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'Last week saw a flurry of articles about libraries
in the UK press, starting with Culture Minister Ed Vaizey’s views on
libraries and the future, which included proposals to cut costs by giving
libraries to communities to run and to run them from pubs and shops.
Public libraries have long been at risk, but in the current
economic climate they seem absolutely endangered. If the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport withdraws their support, many local authorities will find
libraries a soft target when they start to make cuts.' News Review on our
endangered libraries.
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'Åsne Seierstad, the author of The Bookseller of
Kabul, has been ordered to pay more than £26,000 in punitive damages. As
Conor Foley in the Guardian put it, this news will be greeted 'as
either a blow to artistic freedom of expression or a victory for the world's
misrepresented and powerless poor... But should any writer be free to use any
material, however private, in any way they like? News Review looks at this
fascinating case.
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'The British independent publisher Quercus has just
announced stellar results: revenue has almost tripled to £15m ($24m) for the
first six months of the year, making a profit of £3.4m ($5.41m) compared
with a loss of £100,000 ($159,120) in the same period in 2009. And what is it
down to? Well, the answer is Stieg Larsson. News Review reports.
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'It will surprise no-one who read the STOP PRESS at
the end of last week’s News Review to know that Andre Wylie’s Odyssey Editions
and what’s happening to e-books have dominated the publishing news agenda this
week. Using the aggressive approach which has earned him the
soubriquet ‘The Jackal’, Andrew Wylie decided to push ahead with launching
his new imprint, designed specifically to seize his authors’ e-book rights and
offer them a better deal than they were getting from publishers...' News
Review looks at an extraordinary week in publishing.
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'What's different
about digital publishing? The answer should be: nothing. It's a fact that we
talk about digital and traditional publishing and we need to stop that now. One
of my frustrations is that many publishers seem to keep editors away from
digital discussions, leaving contracts and "digital" departments to take things
on. David Miller, agent at Rogers, Coleridge & White in the Bookseller.
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'Writing is a deep-sea dive. You need hours just
to get into it: down, down, down... I only read on paper. I don't have an e-reader or
an i-Phone. I have the best time reading newspapers. I don't believe books are
dead. I've seen the figures. Sales of adult fiction are up in the worst economy
since the Depression.' Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of
Staggering Genius in the Observer.
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'Books are not going anywhere. Neither is publishing.
Since Gutenberg made his epic contribution to the human race, publishing has
secured a place as one of the largest and most profitable industries in history.
In that time, publishing has adapted to major technological changes, survived
economic meltdowns, persisted through political censorship, and made it to the
other side of catastrophic price wars...' Jennifer Havenner, independent
publisher, in the Huffington Post.
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'The fundamental relationship between authors and
publishers is changing... We now have to say we are actually in the copyright
business, not the book business. It is a whole new dimension of understanding
various media, in the larger context of being the author's business partner.
Anthony Cheetham, Director and Associate Publisher of
Atlantic UK, in the Bookseller
'A writer ought to be the
best possible source about their work but the writing instinct doesn't come
out of self-examination. That part of yourself in your work is expressed
willy-nilly, without your cooperation, motivation or collusion. You can't
help being what you write and writing what you are.'
Tom Stoppard
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Great review of WritersServices
We're complimented by Stuart Aken's review of our site in his blog
for 27 July:
'It is the Resources pages that really make this site stand out from the
crowd. Here you’ll find reviews of books and software, listings of agents,
self-publishing facts, educational matters, health and safety advice, and
there’s a new feature, reviewing writing magazines. You’ll see there is a
great deal of information on this site. It’s well presented and easily
navigated, which is as well, considering the number of pages. It’s a site I
browse often and I think you’ll benefit from a good look at this one.'
Read more.
In the face of a changing situation as
English becomes ever more established as the international language,
Chris Holifield has revised this article in the
Inside Publishing series, which
consists of 19 articles which take you inside the publishing world.
Our reviewer Maureen Kincaid Speller
concluded that:
'This book is aimed at people who are
taking, or thinking of taking, a writing workshop, at workshop teachers,
and even at those who prefer the solitary writing life but also seek
some of the benefits of the workshop experience...
'This is an unconventional book about writing,
inspirational as much as it is practical, and focusing on an aspect of
the writing process that isn’t much discussed. It would, I think, prove
a valuable addition to the writing bookshelf if you are at all
interested in the workshopping process and what it involves.'
Chas Jones looks at technical issues
relating to WiFi, explains how it works and investigates the security
issues which are involved.
Charles Jones looks at the fascinating
subject of the dark web and asks why you might want to make your website
invisible.
Writing Memoir and
Autobiography
Writing
Historical Fiction
Writing Romance
Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Writing Crime Fiction
Writing non-fiction
Are you having difficulty deciding which service might be right for you?
This useful new article by Chris Holifield offers advice on what to go for,
depending on what stage you are at with your writing.
Our huge section on technology and the web, and how writers can make use of
them, takes you from beginner-level articles to advanced technology.
If you're thinking
about self-publishing, this is the place to find out what's
involved. If you're ready to go ahead, our high quality service is second
to none and there's an economy version for those who want to
tackle some of the work themselves. You can
estimate
the cost for yourself.
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Ever fancied a bet on the Booker? John
reviews the field and offers his own caustic comments on the whole process.
Dominae Primus writes about initial and
continuing impressions of WritersServices, which she calls: 'a useful and user friendly website
for both writers and aspiring writers... You could say that
Writersservices.com is akin to a writers’ magazine minus the subscription
fees.'
Do you want to make a Table of contents
for your book? It looks good to provide one, especially when you prepare
a large document. It does not take long and the benefits make it well
worth doing.
If you are using Microsoft Word, or most other word-processing packages,
it is remarkably easy to get a professional-looking table which is
generated for you by the software. Not only will the table look good but
the headings are ‘active’; so people reading the document on a computer
can click on the TOC and jump to the place in the text.
Chas Jones shows you how.
John's view is that 'you can do
everything with dialogue: let your characters tell the story'. He
illustrates what he means by this in his July column.
Our reviewer, Maureen Kincaid Speller,
said: 'Many people want to write about someone’s life, perhaps their
own, and there are courses to suit every level of interest, from
university masters degrees to local college qualifications.' and
concluded that it was: 'a brisk and helpful guide on how to set about
writing a life story... It is a sensible account of life writing from
experienced practitioners of what is both art and craft, and I recommend
it!'
Our new, up-to-date agents'
listings have been compiled from agents' own websites and other
information they publish about what they're looking for. You can use
them to research which agents to submit to.
The listings cover UK and US agents,
with separate listings for children's agents in the UK, and
international agents from all over the world.
Improving your writing, Learning on the job, New
technology and the Internet,
Self-publishing - is it for you?,
Promoting your writing (and yourself), Other kinds of writing, Keep up to date
and Submission to
publishers and agents
Our Editorial
Services for writers
Check out the 17 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to
Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting.Previous magazines:
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
Magazine index
Check out this page to find links to the huge number of useful articles on this site,
including Finding an Agent
and Making Submissions.
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