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4 May 2015 - What's new

4 May 2015
  • 'If you're writing genre fiction, or planning to, it's important to understand what's working in the market and what's already out there. This is the sort of information you can only get by a close study of publishers' genre lists and by reading as many books in your chosen genre as you can...' News Review on Writing genre fiction.
  • 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'.
  • 'For the perennial breed of poets, to be neglected is an occupational hazard. Most of us deserve it. Nobody says most plumbers deserve it, but plumbers have to deliver. It doesn't really matter whether a poet delivers or not. If poets don't come through with the goods, nobody will be affected except them...' Our Comment this week is from Clive James, whose latest poetry collection is Sentenced to Life, in the Observer.
  • Tips for writers is our 8-part crash course for writers, taking you from Improving Your Writing to Learn on the Job, from Keep up to date to Submisson to publishers and agents.
  • Our Writing Opportunity this week is for the Writers Abroad Anthology 2015: ‘Kaleidoscope'. Contributors must be expat or former expat writers with flash fiction, a short story or poem to submit. Closing 15 June. This page lists other opportunities.
  • The promotion of Next Generation Poets 2014 is now complete, except for the British CouncilThis government-supported body is best-known for its activities overseas, but in fact provides a great deal of information which is of interest to writers. http://www.britishcouncil.org/
    Their UK Literature Festivals provides a full listing, but this is only as up to date as the information supplied by the individual festival organizers.
    tour, but if you're interested in brilliant young British poets you can see their videos and a film about the promotion on YouTube.
  • Our Children's Editorial Services can help you get your work ready for publication or self-publishing. Have you found it difficult to get expert editorial input on your work ? Do you want to know if it has real commercial potential? Or are you planning to self-publish? Two reports and copy editing are avaiable from skilled chidren's editors.
  • Links from this week: Jane Friedman - not the publisher - looks at the whole question of finding a literary agent, How to Find a Literary Agent for Your Book | Jane Friedman; how publishers are changing their angle of aproach to the market to zero in on the fans, Book Marketing Today': It's All About the Fans; and, even if they mean Harper Lee's new book, this piece in the Telegraph contains some amazing audiobook stats, Audiobook sales double in five years thanks to downloads and famous faces - Telegraph.
  • More links: writers protesting against freedom of expression award, Two dozen writers join Charlie Hebdo PEN award protest | Books | The Guardian; just a schoolgirl but a very determined one, Girl, 8, strikes blow for equality over 'boys only' books | Books | The Guardian; and an insight from the scholarly world, Ask The Chefs: What is Editorial Independence and How Does It Impact Publishing? | The Scholarly Kitchen.
  • ‘I write what I would like to read -what I think other women would like to read. If what I write makes a woman in the Canadian mountains cry and she writes and tells me about it, especially if she says, "I read it to Tom when he came in from work and he cried too", I feel I have succeeded.' Kathleen Norris, on the publication of her seventy-eighth book, in our Writers' Quotes.