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Insider tip
Enthusiasm is infectious... It is essential to convey enthusiasm for your work and for the job of meeting people and selling to them. Art is a luxury, so people need to enjoy buying it. The Artist's Guide to Selling Work by Annabelle Ruston-
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Do you read or write blogs?
Of course you do! Well, you must at least read them, because you’re here, right now, reading… The reason I ask is that I’m supervising Tina, a postgrad at Kingston University, and she’s keen to ask you about a few things. I very much hope you can help!
Now… I’ll hand you over to Tina:
“My name is Tina Mories and I am currently studying for an MA in Publishing. I am in the midst of researching my dissertation which is about blogs and the people who read them. I want to find out – with your help – more about Read more
Storytelling in the digital age
Want to make the most of the web, tell your story across different media, engage readers online as well as off? Find out more in this Q&A with Alison Norrington, a writer who’s studying ‘transmedia storytelling’ for a PhD about emerging platforms for writers and much much more.
What are you doing?
I’m working on the first chick-lit transmedia project. It’s a novel that will be fragmented across a series of media (both on and offline). It’s the ultimate ‘lean back’ (relax and unwind) and ‘lean forward’ (get involved, chat in forums and engage with story threads) experience.
Do you blog?
AN: I used a blog for my 4th novel – Staying Single. I blogged this story as it seemed Read more
Jargon buster: POD
Filed under: Digital publishing
The term ‘print on demand’ (POD) crops up on this blog from time to time. I’m also often asked questions about it at seminars. So to clear things up, what exactly is POD and what does it mean for authors?
Quite simply, POD is a process of printing which does what it says on the tin – it prints as many books as is required at any given time.
Some speculate that POD could change the way publishers do business. Read more
A website of one’s own…
Years ago when I was working for a publishing house that specialises in popular culture books, there was a story doing the rounds about one particular celebrity.
This singer, who was well past his pop prime (hence had time on his hands, we suspected), apparently ran his own fan club, and guarded his image so keenly that he wouldn’t Read more
Apple’s iPad, e-reading and you
With news of the iPad reaching fever pitch, I’ve been gadget watching, observing commuters and their reading. Today it was paperbacks nil, iPhones 3 (these were games – Poker, Peggle etc – not books), and eReaders 1 (held aloft on the down escalator at London’s Liverpool Street).
My journey into work is mercifully brief but nonetheless I am seeing habits in transition. The eBook reader as travelling companion can work, thanks to long battery life, multiple titles and pageturning with one hand.
So as an author, do you need to concern yourself with eBooks and eReaders, what they are and what they do, and how to write the perfect e-seller? Read more
What are your ideas worth?
Filed under: Digital publishing, Writing Advice
You’re writing a book and you want to make money. Yet the expected rite-of-passage for any new writer is a sojourn in the wilderness of holding down multiple jobs, struggling to get an agent, and – well – not earning a great deal of cash. Not for a while, at any rate.
‘Writer’ has never been up there with lawyer, doctor, broker etc, as one of the UK’s best paid jobs. Nor, thankfully, is it up there with the Worst Jobs with the Best Pay. I’d say it’s a whole lot more glamorous than 21hr crab-fishing shifts in Alaska. But it’s a breadline kind of glamour, isn’t it?
Actually there could be other ways to generate revenue. It could be that making money Read more
From blog to book deal
Filed under: Authors and Books, Digital publishing
Back in 2007 I had been practising as a barrister for some nine years when I started writing a blog about a fictional young trainee barrister who I called BabyBarista, a play on words based on his first impression being that his coffee-making skills were probably as important to that year as any forensic legal abilities he may have.
One of the most satisfying things I found about blogging was the immediacy of the publishing process. You think it up, type it out on your keyboard and then publish. It also allows the writer in many ways to busk or play around with ideas and see how they work.
It’s a strange thing to say but I Read more
The Google Settlement: the (very) bare bones
Filed under: Digital publishing
The settlement reached between Google, the Authors Guild of America and the Association of American Publishers in October 2008, ran to a daunting 350 pages. The agreement has sparked a huge legal case in the USA, with some publishers and authors concerned about potential infringement of their copyright. So what might it mean for you? Read more
Ebooks: love ‘em or hate ‘em?
Filed under: Digital publishing
A quick definition: ‘ebook’ (electronic book) is commonly used to mean a literary work that is published and stored in digital form and designed to be read on computers or hand-held devices.
The makers of Star Trek predicted them back in the 1970s (along with hypospray and matter transporters) but despite ebook technology being available since the 1990s, it’s only recently that demand has really taken off. All the major publishers now launch hundreds of ebook titles every month. And despite resistance from traditional book lovers, ebooks are set to become a firm feature in our reading (near) future. Not convinced? Keep reading … Read more
Authors and artists: be strategic!
The web and digitisation have made possible the rapid publication of anything by anyone with access to the Internet. As a side effect this has also created a vast swathe of content that creates much more noise than signal.
Any creative that attempts to engage an audience online is doing so amid a multitude of voices offering similar content, all hoping to engage with an audience too. Without a plan an online effort could easily flounder.
So what can an author or an artist do?
The best recommendation is to adopt a strategy based on three questions: Read more
Buy the 2011 Yearbook
The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook is available at a discount from our online bookshop. Get all the information, contacts and advice you could need.-
Win, Win, Win! We are giving away 5 copies of Qatari Voices, a collection of essays which will inspire new writers. For details of how to enter this giveaway go to 'The Accidental Writer' >
On camera: Jon McGregor
"Being longlisted for the Booker Prize changed everything - it was the launchpad for my writing career." Click to view our video with novelist Jon McGregor »
On camera: Justin Cartwright
"Just write... If you're any good you may not know it, but certainly someone else will." Click to view our video with novelist Justin Cartwright »
On camera: Julie Myerson
The novelist and journalist Julie Myerson on how she got that all-important first publishing deal. Click here to view our video exclusive »