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The site is normally updated every Monday (London dateline).

The email newsletter keeps you informed about what's new in the WritersServices site.

	If you 'subscribe' - it's free - we send you the update and links each week.
	This month's online Magazine is another way of catching up with what's new on the site.

21 July 2008

	'The past decade has seen the most extraordinary rise in the number and visibility of literary prizes. They come at us from every direction and seem to get bigger and more attention-grabbing all the time.' News Review looks at the proliferation of book prizes.
	This week's Writing Opportunities are The Foyle Young Poets, Britain's most prestigious poetry prize for young writers between the ages of 11 and 17, closing on 31 July, and The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award, a new competition for children's writing, closing in January.
	'Books are the most important thing in life to me... It's a need to process life, instead of just taking what life throws at you and being passive, a need to take life and make something of it.' Sophie Hannah in the Independent on Sunday, quoted in our Comment column.
	Are you wondering about how to get your poetry published? Our article on this will help and you can also read our review of Chris Hamilton's Emery's 101 Ways to Make Poetry Sell.
	It's good news that Google and Ebay have teamed up to reduce the number of scam emails being sent as junk email. If you want to take precautions against this email hazard, our article Phishing and other hoaxes will show you how.
	'Publishing is a very mysterious business. It is hard to predict what kind of sale or reception a book will have, and advertising seems to do very little good.' Thomas Wolfe in our Writers' Quotes.

14 July 2008

	Read our Review of The Self-Publishing Magazine in which our reviewer concluded: 'You wouldn’t really compare it to the other magazines reviewed here, but for anyone who is thinking about self-publishing it provides advice and reassurance.’
	'The stand-off between the Internet retailing giant, Amazon, and the biggest trade (general) publisher in the UK, Hachette, is continuing.' News Review looks at Amazon's plans and how they affect authors.
	Our latest My Say is Timothy Hallinan's 'The Writing Session', which offers 6 tips on how to approach your writing: 'The universe has a vast amount of material to offer you, free of charge, for your book. If you write regularly, you’ll recognize that material when it comes along. It could, ultimately, be the thing that either saves your book or takes it to a higher level.'
	Robert McCrum in the Observer, quoted in our Comment column: ‘What I have described are the birth pangs of a golden age. The market for the printed book is now global; the opportunities for the digital book are almost unimaginable. To be a writer in the English language today is to be one of the luckiest people alive.'
	From our Archive: you can read the 12 extracts from David Armstrong's delightfully cynical How Not to Write a Novel: Confessions of a Midlist Author.
	'Nobody asks you to do this. The world out there is not panting after another novelist. We choose it.' Paul Auster in our Writers' Quotes.

7 July 2008

The sixth article in our series Changes in the Book Trade looks at copyright under pressure, as two developments - digitisation and the Internet concept of everything being free online - challenge authors' key control of their intellectual property.

In this week's News Review we look at how the 2007 Cape Town Book Fair shows dynamic growth, but elsewhere in Africa Book Aid needs support from all of us to deliver books to school-children and students.

This week's Writing Opportunity is the newly inaugurated Manchester Poetry Prize, open to poets throughout the world and offering a handsome prize of £10,000. Closing date 1 August.

We all need a bit of positive news in the midst of economic gloom and this week it's provided by our Comment from Luke Johnson, CEO of Borders UK: 'There are more books sold than ever before, the market is growing and more people are reading... I think the trade should be confident and optimistic.'

If you're thinking of getting some help from WritersServices, Choosing a Service might help to work out what you want, but if you're ready to submit Your Submission Package and Preparing your Manuscript might be what you need.

'Writing a novel without being asked seems a bit like having a baby when you have nowhere to live.'
Lucy Ellman in our Writers' Quotes.

30 June 2008

Wikipedia's 683 million visitors give it a head start against new competitor Citizendium. News Review reports on how they're slugging it out.

We've carried out a links update and added many new links of special interest to writers.

'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, quoted in our Comment column.

If you've been preparing your work for submission, have a look at our Services to see how we can help you get your work in good shape to send out, or look through the hundreds of pages listed in our Advice for Writers.

Our Writing Opportunity this week is the Peter Ustinov Screenwriting Award, open to all non-US writers under the age of 30 and closing on 15 July.

'Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.' Oliver Goldsmith, quoted in our Writers' Quotes.

23 June 2008

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.

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.

On the same theme, in our Comment section: '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.

Have you tried our page on Using the web as a research tool? There's also Advanced Searching to help you make the most of this wonderful resource.

There's still just time to enter your story or poem in the Bridport International Creative Writing Competition in our latest Writing Opportunity (closing 30 June). Entry open to all writers over 18 around the world, entry fee £6.

Our software reviews recommend (or don't recommend) a wide range of software specially designed for writers.

And in our Writers' Quotes: 'Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.' Hermann Hesse

16 June 2008

Writers' routes to their audiences is the fifth article in our new series Changes in the book trade. This one explores the difficulties in getting published and offers new hope through self-publishing and the Internet.

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.

Our Writing Opportunity this week is the tempting Daily Mail/Transworld First Novel Competition, open to UK and Irish residents only and closing on 2 July.

'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, quoted in our Comment column.

Are you writing a biography or autobiography? Chas Jones's article suggests how to approach it.

Last call for the Poetry Writers' Yearbook's own competition, closing on 30 June. Our page includes last year's winning poem and there's an article by the judge, Gordon Kerr, and another article from the book on Epoety and Ezines.

'The way British publishing works is that you go from not being published no matter how good you are, to being published no matter how bad you are.'
Tibor Fischer, in our Writers' Quotes.

9 June 2008

Writing for the web is quite different from writing for the printed page. Our latest checklist shows you how to write web pages to attract and keep visitors.

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.

'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, quoted in our Comment column.

We have two Opportunities , mostly for UK writers, this week literaturetraining's bulletin and a writing course at Godmersham Park, a beautiful house where Jane Austen's brother lived.

Are you trying to get your poetry published? Our Review of 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell by Chris Hamilton-Emery of Salt Publishing said: 'A self-help book for poets... If you’re serious about selling your poems, this book is a must.' Books we've reviewed.

Stephen King's advice on writing is: 'If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot...reading is the creative center of a writer's life...you cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.' In our Writers' Quotes.
Stephen King

2 June 2008

Sherry Rifkin offers Five Tips for Promoting Your Book Online. She shows you how to be thoroughly tech-savvy and gives a quick guide to what you can do to promote your book around the world.

‘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.

Our Writing Opportunity this week is Sharps, the BBC writersroom TV script-writing competition, open to residents of UK and Eire and closing on 16 June.

If you're trying to get your work ready for publication, have a look at our 16 Services, everything from Reports to Scriptwriitng assessment, from Copy editing to Manuscript Polishing.

'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 on the Madeleine McCann case, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, in our Comment column.

From our archive, you can still read excerpts from Evan Marshall's useful book, Novel Writing: 16 Steps to Success, published by A & C Black.

'Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.' W B Yeats in our Writers' Quotes.

The June Magazine is ready!

26 May 2008

Is self-publishing 'really great' or career suicide? The fourth article in our series Changes in the book trade looks at the advantages and pitfalls involved in self-publishing.

'Book lovers are financially astute. They have appropriate levels of borrowing and have kept their credit cards under control.' Polly Jaffe at the London Book Fair, in the Bookseller, quoted in our Comment column.

The Journal of a Virtually Unpublished Writer, Bob Ritchie's despatches from the front line, started in 2001 and come right up to late last year. They make addictive reading.

'Amazon has dominated the headlines in the book trade press over the last few months, as it has taken a more aggressive approach to its plans for growth.' News Review has the (quite alarming) story.

Our latest Writing Opportunity is the new Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition, open to all and closing on 2 June, which has a first prize of £5,000.

Will your book have illustrations? Find out how Picture Libraries work and browse our list of some of the best ones, with notes on their special areas.

'To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune; but to write and read comes by nature.' William Shakespeare in our Writers' Quotes.

19 May 2008

How will the digital future affect book publishing? The second of two articles completes our report on the seminars on Digitisation at the London Book Fair. The first article.

News Review looks at Susie Dent's forthcoming Words of the Year, which highlights new words, and concludes that: 'Writers for whom English is their native language have a huge advantage in reaching a worldwide market'.

This week's Writing Opportunity is the Rod Hall Memorial Award for a play, worth £5,000. It's open to UK writers only and closes on 1 June.

‘I try to write so much a day. I set myself a small target, ie to write for an hour or perhaps 250 words and not to do anything else. You find once you start that you’ve written for hours or 1,000 words.' Celia Rees, author of Sovay in the Bookseller, quoted in our Comment column.

Looking for an agent? Use our searchable database to find the right one for you. UK, US and International agents are all listed.

'A bad book is as much of a labour to write as a good one; it comes as sincerely from the author's soul.'
Aldous Huxley in Point Counter Point, quoted in our Writers' Quotes.

12 May 2008

What is the digital future? Digitisation at the London Book Fair is a report on the excellent LBF seminars on digitisation, the subject of the moment as far as the book world is concerned. The first of two articles focusing on issues most relevant to writers.

'When it comes to women's fiction, critics have a condescension chromosome. The demeaning label chick-lit says it all.' Kathy Lette in The Times, quoted in our Comment column.

Are print encyclopedias dead? It rather looks as if they might be. News Review looks at Brockhaus and Britannica.

Are you thinking about taking out a subscription to a magazine for writers? Our magazine review section can help you decide which one to go for.

Our latest new pages cover Getting your poetry published and putting together Your submission package.

‘But those who cannot write, and those who can,
All rhyme, and scrawl, and scribble, to a man.’
Alexander Pope from our listing of Writers' Quotes.

5 May 2008

J K Rowling's recent appearance in court to protect her copyright raises key issues relating to copyright infringement and 'passing off'. News Review investigates.

Our latest Success story looks at Colin Cotterill's unusual route to authorship and his entertaining website, featuring ‘The Writing Chappy’, ‘The Cartooning Chappy’ and ‘The normal having a life Chappy’.

‘All prizes have eligibility criteria: nationality, or ethnic origin, or language, or country of residence, or subject matter, or religion. For those who see the world in negative terms, prizes celebrate the achievements of one group at the expense of another.' Kate Mosse defends the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. Quoted in our Comment column.

An Editor's Advice is a 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 travel and manuscript presentation.

Our latest Writing opportunity is the slightly elusive 2nd Annual RBA International Crime Fiction Award, which offers a substantial125,000 euros (£97,718 or $192,739) in prize money for the winning crime novel as an advance against publication.

'Writing is a dog's life, but the only life worth living.'
Gustave Flaubert's conclusion can be found in our Writers' Quotes, along with hundreds of other interesting remarks.

The May magazine is ready!

21 April 2008

Top Ten Tips for nonfiction writers from Julie Wheelwright, programme director, MA Creative Writing Nonfiction provides a helpful checklist for all writers.

News Review on the Bologna and London Book Fairs: 'In summary, these were two lively and upbeat book fairs, showing that the global book business is in surprisingly strong shape.'

We've added some new quotes to Rotten Rejections 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.'

Are you considering getting your work copy edited or proof-read? This article explains the difference.

'Done badly, fantasy is more risible than any other genre, perhaps because there is such a fine line between heroic endeavour and bathos.' Amanda Craig in The Times, quoted in our Comment column.

Have you ever thought of setting up your own small business? Ros Jay's The Golden Rules of Starting a Small Business is from our archives and is just as useful now a it was when we first published it.

'Literature, with a capital L, unless preserved by Time, has always been in a bad way, but books considered as merchandise have not.' Denys Val Baker in The Author, in our Writers' Quotes.

14 April 2008

The third article in our series Changes in the book trade deals with Print on demand and the Long Tail, looking at how they are changing the economics of publishing, enabling backlist to be kept in print and book buyers to source a vast range of books.

Earlier articles dealt with Bookselling and Publishing.

News Review focuses on the agency world. Agent Pat Kavanagh says: 'You can’t be thinking about what’s happening to the share price, or whether shareholders are going to be cross with you. All that matters is doing the right job for your writers, even if it means turning something down that’s very lucrative.’

'Malorie Blackman and Benjamin Zephaniah may entice a more ethnically mixed audience, but the answer can’t be black writers for black kids and white for white. We cannot be cosy about the debate any more.’ Anthony Horowitz, author of Snakehead in the Bookseller, quoted in our Comment column.

There's still time to seize our latest Writing Opportunity, which is the Templar Poetry Pamphlet & Collection Competition 2008, open to all poets writing in English and closing on 30 April.

If you're trying to get your work ready for publication, have a look at our 16 Services, everything from Reports to Scriptwriitng assessment, from Copy editing to Manuscript Polishing and including work intended for Children.

'I've been reading reviews of my stories for twenty-five years, and can't remember a single useful point in any of them, or the slightest good advice. The only reviewer who ever made an impression on me was Skabichevsky, who prophesied that I would die drunk in the bottom of a ditch.' Anton Chekhov, in our Writers' Quotes.

7 April 2008

The last extract from The ABC Checklist for New Writers deals with titles and why they matter: 'The title of your work is the first thing the editor will read and, if it doesn’t grab her attention, she may put down your submission in favour of one more intriguingly titled.'

The five earlier extracts deal with Agents, Editors, Keeping records, Marketing and Professionalism. The book provides an essential guide for writers.

The Friday Project goes into liquidation and Borders US puts itself up for sale. News Review looks at the latest bad news from the book world.

Competing against 8,000 anonymous entries, the Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition was won this year by Sinead Morrissey, with a superb poem, which you can find on this page.

Do you need to carry out research for your writing? Here's how to use the web as a research tool, or you could read our review of Ann Hoffmann's excellent Research for Writers.

‘I was in the airport lounge at Heathrow, wanting something big and juicy for the sun lounger and looking in the commercial women’s fiction section.' Novelist Tasmina Perry in The Times on why she's contributing to the return of the bonkbuster, in our Comment column.

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As Goethe wrote: 'The world is so great and rich, and life so full of variety, that you can never lack occasions for poems.' Find this and hundreds of interesting thoughts in our Writers' Quotes.

31 March 2008

What is Creative Commons? When WritersServices first covered Creative Commons in Inside Publishing, we felt 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.

'Skellig was taken by the first publisher to read it, won a string of prizes, and has been published in 30 languages. I was an overnight success after almost 20 years.' David Almond in The Times, quoted in our Comment column.

The 2007 Diagram Prize winner of the prize for the oddest book title of the year - a barmy winner from a vintage crop.

Won’t anyone stick to what they’re good at? London literary agency PFD is setting up an agreement with print on demand printer Lightning Source to bring their authors’ work back into print. News Review reports.

Having problems with Repetitive Strain Injury? Check your symptoms in our Health Hazards series before they get any worse.

‘There’s a lot of tasteful writing out there – nice, tidy, clean – but sometimes it’s excess, rawness and the unpolished that work.’ Dan Vyleta, author of Pavel & I, quoted in our Writers' Quotes.

24 March 2008

Less successful writers’ income is under increasing pressure from the focus on bestsellers and the Internet. News Review finds some more positive trends.

Our latest success story shows how Russell Ash's website for his title Potty, Fartwell and Knob, Extraordinary but True Names of British People has helped to create a buzz and make it into a bestseller.

'My aim, as a poet in the community, is always the same: to make people go away thinking ‘Is that what poetry is? I can do that!’' Ian McMillan's article on The Poet in the Community: A little adventure on 57 Productions’ website, is quoted from in our Comment column.

Our Writing Opportunity this week is the Dylan Thomas Prize for Young Writers who for a fee of £100 can submit commercially published work in a number of genres for the £60,000 prize.

If you've been brushing up your work over the break, have a look at our Services to help you get your work ready for submission or look through the hundreds of pages listed in our Advice for Writers.

And the last word goes to Francois-Rene, Vicomte de Chateaubriand, in our Writers' Quotes: An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.'

17 March 2008

Professionalism is the subject of the fourth extract from the ABC Checklist for New Writers, an indispensable reference for every writer.

Half of all book sales in the UK are at a discount but 6% more books were sold in 2007 than in 2006. News Review also has good news on book sales and the Internet.

The shortlist for the wonderful Diagram Prize for 2007 has been announced, giving us a whacky selection of the oddest titles of the year.

'Why pay £16.99 ($35) for a novel by someone you've never heard of when you could buy three or four paperbacks for the same price?' Scott Pack of the Friday Project on the hardback/paperback debate in the Bookseller, quoted in our Comment column.

Two opportunities directed to UK Black and Minority ethnic writers are the focus of this week's Writing Opportunities.

The 19-part Inside Publishing series gives you an insight to what's going on in publishing. From Advances and royalties to Copyright, this is the place to find the inside story on publishing.

'I dislike modern memoirs. They are generally written by people who have either entirely lost their memories, or have never done anything worth remembering.' Oscar Wilde in our Writers' Quotes.

10 March 2008

The second article in our new series Changes in the book trade deals with Publishing. Chris Holifield looks at the book trade and investigates how fundamental changes in how it works are affecting writers.

Do reading promotions work? News Review looks at the UK's World Book Day and the National Year of Reading and examines some figures which show that Quick Reads have changed attitudes to books.

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'We whine a lot, but it's not so hard. You stay in fancy hotels, and go to signings where people buy your books and want your autograph and tell you lots of nice things…' Harlan Coben on authors on the road in Publishing News, quoted in our Comment column.

Open to all unpublished writers writing in English, the fiendishly complicated Bookhabit Competition provides our latest Writing Opportunity.

Are you looking for a book to help with your writing? Our WritersBookStall lists over 200 titles, indexed by subject and available from Amazon, which could help you on your way.

Jane Austen on the novel: 'Oh it is only a novel... In short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.' In our Writers' Quotes.

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