First Impressions....

Ah Facebook...such a time waster sometimes, and sometimes not.

This week Facebook friend, Sarah Billington, posted on her blog what it is like being an intern at Black Dog Books (Aus.) Sarah is a writer herself and as part of her Uni course got to look at life on the other side of the desk. Sarah has written a small series of posts about being an intern at Black Dog...one of the takeaways this week was her comment ‘that if you say you are a published author, they will google you.’

I am sometimes told by writers here in NZ that we don’t need websites. Sarah’s comments in her blog and facebook are timely. Yes, writers down under, you need a web presence! (And remember to spend some time making your web presence interesting.)

‘Send them to my Blog, Maureen,’ she said...So I am sending you....

You have slaved over the query letter and now you send it in...You are hoping to make a good impression... Rachelle Gardner commented this week about receiving a query letter that starts thusly...

“To my knowledge, nothing like this has ever been written. Ever. It is utterly fresh, mine and complete."

Um, Yeah...Rachelle talks about being confident, doing research so you can back up that statement...and being original.

Kristin Nelson, of Pubrants, talked this week of being on the receiving end of 200 pitches and gave her checklist of 10 reasons why she rejects Adult and Children’s SF and F query letters.

This is a good list to look at...and check your work against, before you craft that important query letter.

Before the query you need to make sure your manuscript is as good as it can get. This post by Douglas Van Bell is a must read. The most Comprehensive and Totally Universal Listing Of Every Problem A Story Has Ever Had...(warning strong content...heheheheh I did warn you...)

And if you are feeling worn out with fixing all those little mistakes here is an inspirational post on keeping the momentum going...The secret is all in the first thing you do each day...

Mike Shatzkin is looking at the serious money being put into enhanced digital books for children. Companies are scrambling to be first in the new wave of publishing that is going to transform children’s books....Will they be called 'books' in the future?

Pimpmynovel has also been looking at the future and what it will mean to publishers very soon....He predicts the rise of the Indie bookstore...check out what he says about agents...

Greg Pincus interviewed Holly Cupala about all the innovative ways she is using to market her books. Holly has kept the audio rights and is making her own audio versions using her own narrators, etc. This, and making episodes available as podcasts, has generated huge interest in her print books. A must read if you are interested in podcasting and retaining your rights.

If you are thinking of ebook publishing first, Michele Rafter has a great round up of how you can do it.

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

What do Self Publishing Success Stories Have In Common (marketing)

ePublishing All You Ever Wanted To Know.

Anatomy of A Best Selling Novel -Structure Matters (very very good)

5 Things Every Writer Should Know About Rights-(the great Jane so a must read.)

The Great Semi Colon Debate...(do you use them )

And back we go to the first place I mentioned in this post, Facebook. Allison Winn has a very good post on what writers should be thinking when they are on Facebook Personal Vs Professional.

I’ll leave you now, senses reeling from all that valuable information....with the first in a great YouTube series by the Plot Whisperer...If you are looking for novel help (NaNoWriMo people) check this out. From this video I realised I have a plot hole in my Mars Project...crater sized...back to work!

enjoy
maureen

pic is from a website looking at neural first iimpressions

Going Up...

This week the country waited with baited breath to find out if The Hobbit will be filmed here. 

YES IT WILL. 

Wellington is a small city chock full of creative people. Everybody knows somebody who worked on Lord Of The Rings...or a Peter Jackson movie, or a WETA production so the uncertainty has had Wellington particularly on a knife edge lately. Wellington is a happier place this morning.

With the speed of time, (why does it always feel faster as we get towards the end of the year) November is just around the corner and for those of you who are thinking about NaNoWriMo (writing a novel in a month) and throwing up your hands...here is a link to writing a novel in three days. The secret is all in the planning.

Publishing Perspectives has an article up on Online Writing Communities. Chris Vannozzi has co founded a website that puts you in touch with other writers to form critique groups etc. Chris thinks this model is much better than going back to Uni and doing a creative writing programme...Have a read and tell me what you think....

Rachelle Gardner has a plea to writers to understand their business...that writing is a business and she has a list of books in her article to help you with this notion. As always I urge you to read the comments...because there are some additions to her list and some good advice in there.

Justine Musk has written the second part of her series on multiple revenue streams for writers. This is a comprehensive article on where writers can develop their niche expertise and also how writers can think outside of the small box. It is a good jumping off point to think about who you are, who does your audience perceive you as and how can you help your audience to fund you directly...(a nice little lead in to...)

Mike Shatzkin.

By now regular readers will know that I am very interested in where publishing is going in the future and what the impact will be for writers. Mike is a publishing futurist. He also has the publishing street cred and his last years predictions for publishing into the future are coming true...The speed of change is almost at lightspeed. Today Mike is commenting on the pick up by Hollywood of vertical  publishing. Mike was warning publishers at the beginning of the year that they would have to look at moving towards vertical publishing.

For the average writer tho, a look at this article on 6 Things Your Website Should Tell Book Reviewers About You And Your Book is a timely link to vertical publishing individually. (add a cafe press store for merchandise and ebooks and you are there really...)  

Over On CraicerPlus ( My Amplify Page) I have links to articles on

Plagiarism...Writer Beware

Kindle Singles...Short fiction for ebooks

Top 5 Free ebooks For Writers (Check this out...some of these writers I have referred to in this blog they are 

GOOD.)

Mashing Up Children’s Books With Monsters (Dick and Jane and the Vampire....)

How To Write One Page Per Day

The Ultimate Retro Laptop

Five Ways To Make Your Novel Inescapable...(the great Victoria strikes again)

On Launching an Online Community and Micro Publisher from Scratch...(and the lessons herein)

This week Janet Reid posted a screenshot of a 1925 movie companies 17 reasons why a screenplay was not accepted...imagine getting this in the post.

Of course you have to write something....

 (guilty)
enjoy,
maureen

pic is from popupcity