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What's New

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

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  • This month's online Magazine is another way of catching up with what's new on the site

January 2015

26 January 2015 - What's new

January 2015

19 January 2015 - What's new

January 2015

12 January 2015 - What's new

January 2015
  • When David Harsent received the 2014 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry in the elegant surroundings of the Courtyard at the Wallace Collection in London this week, he had won a prize which has recently been increased to £20,000, the richest prize in British poetry. It's appropriate to think of T S Eliot's money going to a contemporary poet through the generosity of the Eliot Estate. Much of this comes from Cats, the hugely successful musical made out of Eliot's beloved children's book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber and long a global blockbuster. Our News Review this week: 'A poet for dark and dangerous days' wins 2014 T S Eliot Prize.
  • Our Latest Writing Opportunity is the Magma Poetry Prize, one for shorter and one for longer poems, both with a first prize of £1,000 and closing on 19 Janaury.
  • Our Services for Self-publishers include a complete set of editorial services you may need if you're publishing your own book - Copy editing, Proof-reading, Blurb-writing, Children's Copy editing, Poetry Collection Editing, Indexing and Manuscript Typing.
  • 'I began with thinking about how almost all families have such a sense of pride in their specialness, even if they have no real reason to make them feel so proud. I think that every family has stories that they choose. They filter out many of the stories that they could have, and they select one or two to be their family's stories. I'm always interested in why those... why not others? Anne Tyler, author of The Accidental Tourist, talking about her new novel A Spool of Blue Thread in the Bookseller, quoted in our Comment column.
  • Bob's Journal is a long-running column from writer Bob Ritchie described by fellow EastEnders script-writer Pippa McCarthy: 'Just discovered your web page... I've just spent the last hour crying with laughter with periodic yelps of 'been there!'... I'm going to make my entire family read your diary. Then perhaps will understand own bizarre behaviour every time I start a script... Anyway, will shut up now but just wanted to say you have cheered me up no end. It's brilliant.'
  • Our links this week: it's not Amazon but an overcrowded writing field which is killing writing, Kindle Unlimited and the ongoing commoditization of books - Tech News and Analysis; articles about China from last year's archive from US trade journal Publishers' Weekly, Top 12 Articles of 2014 on Publishing in Asia and South Asia; musings on the writer's life, BookBrunch - A small price to pay for the writing life; a sensational new  French novel, Michel Houellebecq and the Charlie Hebdo Attack - Publishing Perspectives; the power of recommendation by the powerful; When Mark Zuckerberg Likes a Book, Sales Soar - NYTimes.com; and some amazing figures, How Much Can Chinese Authors Earn? Millions, Actually - Publishing Perspectives.
  • 'All the information you need can be given in dialogue.' The great Elmore Leonard in our Writers' Quotes.

5 January 2015 - What's new

January 2015
  • We've just published our annual listing of books fairs across the world, 2015 International Book Fairs, an update on the most important fairs across the globe. Although these are mainly directed at publishers and booksellers, many also offer author events and other attractions such as festivals for the general public and also events of interest to self-publishers. As indie publishing has grown, so have the seminars and other events catering for authors who are publishing their own book. Even if you're not self-publishing, your local book fair offers a really good opportunity to see what's happening in the book world.
  • 'I became a reader overnight. I remember exactly what happened. I was 14 and went to John Menzies newsagent. Every book that had a vaguely smutty blurb I bought... The only exception to the highbrow erotica was Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country. I thought, "This is as boring as shit..." After 40 pages, something started to change...' Alan Warner, author of The Sopranos and Their Lips Talk of Mischief in the Independent on Sunday, quoted in our Comment column.
  • Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl has qualified for the Nielsen Book Platinum Award, achieving sales of more than 1m copies recorded by BookScan in the UK. Added to this are her huge international sales, especially after the release of the highly successful film. Gillian Flynn was the subject of our Success Story back in 2013. We have other Success Stories on a wide range of authors.
  • Our News Review this week: 'As we enter another new year it seems that the book world is becoming ever more global. Our new list of 2015 International Book Fairs brings home just how many are aspiring to international status and trying to establish themselves as attracting a truly worldwide audience of publishers, booksellers and authors...'
  • Still on an international theme, Book Aid International has just reached one million books sent to Africa in its 60th year (They say that for every £2 ($3) you give they can send a new book to Africa.)
  • This week's links are strong on year-end lists of articles on particular themes, offering the chance to read up on them if you're interested: a fascinating overview on changes in the academic publishing world, Academic publishing and scholarly communication: a status report | Harvard Magazine Jan-Feb 2015; a range of articles on children's publishing, Publishers Weekly's Top Children's Stories of 2014; so what effect are subscription services having on sales of low-priced ebooks? Ebooks in 2015: Dull new world - Tech News and Analysis; change and stability in the world of global publishers, The World's 56 Largest Book Publishers, 2014; and - related to our Book Aid International link above, Worldreader on Book Donations in the Digital Age - Publishing Perspectives.
  • 'Fiction is not a dream. Nor is it guess work. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be accurate or the work of imagining will not stand up.' Margaret Culkin Banning in our Writers' Quotes.


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