I’ve been busy thinking.
Yes it does happen.
I’ve been busy, being busy but also I have been thinking about how to apply what I have learned thus far in the last two years on this blog to an exciting project that a group of children’s writers are about to launch to an eagerly awaiting public...well I hope they are going to be intrigued and want to join us for the journey.
So what thoughts have been swirling around the grey matter.
Marketing Plans.
Dan Holloway at self publishing review has written a helpful article on marketing plans and business plans and why authors confuse them. He offers some helpful tips on how to look at the business of writing.
This was helpful when I came to put together a marketing plan for our writing team to chew over.
Website Development.
Carolyn Kaufman of Querytracker has put a comprehensive article together on author/book website development. This is one of the best articles I have seen on the subject and covers many points such as branding, additional information, storyboarding, building the site and domain names.
Well worth a look and a trawl through the comments even if you have a website.
This week I updated and changed my Bones book blog to make it cleaner, reflecting some of the valuable advice from Querytracker .
The Rule of Twenty.
Michael from Upstart Crow Literary has written a great blog on Bruce Colville’s talk on the rule of twenty. According to Bruce it is only when you get to the twentieth idea that it is truly original. Anybody who has read any of Bruce Colville’s work knows that he is screamingly funny and a very original children’s writer.
(Dare I say that the story the writing team is working on is screamingly funny and very, very original I think we must get to twenty ideas in each chapter...)
Transmedia and Story
Alison Norrington of The Literary Platform has been thinking about authors and how they need to stretch themselves across different publishing platforms. She highlights that publishers also need to understand the power of story across publishing platforms and links to a few trans media projects worth looking at as good examples. This is an interesting and thought provoking post.
Queries
Folio Literary Management have written a great post on queries. They know of what they speak as they are a reputable literary agency who see hundreds of queries a week. They give some pointers and also an analysed query letter to look at. Very good information here.
Over on Craicerplus (my Amplify page) I have links to some great articles this week.
Ten Rules for Writing Fiction-Famous Authors Tell All
The Biggest Mistakes Writers Make? 5 Tips For writing Better
Agent Michael Larsen Talks About 12 Ways To Excite Writing Pro’s About Your Novel
When To Tell Instead Of Show
Two Legs and a Kilt - How To Hook Your Reader
Writing Creepy For Kids Without Scarring Them For Life
Working Hard IS Not Enough 18 Ways to Work Smarter
The following Video is for Tania Roxborogh. She has been working hard lately getting the Sequel To Banquo’s Son off to the printers and starting Book Three. This is for all the English teachers out there, especially those who write children’s books.
enjoy
maureen
2 comments:
LOL. Thank you Maureen. I have to say, it's been a very long term. I don't know how we used to manage with 13-14 weeks terms three times a year and about a third of the non-contacts we enjoy now! Maybe it's NCEA that has gobbled up the time in those precious free periods.
As for primary teachers. Shame on their union for not fighting harder to get them more than ONE (yes! ONE) release period a week!!!
Oh for the bad old days.....
Where you knew that the last topic of the term was a write off because you were all so tired no one learned anything. Where classrooms were like chinese laundries and sweat shops and the man in charge of the boiler told you that the thermostat had only level and it was a very tricky job to change it. Where everybody's heart sank as the principal expounded the latest educational theory he learned from his one week course in Wellington...coz he was the only one who could be trusted to go on a course...as we can't drag classroom teachers away from the children. Just shove another kid in there somewhere Maureen you only have 38 (in a room built for 20)
I can't get over the freedom of the current crop of teachers...no dress code for a start.
and you know I'm not that old!
btw I fixed the width of the video so you should see Inarticulate Ann...
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