Looking Into The Mad Crazy Fun Future

We can go public now…

A team of New Zealand Children’s writers have got together to do a mad thing… Write a story…

Not so mad you think?

Well how about having no idea of the plot and having only one week to follow up another writers chapter in public…hmmmm

Now add a friendly competition involving New Zealand kids also writing a follow up chapter along side the writers.

Yup… Mad… Crazy…FUN.

The FaBo Story project is underway. The first chapter gets posted on the Fabo Story website in the middle of the first week of term and then it’s Game On!

Fifi one of the team members has posted the press release on her blog.

(and yes if you scroll to the bottom you will find some familiar names heheheheh)

So while I’m away on holiday to mentally prepare for the above big project today’s blog post will be shorter.

Moriah Jovan has been putting some thoughts together about writing now and why writers have to look at other ways to get income. She also suggests Editors go freelance,Book Designers concentrate on ebook formatting as there is a real need for these skills and Indexers and Publishers should be looking to lift their game with new digital referencing.

Lots of little thoughts but put together make a powerful message.

The Guardian this week has an article on iphone apps that are being developed to accompany books. Iain M Banks has a new book out and the iphone app to accompany it will have lots of little goodies just like a DVD movie extras segment.(nice to know I’m ahead of the trend)

Highspotinc have made a compelling case for the future format of books…sorry they think that it will all be digital…however they divide book publishing into ebooks, print on demand (POD) and collectors edition hardcopy print books like JK Rowling’s jewel encrusted hand written copies of Beedle The Bard.

Audio books seem to be a different kettle of fish as the commentators on this article discuss.

So in the future the Fabo Story could be available as an ebook, a POD book, an audio book, on video, and as a collector’s edition with a jewel encrusted cover  and iphone app with hidden extras….Oh the possibilities…

As I have been away from my regular computer…nothing new to report on Craicerplus but if you haven’t had time to check out previous articles on it, take some time now to have a trawl through. Just click the blue Amplify button on the right.

enjoy

maureen

Thinks

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