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June 2008
The website for writers
News Review
- Wikipedia's 683 million visitors give it a head start against new competitor Citizendium. News Review reports on how they're slugging it out.
- Rights tussles dominate the news, as American publishers look towards international and e-books for expansion in a declining market. News Review on the changing picture.
- 'Children’s authors have staged a stunning rebellion against age-ranging on children’s books. More than 50 British authors, led by Philip Pullman and all five children’s laureates... have launched an extraordinary campaign. News Review investigates.
- News Review has the latest despatch from the Turf Wars, as corporations flex their muscles and US publishers demand global e-book rights in American authors.
- ‘Heavy readers’ are changing. Book covers do influence purchase. Three recent reports relating to book consumers paint a striking picture of changes in book purchasing. News Review reports on some striking new trends.
Comment
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'In adult literature there seems to be this pressure to ‘say’ something, especially something that’s ‘never been said before’ but I found I really enjoyed myself when I started to do it for children.’ Emma Clayton, author of the The Roar, in Publishing News.
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'Literary fiction gets you the accolades and awards but no marketing budget, a small print run, and no one can find your books in a bookstore. Commercial fiction has marketing, advertising, larger print runs, and you are reaching people which, ultimately, was what I wanted to do.' Jodi Piccoult in the Independent on Sunday
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'One of the things you notice is that when you switch on the television and a student has gone mad with a machine gun on a campus in America, it's always a writing student...' Hanif Kureishi in provocative mode at the Hay Festival.
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'So why is it that publishers seem to ignore the natural evolutionary step of adapting their own novels to penetrate an increasingly lucrative market? It’s down to a clash of cultures.' Andy Briggs on graphic novels in Publishing News.
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'Fiction and non-fiction are shelved in separate sections of a bookshop for good reason. However imaginative its variations, fiction conforms to amazingly strict narrative criteria.' Lionel Shriver, author of on the Madeleine McCann case, writing in the Sunday Telegraph.
Writers' Quote
'Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.'
Oliver Goldsmith
Writing for the web
Writing effectively for the web is quite different from writing for the printed page. Our latest new checklist shows you how to write web pages to attract and keep visitors.
Digitisation at the London Book Fair 1 and 2
What is the digital future and has it already arrived?
This is a two-part report on the excellent LBF seminars on digitisation, the subject of the moment as far as the book world is concerned. Chris Holifield's two articles provide a summary, and focus on issues most relevant to writers.
Five Tips for Promoting Your Book Online
Sherry Rifkin, author of LoveHampton, says you need to be thoroughly tech-savvy to promote your book online, and gives her quick guide to what you can do to promote your book around the world.
Ten Tips for nonfiction writers
Julie Wheelwright, programme director, MA Creative Writing Nonfiction, City University, London gives a helpful checklist for nonfiction writers.
The ABC Checklist for New Writers: Professionalism
We've published six extracts from The ABC Checklist for New Writers: How to Open Doors and Get Noticed the First Time Around by Lorraine Mace and Maureen Vincent-Northam, published by Orana Publishing. This useful book gives succinct answers to the many problems writers face, making it an indispensable reference for the budding writer.
The series covers Agents, Editors, Keeping records, Marketing, Professionalism and Titles.
An Editor's Advice
This new series is based on the advice Maureen Kincaid Speller, a long-serving WritersServices freelance editor, has given writers over the years. The series covers dialogue, doing further drafts, genre writing, planning, points of view, autobiography and presentation.
Our Editorial Services for writers
Check out the 16 different editorial services we offer, from Reports to Copy editing, Typing to Rewriting.
Help for Writers
Check out this page to find links to the huge number of useful articles on this site.
Changes in the book trade
This new series by Chris Holifield looks at the book trade and investigates how fundamental changes in how it works are affecting writers.
The fifth article looks at Writers' routes to their audiences, exploring the difficulties in getting published and new hope offered by self-publishing and the Internet.
The first article is on Bookselling, the second on Publishing, the third on Print on demand and the fourth on Self-publishing - 'really great' or career suicide?
Success story
Our latest Writer's Success story is Jhumpa Lahiri, whose latest collection Unaccustomed Earth went straight to the top of the American bestseller lists, even though it is both literary and a collection of short stories.
Rotten Rejections
We've added some new quotes from publishers' rejections to this record of how they got it wrong. On Jack Kerouac:
'His frenetic and scrambled prose perfectly express the feverish travels of the Beat Generation. But is that enough? I don't think so.'
Creative Commons explained
When WritersServices first covered Creative Commons in Inside Publishing, we felt that we hadn't explained how it worked as clearly as we'd hoped to do. Now Frances Pinter, who works as a consultant on the project, explains this highly significant new approach to the licensing of rights.
WritersPrintShop
We have revamped our WritersPrintShop website with lots more information. 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.
We Watch the web for writers
Our huge section on technology and the web, and how writers can make use of them.
Choosing a Service
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.
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WritersServices.com Magazine June 2008