| The publication of Writers' & Artists' Yearbook is an annual event as regular and as cheerfully welcome in its red jacket as Father Christmas. Here is the usual feast of information, fully updated for 2004, about getting your writing or artwork published; but this year the cover has a sleeker, more modern, design. The content layout has had a smart makeover too. Now it's less cluttered and easier to read. Eoin Colfer, the novelist who writes this year's foreword, observes "Every possible scrap of information needed by the upcoming or established writer is included". And it certainly isn't just a list of publishers--although of course they're there. There are also listings relating to film, TV and radio and theatre producers as well as a remarkably detailed list of newspaper and magazines both in Britain and elsewhere in the English speaking world, along with dozens of helpful articles. Then there are sections on copyright, finance, societies, prizes, festivals and picture research. And for this, the 97th edition, there are new articles on ghost-writing, adaptation and distribution. Where else could you find, in one compact volume, a list of magazines and newspapers that accept cartoons, full instructions for proof correction, contact details for artists' residencies in Tuscany and an advisory article about getting poetry published? If you have the remotest idea that you might ever attempt to sell even the most modest written fragment or the tiniest photograph or drawing then you'd better buy this first. --Susan Elkin |
