April the First 2014

Some imaginative thinking

Daily Telegraph picture of a pound coin with Alex Salmond's face in profile showing what the new Scottish pound coin will be like in 2015

Seth Godin - Edward Snowden sets up worry.com for those with anxiety

Dr Mercola - US food standards agency bans all raw meat from sale.

 Then I think the following may not be?

http://accrispin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/pamela-wray-and-wordworks-publishing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+AtLastWriterBewareBlogsAcCrispinAndVictoriaStraussRevealAll+(Writer+Beware+Blogs!)

Douglas

Self Publishing Conference 30 3 14 Report

Hello everyone,

I ventured onto foreign territory again yesterday as I attended the second Self Publishing Conference hosted by Troubadour Publishing. It seemed a smaller event than last year with fewer people there. The other attendees seemed to be having a good time and the day was good for me in meeting new and old self published writers and learning from sessions.

The keynote speech was from Alysoun Owen the Editor of the Writers & Artists’ Yearbook about traditional publishers reinventing themselves and no short cuts to publishing as all the steps have to be gone through which ever way you publish.

In a really sparky session Polly Courtney talked about how she had successfully self published her first book Golden Handcuffs through Troubadour and then lost control of her next three books published with a mainstream publisher before returning to self publishing. Her comments about marketing were interesting. The key to her success appears to be writing about something in fiction which is featuring strongly in the national press plus many hours of hard work and graft contacting potential readers. She managed to time her book launches to coincide with national press non fiction articles on the subject written about in her books.

I attended a session on structuring children’s books where I scored 1/10 in the exercise. I like the simplicity and good easy reading in children’s books and the notes I made yesterday will be pinned up on my study wall.

Another session on book cover design was interesting but provided few answers other than confirming my choice to have a consistent brand on my covers. A sound approach confirmed earlier by Polly Courtney. In many of the examples I found the text on the cover hard to read. I noticed here and from my monthly inspection of covers on the new books on the Waterstone table more rough edged wobbly text and pictures. There is all this new tech for design but to me few beat the old Penguin covers with pictures.

The final session was about developing one’s web site. Some useful stuff and complimented my recent reading of How to Build Your Online Author Platform http://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Online-Author-Platform-ebook/dp/B00IUQ7QSK/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396260202&sr=1-3&keywords=how+to+build+author+platform Even semi retired I find it hard to find time to both write and market. Other silver writers I spoke to yesterday shared the same problem.

Over lunch I spoke to Helen Hollick - a writer of history - and spoke to her about the perils of writing about historic figures when regarded as saints by some and villains by others. She mentioned Cromwell and laughed.

Also over lunch I met a fellow traveller who had also taken a decision to write for personal satisfaction and not get involved in trying to prove himself as a serious writer. At least I am not so alone now we are in contact.

Best wishes

Douglas

Not well read

Gary Smailes has drawn our attention to a web site of book listings and a BBC contention that few readers will have read more than 6 to 10% of the books in the lists.

On checking the claim appears pretty accurate for us even with film versions added in.

See - http://www.listchallenges.com/kaunismina-bbc-6-books-challenge?ref=share

Many part reads Bible and Shakespeare

Wild Swans

Jaws

Birdsong

Ian McEwan features

Many titles we have started but not completed

Also viewing an interesting reflection on the subject of  cover design although many of the covers shown are quite old

An interesting web site

Allrighters

Short stories as birthday presents

I thought some of the comments in this post were interesting and helpful given my unsuccessful attempts at short story competition entries.

 

http://shortstops.info/2014/02/25/stinging-fly-editorial-statement-a-tingling-pleasure/

 

Allrighters

Reading makes writers

A recent addition to our web posts is Russell Blake.

Cover design, quality of self published books and how to encourage children to read have been recent posts

http://russellblake.com/a-thought-on-literacy/

Worth a read

Allrighters

Do not open this if you are unhappy about walking up stairs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLDYtH1RH-U

Especially after two minutes in!!

Douglas

Self Publishing Excellence

One often sees criticism of self published books generally not reaching the standards of the best of traditionally published books.

Mary Tod's 'Unravelled'  book has been reviewed by  Helen Hollick, ( UK Indie Editor for the Historical Novel Society has selected Unravelled  ) and now made her editor's choice 

http://awriterofhistory.com/2014/02/01/unravelled-a-passionate-unmissable-read/

In the post she comments about the high quality of production of this self published book.

I know when I looked around the self publishers for firms to self publish my books I was often put off by the poor quality of books they handed me as examples of their service. All too many using inferior basic materials, poor layout and a big sin to me including spare blank pages at the end of the book ... what a waste of paper. Their books also did not feel right.

In the end I used York Publishing Services ( http://www.yps-publishing.co.uk/ ) who print their books for customers on site in Bernard Cornwell's Eoferwic or Danish Jorvik now York. When I received my book of Ywnwab! last September on time and ready for selling at a book fair in Tenby  I knew I had made the right choice. Whether my requested cover design and the writing contents match the printing standards is another debate but everyone who has felt and read or flicked through the book has commented on its quality feel.

Douglas of the Allrighters