Preparing for 2012

The year is nearly over and the blogosphere has filled with predictions for 2012.

What should happen... will happen... aint gonna happen in 2012?

Bob Mayer always has an interesting line up and he is often right on the money, speaking of which he is getting lots of comments on number eight and how publishers account for the money...hmmm.

Jane Friedman has looked at her year and listed what she thinks is the best advice she has given. Jane is a media professor so if you want a university course in writing and publishing check this list out!

Joe Konrath has put up his list of resolutions for writers...what is interesting is he starts with what he said in 2006 then 2007 then 2008 then 2009 then 2010 and adds a short piece for 2011. Go through the list and see the really solid advice that he gives. Worth printing out and sticking on the wall!

The news today over on the Passive Guys blog (writer lawyer) is HarperCollins attempt to enforce a contract infringement for a contract written in 1971 asserting it owns the eBook rights for Julie Of The Wolves by Jean Craighead George. Check out what he has to say and also his follow up post on the  ground breaking ruling called the Peggy Lee Decision. Given what HaperCollins is trying you might just need to know this piece of advice!

Jenny Hansen is giving an early New Years gift to writers with a cheat sheet of the best keyboard shortcuts for writers.

Faith Hunter has a wonderful post on PR skills for newbies.

Emily Casey has a great post on why traditional publishing isn’t for everyone...

David Robinson has written a useful guest post on creating book covers. Check out the comments where writers have put links in to free software to give you a hand.

To finish,

Book riot has a funny roundup entitled you know you have read too much Young Adult fiction when...(great for Y A writers to hold a mental measuring stick on their own work.)

I am now in the sunny North except it is raining... Time for me to get out the old novel and finish it! 

maureen

Pic is from this cool time and date website

Last Minute Shopping

Yesterday I was traveling up the North Island so of course my blog did not get written. I left a gorgeous day in Wellington...yes we do have amazing days in the windy city, when there is no wind, the sea is flat calm and the sun sparkles off the hills surrounding the harbour like a rare gem. 

Today Auckland is misty and overcast. I’m waiting for the full on sunshine and last minute shopping trips to begin.

If you are shopping for any authors...check out these presents.

Offbeat gifts for writers.... and for inspiration...what has been described as voodoo dolls of authors.

The predictions for 2012 are beginning and Mike Shatzkin’s name is being tweeted all around the blogoshere for his ‘not predictions list but questions’ that need to be addressed in 2012. Check it out, there is something for everyone in the publishing industry to ponder.

Of course Mike also had a hand in making the Digital Book World 10 Predictions for 2012...this is also getting a twitter beating as Number 7 gets talked about by authors.

In the fun category -  if you know an author who has begun using skype for author visits you may want to point them to this post from a 'don’t do what I did’ tongue in cheek expose of a skype visit to a book club. (Children’s writers can get themselves in sooo much trouble just with one of these gaffs.)

If you are looking for personal inspiration you must check out  the editors blog for a beautiful call to writers to push themselves a little more. 

If Chuck is more your style he says the same thing but in his own gritty voice...(warning It’s Chuck!)

I had hoped to bring you a sneak preview of the project I have been working on for the last couple of months but time pressures and end of year hype has delayed it...so I may just start the New Year with it.

It will be an interesting journey for me to share with you. Bring on 2012.

Merry Christmas from the sunny Southern Hemisphere. (still waiting for that sun Auckland...)

Oh and here’s the annual Christmas video treat for you. 

Off for last minute Christmas shopping...oh look sun!
maureen

Decorative Links

Holidays, the chance to go away from your usual busy life, explore new country, meet new people and try out new things.

Coming back through the front door always triggers the best moments of the holiday for me.... It is my last ditch effort to hold holiday mode around me as I stare at the mess left and the long list of catch up jobs, mail and end of the school year craziness. This morning, five minutes before leaving for school, one child announced they needed cardboard tube inners, wrapping paper and lollies...for making crackers.

Last week on Blog day I was traveling down the middle of the South Island staring at the back country and alpine scenery and pointing out likely film spots from the Lord Of The Rings. It helped that we knew The Hobbit was being filmed on location in some of the places we were going through. New Zealand=Middle Earth.

Holiday memories are getting squished to the back of my mind as this is the week before Christmas...a time that heralds that frantically busy period when you realise you have not sorted out the Christmas day menu or the in law presents or even found the Christmas tree decorations...

However I have a box of Blog Christmas tree decorations...

50 blinking lights....or 50 simple ways to build your platform in 5 minutes a day.

12 Great Big Golden Baubles....or 7 Lessons about Self publishing I learnt in 7th Grade and (from the wonderful Catherine Ryan Howard) 5 things I am always telling self publishers.  

Every tree needs special ornaments that trigger great memories. Here is a nice idea from the Teaching Authors Blog.

In the pretty ornament category we have three really sweet posts.

A new Y A Publisher in Australia from Publishing Perspectives.

How to get your writing ready to win a Pulitzer....

A great craft check list on characterisation that will save you a few years of hard slog to learn.

There are always a couple of ornaments that you know you have to put on the tree but are always challenging as to where they go....

Amazon has brought out a Children's Publishing Imprint, what impact will this have...

An Australian Agent talks about why they are so different from U.S. Agents and why....

In the new ornament category check out this pretty nifty advice from Lisa Schroeder...Let Good Reads Ads be your friend. (This one should be in the middle at eye level!)

Find the Christmas Star or Angel of your fulfilled writing resolutions....(ok still making mine...) and stick it on the top.

Next week you may even get a present to stick under the tree....

maureen


pic from here

Serving Up Link Dinner

The first day of December and officially Summer in the Southern Hemisphere and suddenly the weather remembers that it is supposed to be hot and sunny.

Of course being the first day of December the shops go mad with Christmas decorations, Christmas music and the Christmas count down.

Every Christmas I get frustrated by the lack of Summer Christmas celebration music and decorations in the town. My kids are singing Frosty The Snowman and the mall is decorated in ice sculptures for Santa...say what?

The temperature is climbing and any snowman here wouldn't last long....

I think it is time we shed the Northern Hemisphere winter solstice type celebrations and start making an effort with the uniqueness of Christmas in the Pacific...that's Christmas day BBQ's and beach cricket...or lying outside trying to get a tan while digesting Christmas dinner.

What interesting tidbits and yummy treats can I serve you up as appetizers for a Christmas dinner of links this week?

NaNoWriMo has finished and now the big edit begins. If you are scratching your head looking at your opus and wondering how you can make it better check out these writing craft links.

From The Editors Blog- no perfect characters needed.

From Bob Mayer's store of great advice- conflict the fuel of your story.

From the team at Adventures in Children's Publishing-stimulus and response.

If you are sitting down and need to dine on more substantial fare....

Publishers Weekly looks at the Amazon library mess and asks where do traditional public libraries fit in all this?

YA Highway has a thought provoking post on why Authors disappear...

The Passive Guy has a meaty post looking at the horrible clause, no compete, that is making its way into book contracts. You need to read this and digest it! 

Have a serving of 30 quick tips for speakers.

Seth Godin looks back at the year of the domino project and says what next...

Dessert, if you can fit it in....

Channelship ponders the future of book marketing

The wonderful people behind Writers Knowledge Base launched new novel writing software yesterday called Hiveword.

Jane Friedman warns writers that they are overlooking a vital skill.

For the after dinner mints...Kate Arms-Smith explores what you might need in a creative space and SCBWI has a fancy graphic on the lifecycle of the book.

Loosen your belt, stretch back and muse about all the goodies you have received....

Next week I will be away from my blog as I travel down to the South Island... this will give you time to digest your meal so you will be ready for the last serving of links for 2011. 

Changing The World...

As we head towards the end of November, the calendar starts telling you that every day is now filled up with something important. You begin to wonder how you will stretch your energy levels and/or brain cells to organise, prepare, plan, execute, remember, 1001 tasks before (insert next important date/time) tomorrow.

So here I am trying to organise my scattered thoughts coherently enough to give you a run down on what the most talked about topics in the writing blogosphere were this week.

The Amazon library lending saga goes on and on with Penguin withdrawing its books from the service and then earlier today doing an about face and then a 180. 

Yup it is all over the place. Read Porter Anderson on this issue and also the other big issue of the week….

Penguin again…this time with the launch of Book Country, their new publishing arm, for people who want help to publish. Is it vanity publishing? Opinions are divided. 

Writer Beware takes a look at what Book Country is offering writers. 

Penguin should take note that Harlequin got into deep water when they tried something similar as I commented on my blog two years ago at the very same time.

Is there something in the turkey stuffing over in America?

Thanksgiving is kicking off about now and the wonderful Jami Gold has a fun post on what to get writers for Christmas…actually some uninterrupted writing time would be great at any time…. Check out her list and start dropping hints. 

Writer unboxed has a thoughtful post on one writer and why she is thankful for her writing career.

Over Thanksgiving while you are trying to digest the huge feast your fingers will probably be getting a workout on Social Media sites. Shrinking Violet Promotions has a handy guide to how to survive Social Media if you are a writer.

The Passive Guy (writing lawyer) gathered together a list of all the posts he has done on the ethics of Agents and conflicts of interest and surprised himself with how many times the issue keeps coming up.

If you are a follower of Roz Morris, she has a wonderful post on her secret life as a ghost writer and how she ghost writes for someone who is her complete opposite. (outdoors, military…Clue sleuths are hitting the comments on this one.) 

Futurebook has wrapped up a series looking at the digitisation of the book industry in comparison to the music industry…It is an interesting read and has a big picture snapshot of what is happening and where it might go.

Over in the craft section...

Victoria Mixon has a great post on 3 characteristics of your protagonist.

Yesterday was a day of joy and sadness.

I had the great pleasure of telling a young writer they had won a wonderful writing award…who knows what the future holds for them…and it was with great sadness I heard of the death of one of my favorite writers, Anne McCaffrey. The Pern series was the first time I encountered female characters who could and did kick butt as strong protagonists. This was a wonderful thing to discover as a teen growing up in a rural area where girls actually finishing 7^th form were a rarity.  

We need our heroines to be as strong as our heroes for the hope they bring that we can change our world.

R.I.P Anne McCaffrey

Learning to Play With New Toys

This week has been one of huge technological change in our house. My camera failed during my column assignment and I had to get a new one, learn how to use it and reshoot the subjects in a very short space of time.

In this disposable age the shelf life of some technology is over before you take it out of the box so it pays to do as much research as you can and buy the best you can for the long haul. Our old camera had done a great job and was pretty nifty when we bought it six years ago…and we borrowed money to buy it. The camera’s available today almost make you a coffee as well…and all manuals are online…this is tricky if you are also learning to use a new computer. Talk about a steep learning curve with a three hour deadline.

The new computer was essential as the old one had the screen constantly failing and the keyboard wearing out. (Oh joy…) Researching for big buys are essential and also giving yourself time to learn to navigate the new toys...it really saves on stress.

This week there has been stress bouncing around the blogosphere as authors get a good look at the Amazon lending programme and don’t like what they see.

We all like to support libraries but Amazon may have taken this a bit far with their one buy, lend 1000 times, no due back date, model…the authors miss out on revenue and it is their livelihood.

Independent authors have been called names and traditional path authors have been pointing fingers, sometimes in rude ways.

This diatribe, which I won’t link to, caused a lot of anger in the indie author community. It follows on from a conversation I linked to last week about when to successfully go it alone as a self pubbed author. Bob Mayer has an excellent response to the diatribe and I urge you to read the comments to get the fuller picture.   

The Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators have taken issue with the publishing industry in an open letter addressing the response length of time. This issue is dear to my heart as I have been caught by publishers hanging on to my manuscript for up to a year and then sending it back with a positive rejection. Unfortunately with one particular manuscript it has happened five times…It’s a great story, we nearly published it…Ah well I’ll publish it myself and move on!

The Book Designer recently addressed a conference about how to take the self publishing route and has posted some of his slides up in a helpful bite sized way.

Jane Friedman has a new feature on her popular blog…Ask Jane. First up a brilliant article on how to spend money wisely on book promotion. Frankly following Jane is the best move you could make!

Jody Hedlund takes it a step further with her great article on how to prolong your books exposure and if you are really getting into book promo mode check out Hubspots  3 characteristics of successful press releases.

The wonderful Elisabeth Spann Craig has a great article on talking to readers. She has a huge list of questions readers ask which you can build talks around. This is really helpful when you are put on the spot to do a presentation.

It is half way through NaNoWriMo and there are heaps of tips out there on writing for those who are hitting the keyboards. Media Bistro has a link to a cliché calculator. 
Victoria Mixon is guest blogging on Jami Golds blog with a killer post on story climax. This is a wonderful two for one deal with two great guru’s in the one place.

For a change of pace check out Christopher Hitchens advice to an 8 year old…(hmmm) and for a creative jolt in the arm Lateral Action’s video’s and website.  

To finish,

I was roaming around the library the other day and saw a pile of books in the YA section that had adult authors by lines on them…yes writing YA is the new trend for those established authors looking to jump on the YA sales bandwagon. The Boston Globe has just confirmed my suspicion.

maureen
On steep learning curve with new computer.... 

       

Taking A Different Route

Just as we all got used to the thought of Summer....we get a blast of Winter to make us shiver and huddle together for warmth. 

Sometimes I think the publishing industry is like this as well. 

Just as you get used to travelling along the publishing road...along comes a new roadmap that offers a more thrilling/scary route to take you to your destination.

We are now used to the concept of eBooks. We know some important facts about them.

1. They are outselling print.

2. They are changing the landscape of publishing.

Joe Konrath has a guest post on his blog from popular ghost writer Lee Goldberg, that explains why he is not signing any multi book deals anymore...and Joe adds a breakdown of his own print versus eBook sales from the first half of the year...this makes sobering reading on the current state of the marketplace.

So we now have some hard numbers.

Ebook covers just got interesting. Take a look at this just released eBook cover for a debut Young Adult book...A twitter comment  described it thus...I spent so much time playing with the cover I forgot to look at the book!

My, that landscape up ahead looks interesting!

Mike Shatzkin and Bob Mayer have been trading views on an interview Mike did with Bob on the success an author can have going it alone. Mike says it is going tobecome rarer...and Bob says It can still happen if the writer does all the right things and has a back list. Go and take a look at the arguments!

Gosh are those mountains or hills up ahead....?

The author platform arguments have been getting another airing this week. Most pundits believe it’s critical for non fiction and optional for fiction. The drunkwritertalk group (yeah, interesting blog too...) have a useful article on what you should or should not do...great read.

Hazel Edwards (the author of the wonderful cake eating hippo) is profiled in a piece about how her savvy use of the internet has made her money...this is maximum use of your platform!

Wow that’s pretty....Oh look over there!

Sibel from Writers Guide to eBook Publishing has A MUST READ post up on why she turned down a Hollywood/New York Agent....She posts up the main points of the contract and what The Passive Guy (Lawyer writer) told her about what each clause meant.....Read it!!!!!!!

Oh boy, that was scary! Pass the wipes...

I think I need a change On the journey you might like to check out virtual book tours. Check out this article, 5 Dumb Things Writers Do On Virtual Book Tours.  

Are We There Yet?

I’m busy with the WCBA Christmas Quiz tonight...so you are lucky this is a short post....See you next week!

maureen

Links to Giveaway...

Last week there was a lot to read through...so I forgive you for not making it to the end and discovering the cool giveaway! (Maureen watches last week’s post stats jump....heheheh)

This week I have some interesting links for your delectation.

The awesome Cris Dukehart explains why she loves her job as an audiobook narrator and the little tricks you need to know if you want to do this yourself.... A brilliant interview with tips for authors to help make their work more audio friendly.

One of the Blue Rose Girls, editor Alvina Ling gives a detailed breakdown of what happens when she gets a manuscript to edit. This is a fascinating look at the editing process and there are lots of tips to think about for writers when you get to the editing process.

Joanna Pennhas an interesting post on series continuation hassles...when you discover that you have a series on your hands how do you go about retro planning for the future life of your characters. Lots of comments on this one with some great advice.

Lydia Sharp has taken a look at the difference between inciting incident and catalyst and breaks it down with examples. This is a great reference for writers out there looking to nail how their plot can move forward.

Nicola Morgan has taken a long look at the synopsis and defined what really should be in it. Don’t get hung up on your timeline...say what...? Go and read this valuable post.

Bob Mayer has been attending the Storyworld Conference and he has some interesting things to say about transmedia and the three screen revolution...Is this where we are all headed?

On a similar theme Publishing Perspectives takes a look at the hoops publishers have to go through to produce a halfway decent picture book on an eBook platform.

Two marketing links that may be of interest...

Tony Eldridge looks at 10 Ideas for Non Traditional Book Marketing 


Hubspot has taken a close look at Facebook business pages and has highlighted the best ways to get them moving and sparkling...This has great relevance for websites so check out the article.

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify page) I have links to articles on

Keeping Your Superpowers Current

7 Gadgets That Won’t Be Around In 2020

To finish, 

Roni Loren has an hilarious article on the life cycle of a blogger and...
 Amanda Hooper has created the ultimate dream (and referenced her friends) for a writer who has a book coming out...watch the video!

I’ll keep the ebook giveaway up for another week...just remember to comment with your Zombie name...
enjoy,
maureen

And Now For Something Completely Different.

The week has been full of change.

I went away for three days writing...that was a change.

I am tweaking my website...warning change can be addictive.

I am reading about writers who are making big changes in the way they publish, market and portray themselves online.

6 prescriptions to cure the heartbreak ofbeing published....Yes, you read that right. Ruth Harris looks at the downside of the newly published...one of which is when you hate the cover the publishers gave you.

Shelftalker, an indie children’s booksellerhas a rant on book covers that are coming out. I must have missed the tween goth revolution...but all the covers for this age group look like YA covers and they all only use vampire palettes...

Mary Kole from Kidlit.com interviews Daniel Nayeri, kids lit author, on the off the wall marketing he does to promote his books...and the fact that his latest book is a collection of novellas. Even the book trailers...commercials break all the rules (were there any?)

The wonderful Catherine Ryan Howard has become my latest must read blog. Catherine has built a steady following self publishing while waiting for the big publishing deal and her blog details her journey. This week she examines why she might not ever print publish again.  

And then... 

Sarah Billington said ‘I want to give away a copy of my new midgrade eBook....’

A midgrade eBook?!That’s new...So I asked Sarah some questions and we cooked up a little competition for you.

Everybody is talking about eBooks. Writers are being encouraged to look at self publishing their work as the eBook phenomenon turns the print publishing industry upside down. When did you decide to dip your toe in the water and why?

I had been hearing about eBooks for a little while, since the start of the year really (2011), hearing the astounding success stories such as Amanda Hocking and J.A Konrath, how big name authors were turning their backs on 500k publishing deals in order to self-publish their work. The royalty rates offered by ebook distributors like Amazon and Smashwords are SO MUCH higher than traditional publishers are capable of offering due to the overhead costs involved in running such large businesses. Plus there are only so many slots available in any given publisher’s schedule. This means that there are SO MANY great books languishing in drawers and on hard drives, not because they aren’t brilliant and readers would love them, but because there just isn’t room for them in the print schedule.

And there are so many genres that don’t sell in big enough numbers to make it worth a publishing house’s investment, but certainly have an audience who want to read it. Now authors of niche topics can get their books straight to their readers. Like short story writers!

I am currently studying a Bachelor of Writing & Publishing and as part of my course this year, we had to do a major project on a form of digital publishing. I decided what the heck. It gave me the perfect opportunity to teach myself how to create an ebook. I planned to make one short story ebook for the assessment. Instead, I made 5.

How did you decide which of your stories would be best as an eBook? Did length play a part?

As initially it was just an experiment, length definitely played a part in my decision. Even as an indie author now, I dream of being traditionally published because I do still believe there is a future in it and they can reach a much broader readership than I can on my own, so I decided to first off only publish short stories. And they sell. I am amazed that I am earning income from 1,500 word short stories. I now too have an upper middle grade novel for sale, Life was cool until you got popular which you can win here today! (Details below).

What I choose to write for e-publication is definitely being influenced by the trends I am finding with my sales figures. For instance, my thriller The Runaway (which can be found under my pen name, Edwina Ray) outsells all of my other stories by 10-1 so I am keen to write more thrillers. I do love writing comedy, though. And though it sells well in print books, the IT genres in the ebook world are definitely thriller and paranormal romance. If you write those, then ebook publishing is a good fit for you!

What has been the most satisfying aspect to producing an eBook?

Seeing positive reviews of my work from book bloggers, friends and colleagues I admire and random happy readers! I always ask for an honest review, regardless of whether I know the reader or not and am thrilled that people are enjoying my work.

What has been the most difficult thing about preparing an eBook?

Finding the time to do everything – write, design a cover, format, come up with a blurb, promote, change tactics if something isn’t working. I haven’t received any income from my works as yet, partly because the international banking requirements sound like an absolute nightmare and I keep putting it off. J Yet something else I need to do!

There is definitely less writing time available, as an indie author.

You worked on your covers yourself, What was the most important thing that you learned about cover design for an eBook?

Cover design for ebooks require very different things to print books. At a bookshop, your book needs to stand out from the crowded shelves, and have an eye catching cover. For ebooks, yes these things are important, but the most important thing is that you use a large font for your title and author name. Why? Because readers see ebooks as thumbnails on their computer screens. If the title and author name are not legible when the cover image is so small, then you’re unlikely to have potential readers click through to view its blurb, reviews and buy it.

In the print world the print publisher may (if you are lucky) have a publishing campaign around the release of the book. What do you do when you have an eBook?

You do it all yourself! Getting book reviews are key to the success of an ebook. They don’t have to be glowing 5-star reviews, actually a couple of 2-3 star reviews add a bit of credibility to all reviews! Cold-emailing book bloggers, organizing book tours, blogging about the topic of your book (my blog post about the different types of zombie is my most popular blog post EVER – buy I, Zombie today! J) and getting people involved are key. Constantly tweeting or Facebooking how awesome your book is and that everyone should buy it is a complete turn-off to readers though. I am a reader, and I get annoyed by these overzealous authors so I simply don’t do it.

Also, run giveaways, as we’re doing here today! The point is not to make any income from the experience, but to reach new readers who might tell their friends, or pass it on to others. Like traditionally published books, exposure, letting readers know that you and your book even exist is essential.

You have a range of different genres that you play in...Zombies, Young Adult, MidGrade, Do you have eBooks in all of these genres?

I do. J I can’t help it, I love them all. I like variety and write every other project in a different genre lately, to keep me on my toes. However, so as not to end up with a twelve year old fan of Life was cool until you got popular reading I, Zombie (a rather gruesome black comedy told from the zombie’s perspective), and assuming it would be appropriate for them, I publish my darker works under my pen name, Edwina Ray.

Ebooks are rapidly gaining ground but mostly in the adult fiction market, Do you see a trickle down effect to the younger ages? How do you market a book to the younger reader?

I do believe there will be a trickle down effect to younger readers, as more and more receive ereading devices for Christmas and birthdays. Childrens and middle grade ebooks at the moment mind you, are definitely not the big sellers. I like to think that I’m getting in on the ground floor. Marketing ebooks to younger readers is a difficult one. Young adult fiction readers are different, as young adults and adults who read YA scour book blogs and book communities, but children – not so much. To be honest: I haven’t figured that part out yet. At present, I think it is much easier to get a traditionally published middle grade or children’s book in front of kids, through bookshops, libraries and book fairs.

Will you release print versions of your eBooks?

I do have plans to, yes. Definitely Life was cool until you got popular is in the works. I have hired a graphic designer to make a sparkly new cover for a print version. I won’t be publishing the short stories individually as print books, but once I have enough in the same genre (eg. thrillers, or comedy etc) I will think about creating themed anthologies.

Tell us a little bit about your midgrade eBook...

Sure! I have been told that my middle grade and young adult fiction writing style is very reminiscent of Louise Rennison, who writes the super-hilarious Georgia Nicolson series (though you won’t need a glossary in the back to understand my terminology). I am thrilled beyond belief to be compared to Louise.

This is what Life was cool until you got popular is about:

Thirteen year old Kaley’s best friend Jules is an alien clone. That has to be it. Because Jules wouldn’t dress like that or act like that…and she definitely wouldn’t be friends with Meg-a-bitch.

Kaley can't wait to start at her new school with her best friend Jules. Jules was away in Europe all summer (worst summer of Kaley's life!) But it's cool, now school is starting and everything is going to be awesome. However as the school bus pulls up on that first day, Kaley barely recognizes the silky hair and glossy lips as Jules gets off with the cool kids and with their arch-nemesis Meg, the popular girl (God only knows why) who made Kaley and Jules's lives miserable in elementary school. In Europe, Meg had somehow won over Kaley's best friend and Kaley finds herself frozen out.

Life was cool until you got popular is a first person novel told through Kaley’s eyes, chronicling the initial pain and incomprehension of what happened to destroy their friendship. But that doesn't last long. Kaley decides that underneath the bleached blond clone with the personality transplant, Jules is still in there. Somewhere. And she is going to get her best friend back!

Life was cool is available through:

Amazon

Smashwords 

ITunes 

And wherever else you might find it!

You can find Sarah at

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SarahBillington

Twitter: twitter.com/SarahBillington

The Sarah Billington Blog: sarahbillington.blogspot.com

How To Win

Halloween is happening in a few days so...Here is how you can win a copy of Sarah’s eBook Life was cool until you got popular

Add a great Zombie Name in the comments...and the best ones will win...simple.

Maureen

aka Brains R Fried.

Cautionary Tales

The theme today is Cautionary Tales...

It didn’t start out that way but as I researched in the blogosphere some ugly stories began to be talked about.

Was there a secret pact to get promo as a lead up towards Halloween?

Were they all fiction?

Sadly no. These were genuine stories that had train wreck consequences on authors and their careers.

In business there is the motto Caveat Emptor, Buyer Beware. Writers are not immune and they are in business. Make yourself aware of the pitfalls so you can recognise the signs if it starts happening to you.

First up, Libba Bray, after carefully keeping quiet because of the ringside seat she had,vented her spleen on the debacle surrounding Lauren Myracle’s book being pulled from the National Book Award shortlist. One thing from her rant that I kept thinking about as I read was her comment.

*at the center of all this was a real live human being, an excellent writer, whose work and reputation were being dragged through the mud as if it were no big thang while the ruffled feathers of injured egos were patted down in a backroom somewhere.

And how often have we witnessed this.

Read Libba’s rant. Punch the air...and be extra supportive of any writer placed in this position. There by the grace of God goeth I

Second up, the sad tale of a respected small press who has publically had a melt down due to mismanagement. This case has been brewing for most of this year as disquiet grew over the affairs of the press and today The Passive Guy (lawyer, writer and popular blogger) linked to an explain-how -it-all-happened blog post by one of the editorsinvolved. 

This post is a Must Read and Learn From so you are not caught in anything similar.

My thoughts go out to the many people hurt, (careers and health) by this bad mismanagement and bad business practice. 

If you are working with a small press keep an eye on their business practice and draw their attention to this so they can assure you that nothing like this would happen to you.

By the time I got to this post I thought surely the week couldn’t get worse...

Plagiarism reared its ugly head.

Ok, we know that there are plagiarists out there...some of them respected authors(well not any more) but this one takes the cake for the hurt caused to others.

When an entire reputation is built on repeated plagiarism of others and then to begin a career purporting to help and advise others, AS AN EDITOR, based on a plagiarised reputation... you are moving into SLIME MOULD TERRITORY.

Thankfully The Rejectionist posted a sly bit of humour that had us laughing and nodding and thinking about pretentious writers who look down on others...and what we’ll do come the revolution (which many think is upon us now)

Dana Lynn Smith offers us some excellent advice on thinking like an Authorpreneur

The wonderful Victoria Mixon keeps us grounded on 3 Things You Need To Know About The New Publishing Industry.

I have long been interested on how authors can collectively work together to raise their profile or to make an impact in their genre. A new author collective just getting off the ground is Reader Rules Check out the reasons behind it.

When thinking about your author platform be careful not to make these blunders says Kristen Lamb who is guest posting today over on Jane Friedman’s popular blog

Over in the craft section...

Bubblecow has a nice post on the snowflake method of Novel Writing...always worth a serious read!

This is a wonderful survey done by a Mid Grade Writer with Kids on what genre’s they read and whether they read eBooks...Check it out and be surprised!

Drop into Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) and check out the article links there

To finish,

Facebook is changing again. I still haven’t come to terms with the status changes from last month...and now they want to roll out Timeline. Check out Nathan Bransford article on it and think seriously about whether you want your online life collected up in an album...It puts a whole new meaning on privacy.

I’m off on a writing retreat which is why this post comes to you a day early....

Sorry that this post has mostly been full of depressing links. To make up for it I have a link to a happy video guaranteed to have you singing away...

maureen