Creating the 2022 Yearbooks

Words. Lots of them. (Did you see our fun Twitter giveaway to guess how many?!).

Words that advise, cajole, inform, reassure.

How to, who to, when to, where to . . .

. . . write your novel, submit your script, find an agent, seek out a publisher, attend a creative event or sign-up for a course.

Each year the 816 pages of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, with its bright red cover and with its chunky spine, brings together some of the very best advice on how to present your work for submission and publication, and how to prepare yourself for the life of a writer. It suggests some of the ways you can reach readers, listeners, audiences, publishers, and agents. It includes articles from writers at the top of their game, such as bestselling international crime writer Peter James to those just starting out, like Femi Kayode, author of the first in a new series of thrillers. [Read exclusive extracts from our 2022 editions]

In these pages there is precise and concise information on everything from the particular: ISBNs to income tax, copyright rules to ebook formats; to broader discussion on how to: manage your social media or your finances, decide what genre or format your idea will develop into, think about the market and readers for your book, understand what it is publishers, booksellers, and prize-giving bodies are looking for. It pulls together personal writer success stories on writing about science, travel, nature, speculative fiction; penning a saga, thriller, romance, or launching a podcast or videogame; writing for radio, the large or small screen, newspapers and magazines; writing and performing poetry. In short, it is your ‘Bible’ as you develop your talent and seek out what support and opportunities are out there to guide you.

The vital statistics of both Yearbooks outstrip other publications and services for writers. In the 2022 edition we have over 80 articles, including advice from 50 award-winning, bestselling and debut writers of plays, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, videogames, and tv series; and all of whom - collectively - have more than 690 publications under their belts.

Meanwhile, the Children’s Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook has come of age! This year’s is the eighteenth edition. The contributing authors include writers with more than 3,000 years of experience between them, six Children’s Laureates, 12 Carnegie Medal-winning or nominated writers, and writers from age 28 to 88. As M. G. Leonard, who wrote this year’s Foreword, so succinctly puts it: ‘It’s rare to find a book that is as useful as it is inspiring.’ This encapsulates the purpose of these two Yearbooks each and every year that they are updated, curated, edited and published.

The essential reads for every writer and illustrator? Don’t just accept my word for it. The greatest accolades that these two Yearbooks can have are the hundreds of words of support from the writers who have riffled their pages over the years, each of them setting out on their individual journeys to publication. If these Yearbooks are good enough for such a fine cast of writers then we hope they will offer something for you too. Words of wisdom, hope, encouragement.

Alysoun Owen is the Editor of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook and the Children’s Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook and the author of the Writers’ & Artists’ Guide to Getting Published.