Pros and Cons Of Marketing e-Books Via Social Media

Anne Lyken Garner will be a contributor to the Brit Writers blog.  

Anne Lyken-Garner shares some insights into the world of social media for the purpose of marketing your E-books.

Over the last 3 months I’ve been doing some research about social media, e-publishing and marketing. Apart from freelance writing and authoring books, I’m a working website editor. I look at what great marketers and pro bloggers have written and can instantly see how I can make it better;  how I can make them say exactly what they meant to say; and how I can improve the structure and grammatical issues of the entire text. This is not to say I don’t make mistakes with my own writing. (I’m blind to my own errors).

The thing is, regardless of my skills, I can’t do my own marketing. I’m rubbish at it. It’s been drilled into me that writers need to establish a platform. In many ways this is true. I believe the accuracy of this so much, I promote my own writing site with this phrase on the home page. However, and this is a big however, can writers like me who’ve spent years building up a platform successfully market their e-books via social media and networking? I did a small-scale ‘experiment’ to find out (this experiment concerns a work I self-published and not my recent  book published by Pulse).

Marketing my e-Books using Facebook

Experiment: I wrote a new update every other day around the same time. I found that the surge of Facebook traffic occurred between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. I don’t know if this is the same for everyone. (I have more than 1,000 writer friends who don’t all work ‘day jobs’). I alternated between general updates about menial things, and updates about my published books. My former updates had multiple likes and responses, while my posts about my work had none – or maybe a tiny handful. This made me conclude the following:

1.  My friends on Facebook don’t want to hear about marketing – even my hundreds of relatives and close friends.

2.  Marketing on Facebook will never be a reality for me because of the time it takes to become good at it. If I want to be a writer – just a writer – I need to spend more time writing and less time ‘socialising’ and pretending I ‘like’ all the mundane things people write on the site.

3    3.  Which brings me to the question: is any writer ‘just’ a writer these days? One of the first things my publisher asked me was about my networking skills, the extent of my platform, and how many hours a day I had free to market my book.

Other reasons why marketing e-Books on Facebook may not work

Facebook tracks your behaviour so only the handful of people you were last in contact with will see your updates (no matter if you have 4,000 Facebook friends). This means that the hours you spend marketing your book there are wasted on people who’ve already decided they don’t want your book, or those who’ve already bought it.

What to try

• Become active in targeted Facebook groups. While this is not a sure-fire way to sell your book, you may get a few sales from people who’re actually interested in you. You’re exposed to more people in communities, groups and Facebook pages, so the chances for a sale are higher.
• If you’re a writer like me, most of your friends are writers. They probably won’t buy your book. If you write about pregnancy, it may be better to join a Facebook pregnancy page or group and give advice there. Soon enough you can casually mention something you ‘wrote in your book’.
• If you’ve got money to spare and don’t mind ‘losing’ a few quid, try the Facebook ads to see if this brings you additional sales.
• Interview big, influential writers on Facebook on your blog. When the blog post goes live, add the link to their timeline. (This is the only time they won’t mind you sharing something on their timeline). Make sure the link goes to a page from which you’ve linked your book heavily. Traffic like this could be good for your sales.

Marketing my e-Books using Twitter

Experiment: I did an experiment similar to the one I did on Facebook. I don’t spend as much time on Twitter as I do on Facebook (I have 5 blogs and do ghost writing as well). I have an Internet time table and have allocated 20 minutes a day to Facebook and Twitter each. This is 40 minutes out of my entire day! As soon as my 20 minutes on Facebook are finished I log off even if I’m in the middle of a discussion with someone. (I do apologise before leaving). My Twitter time is allocated towards the end of the working day and if something else comes up – which it usually does, Twitter gets put on the back burner.

Nevertheless, I made a special effort to spend time on Twitter for a set period, retweeting all the posts of influential people in the e-publishing and e-marketing industry. For every 10 retweets I did, I tweeted a post of my own, and replied to a friend’s tweet about her/his cat etc. In all that time, I had 1% of my tweets retweeted. I don’t feel too bad about this because apparently only about 8-10% of tweets get retweeted in general.

Other reasons why marketing e-Books on Twitter may not work

Twitter is very much gossip and celebrity based. The only things I’ve seen go viral there are celebrity cheating stories, celebrity deaths, celebrity separations – you get the drift. Twitter may not be a suitable place for marketing books because the people there absorb other types of ‘news’ stories.

I’ve yet to see a writer say he/she has sold more books based on the promotion they did on Twitter. This does not include the tweets they made about their breakfast, their dogs being sick or the weather being great – burning another hour of potential writing time.

What to try:

• Apparently only a small number of us actually know how to use Twitter. Any search on the Internet will immediately throw up lots of companies charging you arbitrary amounts to ‘teach you how to tweet’. If you want to go for this, please let me know if it works. 
• Hire a company to tweet posts about your book for you. The amount you pay has to be less than you think you could make from the sales they’ll bring you, so this may be problematic.

The writer is left stuck between a solid slush pile and a mountain of bills. In a time when e-Books are fast outselling hardcopies, how many of us are actually making a ‘killing’? Please share your success story of marketing your e-Book via social media. We could all learn from your research and the tactics you’ve used.

Anne Lyken-Garner is a published author. Her latest book, the inspirational ‘Sunday’s Child’ was published by American urban publishers, Pulse. Anne is also a freelance writer, blogger and editor. She writes for, and manages 4 blogs and edited The Writers Bureau online student magazine for 2 years. Anne specialises in writing, relationships and confidence building. Her other passions include DIY and home improvement.

Apart from writing, Anne works in TV, and is dedicated to raising her 3 young kids. You can make contact with Anne here:  http://www.abloggersbooks.com/p/contact-or-hire-writer.html

Rumki Chowdhry on Film adpations

Film Adaptions: They Are What They Are

Film adaptations of novels are tricky for many reasons. One who has read the novel will most definitely have high expectations of the adaptation of that novel. Those expectations are, almost always, unfulfilled. Why?

The Vision

The obvious reason for 'why' is that we, each, envision the characters, plot and settings of the novel differently. We each, especially the director of the adaptation, will have formed a different picture in our mind.

The Time

Work, studies, family take up most of our times as priorities, but when we do have time to ourselves, we can read. That is why reading one book can take hours and hours of reading and often, that time is spread across a number of weeks. A film adaptation is constrained to a mere, give or take, two hours. This is because a novel requires us to read detailed description of an environment or attire, while that same imagery and sensory is shown on the Blue-Ray, DVD or Theater, not requiring us to use our imaginations whatsoever. 

The Space

Has a line been changed from its original novel format to something else on-screen? There is often a plethora of detail and dialogue to fit into a film adaptation. One might find a change in dialogue, a cut of dialogue, scenes meshed together, or scenes tossed around like a caesar salad. The director has to take into consideration that not everyone who is watching his/her film has read the novel from which it was inspired/adapted. 

Therefore, scenes will not be placed exactly in chronological order or in the order of occurrence in the novel. Even more, dialogue might be altered. 

The Cuts

It's very sad when a scene you've read in the novel is excluded from its adaptation, but time constraint prevents the director and producers from including every scene in. Or, it simply would have been too confusing for the viewers who have not read the book to understand the significance of a particular scene.

What to do, what to do, hmmm....

I cannot count the number of times I've heard and guiltily used the term, 'The book is so much better.' The book will always be better than its film adaptation because: one, you will have impossible expectations for the director to meet; two, your imagination of the happenings is unique to yourself; three, there's just too much to fit into two hours, give or take.

So, next time you watch a film and you think 'The book was so much better;' think about how much the director and screenwriter needed to take into consideration before adapting it for the Big Screen or home theater. Although we should all give the movie makers a break, but there are the occasional novel-film adaptations that frustrate the reader.

What got me thinking about this particular topic? I remembered being in high school and doing a film vs. novel paper on Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectations.'

Recently, after asking book-lovers, 'What are you reading nowadays,' the reply was 'The Hunger Games.' My cousin gifted me with the trilogy and DVD. I love how the film tries to capture the heart and soul of the plot. It's probably one of the most accurate adaptations I've seen and the director mixed and matched the scenes flawlessly together so that it made sense to viewers who have not read the novel.

At the moment, I'm scripting a book-to-screen adaptation and all I can hope is that readers enjoy it and viewers understand it. 

Kind Regards,

Rumki 

Rumki Chowdhry is a regular contributor on the Brit Writers blog

Emma Petfield, an introduction

Hey everyone!

So it seems like I’m the youngest in the bunch of contributors here are Brit Writers being only 19 I have a lots of learning still to do myself. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share that journey with everyone here and at my own blog To introduce myself, I thought I would talk a little bit about myself, my hobbies and involvement within the writing community so far!

Firstly, I'm an English Literature and Language undergraduate and have just finished my first year. My career aims are to work in either Publishing or Copy Writing and I also hope to have a novel published at one point in my life; I’m currently working on my first novel now. Part of the reason I started blogging was to introduce aspects of the novel, to see how people would respond to it. I have dedicated a seperate page to it on my blog.

So I've talked a lot about how I like to write but I'm also a poet and love to write in verse and meter. I write a lot of poetry which can be found on my DeviantART account, but I also have a self-published collection available on Amazon. This collection ranges from 2008- 2011 and spans the second half of my teenage life. I have also been published several times in United Press anthologies.

I also enjoy reading a lot so expect to see the odd book review. Mostly, I read Young Adult, fantasy and sci-fi genres but I do stretch myself under the premise of good recommendation. At the end of my blogs I'll let you guys know what I'm reading currently but you can also find info on that at my GoodReads account.

Vlogging is another hobby that I recently began to indulge in and I attempt to post videos at least once a week on various topics from poetry to political debate to philosophical debate and these videos can be found on my Youtube Channel.

Feel free to introduce yourself in the comments below! I'd love to get to know you! I look forward to sharing my writing experience with all. J

Keep writing!

Emma x

Murder on my Mind by Wendy Reakes

Someone asked me recently where I get my ideas from. I asked her if I may respond publicly and assured her I wouldn't mention her name. 

(Sue)

Again, this question circles my circle; often discussed and deliberated. We all have different ideas, all have different ways of getting inspiration and we all have different means of expressing ourselves.

For me it’s all about murder.

Yes, friends! In case you didn't know this about me, I have an astute criminal mind. Stories like poisoning my husband with a casserole, shooting my boyfriend with a little pink pistol, burying someone alive, killing off one of my victim’s when she was lying in an iron lung…that sort of thing.

I also have a keen sense of the absurd.

I remember having to call-out a chimney sweep one winter and when he arrived we had some playful banter. He was such a funny character that as soon as he left, I wrote a story about him and ended up giving him a heart attack. Even now, I worry he’ll recognize himself in my story and be offended that I didn’t allow him to live.

A review from a dear peer:- ’Can’t you write something where your characters actually survive?’ he said.

“Hmm, that’s a thought,’ I answered. So I wrote a story, included him as a character and killed him off.

I just can't help myself. Writing brings out the devil in me.

Seriously, if you need inspiration for what to write next, my advice would be to look around you. There are stories everywhere, in everything you do and say, in everything you see.

For example, yesterday I sat for three hours in a packed water park watching my kid’s frolicking. Surrounding me were hundreds of stories. In the people I observed, their habits, their clothes and their bodies, the friends they were with, their children and so on.

While I sat there with dark glasses covering my eyes, I saw a man come in through the gate. He had a gun in his hand. He was looking for someone. He started pointing it at all the people. Everyone was screaming. People were running in all directions as he charged through them. Suddenly a single shot was fired and a woman fell to the floor of the splash pool. Then as the man turned the gun on himself, the water continued to churn through the fountains, turning red, leaving pools of crimson at the feet of the children…

Oh…I have got to write that one up.

***

Wendy Reakes will be a regular contributor for the Brit Writers blog.

James McSill talks of opportunities…

I would like to introduce myself, I’m James McSill. For you to put into context what I will be posting suffice it to say that I am the founder and owner of McSill Ltd, which doesn’t say much unless you click on my main site (www.mcsill.com) and it is in… PORTUGUESE. I am a story consultant and operate from the UK but my clients mostly come from abroad; Norway, Holland, Germany, Portugal, Spain and BRAZIL.

I will talk about Brazil today.

I shall talk about opportunities.

The market has been so good down there that my Literary Agency in São Paulo (www.agency.mcsill.com) has practically been begging for English-language writers, including aspiring ones, to submit their manuscripts. Oh! You must be thinking at this point, don’t they have writers in Brazil too?

Brazil now has been a bit of a paradox, the market is growing like mad, but the locals are used to READING fairly adequate translations of all the international best-sellers (most written originally in English) from Harry Potter to Fifty-two Shades of Grey, from Dan Brown to the Disc World, but have no idea how these stories have been “built”. And the publishers want more of those types of constructed stories by writers of any nationality, Brazilian and Portuguese too of course - I have been working with many Brazilians, but it´s not enough as some are getting too busy translating their work to publish abroad too and cannot produce fast enough for the local market -; just remember, publishers demands have to be met by manuscripts or books with some resemblance to what is going on abroad in the English-speaking countries. Otherwise books don’t sell as much!

And what an opportunity there is out there for all of you that want to spread your wings far wider and explore a massive piece of land, from the freezing savannas of the south to the steaming hot forests of the north. If you feel bold enough to take on this challenge, here I am to help. Ever thought of working with Brazilian writers? Find out now!
Do contact me.

Another area which has been growing exponentially is the corporate storytelling/transmedia market. There are companies galore offering training to professionals that range from lower-rank corporate executives to high-powered admen. Every company in the fastest-growing country in the southern hemisphere seems to have discovered overnight that they have to tell their stories. Here the opportunities are for the more professional. Brazilians don’t take well to the American storytelling ways when they see their family businesses being advertised as if they were a famous chain of diners – even if they ARE a famous Brazilian chain of diners – the public does get put off by that kind of approach. Does that style “simplify” too much? Are storylines too punchy, too sweet, too over the top to the point of being unrealistic? Is it too Hollywood-like for a country that is becoming very rich almost overnight but retains vivid memories of when their citizens led a miserable life under a dictatorship supported by Uncle Sam? I don´t know. But what I do know is that Americans  that try to bring to Brazil, not the principles of storytelling (these are universal) but the “rules” only partially succeed. 

Let me digress here and say that we story consultants say there are no rules. If we, however, get some 45 admen to train in three days and don’t directly or indirectly present them with some rules, the entire training exercise would be pointless. We have to present them with training tasks which utilise principles as well as accepted sets of ´rules´. The American set of rules is too American, and Americans find it hard to adjust their language for Latin markets (why should they have until quite recently?). They say, let’s bend the rules, but show TV commercials from a famous company to demonstrate what is good or bad when you apply the ‘principles´.

And there comes the second great opportunity for us from the UK to brave that market. As Brazilians tell me, you are like them (i.e., Americans), but so different. And that difference sells…a lot!

I recently opened a new studio here in Yorkshire to deal specifically with corporation storytelling/transmedia demands, catering mainly to the Brazilian market. The speaking engagements have been flowing in; the projects from ads, to films, to stage shows are non-stop too. Through Brit Writers I hope to expand my network in the UK, so, should any of you think that you could become a story consultant, help Brazilian companies tell their stories and produce TV commercials that don’t use the scare tactics of US insurance and medicine TV ads, you are on! 
Do contact me – I want to hear from you (wherever you might be in the world).

Brit Writers have provided us with this wonderful opportunity to talk.

Let’s talk then.

More anon…

james@mcsill.com

Anna Jefferson, a personal dilemma...

When does a blogger call it a day? 

I am founder and Co-Director of Broken Leg Theatre and Creative Learning Manager for New Writing South. I am also Nancy's mum, and that's what this blog is about. And all the other bits as well I guess. But mainly being Nancy's mum. And how life has changed since she came into our world.

I'm a 33 year old writer, mainly of plays, but a year ago I started blogging about becoming a parent, after having my first child, Nancy, You can take her home now

Don't worry, I'm not going to whip out a picture of her dressed as a monkey, then bang on about the pros and cons of massaging your perineum.

I started it because I wanted a record of what being with her was like. Something for her to read when she was older. And for me, a reminder of how quickly things would change.
 I was a bit nervous to be honest, when I first made it public. Partly because I hadn't spared any details about the discomfort of going for a wee after having an episiotomy, but also because I didn't want to bore people half to death with kids anecdotes. It's up there with hearing about other people's dreams.

But people started reading it.

It wasn't an overnight Fifty Shades of Grey success, although some of those stories about having my bits checked by the health visitor were pretty racy, but people did start reading it.
 Friends, to start with, then my mum’s mates, who told their mates, and so on. And now I see when I look at the stats, that every Sunday, when I publish the next post, there's about 200 people who have a read in the evening. Including a large minority in Russia, randomly enough.

Now. I don't know if that's loads, or a pitiful amount, but that's not the point. The point is, I started getting feedback from women about their experiences as mums. Confessional stuff. Not the 'my child's brill' chat. More, I struggled to bottle feed; I felt like I had no mates at times, I blagged it at work for the first year until I got more than 5 hours sleep. That kind of stuff.
And I, in turn, felt a sense of responsibility not to bullshit when writing about life since Nancy. As they had put their trust in me not to do so.

But now I'm in a dilemma.

When I started writing You can take herhome now... it was only going to be for a year. This was a new mum blog, not a diary of my life. And I thought of publishing it. A year with Nancy. Nice and neat.

But my daughter is about to turn one in two weeks time, and I don't know whether I'm ready to give it up.

My worry is, when do I stop? When she starts school? Will I be blogging about her going on a date with her first boyfriend? Her first day at university? Her first child?
It’s just; it's taken on a life of its own. I'm not going to whinge about sleep deprivation, as that is coming up the rear after the dream chat, but it is difficult to find the time to write, and write well when you have small children.

I naively had big plans to write my next play while on maternity leave. Whereas in reality, I congratulated myself for getting us out of the house to the local shop for a pint of milk during the first few months. My other achievement was developing a massive crush on someone in One Tree Hill, who was about 15 years younger than me, as it coincided with Nancy's morning feed.

But the blog became a structure. And hearing about other people’s experiences gave me a voice. I don't want it to become self indulgent, or for me to lose sight of why I started writing it in the first place. It's become an important part of my life, and a small part of other peoples, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to give that up yet. 

Anna will be a regular contributor on the Brit Writers blog : ) 

Yvonne Grace – From Script to Screen…

Who is Yvonne Grace?

I am trained in Theatre Design (got a BA Hons degree in it anyway!) and am an ex-actress, having worked for 5 years in Theatre In Education and Community Theatre Companys. I realised that it was the written word, not the spoken, that interested and excited me and so I went into script development and reading lots of scripts for lots of organisations including, Channel Four, Radio Four, The Young Vic, The Bush Theatre, and most new writing venues in London in the late 80′s early 90′s. I set up The Deptford Wives (since I was then living in Deptford – the title suggested itself!) – a script development company and ran successful script in hand performances out of the Birds Nest Theatre Pub in Deptford. I went into television via a script editing job on Eastenders and worked my way along the script editing route and into drama producing. I have produced children’s drama for CITV and Holby City for the BBC and also executive produced Crossroads for ITV as well as developing lots of long running series ideas for both markets with a wide variety of writers. I set up Script Advice in 2007 to help writers write better scripts, primarily for the tv market. I also design and run short courses for organisations such as C4, The National Film and TV school, and The Script Factory and am speaking at the London Screenwriters Festival in October and at their Breakfast Club in September. In 2006 I left the city, moved to the country, got married and had a little boy in space of a year. His name is Michael, he is 4 and a half and starts school in September. I plan then to re-start my own writing career!

Had you always been interested in scriptwriting?

I have always been interested in how writers write and why they do. I have always been fascinated by the written word and by stories. I believe storytelling is in my blood and the need to express stories to as many people as possible is a very real thing in me. I love to read and to immerse myself in a book or a film or a radio play. I enjoy all genres of storytelling and found shaping a writer’s ideas for a large audience (which is ultimately the work I have done on television) a very exciting and rewarding job to do.

What were the most difficult challenges you've had to overcome?

I believe the most difficult challenge for me when I was starting out was the fact that I did not know anyone in the television world or anyone who had even done the job or heard of the job that I had managed to land for myself on Eastenders. I wasn’t educated at Oxford or Cambridge and at the time I was trying to get into telly, most drama jobs seemed to have an Oxbridge graduate in them. So I had to be tenacious, confident, polite, thick-skinned and also really really know my stuff. I thankfully managed to achieve some, if not all, of the requirements necessary and after 2 years of knocking on doors I got the intro I needed by the insightful invitation to join Eastenders from Helen Greaves.

 What has been your major highlight to date and tell us more about some of the projects you've been involved with?

A major highlight for me was winning the LWT Comedy Award for Best Children’s Comedy for the Children’s pilot I produced ‘My Dad’s A Boring Nerd’ written by Joe Turner. I also have huge affection for Crossroads, and particularly the last metamorphosis of the show, as I Executive Produced the show, changed it’s image and cast Jane Asher as the Uber Bitch Angel Sampson. I am very proud of the ratings we achieved (1.5 million a day across the week) and enjoyed working with such a talented team of creatives both in front and behind the camera. I am also very proud of the success I made of Holby City series 2. I turned the show around from being a critical, but not ratings success, to being both popular with the critics and popular with audiences. My series gained a top viewing figure of 9.6 million and I believe these figures ensured Holby’s continued success. Again, the success of this show is a team effort and it is working with writers and actors and production crews that both know their stuff and enjoy doing their stuff that really makes working in television enjoyable and rewarding.

What advice would you give to new unpublished scriptwriters?

Write yourself a very very good calling card script first and foremost. Then target the people you want to read your work. Be selective and be respectful at all times. Be tenacious and try at all times to show confidence in your work and in yourself (even if you dont always feel like that!) When someone gives you a chance, no matter how small it may seem at the time, or that it might not be just exactly what you want – take it and do your best always with the opportunities you are given and those you create for yourself.

Tell us more about ‘Script Advice’?

Script Advice is a website that I run that offers script reading, script editing, script development and treatment reading services for any writer interested in developing their skill base and writing craft. I know about television, so that is my main area of expertise that I like to pass on to my clients, but I also read plays, novels and radio plays. I know what it is like to write in a vacuum and feel isolated from other writers – so I also, via Script Advice, offer writers a place to go to ask questions, to find support and advice. I write 2 blogs and distribute a newsletter 4 times a year via my Facebook group Script Advice Writers Room and by my mail list. If writers contact me on my email address from my website I also try and help and will get back to you as soon as I can. I also run workshops and short courses on storylining, script editing and treatment writing. I basically love working with people and although I see myself as a leader, not a team player, I thrive on the buzz we all get from sharing our experiences and learning from each other – my workshops celebrate the difference in all our writer voices and I try and pass on my experience in writing and shaping drama for the small screen to as many people as I can.

How important are initiatives such as Brit Writers?

Brit Writers is a great organisation. I love the support that you offer both young people and fully grown ups! Your work in schools regarding literacy and encouraging joy in reading and writing is very important work and I commend you for this.

What would you like to say to anyone reading this right now?

I would like to say to anyone reading this; have faith in your own ability and stretch yourself and your writing, if possible, on a daily basis. Self belief and looking challenge in the face is something all writers need to be able to master and do. Writing is like psychotherapy in some ways, know yourself and you will make a better writer – so always look to yourself to find the truth in what you write. Listen to those that have experience in the craft and the industry, take all advice with grace and as much as possible, be realistic about what you can achieve and about your own skill. Do not worry about your failings, try and improve and go forward each day.

http://scriptadvice.co.uk/ 

Thank you Yvonne.

In the Wizards Garden, by Micah Timona Ferris

Micah Timona Ferris is a Swiss Citizen, born in Mendrisio, Switzerland and raised in New Zealand, where she has spent most of her life. She has a BA degree from University of Canterbury in English and Theatre & Film and has her Masters in Poetry from The International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Currently residing in London.  In 2010, she was awarded the Margaret Mahy Prize for best collection of stage I work at the Hagley Writers’ Institute.

Micah will be a regular contributor to the The Unofficial 'Brit Writers and Writers Everywhere' blog.
Her short story 'Apples', won the vicbooks short story competition.

She is also a Published Poet.

In the Wizard’s Garden

Sycamore seeds
picked up and
spun on a soft wind
little fluttering distractions
that made
eyes meet eyes
across the garden

where the man in the black
overcoat waits behind
you by the wall
and later, the walls
will come down and the
powder man in his
sycamore suit will smile
and buy you a glass of wine
and you will
drink from the cup,
the wind blowing up
your scarlet dress

you know you want to go
there and be blown away
read from his book of spells
and cantations
you can look into
the eye and see
straight through, and
now your eye is open too and
the caterpillar fingers
sink in

but his nails are sharp
like cutting shears
and the sycamore seeds
are falling

Author's note: In response to George Dunlop Leslie's artwork, In the wizard's garden c.1904, oil on canvas. Housed at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, New Zealand.

Philippa Rae - Building your confidence as a writer!

I’m Philippa and I have a great interest in children’s books.  

I have read many of them over the last few years and now I am trying to write some of my own!  My first book “Count the Sheep to Sleep” (Sky Pony Press, New York) is available in the UK in September.  (See the review from Kirkus).  I am currently just finishing my first children’s novel.

With anything creative or expressive we can see it is a personal reflection of what we like or who we are.  So it can be very hard to take criticism or rejection especially when you are just starting out.  The road for most people to get a book published in tough economic times is a hard one as there are now a whole host of other factors to consider.

As writers we are faced with criticism from the moment we write our first lines to the publication of our first book and beyond.  Criticism will often stop us from starting before we have even begun.  We are can be our own worst enemies at looking at our own work objectively.  When I was 20 I tried writing a short story.  Someone took it out of my bag and laughed at it.  I didn’t write again until having worked in children’s radio where we were asked to, as part of our job, to write stories and I found that I had some ability and enjoyed it. From there I decided to try and develop my skills as a personal goal for myself.  I was lucky to be already working in a creative environment but for others who perhaps work in entirely different fields it can be harder to get support if you are working in isolation.

To ensure our judgement of the potential of our creative abilities is not damaged, it is good to build up a base of affirmations.  This way when criticism and rejection come along which they inevitably will, it can be put firmly in perspective.  Many of us focus on the one bad thing we hear rather than remembering all the good.  It doesn’t mean that the criticism isn’t valid it just means to see it for what it is.

The first rejection we face is from ourselves.  How many first drafts never got beyond the first stage because someone gave up? It’s good to review other writer’s styles as there is much you can learn especially as fashions come and go.  But, you need to put the comparison of your work in perspective. If you write and you have never done a writing course or been part of a writers group then you have probably missed out on some potential development stages.
It was only after my first picture book had been published that I realize I need to go and study the craft as there is much that I could benefit from.

Firstly it’s important to find a safe environment to practice.  It could be taking an evening class or belonging to a writers group.  I belong to a writers support group on face book and it’s a really good motivator and support as well as being able to provide you with a few votes when you need them!!!

Secondly competitions can be a way of building up your confidence as well as your writing CV and portfolio of material.  They make you write material to a deadline as well as to a brief.  Once you have got initial piece into reasonable shape that you can just keep honing it.  As you start to have success from the first highly commended to a win in a national competition then you will find your confidence growing. And of course competitions are annoymous unless you are placed so no one will know!

  

I was lucky to work for the BBC and able to initially develop my writing skills in creative environment.  However it was having success in competitions being judged by people on my own merit which really inspired me to try and become a published writer.  I was a finalist in the poetry section in the 2010 Brit Writers Awards Unpublished with a collection of children’s poetry.  To have made the final out of so many people was a major turning point in my goals for the future as it was something I had done off my own back.

Again competition wins aren’t the be all and end all – there are people with book publishing deals who don’t do them but for many as well as myself they were a spring board for my confidence……

(More next time on rejections from agents and what it feels like to get a your first bad review!)

Kereen Getten - Isnt it time everybody had their stage?

"I am too dark, too pale, too big, too skinny, 

my hair isn’t straight, my lips are too big and my nose too flat”.

My name is Kereen; I am a mother of one. One beautiful, handsome, funny, talented and intelligent little boy. I’m bias, I know, but he really is. I’ve been writing since I was eight years old, it’s my passion, and my escape, my torment and my relief. When I was in school, my stories would be handed around the school, the friend I originally lent it to, said she gave it to another friend, who gave it to another… 

My English teacher told me “if you ever do anything with your life, write”.

My writing is very personal to me, and hopefully will strike a chord with you too. I have very strong views on bullying and racism and self-esteem, I believe that good people doing good acts should be celebrated, and if you have a talent, you should use it.

But I was never confident enough in myself or my writing, In my mind I was never good enough, never pretty enough, never, enough.

Every day we encounter something or some-one reminding us that we just aren’t good enough. From the moment you are born you are taught how to act, how to behave. As you get older we are pressured into looking a certain way. Image is everything, and what you are born with, is never good enough.

Media constantly brain washes us into thinking we are never the right size, never the right colour and never the right shade. If we buy this product it will fix everything, if we just lose some weight we will look perfect, and plastic surgery has all the answers.

To be pretty society tells me I have to have long hair, I must be slim but my butt and my boobs must be big. My skin must be light, my nose must be straight, and only then will I be noticed, only then will I be happy. These are the pressures that young women have to face every day from the moment they wake to the last second before they sleep. Is it any wonder we struggle with bulimia and Anorexia? Is it any wonder creams to lighten your skin is a multi-million pound business. Times newspaper reported that the weave industry makes £65 million in the UK alone. We are victims of our own insecurities, we get angry at the pressure we are put under, yet we still allow ourselves to we fall into the trap and we continue to live the lie.

Isn’t it time we stopped competing to be some-one else, and start loving ourselves as we are, why don’t you make it your duty to tell someone today that they are beautiful.

P.S Brit Writers' readers, you are beautiful.

Like An Expectant Father....

Like an expectant father....

So that's it, you've done it. The final word, on the final line, of the final paragraph in the final chapter of your masterpiece. You close the file down and sit back, more in relief than excitement. You've made it to the end of a journey that started, often years before, with the germ of an idea in the back of your mind.

Except, of course, it's not the end of the journey. It is really just the start. The next step is certainly more daunting than writing the book in the first place and, frequently, far more difficult. Until now, likely as not, you will have kept your manuscript to yourself, protecting it from prying eyes, tweaking and fine tuning as best you can but you know the moment is coming when your baby has to make its own way in the world.

Am sure everyone at Brit Writers has experienced the same feeling?

The moment that you hand over the manuscript for the first time is slightly surreal. You want honest, independent feedback, but you also want it to be good. And if it's good and you've given the script to somebody you know, you'll convince yourself that they're only being nice because they like you. They're not going to really tell you what they think, are they?

Those closest to you tell you it's an achievement. But you know different. You know that without finding an agent, you won't find a publisher and where's the achievement in an unpublished book? But does it go further, I wonder. Is publication an achievement or does it have to sell well? If it sells well, is it an achievement of does it need a second novel to be accepted? Does it need to be made into a movie or a television programme to be an achievement?

Achievement, for me, would be people who don't know me and may never know me, reading my work and enjoying it enough to let me know. That's special. Everything else would take care of itself.
So comes the moment when you embark on the hardest process of all, finding the needle in the global literary haystack that is the agent that has enough faith in you and your writing and enough interest in your work to offer you representation. Sit back and watch as the polite "thank you but no thankyou" emails roll in, some formulaic, some more polite and genuine.

Then there is the one email - the one that shows genuine enthusiasm and interest who requests the whole damn manuscript. They have no axe to grind, no reason to say nice things without meaning them. Your baby is despatched for them to pore over and appraise. You know, deep down, the odds are still against you, yet even though you said you wouldn't, you dare to dream. And so you wait, checking the email, hoping but daring not to believe that, like an expectant father, something special may just be about to happen.

www.howard-robinson.com

THE DIVORCED LADY’S COMPANION TO LIVING IN ITALY by Catherine McNamara

 

THE DIVORCED LADY’S COMPANION TO LIVING IN ITALY by Catherine McNamara
‘The Divorced Lady’s Companion to Living in Italy’ tells the transition-by-espresso of Marilyn Wade, involving waif models, kinky internet dates and insolent teens, before the gaudy backdrop of contemporary Italy.
Brit Writers spoke to author Catherine McNamara…

Who is Catherine McNamara?
I grew up in Sydney, Australia, with two burning desires – to write and to travel. I worked as an au pair in Paris for a theatrical family. Later I moved to Milan, taught English, then worked in an embassy in Mogadishu before the war, which was when I my first short story was published. Many years later I found myself in Accra, Ghana, running an art gallery. I moved to Italy in 2002 and have a love-hate relationship with the country.

What inspired you to write The Divorced Lady’s Companion to Living in Italy?
I’ve published many short stories in journals and anthologies in England, Australia and the US. I’ve always wanted to publish a novel but family and work have often dissolved my concentration and hampered the task of editing. I’d written a chunky novel set in Ghana which received mixed feedback, and in the lull that followed a friend suggested I write something funny set in Italy. I left her house for the long drive home and by the time I arrived I had a title and a first sentence. I wrote the novel for the next six months in our old chicken shed.
I think ‘The Divorced Lady’s Companion to Living in Italy’ was the culmination of years of heavy writing and living as a foreigner in various places; it also addresses my discontent with the way many women choose to grow older – especially in the age of botox and cougar huntresses.


Tell us about your journey to publication?
After completing the manuscript I let it lie for many months and went back to short story writing. I had never written comedy before and so felt very uncertain. My initial view that perhaps it would be easier to enter the commercial rather than the literary world was immediately overturned when the first submissions I made to agents came bouncing back. I drew up a list and crossed off quite a few, while I did yet another revision. I then began looking at smaller publishing houses and stumbled upon an interview with Ronnie Goodyer, publisher of Indigo Dreams. I liked his tone – I could tell Ronnie was a wordsmith and very passionate about his work. The IDP submission process also gave me a little more hope than the prospect of landing in the slush pile, so I was unspeakably thrilled when Ronnie asked for a full manuscript and quickly accepted the novel.
Following a long stretch of revisions with my editor the novel came out in April and is now available on Kindle, and will soon be published in Australia and the US. What I have learned is that editing is a rare and valuable skill to be honed, and that promotion is part of the process – and I like it!

How important was it for you to become involved with Brit Writers publishing partners Indigo Dreams Publishing? How did they help you?
Ronnie and Dawn immediately made me aware of the journey we would be making together with my book. When you are an unpublished writer, it’s very hard to see beyond the concept of having a manuscript accepted and signing a contract. It’s impossible to realise just how much work there is still to do. Through IDP I have learned bucket-loads about editing – I thought I was a mean editor before, but I didn’t have a clue. IDP has also given support and encouragement with my promotion efforts, and Ronnie and Dawn have shown belief in my work from Day 1. They believe in loyalty between publisher and author and next year I have another book coming out with IDP which is a risky genre for most publishers to contemplate – a collection of short stories. Ronnie and Dawn have shown so much warmth and enthusiasm I sometimes feel like a family member off in Italy!

How important do you think initiatives such as Brit Writers are?
I think the information provided by Brit Writers is not only inspiring but downright practical. There is so much information online for unpublished writers that it sometimes seems impossible to join the dots. At times an author interview, or news of a publisher or the story of an award winner, can really help writer morale.

What advice would you give to new and unpublished writers who are reading this?
What I have learned might sound odd. We are often told that writers need time to find their ‘voice’, and then everything seems to click. But I think that ‘voice’ can change according to age, circumstance and genre. I think writers should keep trying everything – even mimicking a style is useful to understand another author’s reality, and to reach into the nooks and crannies of language. Listen to people talking, read junk, read classics. I think that even writing reviews on Goodreads is useful – to understand the devices that experienced writers use, to get a feel for character and the gist of different styles. Writing is a craft. Everyone can just about do it, but to do it really well takes practice, failure, adjustment – years of it.
As for editing and submissions, be prepared to be diligent, even manic. Everything that I have sent out too soon has made me cringe afterwards. Let work breathe, then look at it in a new light. Prepare a rejection strategy – mine is to go into secretary mode and send out a new submission straightaway.
Also, because big agents and publishers are under more pressure than ever to churn out works that will be a commercial success, try a smaller, friendlier publisher who might be more open-minded about original or risky work. That doesn’t mean that your work should be any less slick – but it might mean you find someone who is on your wavelength, rather than a corporate reader afraid of losing his or her job!

What’s next for Catherine McNamara?
As I mentioned I have a short story collection, ‘Pelt and Other Stories’, coming out with IDP next year. ‘Pelt’ is mostly set in Africa, in the cross-over zone between cultures. We are currently revising the text and moving towards cover design. I am very, very excited. Few publishers are keen to deal with short stories because they appear to be poor earners, and I’ve been told countless times by agents and big publishers: ‘Write me a novel with a hook.’ And yet, each short story has its own hook and it seems to me that the form is enjoying a revival at the moment – we hope so!
I am also still very much involved in promotion of ‘The Divorced Lady’s Companion to Living in Italy’ which will be going to the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. I have an appearance at the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy, in September and have started speaking to book club groups worldwide on Skype. My blogs keep me busy and I’ve even met up with a few of my readers in nearby Venice for a chat and a glass of prosecco!

http://thedivorcedladyscompaniontoitaly.blogspot.com
http://peltandotherstories.blogspot.com

Thank you Brit Writers for having me! And watch this space for news on ‘Pelt and Other Stories’ next year!

Indigo Dreams Publishing:
www.indigodreams.co.uk
publishing@indigodreams.co.uk

Thank you Catherine