If you are looking for help with getting published, The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook is essential. As well as many useful articles on the business of writing, it lists publishers, agents and other relevant companies/persons.
I’ve been reading the Story Fix blog for years. The posts on Story Engineering became a book published by Writer’s Digest and are well worth your time for a thorough – and clear –explanation of story structure.
For women writers in all genres and disciplines, a Mslexia subscription is invaluable. The magazine features interviews with and features on well-known women writers and lots of pieces on forms and outlets you may not have considered.
The podcast Writing Excuses offers a wealth of advice to remove excuses and get you writing. It’s fifteen minutes a week and has a huge archive. Season 10 is a good place to start, as they ran that as a year-long masterclass in writing craft.
Another great podcast for writers is The Bestseller Experiment, now (in late 2018) about to enter its third year of weekly broadcasting. They interview authors and publishing industry experts regularly with great advice to offer on both traditional and self-publishing.
Resources for Writing for Children and Young Adults
Getting involved in Twitterchats can be really useful to talk to other writers, like #MGchat (for writers and readers of middle grade fiction, or books for 9-12 year olds).
Anyone writing for children or teens – from picture books up to gritty YA – should consider joining the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. It’s a worldwide organisation with an active British Isles chapter.
Textbooks for Cambridge International exams and the Caribbean curriculum
GCSE study guides I’ve written or co-written
At this point, I’ve worked on quite a few educational texts for different publishers, and for different kinds of students.
A set of KS3 anthologies and accompanying teacher guides I contributed to
I thought I’d show you (most of) them here, but there is also a comprehensive list below if you want to check the full details.
Books
York Notes: Rapid Revision: Lord of the Flies for AQA 9-1 GCSE, York Press, 2019.
York Notes, Rapid Revision Cards: Lord of the Flies for AQA 9-1 GCSE, York Press, 2019.
York Notes: Poetry Power and Conflict Anthology Guide for AQA 9-1 GCSE, 2nd ed, York Press, 2017
York Notes: Poetry Power and Conflict Workbook for AQA 9-1 GCSE, York Press, 2017
York Notes: A Christmas Carol Exam Practice for AQA 9-1 GCSE, Balberry Press, 2017
English A: A Concise Revision Course for CSEC, (1 chapter written), with Mike Gould, Julia Burchell, Angela Lalla, Dorothy L Warner, Collins, 2017
York Notes: A Christmas Carol Workbook for 9-1 GCSE, Balberry Press, 2016
York Notes: Poetry Power and Conflict Anthology Guide for AQA 9-1 GCSE, Balberry Press, 2016
AQA A Level English Language, with Dan Clayton, Angela Goddard, Felicity Titjen, OUP, 2015
York Notes: Lord of the Flies (revision/update for new 9-1 GCSEs), Balberry Press, 2015
IGCSE First Language English, Nelson Thornes, 2014
English for Jamaica Workbook: Grade 7/8/9, Nelson Caribbean, 2015.
Aiming for: Grammar for GCSE English, with Mike Gould, Collins, 2014
Essential Anthology: Creativity and Imagination (student book and teacher book) with Jane Branson, Ken Haworth, Trevor Millum, Nelson Thornes, 2014
Essential Anthology: Communication and Information (student book and teacher book) with Christine Brooks, Caroline Davis, Ken Haworth, Nelson Thornes, 2014
AQA AS A English Language Student’s Book, Nelson Thornes, Cheltenham, 2008, with Dan Clayton, 2nd ed. Sept 2013
Online Resource Sites Contributed to:
www.teachit.co.uk – classroom resources for English Language A Level
emagazine, 2006-2015: range of A Level English topics covered – specific literary texts; modelled linguistic analysis; sociolinguistic topics; how to revise for English subjects.
Teaching Resource Packs/Photocopiables
Packs for ZigZag Education including:Complete Guide to Plath’s Ariel; Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs guide (2 editions covering different set sections); Language Frameworks activities
English Language A Level student distance learning materials, Oxford Open Learning – update to match new specification
My path to writing textbooks and resources really began with a version of this website, so I would strongly recommend sharing resources online in some form to get your name known/ prove your value, if you wish to build a career in textbook writing.
Here are some ideas for places to start or make approaches, in the world of English teaching although I will say that a lot of my work has come to me through word of mouth or via other connections. Also: being an examiner is a great (if not the best) way to build connections and expertise.
Submit to Teachit, bearing in mind that they’re looking above all for classroom-ready materials which don’t require explanation/ contextualisation and which fit the latest specs. Material you’ve used in your own classroom with your own students often needs adaptation in order to be suitable for other teachers to use. Be warned: they can take a LONG time to get back to you (9 months + is not unheard of).
Approach Emagazine, Mediamagazine, the English Review or other similar magazines with ideas for articles you could offer. Do not write an article without discussing it with them first, as you don’t know what they’ve got ready for the next issue. The best way to judge how to write for these (or any) outlets is to read and analyse their contents for tone, address, sentence length etc.
For broader teaching ideas, the TES is also worth approaching. Again, look at stuff they’ve published recently to model yours on first, and approach them with a pitch before going in too deep, to make sure they haven’t already got a piece on exactly what you’re suggesting just about to go.
If you have a blog/website, always cite this as a writing sample as well as sending any resources or articles you have produced or already had published.
You can approach publishers directly with a CV and writing samples as well as a clear statement of what you are available for writing. To find out who’s accepting submissions, the Writers and Artists Yearbook (published by A & C Black around July each year) is invaluable – start there and double check online for the latest info on submission guidelines.
I thought it was about time I added more to my site as a writer and for writers. I’m concerned with writing in three main ways, so I’ll address all of those here:
As a teacher, lamenting the loss of the Creative Writing A Level (and appreciating some of the changes in writing in GCSE). I addressed this in the teacher section, but the resources and advice for writers found here can also be used with students.
As a person who writes fiction for their own pleasure and aiming for eventual publication. My fiction writing is largely for children and young people. My links and resources for writers will be useful to those who also write for children/young people, but also to those writing for adults, since not all of the sites and resources I reference are that specific.
As a writer of published teaching resources and textbooks for students on various topics within English. I’m often asked how I got started/how others could try to do the same, so I’ve put a page together with some advice, but please do be aware that as with all writing, a lot of it is luck/right place, right time and there are never any guarantees.
