Bibliography
BOOKS
Get to know the best local library, with a good reference section, in your area. If you get into writing research features, you can buy second-hand books online and it may be worthwhile to join the British Library. The great majority of the books in these lists have been published a year or two before the date of the edition of this book. Older books are included if they have the status of classics or near-classics. As far as possible obtain the latest editions. Check online for dates of these and availability.
Reference
Basic reference library
The following is a rough guide to a writer’s basic reference library. Consider having dictionaries and encyclopedias on CD-ROM. You will add according to the way your interests develop.
1 English dictionary (Oxford or Chambers).
2 Thesaurus.
3 The Oxford Writers’ Dictionary, compiled by R. E. Allen.
4 The Oxford Manual of Style, edited and compiled by R. M. Ritter.
5 Hart’s Rules for Compositors and Readers, Oxford University Press.
6 The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, OUP.
7 Longman Guide to English Usage.
8 Fowler’s Modern English Usage, OUP.
9 Gowers’s The Complete Plain Words, revised by Sir Bruce Fraser, Penguin Books.
10 The Economist Style Guide or The Times Style Guide.
11 Chambers Dictionary of Dates.
12 A selection of Penguin dictionaries: politics, economics, religions, etc.
13 A dictionary of quotations.
14 A dictionary of modern quotations.
15 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 volumes, available on CD-ROM.
16 Writers’ and Artists’Yearbook, A. & C. Black.
17 The Writer’s Handbook, Macmillan.
18 Writer’s Market, Writer’s Digest Books.
19 Willing’s Press Guide, Thomas Skinner Directories. Magazines classified under headings. Lists important publications of other countries.
20 Whitaker’s Almanack. Annual. Government names and statistics, etc.
21 World atlas and gazetteer.
22 Atlas and gazetteer of the British Isles.
23 A concise world history.
24 Chambers Book of Facts.
25 A website guide.
26 A writer’s guide to the Internet.
General
The Advertisers’Annual. Lists advertising rates of publications. Use with NUJ Freelance Guide to determine rates payable.
Benn’s Media Directory. Volume 1, UK; volume 2, international. Gives magazine under subject headings.
The Blue Book of British Broadcasting, Tellex Monitors Ltd., annual. Contains over 1500 key personnel.
Britain: An Official Handbook, HMSO, London, annual.
British Rate and Data (BRAD), Maclean-Hunter. Gives circulation and readership figures, etc. for newspapers and magazines in the UK.
Central Statistical Office: Social Trends, HMSO, annual. Charts the developments in the British way of life.
Chambers Biographical Dictionary.
Concise Guide to Reference Material, ed. A. J. Walford, Library Association, London.
Crone, Tom, Law and the Media, Focal Press.
Dod’s Parliamentary Companion. Annual. Gives names and backgrounds of MPs.
Greenwood, Walter and Welsh, Tom, McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, Butterworth.
Guinness Book of Records.
Hoffmann, Ann, Research for Writers, A. & C. Black.
Hollis Press and Public Relations Annual.
International Who’s Who.
International Year Book and Statesman’s Who’s Who.
Keesing’s Contemporary Archives. Summarizes world news.
Keesing’s Record of World Events.
Kelly’s Handbook, Kelly’s Directories Ltd, annual. Royalty, nobility, MPS, etc.
Municipal Year Book. For local government matters.
The Ordinance Survey Atlas of Great Britain.
Oxford Companion of English Literature, edited by Margaret Drabble, OUP.
The Spotlight Casting Directory and Contacts. Covers the world of entertainment.
The Statesman’s Year Book, Macmillan, annual.
The Statesman’s Year Book World Gazetteer.
Titles and Forms of Address: A Guide to their Correct Use, A. & C. Black.
Who’s Who. Annual.
Who Was Who. Several volumes.
Dictionaries
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.
Bartlett’s Unfamiliar Quotations.
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
Chambers Biographical Dictionary.
Dictionary of National Biography.
Newspeak: A Dictionary of Jargon, Jonathan Green, Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Slang Thesaurus.
Directories
Organizations
Advertisers’Annual.
Contact, IPC Business Press Information Services Ltd. Particularly for PROs.
Directory of British Associations. Current British directories.
Directory of Publishing, Cassell/Publishers Association, annual. Gives all main publishers.
Encyclopedia of Associations, Gale Research Co., Detroit, USA.
Voluntary Associations: An NCVO Directory, National Council for Voluntary Associations.
Publications
UK
Benn’s Media Directory. Volume 1, UK; volume 2, international. Benn Business Information Services. Gives magazines under subject headings.
British Rate and Data. Gives circulation and readership figures, readership profiles, advertisement rates, etc. for newspapers and magazines in the UK.
The Media Guide. A Guardian book published by Fourth Estate.
Whitaker’s Books in Print, Book of the Month, Books to Come, Paperback Books in Print, J. Whitaker & Sons.
US
Guide to American Directories, B. Klein Publications, Coral Gables, FL.
Writer’s Market, Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
International
The Australian Marketing Guide Casebook, University of Queensland Press.
Travel Writer’s Market, USA. Gives some 400 markets for travel articles and photographs, in the USA, Canada and other parts of the world.
Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory.
Miscellaneous
Adams, Sally, Interviewing for Journalists, Routledge.
Amis, Martin, The Moronic Inferno and Other Visits to America, Penguin Books.
Bagnall, Nicholas, Newspaper Language, Focal Press.
Barber, Lynn, Mostly Men, Penguin; Demon Barber, Viking.
Bell, Q., The PR Business, Kogan Page.
The Best of Granta Travel, Granta Books.
Bonnett, Alastair, How to Argue, Prentice Hall.
Boyd, Andrew, Broadcast Journalism. Techniques of Radio and TV News, Focal Press.
Burchill, Julie, Love it or Shove It, Century Publishing; Sex and Sensibility, Grafton/HarperCollins; The Guardian Columns 1998–2000, Orion.
Butcher, Judith, Copy-Editing. The Cambridge Handbook, Cambridge University Press.
Butler, Harry, Teeline Made Simple, Butterworth-Heinemann.
Campbell, Morag, Writing about Travel, A. & C. Black.
Carey, John, ed., The Faber Book of Reportage, The Faber Book of Utopias; The Faber Book of Science, Faber & Faber.
Cassandra (Sir William Neil Connor), Cassandra at his Finest and Funniest, Daily Mirror/Hamlyn.
Caunt, John, Organize Yourself, Kogan Page.
Cawkell, Tony, The Multimedia Handbook, Routledge.
Cheney, Theodore A. Rees, Getting the Words Right. How to Revise, Edit or Rewrite, Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Clayton, Joan, Interviewing for Journalists, Piatkus.
Coleridge, N., Streetsmart, Orion.
Crofts, Andrew, The Freelance Writer’s Handbook, Piatkus.
Cutts, Martin, Plain English Guide, OUP.
Davies, Hunter, Hunting People, Mainstream Publishing. The Introduction summarizes the techniques of some well-known interview specialists – Angela Lambert, Lynn Barber, Ray Connolly, Valerie Crone, John Mortimer – as well as his own. The rest is 44 of his interviews with the famous over 30 years.
Davis, Anthony, Magazine Journalism Today, Focal Press.
Dick, Jill, Freelance Writing for Newspapers, A. & C. Black.
Dobson, Christopher, The Freelance Journalist. How to Survive and Succeed, Focal Press.
Ellis, Alice Thomas, More Home Life, Duckworth. A collection of Spectator pieces.
Evans, Hilary, The Art of Picture Research. The Freelance Photographer’s Market Handbook, BFP Books. Annual.
Finch, Peter, How to Publish Yourself, Alison & Busby.
Foster, John, Effective Writing Skills for PR, Kogan Page.
The Granta Book of Reportage, Granta Books.
Harrington, Walt, Intimate Journalism. The art and craft of reporting everyday life, Sage.
Hastings, Max, ed. An Inside Story of Newspapers. Macmillan.
Hennessy, Brendan and Hodgson, F. W., Journalism Workbook, Focal Press.
Hicks, Wynford, English for Journalists, Routledge.
Hicks, Wynford, with Adams, Sally, Writing for Journalists, Routledge.
Hodgson, F. W., Modern Newspaper Practice, Focal Press.
Holden, Anthony, Of Presidents, Prime Ministers and Princes, Weidenfeld & Nicolson. An anthology of pieces, including interviews/profiles.
Huff, Darrell, How to Lie with Statistics, Penguin Books.
Hull, Raymond, How to Write How-to Books and Articles, Poplar Press.
Investigative Journalism. Context and Practice, edited by Hugo de Burgh, Routledge.
Jenkins, Simon, Against the Grain: Writings of a Sceptical Optimist. Mostly from The Times.
Johnson, E. W. and Wolfe (eds), The New Journalism, Picador.
Jones, Graham, The Business of Freelancing, BFP Books.
A Journalism Reader, edited by Bromley, M. and O’Malley, T., Routledge.
Keeble, Richard, The Newspapers Handbook and Ethics for Journalists, Routledge.
Keene, Martin, Practical Photojournalism, Focal Press.
Kervin, Alison, Sports Writing, A. & C. Black.
Knightley, P., The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and MythMaker from the Crimea to Kosovo, Prion Books.
Larkin, Philip, Required Writing: Miscellaneous Pieces, 1955–82, Faber & Faber. The late Philip Larkin’s reputation rests on his poetry, but he was also a reviewer (mainly of poetry but also of jazz music) of wit and insights.
Legat, Michael, The Writer’s Rights and Writing for a Living, A. & C. Black.
Levin, Bernard, Enthusiasms, Hodder & Stoughton; I Should Say So, Jonathan Cape; and other collections.
Levine, Michael, The Address Book: How to reach anyone who’s anyone, Perigee (USA).
Littlejohn, Richard, You Couldn’t Make It Up, Heinemann.
Macdonald, Janet, Travel Writing, Robert Hale.
McAffee, ed. Lives and Works: profiles of leading novelists, poets and playwrights, Atlantic Books (from The Guardian).
McKay, Jenny, The Magazines Handbook, Routledge.
McLeish, Kenneth, Good Reading Guide, Bloomsbury Publishing. It takes you to the highly recommended books, mainly fiction, under many headings, including journalism.
Media Ethics, edited by Matthew Kieran, Routledge.
Mitford, Jessica, The Making of a Muckraker, Quartet Books.
Morrish, J., Magazine Editing, Routledge/Blueprint.
Mortimer, John, Character Parts, Penguin Books. A selection of his interviews, all but one of which appeared in The Sunday Times.
Morton, J. B., The Best of Beachcomber, selected and introduced by Michael Frayn, Mandarin Paperbacks.
Northmore, David, Freedom of Information Handbook: How to Find out what You Want to Know, Bloomsbury Publishing; A Guide to Investigative Research. Global Issues, Continuum International Publishing, 1996.
O’Brien, Flann (Myles na Gopaleen), The Best of Myles, Picador. The best of the humorous columns in The Irish Times. His real name was Brian Nolan.
O’Farrell, John, Global Village Idiot, Doubleday. Columns from The Guardian and The Independent.
Orwell, George, The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Secker & Warburg.
The Oxford Book of Essays, edited by John Gross, OUP.
Paice, Eric, The Way to Write for TV, Elm Tree Books.
Parris, Matthew, Chance Witness. An Outsider’s Life in Politics, Penguin Books.
Parsons, Tony, Dispatches from the Front Line of Popular Culture, Virgin Books. A collection of his pieces from various newspapers and magazines.
Peak, S. and Fisher, P., The Media Guide, Guardian Books, Fourth Estate.
The Penguin Book of Columnists, edited by Christopher Silvester, Penguin Books.
The Penguin Book of Interviews, edited by Christopher Silvester, Penguin Books.
The Penguin Book of Journalism. Secrets of the Press, edited by Stephen Glover, Penguin Books.
The Penguin Book of 20th Century Essays, edited by Ian Hamilton, Penguin Books.
Periodicals Training Council, Your Future in Magazines.
Photographer’s Market, Writer’s Digest Books. Annual.
Pilger, John, Hidden Agendas, Vintage/Random House.
Pritchard, John, The Penguin Guide to the Law, Penguin.
Pundits, Poets and Wits. An Omnibus of American Newspaper Columns. Gathered, annotated and introduced by Karl E. Meyer, OUP. An anthology of the best American columnists, from Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) to Anna Quindlen (1950–).
Purcell, Ann and Carl, A Guide to Travel Writing and Photography, Harrap Publishing.
Randall, The Universal Journalist, Pluto.
Rigg, Diana (compiler), No Turn Unstoned, Arrow Books. The worst ever theatrical reviews.
Rudin, Richard and Ibbotson, Trevor, An Introduction to Journalism. Essential techniques and background knowledge, Focal Press.
Shrimsley, Bernard, The Silly Season, Robson Books.
Siegel, David, Secrets of Successful Web Sites, Hayden, Indianapolis.
Southwell, T., Getting Away With It. The Inside Story of Loaded, Ebury Press.
Strunk, William and White, E. B., The Elements of Style, Macmillan Publishing, New York.
Time Out Interviews 1968–1998, edited by F. Broughton, Penguin Books.
Todd, Alden, and Loder, Cari, Finding Facts Fast, Penguin Books. The essential research techniques.
Turabian, Kate, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses and Dissertations. Heinemann.
Ward, Mike, Journalism Online, Focal Press.
Wardle, Irving, Theatre Criticism, Routledge.
Waterhouse, Keith, Waterhouse on Newspaper Style, Penguin Books; English Our English (and How to Sing It), Viking.
Wells, Gordon, The Magazine Writer’s Handbook and Photography for Article Writers, Allison & Busby.
Whale, John, Put it in Writing, J. M. Dent.
Wharton, J., Magazine Journalism. A Guide to Writing and Subbing for Magazines, Periodicals Training Council.
Wharton, Michael, Collections of ‘Peter Simple’ columns from The Daily Telegraph, Telegraph Publications.
Wheen, Francis, Hoo-Hahs and Passing Frenzies. Collected Journalism, 1991–2001, Atlantic Books.
Whittaker, Kenneth, Using Libraries, Andre Deutsche.
Wilson, John, Understanding Journalism. A Guide to Issues, Routledge.
Wimbs, Diana, Freelance Copywriting, A. & C. Black.
Wolfe, T. and Johnson, E. W. (eds), The New Journalism, Picador.
Writing for the BBC, BBC Publications.
Writing for Reader’s Digest, Reader’s Digest.
Young, Hugo, Supping with the Devils. A collection of his political writings. He was a political columnist for many years for The Guardian and The Observer.
Young, Toby, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Little, Brown and Company. After being sacked by several publications in the UK, the author spent five years in New York, from 1995 to 2000, during which he was sacked by Vanity Fair. Good for a laugh – and for learning how to avoid …
Indexes to articles
(Many publications produce indexes. Some, like The Times, put them into volumes annually. Other annual volumes select from various publications. The following is a sample.)
Applied Science and Technology Index.
Architectural Periodicals Index.
British Humanities Index, Library Association. Selects from quality newspapers, weekly reviews, selected magazines and professional journals.
The Clover Index. General and specialized interest magazines.
The Clover Newspaper Index. The quality newspapers and selected magazines.
Current Technology Index. Scientific and technical journals.
Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, H. W. Wilson Co., New York.
Research Index. Indexes articles and news items of financial interest in the national press and business periodicals.
Guides to the Internet
Bradley, P., The Advanced Internet Searcher’s Handbook, Library Association Publishing.
Chisholm, Malcolm, The Internet Guide for Writers, How To Books.
Dorner, Jane, The Internet: A Writer’s Guide and Creative Web Writing, A. & C. Black; Writing for the Internet, OUP.
Edmonds, Graham, The Good Web Site Guide, Orion.
Kennedy, Angus J., The Rough Guide to the Internet, Rough Guides Ltd.
Kent, Peter, and Young, Rob, Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Internet, Que.
McGuire, M., Stilborne, L., McAdams, M. and Hyatt, L., The Internet Handbook for Writers, The Guildford Press, New York.
Morrish, John, The Really Simple Internet Guide, Virgin.
Online Journalism Review, www.ojr.org.
MAGAZINES
The Author, Society of Authors. Quarterly, available to non-members on subscription.
British Journalism Review, BJR Publishing Ltd., quarterly.
Campaign, Haymarket Publishing Group, weekly. For the advertising industry.
Freelance Market News, Freelance Press Services, Cumberland House, Lisadel Street, Salford, Manchester M6 6GG, monthly.
Index on Censorship, Writers and Scholars International, bimonthly. Reports on the struggles against censorship of all kinds of writing.
Magazine News, Periodical Publishers Association.
Media sections in The Guardian on Mondays, and The Times and The Independent on Wednesdays.
Media Week, EMAP Business Publishing. A bridge between the media and advertising.
PR Week, Haymarket Publishing Group.
Press Gazette, Maclean-Hunter.
Writers’Forum, Writers International Ltd.
Writer’s Monthly.
Writers’ News/Writing Magazine, Yorkshire Post Newspapers.