Writer's Snippets, writer's news

Amazon India have purchased WESTLAND publishing - "Our acquisition of Westland continues our commitment to India -- enabling Amazon to bring Westland's highly talented authors and their books to even more customers in India and around the world," said Amit Agarwal, vice-president and country manager at Amazon India.

And sticking with Amazon - the company recently released it Amazon Rapids APP which delivers serialised snippets of stories to children's devices - Find out more HERE 

The 2016 Futurebook Conference will take place on  2nd December in London - details HERE

 The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article claiming that audiobooks are the fastest-growing format in the book business today. Sales in the U.S. and Canada jumped 21% in 2015 from the previous year, according to the Audio Publishers Association.

Audibooks the facts

• Smart Phones have helped with the rise in audiobook usage as they are now VERY portable.
• Technology and the size reduction of files has made listening to audio books in cars and at the gym much more convenient.
• The cost of producing an audio is now (on average) $3,3000 as opposed to $6,500 in 2012.
• Amazon.com owns both AUDIBLE and BRILLIANCE AUDIO. This means, their ACX platform has a huge lead in distribution to this fast-growing market.
• If you fancy trying an audiobook then I suggest Audible - oh why not get Granny Smith Investigates by G M Dobbs (plug,plug) as your first download.
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Writers' Market News

Glossy magazine Cosmopolitan have joined forced with US publisher Harlequin in  order to set up Cosmo Red Hot Reads-the new eBook imprint will launch early summer, and publish two short novels, between 25,000 - 30,000 words, each month. The editor is looking for submissions and tells the Archive that the heroine of each Hot Reads title will be a typical Cosmo girl - fun, fearless and independent. Submissions should be eMailed to HCosmo@Harlequin.com


US based romance publisher, Entangled is to launch a digital imprint for teenagers. Details are few but check out the website at www.entangledpublishing.com  as full submission details are due to be added over the next few days.


A new ePublisher well worth checking out is RIVERDALE AVENUE BOOKS - the company publish eBooks under several imprints covering romance, erotica, horror, sf, fantasy and even lesbian, gay and bisexual fiction. The publisher are soon to launch new imprints to cover sports themed novels. Find their submission guidelines at riverdaleavebooks.com

Red Valley Books have a special promotion on at the moment regarding my new novel, Granny Smith and the Deadly Frogs. The book is available on Amazon right now with the first book in the series, Granny Smith Investigates being free for the next five days.

The Archive Hack - all the writer's news

This summer will see the launch of a new magazine aimed at the historical short story - Snapshots of History, stories from the past will be a quarterly magazine and a 12 month subscription will be £5.

TV Book Club which returned to TV channel, More 4 yesterday is this year dominated by big publishers. All eight slots have been filled with titles from Penguin, Hodder,Orion, Bloomsbury,Macmillan and Random House. The show which is presented by Jo Brand and Dave Spikey has been criticised for ignoring smaller independent publishers.

The National Trust have jumped into bed with Mills and Boons for the publication of a novel set in Ham House, one of the trust's historic sites. This is intended to be the first in a series of novels set in historic houses owned by the National Trust.

The current fierce spending cuts being implemented by the new UK government will harm writers - it has been announced that the rate of PLR, monies paid to writers for books hired from libraries, is to be cut.

Authors receive just over six pence per loan, up to a cap of £6,600, through the Public Lending Right (PLR) scheme, something many describe as a "lifeline". Along with all bodies funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the scheme's budget is being reduced this year by 3%, to £7.45m, and authors are desperately concerned that further reductions will be forthcoming in the autumn, when the government's next spending review is published.

Jim Parker, PLR registrar, said the organisation would be able "to absorb some but not all" of the 3% cut, and was concerned about the impact this could have on authors. "It will be very difficult to sustain last year's rate per loan because of the cut in funding," he said.