Aspiring Author? Buy this book... (Writers Handbook 2000)

Member Name: kes33

Product:	Writers Handbook 2000
Date:	03/03/02 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: packed full of useful info

Disadvantages: none

As there is no heading for The Writer's Handbook 2002, I have placed it under 2000; surely it will be updated at some point.

The Writer's Handbook 2002 is a complete reference guide for writers, journalists, publishers, editors, screenwriters and broadcasters, or so it states on the front cover. I have been buying the books yearly for about three years now and they are very good. The Writer's Handbook is now in it's fifteenth year of publication and is edited by Barry Turner, an editor and author with twenty books to his credit as well as radio plays, travel articles and more. It costs £12.99 and can be found at any good book shop or WHSmith, alternatively, buy it online at Amazon or BOL.

What is it for? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Writer's Handbook contains lists of just about every market the aspiring writer could want, as well as useful advice from those in the know and even a section about the taxman! If you are an aspiring writer then this book is very useful as it tells you who will accept unsolicited manuscripts/articles/short stories etc. This can be publishers, individual magazines, agents or production companies; it also includes telephone numbers, addresses, email and website details with tips upon how each company prefers to be approached.

Sections ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here I will list some of the more relevant sections for writers in the UK. There are 37 main sections in the book, with sub-headings under them, so if I listed them all this would be a very long op!

UK PUBLISHERS

This is a comprehensive section, arranged in alphabetical order. Here you will find the name and contact details of every UK publisher; also included are the names of different editors, managing directors etc.

Under the contact details for the publishers are details of what kind of books they print, whether they will accept unsolicited manuscripts or just synopsis'/ideas, whether they w
ill pay any attention to new authors and how often they pay royalties. The information varies as it depends how big the publisher is and whether there has been any changes within the last year. There are also tips for how to approach the publishers e.g.: whether they like to approached in writing in the first instance, whether they object to receiving telephone calls, or if they only like to be approached via an agent.

This is a very useful section if you are thinking of or have written any kind of book, the list is extensive and covers every type of publisher you could imagine. So if you've just finished your first novel or if you're writing a book about how to make model airplanes, you'll find your publisher in here!

Other sections in publishing include: Irish publishers, Audio books, Small presses, European publishers, US publishers, Electronic publishing & Commonwealth publishers.

POETRY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a section I personally have paid very little attention to, as I can't write poetry! But for you clever people who can, this section is very good in this issue. It begins with twenty-six pages of advice for budding poets including what kind of thing you should be reading and where to find it. It lists publishers, competitions, useful websites and anthologies. It also gives advice on how to begin selling your poetry and how to spot scams and cons.

This section then goes on to list the poetry presses with a similar format to the way the publishers are listed as above. It then lists poetry magazines and organisations of interest to poets.

UK AGENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again, this is an alphabetical list of all the agents in the UK. Contact details are included under the agent's name along with when the agency was founded, the types of writers they represent, how to approach them etc.

I have found this section very useful as I have been sending my first (rejected so f
ar) novel to various agents. In this section, you can find out how much the agent charges, whether there is a reading fee (a controversial subject) and which authors they currently represent. If a star appears next to the agent's name, this means that they are a member of the Association of Author's Agents, a handy thing to know. In essence, this just means they have an annual turnover of a certain amount and doesn't necessarily mean that they have your best interests at heart!

If you are looking for an agent, this is the best place to start, you can first of all pick out the agents that represent books like yours and then send your toiled over work to them one by one and watch out for the rejections in the post! I'm not really that downhearted by the whole process, honest! Anyway, I digress....

Other sections include: Irish literary agents & US agents.

MAGAZINES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is an excellent section that gives an alphabetical list of all the magazines currently operating in the UK. Again it tells you how to approach the magazines, what kind of thing they are looking for, whether it be articles or short stories, how much they pay and the name of the commissioning editor.

This is another section I have found especially useful for who to flog short stories to! There is also a section on freelance rates, i.e.: how much they are supposed to pay you. Magazines are divided into four groups and the rates set are the minimum as set by the NUJ (National Union of Journalists). The rates aren't set in stone though and the NUJ say that it is up to the freelancer to negotiate payment.

Group A (large circ mags) £450 per 1000 words
Group B (consumer mags) £325 per 1000 words
Group C (special interest/trade mags) £250 per 1000 words
Group D (no ads e.g.: Big Issue) £180 per 1000 words

NEWSPAPERS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As above really, this section tells you who will and w
on't accept articles and how much they pay. Another useful section for all those budding freelance journos.
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TELEVISION & RADIO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again a comprehensive section with who will and won't accept any scribbles you may try to send to them. This section lists all of the different sections for the BBC and gives a little advice on how to approach them if you are a new writer. There are few opportunities for the beginner in this section and the best thing to do would appear to be to wait for one of the various schemes the Beeb run such as 'BBC Talent'.

Listed after the Beeb are the Independent companies, again there is little scope for opportunity but it is worth reading through if you are thinking of writing the next big TV Drama. I found it useful for research whilst I was doing a course last year and I found the independent companies that I rang to be very helpful and friendly; the BBC were useless though!

OTHER USEFUL SECTIONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Film, TV and video production companies.

Lists all the production companies, what kind of films they produce, whether they accept ideas/manuscripts and contact details.

Theatre producers

News Agencies

Book Clubs

Useful Websites

Copyright

Bursaries, fellowships and grants

Prizes

And much more!

NEW FEATURES FOR THIS EDITION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aiming for the top - How to write a bestseller

Bob G Ritchie's Diary of an Aspiring Author

Through the popularity barrier - Poetry in 2002

Writing courses - Are they any good?

David Hooper on the perils of libel

Gareth Shannon on Negotiating Contracts

Ian Spring on Taxing the writer.

CONCLUSION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An excellent book packed full of useful and relevant information for the budding writer. The information included is very accur
ate and up to date and the advice given is all sensible and sound. I would recommend this book for anyone looking to get published, the information you need for starting to research your market is all there as well as lots of other excellent info.

Thanks for reading this very long op, I hope I haven't bored you too much; incidentally, if I had even scratched the surface of the contents of this book, it would be much longer!

© Kerry Downing 2002

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