Are you making writing and/or reading resolutions for 2017?

Resolutions to get fit and lose weight are tedious and hard to stick to so we suggest writing and reading instead, which is far better fun and easier to implement.

Here are some suggestions for reading:

• Join a book group. Book groups will force you to read outside of your reading comfort zone. You will discover books you would never have read otherwise. And you might make new friends. There are online book groups and your local library might run on too.
• Review books you read. Not only does this benefit the writer (reviews help books get found), but it helps you improve your own writing and powers of critical thinking. 
• Read or re-read at least one of the classics. Certain books feature universal themes that transcend time. The author of this piece is wondering if it's time to read the glossy BBC-cover version of War and Peace she bought at the beginning of 2016.... 
• Support independent publishers! Independent publishers, such as Comely Bank Publishing, help unknown, quality writers get their books into print. We can take the calculated risks traditional, big name publishers can't. 

And for writers:

• Commit to regular writing. The easiest way to get a book written is to set yourself daily or weekly word counts and stick to them. A book flows better if it's written regularly. 
• Write book reviews. See above!
• Provide useful, conmstructive feedback for other writers. This will help improve your own writing and it establishes the quid pro quo. Reading a book and making suggestions for its improvements is a lot of work. If you want help with your book, be prepared to give it back.
• Finish what you start. Even if you hate it if you've got the material there it's better than having nothing. Writing can always, always be improved.

Happy New Year from all of us at Comely Bank Publishing! We wish you health and happiness in 2017.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Comely Bank Publishing! 

We've had a very busy year. We published two books - Our Best Attention by Jane Tulloch, and Weekender by Roland Tye. We launched both books at Blackwell's Edinburgh store and we are delighted the shop continues to support us. Sales have gone really well, with both authors needing additional print runs. Our Best Attention was sold out before it officially launched.

One of our authors chose a novel approach to publicity. Roland gave out free copies of Weekender during this year's Edinburgh Festival in a bid to increase awareness of his book. Jane opted for holding lots of events with different groups. She was also featured as the big name author in the Christmas edition of The People's Friend this year with her festive short story.

We've also been experimenting with social media and newsletters. If you'd like to sign up for our newsletter, email us at [email protected] We treat your email address with respect, it doesn't get passed to third parties and we don't spam you. 

We have two books due out next year, so watch this space... Comely Bank Publishing's staff are also working on two or three novels each themselves, and hope to publish at least one of them in 2017!

We've had a number of approaches this year from writers interested in what we do. It's terrific that Comely Bank Publishing is getting noticed, but it certainly keeps us busy... We don't want to discourage anyone from getting in touch, but always bear in mind that we are a small operation and we do this for free, giving every approach Our Best Attention, so responses can be delayed at times.

We'd like to thank everyone who supports us - from Blackwell's bookshop and The Golden Hare in Edinburgh, to those who came to our launches, signed up for our newsletter, read our books for us and bought those books. We couldn't do it without you. 

Merry Christmas one and all! Here's to a great 2017. 

Need some Christmas presents? Buy a book. We cover all genres - comedy, serious, young adult, adventures, historical fiction and women's fiction. There's something for everyone. Buy your book here.

We've more books due out next year. If you'd like to keep yourself up to date with what we do, please sign up for our newsletter. We send it out infrequently and we treat your email address with respect, promise! 

The tech giants are to collaborate to remove extremist material from their platforms, according to a news article in What’s New In Publishing today.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft are to share information about prohibited material. They will create a common log of unique digital fingerprints – known as hashes – for video and image content that is thought to promote terrorism. In a joint statement, the companies said this could include terrorist-recruitment videos or violent imagery.

The shared database means that if one platform flags and removes “extreme and egregious terrorist images and videos” content, the others can use the hash to identify and get rid of it from their own systems if this breaches their policies.
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In the statement, Facebook said: “Throughout this collaboration, we are committed to protecting our users’ privacy and their ability to express themselves freely and safely on our platforms.

“We also seek to engage with the wider community of interested stakeholders in a transparent, thoughtful and responsible way as we further our shared objective to prevent the spread of terrorist content online while respecting human rights.”