Random House, John Grisham Publisher, extend YouWriteOn involvement
YouWriteOn is extremely pleased that the Random House Group, whose authors include John Grisham and Bill Bryson, have extended their initial period of involvement with YouWriteOn.com.
Each month, they will continue to review the YouWriteOn Top Ten writers. This will carry on from their initial 6 month involvement for a further 6 month period between October 2008 and March 2009.
YWO would like to thank all members for participating, and without the great stories uploaded this wouldn't have been possible.
Join YouWriteOn Now - Uploading opening chapters and short stories for feedback. Each month, the highest rated writers receive free feedback from editors for leading publishers, including Random House and Orion.
Congratulations to YouWriteOn Member Danny Gillan on his publishing success
Many congratulations to YouWriteOn member Danny Gillan on publishing his novel Will You Love Me Tomorrow.
Danny informs us, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow was the first thing I ever posted on YouWriteOn, and the help and advice I received was invaluable, so I'm very grateful to both you and all the YouWriteOn members who helped whip it into shape."
The novel won the Scottish Region prize in the Undiscovered Authors 2006 competition.
Danny says, "The book will have its launch on Thursday Oct 23rd (7-9pm) in The Scotia Bar in Glasgow city centre, and anyone in the area is more than welcome to pop in and say hello." Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Some aspiring musicians wait a lifetime for that elusive record deal. Bryan Rivers waited a lifetime plus three days. As if dealing with the suicide of her clinically depressed husband wasn’t difficult enough, to Claire Rivers’ amazement one of the biggest record companies in the country suddenly wants to offer him a contract. When his ‘status’ is viewed as only a minor inconvenience, she begins to wonder if someone, somewhere, is playing a very distasteful joke on her. Will You Love Me Tomorrow is a comedy about death, depression, grief, loss, friendship, family, haircuts and the music business.
Barryinforms us: “I want to thank everyone on youwriteon who reviewed Fallen Heroes. I took a lot of those comments to heart and put them into practice. The first time I walked into Waterstone’s and saw my book on the shelf it was one of the best moments of my life. I’m very to grateful to Ted and everyone on the youwriteon site for all their encouragement and giving me the chance to reach a wider audience with Fallen Heroes and perhaps gain some professional interest.”
At the moment the Piccadilly, Bedford, NottingHill Gate, York and Leadenhall branches of Waterstones all have copies of Fallen Heroes on their shelves. Story Synopsis: Fallen Heroes is a supernatural adventure that pits an unlikely group of heroes and anti heroes against an evil which has existed since the first crusade. If they can keep from killing each other long enough they might just be able to stop the world from plunging into a new dark age. "You must read Barry Nugent's 'Fallen Heroes' if you enjoy books that entertain and amuse! This story pulls together loads of ideas and genres and will appeal to fans of the Da Vinci Code, Misssion Impossible, James Bond to name but a few. Ben 'The Hand' Ashodi reminded me of the smart Alec Elvis Cole in the Robert Crais L.A. crime books or perhaps Myron Boliar in Harlan Coben's thrillers, maybe even Lawrence Block's 'burglar' stories featuring Bernie Rhodenbarr. If you enjoyed The 'A' team, love Indiana Jones and enjoy the fantasy of 'X-men' you'll really relish this stylish action-packed adventure."Waterstones British Arts Council YouWriteOn.com Top Ten story.
Quickly found its way onto a Neil Diamond fan site. Click here to view. Once a book is out there it can begin to be talked about.
I have done everything, I mean everything, to get into print. A few years ago, while I was living in Hong Kong, the Poet Laureate came to town. With a little subterfuge I found out where he was staying. The Marriott. I drifted along to The Marriott. Despite a browbeating, the concierge wouldn’t give me his room number. Silence. My manuscript stayed right there, in its Jiffy bag, on the counter between us. Okay, he said, he’d send it up with roomservice, like a basket meal. I could hear the Laureate’s cry - “What’s going on here! I’m calling security!” Another time a Faber man was passing through Hong Kong. I drew him aside in his hotel lobby on the way to the airport. “Listen, you don’t know me but . . .” I thrust another manuscript into his arms – “Something to read on the plane, friend!”
Well, those days are over now, thank the lord, for agents, for publishers, Poet Laureates, and for me. Now I can hire my own editors, design my own covers, and print my own books under my own imprint. Some say – ‘Hey, don’t do that! You’re lowering our standards! Let the experts decide!’ In my view, that’s an attitude problem. I’ve been published. I had a couple of short stories accepted for anthologies in the nineties – one of which was favourably received in The Times Literary Supplement. But the years since have proved beyond doubt that the conventional route, for outsiders like me, is very, very long and leads precisely nowhere. Life’s too short. In the last fifteen months I’ve had two books in the youwriteon top five. That means I could have readers out there. I must find them. Before they call security.
Barryinforms us: “I want to thank everyone on youwriteon who reviewed Fallen Heroes. I took a lot of those comments to heart and put them into practice. The first time I walked into Waterstone’s and saw my book on the shelf it was one of the best moments of my life. I’m very to grateful to Ted and everyone on the youwriteon site for all their encouragement and giving me the chance to reach a wider audience with Fallen Heroes and perhaps gain some professional interest.”
At the moment the Piccadilly, Bedford, NottingHill Gate, York and Leadenhall branches of Waterstones all have copies of Fallen Heroes on their shelves. Story Synopsis: Fallen Heroes is a supernatural adventure that pits an unlikely group of heroes and anti heroes against an evil which has existed since the first crusade. If they can keep from killing each other long enough they might just be able to stop the world from plunging into a new dark age. "You must read Barry Nugent's 'Fallen Heroes' if you enjoy books that entertain and amuse! This story pulls together loads of ideas and genres and will appeal to fans of the Da Vinci Code, Misssion Impossible, James Bond to name but a few. Ben 'The Hand' Ashodi reminded me of the smart Alec Elvis Cole in the Robert Crais L.A. crime books or perhaps Myron Boliar in Harlan Coben's thrillers, maybe even Lawrence Block's 'burglar' stories featuring Bernie Rhodenbarr. If you enjoyed The 'A' team, love Indiana Jones and enjoy the fantasy of 'X-men' you'll really relish this stylish action-packed adventure."Waterstones British Arts Council YouWriteOn.com Top Ten story.
The New Writer Magazine - Prose and Poetry Prizes - Closing Date 30 November 2008
The New Writer, bi-monthly magazine, available by subscription only, publishes the best in fact, fiction and poetry, and organizes the annual Prose and Poetry Prizes - major annual international competition for short stories, novellas, single poems, poetry collections, essays and articles; offers cash prizes from a total fund above £2,000 as well as publication for the prize-winning writers. Closing date 30 November 2008.
Random House, John Grisham Publisher, extend YouWriteOn involvement
YouWriteOn is extremely pleased that the Random House Group, whose authors include John Grisham and Bill Bryson, have extended their initial period of involvement with YouWriteOn.com.
Each month, they will continue to review the YouWriteOn Top Ten writers. This will carry on from their initial 6 month involvement for a further 6 month period between October 2008 and March 2009.
YWO would like to thank all members for participating, and without the great stories uploaded this wouldn't have been possible.
Join YouWriteOn Now - Uploading opening chapters and short stories for feedback. Each month, the highest rated writers receive free feedback from editors for leading publishers, including Random House and Orion.
Quickly found its way onto a Neil Diamond fan site. Click here to view. Once a book is out there it can begin to be talked about.
I have done everything, I mean everything, to get into print. A few years ago, while I was living in Hong Kong, the Poet Laureate came to town. With a little subterfuge I found out where he was staying. The Marriott. I drifted along to The Marriott. Despite a browbeating, the concierge wouldn’t give me his room number. Silence. My manuscript stayed right there, in its Jiffy bag, on the counter between us. Okay, he said, he’d send it up with roomservice, like a basket meal. I could hear the Laureate’s cry - “What’s going on here! I’m calling security!” Another time a Faber man was passing through Hong Kong. I drew him aside in his hotel lobby on the way to the airport. “Listen, you don’t know me but . . .” I thrust another manuscript into his arms – “Something to read on the plane, friend!”
In Cold Ink - the critically acclaimed book on how writers write
In Cold Ink by David Robinson
Want to know how Kate Atkinson works out her plots? How Richard Ford studies character? Discover the "secret architecture" behind David Mitchell's fiction? Follow William Boyd on the thin line between fact and fiction? Find out how Ian McEwan set the course of his latest novel?
Over the last few years, David Robinson has interviewed some of the finest writers on the planet. His book, the critically acclaimed In Cold Ink,offers plenty of hints for would-be writers from the modern masters of their craft. Published this week by best-selling novelist Alexander McCall Smith's Maclean Dubois imprint at £9.99 (hbk), it's in bookshops now (ISBN 978-0-95144705-5).
David Robinson has a great critic's love of precision and a great reporter's appetite for life. That's why his writing about writers is so wonderful to read. He has a natural grasp of tradition and the individual talent, which makes In Cold Ink a book to treasure - Andrew O'Hagan
Robinson writes with an expansive descriptiveness that is engaging, but he also brings to his work a decency that is unshakeable.... I cannot but be impressed by his refusal to embrace the faintest trace of tabloid tackiness. One gets the impression that Robinson would genuinely rather discuss style and character with his subjects rather than probe into their sex lives or childhood traumas. The trust this engenders in authors and the relaxed conversations that follow are one of the many pleasures in this intelligent and sympathetic collection.
The art of interviewing is not a science, yet everyone recognises those who are good at it and those who are not. Serious research and an ability to listen well are fundamentals of the job, and Robinson ticks both boxes - Rosemary Goring, the Herald, Sat 12 July
Robinson's affable tone with his subjects, mostly novelists ... teases out biographical facts, themes and attitudes that are put together with respect and a fine critical judgment that combines content with literary context. -Iain Finlayson, The Times Sat July 12
Each month, YouWriteOn's literary professionals provide free critiques for the site's highest rated authors.
The professional critiques are extremely useful, not just to the writers who receive them, but to all members. To view details about YouWriteOn's literary professionals, visit our About Us page.
To view examples of YouWriteOn literary professional critiques, click here.
The highest rated chapters are considered by two top literary agencies each month. The agencies are The Christopher Little Literary Agency, whose authors include J.K Rowling; and Curtis Brown, whose authors include Margaret Atwood, Ed McBain and David Lodge.
The YouWriteOn Best Sellers Book Chart displays the highest rated opening book chapters on YouWriteOn.com, and can be browsed and enjoyed by readers. Each month, the 5 highest rated authors with the best opening chapters receive a free critique from a literary professional, who include established authors and a literary agent from one of London's leading literary agencies. See our About Us page.
The highest rated chapters on YouWriteOn will also be viewed by two top literary agencies. The agencies are The Christopher Little Literary Agency, whose authors include J.K Rowling; and Curtis Brown, whose authors include Margaret Atwood, Ed McBain and David Lodge.
The Best Sellers Chart ratings are automatically calculated every 24 hours based on current and new reviews for authors.
The quality of writing and member reviews has been of a very high standard.
As one of our members succinctly put it: ‘The feedback is helping me enormously. When more than one reader hits on the same weakness, bingo - do something. Reviewing the work of others is a lesson in itself. Somebody writes an atmospheric description and you wonder why you can't do as well yourself. Somebody else misses a plot opportunity and you realise you have done that too.’
This feedback is invaluable for everyone. So why not take the plunge and upload your own chapters for feedback?
The Best Seller Chart will be searchable by genre and ratings for readers who wish to browse opening chapters, and, if you publish your completed book, interested readers will be able to click from your opening chapters to buy your completed book through booksellers such as Amazon.
Sales made on Amazon will feature on Amazon’s own book charts.
As those who are members will know, different readers will have different tastes, and, Top Ten and Best Seller chart aside, if a member reads your chapters and likes them, this can help you see how a diverse range of readers respond to your writing.
Many members are finding mainstream readership who like their chapters, and many are finding a niche readership. Keep writing, keep viewing feedback with an open mind, and we look forward to seeing the writing of all new members.
The YouWriteOn Best Sellers Book Chart has launched. The chart displays the highest rated opening book chapters on YouWriteOn.com, and can be browsed and enjoyed by readers. Each month, the 5 highest rated authors with the best opening chapters receive a free critique from a literary professional, who include established authors and a literary agent from one of London's leading literary agencies. See our About Us page.
The highest rated chapters on YouWriteOn will also be viewed by two top literary agencies. The agencies are The Christopher Little Literary Agency, whose authors include J.K Rowling; and Curtis Brown, whose authors include Margaret Atwood, Ed McBain and David Lodge.
The Best Sellers Chart ratings are automatically calculated every 24 hours based on current and new reviews for authors.
The quality of writing and member reviews has been of a very high standard.
As one of our members succinctly put it: ‘The feedback is helping me enormously. When more than one reader hits on the same weakness, bingo - do something. Reviewing the work of others is a lesson in itself. Somebody writes an atmospheric description and you wonder why you can't do as well yourself. Somebody else misses a plot opportunity and you realise you have done that too.’
This feedback is invaluable for everyone. So why not take the plunge and upload your own chapters for feedback?
The Best Seller Chart will be searchable by genre and ratings for readers who wish to browse opening chapters, and, if you publish your completed book, interested readers will be able to click from your opening chapters to buy your completed book through booksellers such as Amazon.
Sales made on Amazon will feature on Amazon’s own book charts.
As those who are members will know, different readers will have different tastes, and, Top Ten and Best Seller chart aside, if a member reads your chapters and likes them, this can help you see how a diverse range of readers respond to your writing.
Many members are finding mainstream readership who like their chapters, and many are finding a niche readership. Keep writing, keep viewing feedback with an open mind, and we look forward to seeing the writing of all new members.
Welcome to all new writers from everyone at YouWriteOn.com
Welcome to all new writers from everyone at YouWriteOn.com – everyone, that is, apart from the miserable, old help-bot who moderates our message board and whom we were thinking of disconnecting. He’s made from old toaster parts and we were thinking about putting him back into service as one.
YouWriteOn
