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9 July 2018 - What's new

9 July 2018
  • ‘A bestseller might be read by hundreds of thousands of people, but Apple Tree Yard on TV reached 8 million people per episode - one of the few occasions when an author can become part of the national conversation. But writing a good book on its own is not enough - it needs to be a lucky book. Apple Tree Yard was a lucky book, lucky on several levels. Lucky in being published by Faber & Faber, who did the most amazing job even before the glamour of TV. Then it was lucky again as the rights were optioned by Kudos TV and lucky a third time when they sold the adaptation in a brilliant version by Amanda Coe to BBC1...' Louise Doughty, author of Apple Tree Yard, Black Water and six other novels provides our Comment in a speech at the UK Publishers Association Summer Reception in the Terrace Pavilion in the House of Commons, London.
  • Teenage poets have two more weeks to enter the world's best poetry competition for young people, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2018, which is open to all 13-17 year-olds worldwide. There's no entry fee and the top 15 winners win mentoring and a life-changing residential writing course. This fabulous competition for young poets closes on 31 July.
  • 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.
  • The March Magazine links you to some interesting online articles: 8 Writing Tips from Jeff Vandermeer; When do you need an agent? A novelist reveals all; Complete Fiction: Why 'the short Story renaissance is a myth' and Will Self: 'The novel is absolutely doomed'and many past News Reviews and Comments.
  • Which service should I choose to help me get my work into good shape for submission or self-publishing? This is the question our page Which service? answers and it then goes on to give a quick rundown on our 20 editorial services for writers, which we think is the biggest and most comprehensive you can find on the internet.
  • Our links: an authoritative and thorough look at the subject, Author Income Surveys Are Misleading and Flawed-And Focus on the Wrong Message for Writers | Jane Friedman; it's gratifying to see that books work best for the movies, Films based on books take 44% more at the box office | The Bookseller; from the bestselling author of Gone Girl, Sharp Objects writer Gillian Flynn on why she wants to show recognisable women - BBC News; and a whole article on Vonnegut's 'transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing', On Semicolons and the Rules of Writing - The Millions.
  • Writing Biography & Autobiography is a serialisation from our Archives of the book by Brian D Osborne published by A & C BlackClick for A & C Black Publishers Publishers References listing. In the first excerpt, Managing the matters of truth and objectivity, the author says: 'Just as you need to remember that letters, reports, census forms, legal documents and so forth were not created simply for our convenience, so you also need to remember that what is written in them may not be true...'
  • More links: a useful but rather dull article on the latest trends in US publishing, Print Unit Sales Rose 2% in First Half of 2018; from an author with many difficulties whose novel has gone into four printings, The Changing Face of Romance Novels - The New York Times; Have you ever considered changing genre? I hadn't before last year when the decision was taken out of my hands, Changing Genres | Samantha Tonge; and how Rebel Girls became the most funded original book in the history of crowd-funding, Why is publishing suddenly obsessed with "rebel" women?
  • Are you writing for children? 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? Three reports and copy editing are available from our highly-skilled children's editors, including essential advice on age groups and vocabulary.
  • 'Talented writing makes things happen in the reader's mind - vividly, forcefully - that good writing, which stops with clarity and logic, doesn't.' Samuel Delany in our Writers' Quotes.