huge gender pay gap in UK while 'secrecy' drags pay behind US overall; and literary figures say the number of books being published by Black writers has ‘plummeted', UK publishing less accessible to Black authors now than before 2020, industry names say | Books | The Guardian.
  • 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. It 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. There are six other articles in this series.
  • 'As a total neophyte as a writer, I have been doing a huge amount of research suddenly as to what services are available to writers, on both sides of the Atlantic, and am amazed that you are able to have someone read a whole book and give a serious critique for just 180 pounds. I think that is incredible value for money, compared to other similar services that appear to be available out there. I hope to be back to you again for more assistance, once I've cleaned up my work! Martin Humphries, Vancouver, BC, Canada on our Endorsements page
  • We've been offering editing services for writers from our office in London since 2001 and have the widest and best-value range on the web. Get your work ready for publication or submission with the help of our team of skilled professional editors, using our 22 services to help you get your work ready for publication. Our Services for Writers
  • Links on AI, fast becoming a major crisis for writers: tech giant trains AI on pirated books, Authors pen open letter demanding big tech is 'held accountable' after Meta 'trains AI on pirated books'; ‘I am a crime writer, I understand theft,' said Val McDermid, Authors call for UK government to hold Meta accountable for copyright infringement | Books | The Guardian; court documents show that staff at Meta discussed licensing books and research papers lawfully but instead chose to use stolen work because it was faster and cheaper, Society of Authors condemns ‘appalling' use of pirated books in AI training; the explosion of generative artificial intelligence technologies caught many in the book business off guard when it began in earnest in late 2023, Book Biz to Big Tech: Pay Up, Then We Can Make Up; and academic publisher didn't ask authors first, Taylor & Francis to use AI translation tools to publish books ‘otherwise unavailable in English'.
  • From our 19 part Inside Publishing series, Subsidiary Rights: 'My first job in publishing was in a subsidiary rights department. I'm ashamed to admit that I accepted the job without having much idea what subsidiary rights were. Many writers may feel just as vague about this part of publishing, so here's a quick breakdown...'
  • From the same series, Copyright: 'Copyright has evolved over the centuries to protect rights in intellectual property. It provides a basis for trading in these rights and a means whereby they can be exploited commercially. Rights holders are able to license the rights in their work to be exploited in different ways (e.g. in book form or to be made into a film) and also in different territories, in a system of exclusive sublicensing...'
  • From Joanne PhillipsUK-based freelance writer and ghostwriter. She has had articles published in national writing magazines, and has ghostwritten books on subjects as diverse as hairdressing and keeping chickens. Visit her at www.joannephillips.co.uk, The Business of Writing for Self-publishing Authors offers terrific advice for all writers: 'Self-publishing authors - also known as ‘indie' authors or author-publishers - have had a steep learning curve these past few years. Getting to grips with the various sales channels available to them, producing top quality ebooks and paperbacks, and finding a place in mainstream outlets have left many writers struggling to keep up with the paperwork. What follows is a brief guide to the essentials your self-publishing business needs - because it is a business, even if you only publish one book!'
  • More writers' links: 9% of us experience stress at least once a month, The Bookseller - Comment - Is your author stressed? The US nonprofit, whose online community encouraged members to write a novel in a month, has been rocked by controversy in recent years, Scandal-hit creative writing website NaNoWriMo to close after 20 years | Books | The Guardian; and I started Forest Avenue Press in 2012 to publish the kinds of novels I love to read, Trust Your Instincts: Why Writing for Yourself Leads to Better Books | Jane Friedman.
  • WritersServices editor Kay GaleWritersServices editor who has worked for many years as a freelance editor for number of publishers. on The Slush pile: 'When I started working in publishing over thirty years ago it was part of my job to check through the pile of unsolicited manuscripts that arrived on a daily basis, and like every other enthusiastic young editorial assistant, I dreamed of finding the next bestseller in the "slush pile". I was soon disillusioned...'
  • From our 17-part Ask the Editor series, Writing your blurb or cover copy: 'So what is a blurb? It is, properly speaking, a species of what some in the trade call 'teaser copy'; an invitation to read a book that offers a promise of excitement, drama, romance, or whatever the genre provides. It is not a summary or synopsis of the book; rather, it is a snapshot of the reading experience, an advance taster of what the reader can expect from the text...'
  • Our final set of links are from publishing: if you're self-publishing, designing a professional-quality book cover can make the difference between attracting readers or getting overlooked, DIY Book Jacket and Cover Design: A Guide for Indie Authors; the global graphic novel market is getting more attention in Bologna this year, with an expanded number of exhibitors and panels dedicated to the topic, Bologna Children's Book Fair 2025: Going Graphic; and an "upbeat" and busy Bologna Children's Book Fair 2025 has seen a marked appetite for shorter and illustrated works, The Bookseller - Features - Bologna Children's Book Fair 2025: packed halls but politics cast a shadow.
  • So you have finished your book, but you know it is too long; how do you go about reducing the word count without losing important parts of your work? We're here to help. Our experienced editors will work with you to reduce the word count of your book while preserving the main narrative elements and your individual style. This service is available for both fiction and non-fiction. The Cutting edit is just one of our eight copy editing services.
  • We all know that computers can do everything far better than mere humans, right? In this computer age we are (understandably) turning more and more tasks over to computers and AI... but very few works of non-fiction can do without an index of some description. From the simple cookery book to the mammoth legal tome, each book has a reader, and each reader will at some point want to look something up in the book. The Ins & Outs of Indexing
  • From our Writers' Quotes ‘To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself... Anybody can have ideas - the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.' Mark Twain
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24 March 2025 - What's new

March 2025

10 March 2025 - What's new

March 2025
  • ‘If someone had told me I would become one of the people talking about AI, I would have gone "come off it'" but here we are. I am not anti-AI. It is here to stay and there are many brilliant things about it, and I absolutely will licence my work for AI because we need it to be trained by properly researched work. But the issue of copyright affects all of us... I can't substantiate this, but I think people, particularly women, have been persuaded AI is very complicated. But scraping material without permission is theft - simple as that... Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth, Sepulchre, The Joubert Family Chronicles, The Linder Ghosts and The Taxidermist's Daughter and co-founder of the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction in Bookbrunch.
  • We've been offering reports on writers' manuscripts ever since we set up WritersServices 24 years ago. During that time we've added one new report, the Editor's Report Plus, which quickly became our most popular report because of its combination of overview and detailed chapter-by-chapter commentary. The Editor's Report gives more of an overview and the Reader's Report is a short introductory report. We also have the same range of reports for children provided by our skilled children's editors.
  • The brand-new Janklow & Nesbit UK Fiction Prize for literary love stories is open to unpublished writers aged over 18, who are currently a resident in the UK or the Republic of Ireland. There's no entry fee and the Prize is £2,000, a one-to-one session with Federico Andornino and representation by Janklow & Nesbit UK. It's closing on 9 April, so you'll need to move fast.
  • Links on self-publishing: there is something in the air in the self-publishing world at the moment, The Bookseller - Features - ‘Golden age' of self-publishing for indie authors ‘no longer strictly choosing one route or the other'; for years, traditional publishing was considered the gold standard for authors, Why doing it yourself is the smart move for authors | The Herald; and one of the big challenges facing indie authors is we don't have a publisher telling us when a book is ready to release, How to Know When a Book Is Ready to Be Published.
  • From our nineteen-part Inside Publishing series, you can read up on Advances and royalties: 'Publishers usually offer to pay authors advances against royalties. How do you work out how much money you might earn from your book? You need to understand for yourself how advances and royalties work and what they mean for you...' On The Writer/Publisher Financial Relationship: 'There's no escaping the fact that publishers and authors are essentially in an adversarial position. Even in the very best and most supportive publisher/writer relationships there is the tension caused by the fact that authors would like to earn as much as possible from their writing and publishers to pay as little as they can get away with...'
  • 'I've used two services with this company: The Editor's Plus Report and the Writer's Edit. I am completely satisfied with the service I received and said service has led to the completion and publication of my first novel: Lightforce. I would recommend any of these services to any aspiring author.' Jason Handleman, author of Lightforce (Everything Changes Book 1) on our Endorsements page.
  • If you are looking for copy editing online, it can be difficult to ensure that you are getting a professional copy editor who will do a good job on your manuscript. Hardly any authors can copy edit their own writing or know much about what is involved. It is in any case 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
  • Links on writers' issues: why "lowly freelancers are being left to clean the Augean stables", ‘Profile more valuable than expertise now': anonymous editor weighs in on fact-checking furore; here's a confession: I don't think about genre when I'm writing. Especially not during the planning, the research or the writing process, Breaking and Entering: How Deon Meyer's New Novel Snuck Past Genre Boundaries ‹ CrimeReads; and not all children's authors love school visits - and we shouldn't have to pretend otherwise, The Bookseller - Comment - Non-optional extras.
  • 'Why would you, as an unpublished writer, want to find an agent? Agents use their contacts and knowledge of the publishing business on their clients' behalf, selling their work and then continuing to look after their authors' interests... Many writers see being taken on by an agent as the first step in getting taken on by a publisher, because it is so difficult to get publishers to pay attention to unagented writers...' Finding an agent
  • Equally important is Working with an agent: 'It can be hard work finding an agent to represent you. Make sure though that, when you set up the relationship, you do so in a professional manner Don't let your eagerness to find representation mean that things are left vague. You will be depending on the agent to process all your income from the books they sell, so you need to have a written contract to cover your arrangement...'
  • Are you having difficulty writing a blurb for the cover of your book? Our Blurb-writing service can give your book a professional look. What about your synopsis - often a tricky task for a writer? Our Synopsis-writing service can provide a synopsis of whatever length you need for your submissions.
  • Links on AI and Publishing: before the deadline, Dan Conway warns against 'great copyright heist' as AI consultation closes; a relentless attack on accredited news media, ‘AI will become very good at manipulating emotions': Kazuo Ishiguro on the future of fiction and truth | Kazuo Ishiguro | The Guardian; the Association of American PublishersThe national trade association of the American book publishing industry; AAP has more than 300 members, including most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies (AAP) has not ruled out litigation against tech giants in the ongoing tussle over the use of Artificial Intelligence, and UK IP watchdog receives 13,000 responses to its copyright consultation, as LBF turns its focus to AI; a difficult international situation, The Book Business Prepares for Tariff Turmoil; the furore around fact-checking uncovers a deeper publishing problem, The Bookseller - Comment - I care about carelessness; Michael Robb casts a critical eye over the history of bookselling in the UK, The Book Trade: Past, Present and the Future.
  • In our Ask the Editor series Why do I need a report? Writing is, in some respects, an isolated and isolating occupation; but it doesn't have to be. Feedback, particularly if it comes from an informed, professional reader, is invaluable. However confident you are in your own abilities, a fresh pair of eyes can only help, spotting characteristics and quirks of your writing that you perhaps haven't noticed before, and pointing out ways in which your work can be even better...'
  • Do you want some help with your writing but don't know quite what you want? Are you a bit puzzled by the various services on offer, and not sure what to go for? Choosing a service helps you work out which is the right editorial service for you.
  • More links: The Lives of the Caesars, translated from Latin by The Rest Is History podcast co-host Tom Holland, details everything from ancient policy failures to sex scandals, 2,000-year-old book about Roman emperors enters bestseller charts | Books | The Guardian; the first grimdark fantasy author from India, Q&A: fantasy author Gourav Mohanty; Maria Ognjanovich on her personal challenge of reading a book from every country in the world - and the increasing popularity of translated fiction, Reading around the world; and British author's middle grade fantasy juggernaut, Impossible Creatures, goes from a trilogy to a five-book series, Katherine Rundell Expands Her Impossible Creatures Series.
  • 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 concise and essential background information.
  • From Submissions: 'Few editors or agents will give any reasons for rejecting your work. However, if in turning it down they pay you any compliments, you can take them at face value. Publishers don't encourage would-be writers unless they mean it. If your work is rejected six times or more, without any snippets of praise, you should look at it again, to see if you can discover what is wrong. It may be a long time since you last read it, and with fresh eyes you may see glaring faults.'
  • From the late, great Terry Pratchett: ‘I read anything that's going to be interesting. But you don't know what it is until you've read it. Somewhere in a book on the history of false teeth there'll be the making of a novel.' Writers' Quotes

24 February 2025 - What's new

February 2025
  • 'I looked at authors who wrote series, and I privately thought they had it easy - they didn't have to create anything new, they had the characters, they had the world, all they had to do was throw another story at them. But it's not like that at all. Although you've got your core characters, you're creating new characters, and you create a new world and universe in each particular book. I boxed myself into a few corners with previous stories - for instance, I might want Ffion to go back to the station, but then I'd realise she couldn't, because I'd put it miles away and she couldn't physically get there. There were all these constraints - I found it really challenging...' Clare Mackintosh, author of 9 novels, including I Let You Go, Hostage and Other People's Houses, which have sold more than 2 million copies across 40 countries, in Bookbrunch.
  • The new 17th article in the Ask the Editor series is Past or present tense? 'I regularly see books by new writers that switch intermittently from past to present; this is not always deliberate, unfortunately. I used to assume the book had been written in one tense and then, somewhat inefficiently, changed to another; but I've come to suspect that some writers don't actually notice. That's passing strange because, for the reader, there are clear differences; so much so that some readers (curmudgeons perhaps) apparently reject books out of hand if they are written in the present. If the reader can tell the difference, then you, dear writer, need to brush up...'
  • The 16 other articles in the Ask the Editor series cover subjects as diverse as Writing non-fiction, How I assess a manuscript, The submission letter and What genre is my book?
  • Our 8 UK-based Copy editing services specialise in writers' needs, offering competitive rates and providing highly experienced professional editors. We offer a wide range of editorial services to help you prepare your manuscript for submission to an agent or publisher, or for self-publication. Our team of expert editors has years of experience in helping and advising authors; we can help you to bring your work to a professional level of excellence. Most of our editing services offer a free sample and they are all excellent value for money.
  • So you have finished your book, but you know it is too long; how do you go about reducing the word count without losing important parts of your work? We're here to help. Our experienced editors will work with you to reduce the word count of your book while preserving the main narrative elements and your individual style. This service is available for both fiction and non-fiction. The Cutting edit
  • Links to writers' stories: a mystery author grapples with the lure of 'ripped-from-the-headlines' stories, Tying Your Story to Current Events: Brilliant Strategy or a Fool's Mission? ‹ CrimeReads; a hand-picked digest of news stories from the past month, The Bookseller - Comment - News for emerging authors; the Read Yourself Happy author tells BookBrunch about the restorative power of books, how social media has changed over the last few years, and her love of Jilly Cooper, Q&A: author Daisy Buchanan; and Steve Wick was a prize-winning reporter and nonfiction author. And he was searching for a new story to tell, How an Interview with a Killer Pushed One Journalist Toward Fiction ‹ CrimeReads.
  • 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 your publication - Services for Self-publishers.
  • So you want to write historical fiction? Well, your timing is good, because it is fashionable again after many years in the doldrums. In fact it's so popular that it has virtually reinvented itself as a category. The resurgence of historical fiction has been much appreciated by readers who have always enjoyed it and who for many years have had little new material to read... What has changed is that there is now a definable market for it, which means that publishers are looking for historical fiction and are much more open to taking it on. The result has been big reissue programmes involving many existing titles, but also publishers looking out for authors working in this genre. Writing historical fiction. There are six other articles in this series.
  • Links from publishing and bookselling: imprints are great business, but is their prestige and value getting diluted as they proliferate? The Bookseller - Comment - Have we reached peak imprint? Current crime fiction backlist of more than 300 titles will be moved to the new imprint, Grove Atantic Press Launches New Crime Fiction Imprint; one has been well run; the other has been run into the ground, Waterstones and WHS: a tale of two retailers; after a decade of downsizing, the beloved bookseller is seeing a resurgence thanks in part to TikTok's #BookTok and a rise in so-called third spaces, Barnes & Noble opening 60 stores in 2025: List of new location cities - Fast Company.
  • From our Endorsements page: 'Please extend my gratitude to the editor for his/her thoughtful and detailed edit. I could not ask for better work! Its value far exceeded the cost.' Jim, Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA)
  • From our 19-part Inside Publishing series, Children's publishing: 'Long regarded as the Cinderella of the publishing world, children's publishing has enjoyed a remarkable rate of growth and is now seen by many as one of the most exciting areas to work in. This is not just because of the Harry Potter phenomenon, as many other children's authors such as Julia Donaldson, Jacqueline Wilson, Philip Pullman and Judy Blume have also produced megasellers which have proved attractive to children all over the world. In some ways children's books are innately more stable, as successful authors sell their backlist strongly, with a new generation coming into each age group every year. For many years the sector as a whole was stable in terms of personnel as well, with editors staying in their jobs over a long period and having the chance to build their lists...'
  • Are you struggling to get someone to look at your poetry? Our Poetry Critique service for 150 lines of poetry can help. Our Poetry Collection Editing service, unique to WritersServices, edits your collection to prepare it for submission or self-publishing. Both can provide the professional editorial input you need.
  • Links on AI and social media: defending copyright means defending the rights of creators and ensuring a sustainable future for the creative and knowledge-based economy, The Bookseller - Editor's Letter - Philip Jones | 'In a plot twist worthy of Jeffrey Archer, the government's preferred route is not one that defends creativity, but an opt-out system'; a statement released at the conclusion of the summit affirmed the main priorities of the attendees, Publishers See Mixed Messages in Paris AI Summit; this deal sheds light on how the industry values creative work in the AI era, Microsoft offers authors $5,000 to train AI on their books; as social media communities splinter, children's authors and publishers wonder where their next digital gathering place will be, Where Is the Kid Lit Community Online? And an intriguing parallel between evolutionary biology and artificial intelligence, Author Post: Why the Book Business Holds the Keys to Ethical AI.
  • How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth) asks writers who are not native English speakers with a manuscript which needs polishing or translating: "If your English is good enough, what about translating your book yourself or writing in English, and then getting your work polished and copy edited by a professional editor who is a native English speaker?" This could be a cost-effective way of reaching the international English-speaking market, using our English Language Editing service.
  • Links for children's writers: over 10,000 books have been banned from American libraries and schools. Those leading the fightback caution that we need to focus on what those books represent, 'It's not about the books': banned in the USA; the classic, haunting tale of two brave children lost in an eerie and dangerous forest, Hansel and Gretel: Stephen King and Maurice Sendak - Stephen King Books; in a lot of ways, it's never been harder to convince kids to pick up a book over a phone or iPad, Mac Barnett named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature : NPR; and sales of graphic novels have doubled over the past five years, to some parents' dismay. But data shows these books can have a positive lifelong impact on young readers, Graphic novels are booming in popularity. It's changing children's relationship with books - Fast Company.
  • An essential read for children's authors is Suzy Jenvey's special series for WritersServices, the four-part 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. This series by a hugely experienced children's editorial director and agent helps you get started on your own story or develop what you're already working on.
  • Our Children's Editorial Services offer three levels of report and copy editing from specialist children's editors. Use their expertise to help get your work ready for publication in this tricky but potentially huge market.
  • ‘Writing about historical figures is like trying to solve a mystery as you try to figure out who they were and get as close to them as you can without ever really knowing them.' Alice Hoffman in our Writers' Quotes.

3 February 2025 - What's new

February 2025
  • ‘It encapsulates everything I love about medieval history. I'm interested in power and how it worked in an age where you've got no standing army, no professional police force, no modern communications - how does a government in Westminster rule a whole country? You've got these two individuals - first cousins, almost exactly the same age but such utterly different men - brought to the point where the failings of one mean that the other has to take over, causing a whole different set of problems. If you wrote it in fiction it would look too neat. And of course the fact that Shakespeare has told their story so gloriously is a whole other layer drawing you in... Helen Casto, author of The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry V, She-Wolves: the Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth and Joan of Arc, in the Observer.
  • The 16th article in our Ask the Editor series is about Points of View: 'One of the more basic options - or quandaries if that's how you see it - in writing a novel is whether you write in the first or third person (I know; in theory you can write in the second person too but examples are few and far between). The question of point of view (POV) is not quite as straightforward as it might seem; there are advantages and pitfalls in every choice. In this article I'll look at the pros and cons of different POVs and how to decide what's right for your book...'
  • The 15 other articles in the Ask the Editor series cover subjects as diverse as Writing non-fiction, How I assess a manuscript, The submission letter and The limitations of editing software: 'A new writer, setting out on that curious and occasionally perilous journey that, sometimes, ends in publication, needs help getting there; very few writers get it all right without advice or intervention. The internet has made the task of finding appropriate help and advice much easier; if your ivory tower is connected, that is. Recently, however, the limpid waters of literary support have been muddied somewhat by the advent of a plethora of AI tools. In this article, I'll consider the advantages - and limitations - of editing software...'
  • If you've come to the site looking for a report on your manuscript, how do you work out which one would suit you best? Which Report? answers this question. The Reader's Report is a short, introductory report. The Editor's Report offers more detail. The Editor's Report Plus, which we introduced comparatively recently, is our most popular report and offers an overview and a detailed chapter-by-chapter report, which makes it the most substantial of the three and can help the writer by providing a framework for further work.
  • If you are a children's writer then we have our Children's Editorial Services, a suite of services specially for you, carried out by our skilled children's writers. This includes reports and copy editing.
  • Links from publishing: it was a mixed performance in 2024, with Brazil's exports surging 266% while European markets faced declines, Global Publishing Markets See Mixed Results in 2024; you would be forgiven for thinking that bookshops were caught in a landslide of fantasy fiction in 2024, The Bookseller - Bestsellers - Critical Maas: Is this real life? Is this just fantasy? Six of the 14 Fiction sub-categories posted record returns last year, as the genre's annual haul surpassed its previous record by more than £50m, The Bookseller - Features - Review of the Year - A certain romance: Fiction soars, with romantasy and love stories leading the way.
  • You'll have to get your skates on to enter The Emma Press open submissions 2025, as it closes on 18 February. They are looking for non-agented submissions in English from anywhere in the world. Instead of an entry fee, there's a 'submission ticket' of £0 to £25. the Prize is publication by The Emma Press and small advances. Poetry collections, memoir, essay, creative non-fiction and novellas can be submitted, as well as children's poetry and fiction for 8+.
  • From our 19-part Inside Publishing series, Copy editing and proof-reading explains the difference between the two. 'Copy editing is the painstaking job of going through a manuscript line by line to correct the spelling, grammar and punctuation. Proof-reading at a later stage is a separate check through the book when it is set up in pages, before it goes to press or is finalised for ebook publishing.'
  • From the same series, Copyright: 'Many writers worry about losing their copyright. Before sending out your manuscript it is always advisable to put a copyright line consisting of the copyright sign ©, the year and your name on the title page... Post a copy of your manuscript to yourself and then keep it in the date-stamped envelope.'
  • Advice for Writers is a quick way of accessing the mass of information on our enormuos site.
  • Links to writers' stories: Once upon a time, I was writing contemporary romance, but now I'm celebrating the launch of my second YA historical, Historical Fiction 101 ‹ CrimeReads; Erin Connor on writing romance, rom-com shenanigans, and her debut novel Unromance, Confessions from an unromantic romance author; the age-old and hugely inefficient system of trial and error, I've deleted every book I've ever written; and "It's not a job for the faint of heart, or the impatient. But for those of us with brains that crave this kind of work, it is bliss." Gemma Tizzard on Researching for Historical Fiction ‹ Literary Hub.
  • From our Endorsements page: On English Language editing: 'The result? A book that reads like it's written by a native speaker for only 13% of the price a complete translation would have costed. Thank you, writersservices.' Anthony Fitzgerald
  • 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.
  • From Tom Chalmers, formerly of IPR, two articles about rights for self-publishers, Self-publishing - the rights way and How to get your book in the hands of an international audience. 'It's a fact that most self-published authors understand the process that takes them from a written manuscript to a published book, but few realise the additional elements that make publishing a profitable business. Rights licensing is arguably the most vital element in this equation. Whether it's selling translation rights, audio rights or optioning the film rights, these all help balance the book's books...' These articles also explain subidiary rights, which are important for any author.
  • More links: The Gruffalo has taken a bite out of Harry Potter, The Bookseller - Features - Julia Donaldson supplants JK Rowling to become the UK's all-time top author by volume; author Richard Beard discusses the growing trend for people to document their lives, and outlines the benefits the process can bring, Doing it by the book - Rathbones Review 2025; and 44% of parents think children do not need to know how to use books before they start school. Not so, say the educators - learning - and reading - begins at home, Almost half of parents believe it's not their job to teach children how to use books.
  • We have a suite of services for self-publishers, helping you to prepare your manuscript for publication. Services for Self-publishers
  • 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. It 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
  • There are six other articles in our Genre Writing series, including Writing Memoir and Writing for Children.
  • 'Why would you, as an unpublished writer, want to find an agent? Agents use their contacts and knowledge of the publishing business on their clients' behalf, selling their work and then continuing to look after their authors' interests...' Finding an agent
  • Links on AI and social media: it has a stay of execution at the moment, but A TikTok ban means losing the one platform making Americans want to read books; a serious concern for writers, The Bookseller - News - Authors and literary agents 'angry and frustrated' by plague of Facebook impersonations; and the Human Authored online portal allows members to register their book and use a specially designed logo on covers and promotional materials, US Authors Guild to certify books from ‘human intellect' rather than AI | Books | The Guardian.
  • 'Read More than You Write. If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.' Stephen King in our Writers' Quotes.

 

20 January 2025 - What's new

January 2025
  • 'I know it is the old J K Rowling argument but it is important culturally to get people to sit down and read 300 pages and she had done that. Look at Colleen Hoover, who has sold millions of books around the world and there could be a class of writers who are jealous of that but she has brought so many people into bookshops and brought so many people into reading... I love Stephen King, Marian Keyes, Kate Atkinson; she can write an absolute page-turner but also when you are reading it you are thinking "This is amazing what you are doing and I'm envious of that."...Richard Osman, television presenter and bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, The Bullet That Missed, The Last Devil to Die and We Solve Murders in The Times.
  • 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 a native language, the Writer's edit, providing line-editing, and Proof-reading. The Cutting Edit and Developmental editing are two new services. Get the right level of editorial support for your needs from our professional editors. Our low-cost services represent exceptionally good value. Contact us to discuss what you want.
  • The Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2025 for a children's poem is open to all poets across the world over the age of 16, as long as the work is original and previously unpublished. The entry fee is €15 per poem. The First Prize is €1,000 and a week-long stay at The Circle of Misse in France, the Second Prize is €500 and Third Prize is €250. Closing on 31 March.
  • Links to writers' stories: from carrying a computer between flat shares in her 20s to working with a Hollywood director on a screen adaptation of Hamnet, the author reflects on her writing life, The Bookseller - Author Interviews - Maggie O'Farrell | 'How lucky I have been to do a job that I love, absolutely love, for 25 years'; A Dangerous Game author Mandy Robotham on iconic characters, How to know when your character has 'legs' (enough to carry them forward); and from 'Cosmo' to crime, magazine editor Kate White worked her way up one slice at a time, My First Thriller: Kate White ‹ CrimeReads.
  • Inside Publishing is a 19-part series about publishing, which will help writers understand what goes on inside the business. Keep reading if you want to understand what's really happening inside publishing houses and what it all means for you. Even if self-publishing is what you have in mind, this series provides a lot of useful background on the publishing world.
  • 'Why do publishers need agents? Actually they don't need them, although they have come to rely on them. In many ways publishers would prefer to deal direct with unagented authors. It's authors who need agents. Writers need someone to sell their work and then to look after their relationship with their publishers...' From Inside Publishing The Relationship between Publishers and Agents.
  • Our English Language Editing Service is specially designed to help non-native speakers of English to find success in the international publishing market. With the rapid rise of English as a world language, an increasing number of authors who are not native English speakers, or who speak English as a second language, are writing in English. If English is not your native language, you may require extra help to take your work to a professional standard. Our specialist editors have years of experience working with authors writing in English as a second language. We can help you to bring your work to a native level of fluency, and a professional level of excellence.
  • Links on AI: the case for an AI-authored book format, The Bookseller - Comment - Blurred lines; Sarah Silverman and others file court case claiming CEO approved use of dataset despite warnings, Zuckerberg approved Meta's use of ‘pirated' books to train AI models, authors claim | Mark Zuckerberg | The Guardian; the UK government is being "beguiled by big tech" into "giving away" authors' work to train generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), The Bookseller - News - UK government has been 'beguiled by big tech' over AI, warns Creators' Rights Alliance; and how Duoyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and WeChat are flourishing, In China, social media apps are changing how people buy and read books - selling more than physical bookshops do.
  • There's a new entry on our Endorsements page this week: 'Let me take this opportunity to say what a big help the editor has been over the last few months. The book has been transformed into the book I arrogantly thought it was when he or she first read it.' William Watt, Elmsley, West Yorkshire.
  • If you need to clear copyright for your book, Clearing Copyright shows you how to do this: 'Copyright provides a framework for trading in intellectual property. In practice it protects the author's position and ensures that the publisher is able to take on the risk of publication in the knowledge that the publisher's rights are protected. In effect authors, (the originators of intellectual property) sub-license their rights through their book contracts to different parties in individual territories and in specific forms...'
  • We've been offering editing services for writers from our office in London since 2001 and have the widest and best-value range on the web. Get your work ready for publication or submission with the help of our team of skilled professional editors. Our 22 services to help you get your work ready for publication. Our Services for Writers
  • Links on writers' craft: Sandra Chwialkowska on her career in TV writing and her move to writing a novel, How To Know If Your Idea Is a Novel or a Screenplay, and Why Thrillers Make Great TV ‹ CrimeReads; what exactly are antagonists, and how can you make them convincing? How To Write Compelling Antagonists; and a hand-picked digest of news stories from the past month that emerging writers should know about, The Bookseller - Comment - News for emerging authors: December.
  • 'So you want to write fantasy or science fiction? You are in good company, as many of the writers who come to WritersServices are writing fantasy, with science fiction as a less popular choice. Science fiction was an important category during much of the twentieth century, with a growing cult audience, until it was overtaken by fantasy. It's often seen as more cerebral, a way of trying out new ideas of the future or other worlds. These days there's a relatively small demand for new science fiction writing, and you have to have a distinctive voice and something interesting to say to stand much chance of getting published...' Writing science fiction and fantasy
  • Do you want some help with your writing but don't know quite what you want? Are you a bit puzzled by the various services on offer, and not sure what to go for? Choosing a service helps you work out which is the right editorial service for you.
  • More links: predictions for the trends that will dominate children's publishing in 2025, The Bookseller - Comment - What's next for kids' books; many independent authors design and format their own books to save money, but Should You Hire a Professional Designer for Your Book Interior? | Jane Friedman; and the UK Poetry School's very useful listing of poetry publishers, online sites and magazines where you can submit and publish your poetry, Where to Submit Your Poetry • Poetry School.
  • From our new 15-part Ask the Editor series, Writing a Synopsis: 'The synopsis is a strange document; it is at once the dullest, and perhaps the most important, part of the submission package. It reduces your book, your creative project, to a few lines of plain, unadorned narration; yet it allows a publisher to see the book as a whole, to get a feel for the narrative arc and the development of the plot. In this article, I will examine the synopsis, and consider some of the problems in writing it...'
  • 'When I started working in publishing over thirty years ago it was part of my job to check through the pile of unsolicited manuscripts that arrived on a daily basis, and like every other enthusiastic young editorial assistant, I dreamed of finding the next bestseller in the ‘slush pile'. I was soon disillusioned for the reality is that of the thousands of new books that are sent to ‘The Publisher' by unknown writers each year, only a handful are good enough to be published...' The Slush Pile by our editor Kay GaleWritersServices editor who has worked for many years as a freelance editor for number of publishers..
  • ‘A really great children's book can hook a child. It can put a fish hook through their imagination and root them in the world of books for the rest of their lives.' Katherine Rundell on our Quotes page.

6 January 2025 - What's new

January 2025