Review
"A must for would-be writers everywhere." Fresh Direction (Jan 2006)
Eoin Colfer
'Every possible scrap of information needed by the upcoming or established writer is included'
The Association of Illustrators
'Packed with tips and professional insight'
Product Description
The best selling guide to markets in all areas of the media, completely revised and updated, containing 8 new articles and a foreword by top author Terry Pratchett. New articles: - Self-publishing - G.P. Taylor - Year-in-View of the publishing industry - Joel Ricketts - How to publicise your book - Isabel Losada - How to get an agent's attention - Alison Baverstock - Poetry into print - Roddy Lumsden - Getting cartoons published - Crime writing - Mark Billingham - Can you recommend an agent? - Marc Le Fanu Listings include newspapers and magazines, book publishers and literary agents, TV and film producers, websites, picture agencies and libraries, societies, prizes, festivals and editorial services - all revised and updated. Subjects covered in Writers' & Artists' Yearbook and not covered by its nearest rival publication include: Vanity publishing - How to get an agent - Marketing your book - Writing for the children's market - Writing for newspapers and magazines - Picture research - Artists' agencies - Writer's retreats - Art agents and commercial art studios - Card and stationery publishers - Indexing and proofreading - Who owns whom in publishing - Copyright - Income tax and social security - Book distribution
From the Inside Flap
The bestselling Yearbook for writers and artists is a comprehensive, up-to-date directory of media contacts and contains a wealth of practical advice and information. The 2006 edition has been completely revised and updated.
Features include: Hundreds of new contacts and updated listings for book publishers and packagers, literary and art agents, magazines, TV and radio, prizes and festivals and much more.
Many new articles including 'How to get ahead in cartooning' by Martin Rowson, 'I think I need an agent' by Mark Le Fanu of the Society of Authors, 'Year-in-view of the publishing industry' by Joel Rickett, 'How to attract the attention of a literary agent' by Alison Baverstock and 'Approaching a poetry publisher' by Roddy Lumsden.
Advice from: Terry Pratchett, J.K. Rowling, Mark Billingham, G.P. Taylor, Isabel Losada, Joanna Trollope, Simon Winchester, Maggie Gee.
Excerpted from Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2006 by Terry Pratchett. Copyright © 2005. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Foreword
The first novel in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett OBE, The Colour of Magic, was
published in 1983 and the 34th book in the series, Thud, is due to be published in October
2005. The last 20 novels in the Discworld series have all reached the number one position
in the bestseller lists, and Going Postal was number one in the hardback Top 10 Original
Fiction list for sales in 2004. Terry Pratchett has written or been co-author of over 50 books.
I bought my first copy of Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook (secondhand) when I was
about 13 or 14. Sorry. But I’d just spent 10 shillings on a very good secondhand
copy of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, which was a big bite out of
available funds In some dimly understood way. I felt it was one of the things you
had to have in order to be a writer, and that somehow professionalism would
leak from it and be painlessly absorbed by me.
I read it solemnly.
Was it useful? Well, yes – but I have to say that some of the basics had already
entered my life via science fiction fandom. Most writers in the field were fans
once; many fans aspire to be writers one day. And so, at a major science fiction
convention (and long before literary festivals became the new rock ‘n’ roll) you’d
find established authors, there at their own expense, explaining the basics to a
hall full of hopefuls. The process is known as ‘paying forward’.
I took notes. I’ve never had occasion to use one magnificent tip from a wellknown
author but I pass on anyway: "Keep an eye on the trade press.When an
editor moves on, immediately send your precious MS to his or her office, with a
covering letter addressed to said departed editor. Say, in the tones of one
engaged in a cooperative effort, something like this: ‘Dear X, I was very pleased
to receive your encouraging letter indicating your interest in my book, and I
have made all the changes you asked for...’ Of course they won’t find the letter.
Publishers can never find anything. But at least someone might panic enough to
read the MS."
Having read and listened to all the good advice, I then handed over the MS of
my first novel to a local small press publisher, just because I met him one day
and he seemed a decent type. He liked it. I was totally unknown and he’d never
published fiction before, so it didn’t make much money. Nor did the next two.
The fourth title was the first book in the Discworld series. It didn’t exactly walk
out of the shops, but it crawled quite briskly and with every sign that it was
determined to make it to its feet. Transworld hesitated, and then published it in
paperback. A few years later, I hired my former publisher as my agent, and life
became rather crowded.
I was lucky. Incredibly so, when I think of all the ways things could have gone.
But when the floppy-eared Spaniel of Luck sniffs at your turn-ups it helps if
you have a collar and piece of string in your pocket. In my case, it was a sequel.
I get asked all the time, in letters and emails and questions from the floor:
"Can you give me a few tips about being a writer?". And you sense that gleam in
the eye, that hope that somehow, this time, you’ll drop your guard and hand over
the map to the Holy Grail or, preferably, its URL. I detect, now, a slightly
worrying edge to all this, a hint of indignation that grammar, spelling and
punctuation have a part to play ("Don’t publishers have people to do all that?"
was one response) and that the universe is remiss in not making allowance for
the fact that you don’t have the time.
So, instead, I give tips on how to be a professional boxer. A good diet is
essential, of course, as is a daily regime of exercise. Pay attention to your
footwork, it will often get you out of trouble. Go down to the gym every day –
every day of your life that finds you waking up capable of standing. Take every
opportunity to watch a good professional fight. In fact watch as many bouts as
you can, because you can even learn something from the fighters who get it
wrong. Don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do. And don’t forget the
diet and the exercise and the roadwork .
Got it? Well, becoming a writer is basically exactly the same thing, except that
it isn’t about boxing.
It’s a simple as that.
Terry Pratchett
The first novel in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett OBE, The Colour of Magic, was
published in 1983 and the 34th book in the series, Thud, is due to be published in October
2005. The last 20 novels in the Discworld series have all reached the number one position
in the bestseller lists, and Going Postal was number one in the hardback Top 10 Original
Fiction list for sales in 2004. Terry Pratchett has written or been co-author of over 50 books.
I bought my first copy of Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook (secondhand) when I was
about 13 or 14. Sorry. But I’d just spent 10 shillings on a very good secondhand
copy of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, which was a big bite out of
available funds In some dimly understood way. I felt it was one of the things you
had to have in order to be a writer, and that somehow professionalism would
leak from it and be painlessly absorbed by me.
I read it solemnly.
Was it useful? Well, yes – but I have to say that some of the basics had already
entered my life via science fiction fandom. Most writers in the field were fans
once; many fans aspire to be writers one day. And so, at a major science fiction
convention (and long before literary festivals became the new rock ‘n’ roll) you’d
find established authors, there at their own expense, explaining the basics to a
hall full of hopefuls. The process is known as ‘paying forward’.
I took notes. I’ve never had occasion to use one magnificent tip from a wellknown
author but I pass on anyway: "Keep an eye on the trade press.When an
editor moves on, immediately send your precious MS to his or her office, with a
covering letter addressed to said departed editor. Say, in the tones of one
engaged in a cooperative effort, something like this: ‘Dear X, I was very pleased
to receive your encouraging letter indicating your interest in my book, and I
have made all the changes you asked for...’ Of course they won’t find the letter.
Publishers can never find anything. But at least someone might panic enough to
read the MS."
Having read and listened to all the good advice, I then handed over the MS of
my first novel to a local small press publisher, just because I met him one day
and he seemed a decent type. He liked it. I was totally unknown and he’d never
published fiction before, so it didn’t make much money. Nor did the next two.
The fourth title was the first book in the Discworld series. It didn’t exactly walk
out of the shops, but it crawled quite briskly and with every sign that it was
determined to make it to its feet. Transworld hesitated, and then published it in
paperback. A few years later, I hired my former publisher as my agent, and life
became rather crowded.
I was lucky. Incredibly so, when I think of all the ways things could have gone.
But when the floppy-eared Spaniel of Luck sniffs at your turn-ups it helps if
you have a collar and piece of string in your pocket. In my case, it was a sequel.
I get asked all the time, in letters and emails and questions from the floor:
"Can you give me a few tips about being a writer?". And you sense that gleam in
the eye, that hope that somehow, this time, you’ll drop your guard and hand over
the map to the Holy Grail or, preferably, its URL. I detect, now, a slightly
worrying edge to all this, a hint of indignation that grammar, spelling and
punctuation have a part to play ("Don’t publishers have people to do all that?"
was one response) and that the universe is remiss in not making allowance for
the fact that you don’t have the time.
So, instead, I give tips on how to be a professional boxer. A good diet is
essential, of course, as is a daily regime of exercise. Pay attention to your
footwork, it will often get you out of trouble. Go down to the gym every day –
every day of your life that finds you waking up capable of standing. Take every
opportunity to watch a good professional fight. In fact watch as many bouts as
you can, because you can even learn something from the fighters who get it
wrong. Don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do. And don’t forget the
diet and the exercise and the roadwork .
Got it? Well, becoming a writer is basically exactly the same thing, except that
it isn’t about boxing.
It’s a simple as that.
Terry Pratchett
