October 2024
- ‘One person writing in a quiet room, trying to connect with another person, reading in another quiet-or maybe not so quiet-room. Stories can entertain, sometimes teach or argue a point. But for me the essential thing is that they communicate feelings. That they appeal to what we share as human beings across our borders and divides. There are large glamorous industries around stories; the book industry, the movie industry, the television industry, the theatre industry. But in the end, stories are about one person saying to another: This is the way it feels to me. Can you understand what I'm saying? Does it also feel this way to you?' Kazuo Ishiguro, author of nine works of fiction, including An Artist of the Floating World, The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go.
- The latest new article in our Worldbuilding series is Worldbuilding 8: non-human characters. 'An elf, a dwarf and a goblin walk into a tavern: no, that's not the first line of a terrible joke. All too often, however, it is the default setting for fantasy literature; a convention that, from some angles, rather resembles a cliché. In this article I'll examine some of the pros and cons of having non-human characters and how they affect your worldbuilding. The first and most fundamental question to address is: are such characters necessary? And, I'd suggest, the fundamental answer must be: yes, if and only if the story needs them. If you are inserting elves and dragons because you think you ought to, or to make the world more interesting, you are very likely on the wrong track...'
- Our new eight-part Worldbuilding series is designed to help fantasy and science fiction writers think about the various things they need to consider when constructing the world in their novel: 'Fantasy fiction is a niche market, but a very popular niche market. It is particularly popular among new writers, and I suspect this is a consequence of growing up on a diet of best-selling fantasy fiction over the last couple of decades...' The titles are: 1: Character names in fantasy novels, 2: The basics of writing fantasy fiction, 3: Geography and physical location, 4: Technology, 5: Culture, 6: Magic and 7: It's a kind of magic.
- If you've come to the site looking for a report on your manuscript, how do you work out which one would suit you best? Which Report? includes our top-of-the range service, the Editor's Report Plus, introduced by popular demand to provide even more detail. This very substantial report takes the form of a chapter-by-chapter breakdown and many writers have found this detail helps them to get their book right.
- Our first set of links are from publishing: the underminining of social media, The Bookseller - News - Book industry in 'unhappy marriage' with Twitter/X as Pan Mac says it is 'pausing all activity'; US government statistics suggest the number of publishing jobs has declined dramatically since the 1990s, Over 30 Years, 40% of Publishing Jobs Disappeared. What Happened? Two independent book publishers were recently absorbed by larger companies, Australia's national literature is being swallowed up; a new bookshop over multiple floors in central York in autumn 2025, The Bookseller - News - Topping & Company to open ‘largest independent bookshop in the country' in York; and Bloomsbury's new range of dyslexia-friendly books, and the importance of accessibility in publishing, Q&A: Bloomsbury accessibility manager Elizabeth Kellingley.
- Get ready for National Novel Writing Month 2024, starting on 1 November and ending on 30 November. Open to all writers with no entry fee. You win by writing a 50,000 word novel.
- Are you ready to submit your synopsis and sample chapters to agents or publishers, but worried about whether you are presenting your work in the best possible way? It's dispiriting to receive rejections just because your submission package is not up to scratch. Our Submission Critique has helped many authors to improve their submission packages, helping them to get published.
- From Joanne PhillipsUK-based freelance writer and ghostwriter. She has had articles published in national writing magazines, and has ghostwritten books on subjects as diverse as hairdressing and keeping chickens. Visit her at www.joannephillips.co.uk, The Business of Writing for Self-publishing authors offers terrific advice for all writers: 'Self-publishing authors - also known as ‘indie' authors or author-publishers - have had a steep learning curve these past few years. Getting to grips with the various sales channels available to them, producing top quality ebooks and paperbacks, and finding a place in mainstream outlets have left many writers struggling to keep up with the paperwork. What follows is a brief guide to the essentials your self-publishing business needs - because it is a business, even if you only publish one book!'
- Links to writers' stories: Heidi Kingstone on writing about the darkest episodes of the 20th and 21st centuries, The stories of genocides; Catherine Chidgey's dystopian ninth novel The Book of Guilt, NZ author 'thrilled' over UK publisher bidding war | RNZ News; the One Show invitation has yet to arrive - Nick Duerden on life as a midlist author, Number one in Mammals; and Jacquie Walters on children, hopelessness, and discovering horror fiction, The Healing Power of Horror ‹ CrimeReads.
- From our Endorsements page: 'I cannot emphasise enough my gratitude to writerservices.com. I more or less expected that they would treat me and my texts professionally - after all, this is what the site offers. What I haven't expected was the extra mile they were prepared to go on my behalf, their beautiful attention to both the letter and the spirit of what I had to say. My manuscript has now found an agent - a happy development in which they have definitely played a role. All I can say is that if I ever produce anything else, I will definitely be their client again.' Sveta, Windsor, UK.
- Advice for writers - if you want to delve into the wealth of information on our huge site, here's the page which will help you find what you're looking for.
- 'So you want to be a crime writer? This is probably a good choice. Crime writing has long been popular with readers across the English-speaking world but it had a real resurgence a few years ago. Although publishers have reined back from the subsequent tendency towards over-production, there is still a solid market for good crime writing and many bestselling writers, such as Richard Osman, write in this category. As well as being a long term publishing staple in the main English-speaking markets, the US and UK, crime novels are much in demand in translation, especially in Europe...' Writing Crime Fiction in our Genre writing series.
- Our Services for Writers is just a list of the 22 services we offfer, which we believe is the largest on the web.
- Our final set of links are about reading and writing for children: a call on the Prime Minister to address the decline in reading for pleasure among children, The Bookseller - News - Katherine Rundell and Claire Wilson sign open letter on children's reading; asking for a cross-government commitment to prioritise the role of reading for pleasure for children, investing in the development of children and the future of the country, The Bookseller - News - Publishing industry calls on government to create plan to boost reading for pleasure; a decline in reading in the US is affecting young people's ability to reason, and teachers are contributing to the problem, How many kids read for fun? Not nearly enough | Opinion - Deseret News; a surprising finding, The Bookseller - News - More than half of children's books with diverse main characters are by white authors, report finds; and Lizza Aiken on the Responsibility of Maintaining Her Mother's Literary Legacy, Looking After the Books: Remembering Children's Author Joan Aiken ‹ Literary Hub.
- How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth) asks writers who are not native English speakers with a manuscript which needs polishing or translating: "If your English is good enough, what about translating your book yourself or writing in English, and then getting your work polished and copy edited by a professional editor who is a native English speaker?" This could be a cost-effective way of reaching the international English-speaking market, using our English Language Editing service.
- Why has my manuscript been rejected? It is demoralising to get your manuscript rejected by publishers or agents. Here are some of the reasons why this happens and suggestions of what you can do about it. Avoiding rejection.
- The Writer's Edit is an enhanced editing package that offers you all the benefits of our expert copy editing service, plus an extra level of advice and support to help you take your writing to a new level. We will copy edit your manuscript to our usual professional standard, but in addition we will offer you a line-by-line edit specifically designed to improve your style, structure and form, and a set of guidance notes, giving commentary and advice.
- ‘If people don't like what I write, I just try to avoid that side of it. I get it. It doesn't bother me at all. I feel like when you have five books on the bestsellers list it's very hard to be upset in any way by criticism. Because you know that people out there are enjoying your work, and I just keep my focus on that.' Colleen Hoover in our Writers' Quotes.
