Salt Publishing, one of the UK’s most respected independent publishers, faces closure. The Bookseller reports that Salt has relaunched its “Just One Book” campaign after a tough first half of the year has left them with “less than one week’s cash left”, despite its grant from Arts Council England.
The company needs to sell roughly £45,000 worth of books to keep afloat for the rest of the year. Publishing director Chris Hamilton-Emery said the company had not wanted to repeat the initiative “because we thought it was unrepeatable, but we have just reached crunch time this week”. He added: “We realised if we didn’t get some sales, we would probably go bust very shortly.”
Hamilton-Emery said a number of factors had contributed to Salt’s financial woes, including the recession, the World Cup and the demise of Borders UK late last year. “They were a good customer of ours, so that was a real blow,” he said.
The Crafty Writer’s guest poetry tutor, Andrew Philip, is published by Salt. He says: “It’s harder and harder these days for authors – début authors and mid-listers in particular – to find publishers. The big houses are taking on fewer writers and concentrating their marketing power on certain titles in their lists. So writers need publishers such as Salt more than ever. Publishers who don’t simply bend to the howling winds of celebrity memoirs. Publishers who will take a risk on writing they simply believe in. Publishers who believe in you and give readers the chance to let your voice enter their hearts and minds. If Salt goes, we all lose.”
Writers and book lovers are being asked to buy just one book to help save Salt, Andy recommends:
My play, Pig Stew, has just won The People’s Play Award. Three sisters inherit a pig farm in Northumberland and are targeted by a conman. Take one dash of greed, a good dose of unforgiveness and a hint of cannibalism and you have a great recipe for drama. The bi-annual award is sponsored by New Writing North and the People’s Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne. As well as a nice cheque, the prize includes a full production of Pig Stew in November 2010. It will be directed by Sarah McClane of the People’s Theatre. Previous winners of the award include Peter Straughan who most recently penned the screenplay for Men Who Stare at Goats (starring George Clooney), playwright Carina Rodney (Pub Quiz) and of course my co-director and producer of The Last of the Gypsy Royals Tony Glover.
I’ve just launched a new website for my documentary, ‘The Last of the Gypsy Royals’. You can follow the making of the documentary from page to screen on www.gypsyroyals.com as well as just getting to know the descendents of this most unusual royal family who frequently drop in to visit. See you there!
I am giving a talk on Saturday 19 June at the Literary and Philosophical Society in Newcastle on the making of the documentary ‘The Last of the Gypsy Royals.’ The talk starts at 11am and all are welcome. This will form part of a broader North East Screenwriters’ meeting. I’m working together with producer Tony Glover to produce a 60-minute film about the descendents of the so-called Gypsy Royal Family of Yetholm and their gathering at a reunion this July. Up until now, the family have been ‘meeting’ up on one of my other websites in response to an article I wrote on their colourful ancestors. To read this article or join in the discussion visit The Last of the Gypsy Royals
In my creative and non-fiction writing classes there are always people who want to write stories about animals. Here’s a contest for you.
The Angel Animals Network 2010 True Story Contest is now accepting submissions of true stories of animals helping children, parents, and families deal with difficult situations and circumstances. Animals featured can be dogs, cats, horses, gerbils, rabbits, ferrets, or any house pet or animal in nature. They can be family pets or therapy, assistance, or service animals.
The stories can be written by parents or guardians of children or by the children or teens themselves. Stories can also be written by adults who recall a special animal from childhood or teen years who helped them through a tough period.
This contest hopes to find real-life stories that demonstrate animals comforting and helping to heal children during everyday ups and downs or traumatic events such as divorce or other losses. The stories can depict how children and teens de-stress with animals while learning valuable life lessons. The deadline is 15 September 2010. For more details visit Angel Animals.
If you want to write for men’s magazines you need to appreciate how they are understood and consumed by their target readership. I asked Gareth Longstaff, media lecturer at Newcastle University, to give us the low-down on men’s mags. Gareth is currently completing his PhD in the representation of male sexuality in the media and visual culture. He is a feature writer and columnist for several commercial magazines including The Crack, Gay Times, OUT and iD. Continue reading ‘Understanding men’s magazines’
Platinum Page accepts submissions from writers of all levels of experience. Editor Vivienne Hall tells me the magazine publishes ”well written short stories. No features, no articles, just quality writing. Poets are also included, and in each edition of Platinum Page there are several poems sprinkled throughout.” The maximum word count for short stories is 1500 words
“I’m pretty much easy on subjects: funny, light-hearted, twist-in-the-tale, thought provoking, crime, sci-fi, things along those lines. Nothing dark, heavy of graphically hideous! As for poets, as long as the poem fits on an A4 sheet, it should be fine,” says Vivienne. Unfortunately, they don’t accept writing for children at this time
There is a print and electronic version of the magazine which comes out bi-monthly. It’s published in the UK but accepts submissions from abroad. There is no payment for publication, but if you would like to showcase your writing, this may be an outlet for you. Good luck!
In-flight magazines are a vast market for the travel writer. And now that those planes are finally getting back in the air it may be time to try pitching something to them. Worldwide Freelance Writer have put together a downloadable pdf of 150 in-flight magazines from around the world. Note, this is not a free resource, but might just be worth the $9 they’re asking.
That’s the tagline for the first part of my SF mystery story, The Dreamsavers, appearing in this month’s edition of Aquila magazine. So if you have children in the 8 – 13 age bracket, why not order a copy now? The second part will be out next month. Aquila have published a number of my other short stories including The Wheelchair Wonder and the two-part Murder in the Deep.
It’s the age old question, isn’t it? But more importantly perhaps is what they don’t want. Gemma Noon over at the Literary Project asked top agent Carole Blake this very question. It’s a great interview and well worth the read. Note this is a literary agent not a script agent. If you’ve got any insight into what they want, please let us know!
Welcome to The Crafty Writer, published by Fiona Veitch Smith, a freelance journalist, editor, author, playwright, screenwriter and writing teacher. This site is full of information and resources to help you to become a better writer. 
