Paying The Piper

Oh the pain and the angst in the publishing world this week when the news broke that a  *reputable* author had been buying 5 star reviews for Amazon copies of his books...and not only that he had done it but that it was even possible...thus skewing the system and maybe breaking a few codes of conduct practices on the way. 

This has put the spotlight onto reviewers...how much should they charge? 

Now you are getting in to tricky territory...

If you said nothing...how do reviewers make a living with falling print media and newspaper layoffs? And where does that leave Kirkus who charges $425 US for a Kirkus review to Indie authors under their Kirkus Indie column. (They say it will be a Kirkus review. They don’t say it will be a good one...and it isn’t.)

Porter Anderson, critic and all around great guy, sets out the arguments in Extra Ether on Jane Friedman’s site and over 100 comments in a short space of time sees this as an important moment in publishing. What will be the status of the review in the future...He wants every reviewer to clearly put their relationship to the writer in the reviews... otherwise it is fraud!

The knives are out for authors who may have puffed up their stats with paid reviews but it does highlight a problem about review visibility to independent authors and small publishers. (and on that note the knives should be out for writers behaving badly when they solicit fan hate mail to reviewers)

While on this subject Catherine Ryan Howard takes a look at 50 Shades of Grey and wonders how you can call it a self publishing success story...

Julie Musil talks about what you do when critique partners disagree with your work.

Writer Unboxed challenges you to really know who your audience is...and how to find out.

JJ from Pub Crawl talks about what happens in her head as she has to reject a manuscript from her publishing house.

After all this gloom you need a pick me up. 

The wonderful (witty) Inkygirl has written about how a rejection got her a publishing contract...A feel good story to give Illustrators hope....

This week Mike Shatzkin (publishing futurist and guru) posted an article with lots of important points to think about in the publishing future...especially in the developing world where he sees the 0 print phenomenon happening there faster because of the costs of printing and shipping print books vs ebooks. A very chewy read with lots to think about now that Amazon has opened up India!

Rachelle Gardner is also looking at the publishing future and what authors will need in their tool box.

In the craft section,

10 steps to decontructing the novel to find out how it is done...

17 reasons to write something now....

Jane Friedman sneak previews The Plot Whisperers new workbook with an excerpt, 7 essential elements of scene and structure.

i09 has the hard hard task of telling you how to fix the plot hole in your book...Read with tongue firmly in cheek.

Writers write has a look at the 12 common archetypes...for those of you who love infographics.

Novel Rocket examines two forms of historical research and how you should combine elements of them for effective research.

and to finish

DIYMFA  has a lovely post on how to get your creative muse to show up every morning. It’s psycological....

Tonight I am off to celebrate 20 years of the wonderful Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie...It’s going to be a PARTY!

CONGRATULATIONS JOHN AND RUTH McINTYRE!

maureen

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpellgen/6023131824/

Socially Speaking....

Around the country Children’s Writers and Illustrators are getting together to celebrate Margaret Mahy’s life by going to their local library and reading Margaret Mahy stories at 11am on the 11th of August.

This is happening at public libraries up and down the land and overseas....If you want to find out more check out this great website especially put together for the event.

This whole event has snowballed from comments, made on social media among a bunch of children's writers, to become a National Event, getting press coverage around the country, in under 10 days.

In the blogosphere this week a lot of comment was devoted to Ewan Morrison’s piece in the Guardian about the (non) value of Social Media for authors.

Morrison often stirs the pot of controversy just before a speaking engagement and he is in fine form...however he took some flak for his blanket statements and figure analysis of the 80/20 rule of social media.

(You know it’s important if Shatzkin comments.)

Part of Morrison’s piece was to focus on Joanna Penn, who this week made a stir with her blog post on why she, a successful self published author, has just signed with an agent. It is all about putting the right team together. It is a good read and very timely as agents are re-examing their role in the changing marketplace...along with legacy publishers who seem to be chasing after the indie authors. 

SelfPublishingAdvice has a timely post on how Indie authors can work with traditional publishers.

Books and Such Literary agents have an interesting blog this week on Why Agents Blog.

Staying on the Social Networking topic, Writers Funzone looks at adding value in your social networking....and no, its not the 80/20 rule.

Publishers Weekly looked at the supposed Long Tail of publishing and wondered where it was...Their commenters put them straight! (you wonder if some publishing execs have been buried in sand for the last three years...)

It is conference season....and last weekend was the SCBWI summer conference.

I try to drop in, during the conference, to their live blog and get a feel for what people are talking about, hot trends, changes in the industry, things that will filter down here.

The running conference blog is a wonderful idea for those of us who can’t make the Los Angeles Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference...(tho over 1300 people did.)

Drop into the blog and scroll down the links to keynotes, panels etc. There is heaps of information just a click away.

However if you do feel like a conference experience...Check out WRITEONCON.

This is a free online children’s writers and illustrators conference which is getting bigger by the year. There are over 4000 members. I ‘attended’ last year...squashing in some online panels during the afternoon (NZ time). The big bonus tho for attendees is that everything is recorded online so those of us living in different time zones or having to work can drop in anytime and get up to date or post questions before panels and it is FREE. If you want to register go to forums. (if you registered at a previous writeoncon just log in) WRITEONCON goes live for forum and agent questions on Monday and conference live 14^th and 15^th August.

Dee, from I Write For Apples, has ten tips that will make WRITEONCON sooo much better for you.

In the Craft section,

The fabulous K M Weiland strikes again with her great common mistakes series This week Tension....

Joanna Penn has a great post on How To Create An Audio Book and why you should consider it.

Chuck Sambuchino has made public his Pitch Sheet Template...fill this in and you have your pitch sorted.

20 tips for writing strong heroines

Jodie Renner is guest posting on Elisabeth Spann Craig’s popular blog looking at how to name characters...and where to find their names....

Passive Guy takes a good look at which Creative Commons License is best.

Two links I just had to include for you... (the everything you want to know group of links.)

Mashables collection of digital tools to create ebooks

Inspired to Writes 25 helpful websites for writers

I am a fan of author collectives and their power to do good out there in the marketing world. Joanna Penn has a post on the 7 Benefits Of An Author Collective and how one such collective works specifically.  If you don’t know much about them, Read It... it will open your eyes!

I’m off to practice my Margaret Mahy story and work out which WRITEONCON sessions I can make...after all the power of Social Media to connect with others is what it is all about.

maureen

pic from http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/ Stuart Miles

Needing tissues...

What a nasty week...My body decided it was the time to lie down and let a rampant cold stomp all over me...cue tissues. I retired from the world as far as internet was concerned. The problem with that is, the emails still keep coming and the things to do list just gets longer.

So crawling back to my notes, made a couple of weeks ago what interesting tidbits from the publishing blogosphere do I have to share with you.

Penguin’s acquisition of Author Solutions still has everyone talking.

Mike Shatzkin looks at the moves to publish in the cloud and why it makes sense if you are a small to medium sized publishing company...here small means up to 200 titles a year.

Roni Loren recently got burned using a pic on her blog post...She talks about the hazards of pictures and how you can get around law suits from photographers.

Porter Anderson has been checking out the author shadow career...do you have one...it’s called author platform and it happens when you misuse the 80/20 rule. 80% networking....There are some interesting observations in the article and check out Eion Purcells link right at the bottom...

For those of us who like an inspirational story Inkygirl has a link to an interview with Helaine Becker...something in this interview for everyone.

Catherine Ryan Howard has tips for anyone who has ever tried to get a US Tax number....

Karen Woodward has the writers definitive must have gadget if you get your best ideas in the shower....

Rachelle Gardner has reposted her article about top ten query mistakes. It makes good revision reading...especially rhetorical questions that ask the agent to answer NO.

Victoria Shockley writes about what it is like to be a virtual assistant to a bunch of writers.

Cheryl Shireman sends a thoughtful open letter to all traditionally published writers.

The magnificent Chuck Wendig has written a thoughtful response to a question about whether writers should care....This is worth the read to discover that Chuck can write without using any dubious humour or needing any warnings on language...It is quite touching...grab the tissues.

Over in the craft section,

Check out these wonderful links

Josh Whedon’s top 10 screenwriting tips

Super agent Donald Maass on predictable plot turns...and how to shake them up

Roz Morris takes a hard look at dream sequences...

The write practice shows you what to do with loglines...especially when your log line doesn’t match your manuscript.

After the shock of Margaret Mahys death last week, New Zealand children’s writers and illustrators have been discussing how best to remember the colossus of our genre. Several writers had a bright idea to gather in public libraries around the country and read Maragret Mahy books at 11 oclock on the 11^th August...the day that there is a big public memorial to Margaret in Auckland.

We would like to throw this date and time open to the world so wherever you are across the time zones...at 11’oclock on the 11^th grab a Margaret Mahy story...there are over 200...find some kids or read to yourself and remember this remarkable storyteller and the impact she has made on children’s literature around the world. You can let us know what you are doing on the official website where you can get a cool poster and craft activity.

photo: Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/photos/burstyriffic/4569392331/

There Be Ice Bergs Ahead....

Today I had an email interview with a reporter on the subject of FaBo Story. One of the questions asked was how did Fabostory get started. This got me thinking about the power of Facebook for writers. Facebook can be a timesuck, a waste of time, a time waster, and sometimes it can be a catalyst for a really cool project.

On my second day on Facebook, Kyle Mewburn (cool Kiwi kids writer) said ‘Wouldn’t it be neat to have an online kids story which lots of writers can contribute to.’ A bunch of us started talking about how it could be done and before long it had morphed into an online writing challenge involving children’s writers, illustrators and kiwi kids all writing against each other in an hilarious mad story, which lasted for 18weeks! 

We did it again last year trying out one off stories, in different genre’s on another planet. 

This year there is a huge sporting event happening...What could go wrong at the Titanic games?....well we are about to  find out! FaBostory3 launches next week!

Around the blogosphere there has been lots of talk about the excellent piece on creative writing courses by Kristine Rusch. I posted it up on Facebook where it got picked up and discussed by tutors in creative writing around the country. Judging from the huge pile of comments it has struck a real chord in the online community. I know some of the sentiments struck home personally. At a writers lunch I attended last week, there was first hand description from a writer who was a student on a masters course in creative writing. The description of how a University Tutor (and name writer) conducted this course was hair raising!  Read the Kris Rusch's article and all the comments...It is worth the $5000 the poor writer, at lunch last week, paid.

Ploughshares Literary Magazine has published a piece on Plagiarism as Pedagogy from a creative writing tutor...who confessed they taught a student to plagiarise unintentionally and then thought about it and gave them an A. Their arguments make for interesting reading and so do the comments!

 They say a week is long in politics...at the moment it is the same in publishing. David Gaughran turns the spotlight on Authors Guild...who seem to have completely lost the plot in their recent diatribes against Amazon. He questions whether they are really serving their members well when they direct them to go to Publish America (a vanity publishing firm with eye watering tactics and prices, read Writer Beware.)

This morning I turned on my computer to see the news that Penguin have bought Author Solutions, a sister ship to Publish America operating on the same lines. And the comments are flying on Twitter! Will they do a Harlequin and offer rejected authors a  ‘but if you pay us $000’s we will publish your manuscript in our ‘boutique’ self publishing operation...’solution. This will be a big story to watch! (And watch out for the ice berg underneath,Writer Beware comments.)

Another blog to get a lot of comment was Porter Anderson asking whether publishers are doing any R&D? The comments about how self publishers are doing R&D are very enlightening...(marketing 301)

The Atlantic Monthly has an opinion piece on why the new books coming out are all looking the same. Does it have anything to do with e readers? Check out this crop of covers.

The Stats are out....and are getting commented on all over the place (yesterday in my car the local rock station DJ commented on them!) Ebooks are now 31% of the total publishing market and have doubled in sales to $2 Billion. Children and Young Adult books are the fastest growing category.

Joel (the Book Designer) has gathered up a collection on resources for you on the best book fonts to use that will warm all designers hearts.

Bestseller Labs has a fabulous interview with Lorna Suzuki about being a bestselling indie author and how she did it. Reading about Lorna is an inspiration in itself never mind that she writes as well!

In the craft section,

Jami Gold talks subtext using the recent spiderman movie. (brilliant as always)

K M Weiland tells you why your hero needs a yappy sidekick. (brilliant as always.) 

K M Weiland is so brilliant that others have taken her words and examples and made them into beautiful notes cards to print out and post on your wall.  Check out this set on story structure.

In the marketing section,

Kevin Franco lets slip some more details over his Enthrill system...ebook cards in retail stores...some great innovations happening here.

Bookbuzzr reminds you that marketing should be creative fun...

Bookbaby shows you how to market your book on a budget of...not much.

It’s conference season in North America.

Bob Mayer and Jen Talty reports on Thrillerfest and the new moves ahead there.

Both of these reports are interesting for new tech but also new ways of looking at the industry.

Harry Potter For Writers, which is a great site for writing craft have checked out the fan writing convention. Yup a writers conference for fan fiction!

To finish,

I have been chatting to long time industry participants about Agent Rachelle Gardner's blog on why contracts are taking longer to negotiate. Contract language is changing and there are many hidden icebergs being slipped in that writers should be wary of. Passive Guy is always a good resource so I have linked to an article he wrote a few months ago to alert you to the tip of what is a very scary iceberg, especially if you negotiate your own contracts. (As always I urge you to read the comments so you can get a fuller picture.)

NZ Authors and Illustrators take note...perpetuity rights, rights reversion, length of copywrite, ebook publication, it is all being tweaked and not for the creators benefit. 

Kling On To Warmth...

It must be winter...Metservice New Zealand is warning us to wear three layers and a windproof layer. Fog has shut our biggest airport and we are over rain.

So huddle up next to the heater...US readers find a working air conditioner...and let me share what has been happening in the blogosphere this week.

Porter Anderson takes a close look at Hugh McGuire’s TEDX piece on whether ebooks will be around in five years...(It’s ebooks Jim but not as we know it.)

Writer Beware gets annoyed with people who confuse copywrite and rights...and reposts her informative breakdown on how to tell the difference. (Is it a Tribble?)

Kristin Lamb has a must read post on Internet trolls and what to do about them...If you are not sure whether you are one, check out the post... (First check... are you wearing a redshirt?)

The writing bomb has a post on common lies Self Publishers believe. This is a great post to make you think about the lies we all tell ourselves in the publishing game. (Fascinating....lift your eyebrow the Spock way.)

The writers guide to epublishing takes a look at the myths of Traditional Publishing.

 If you read both articles you will have an all around understanding of the flux of publishing today...(Rumours of my assimilation are greatly exaggerated...)

Lynda Young has a useful post to help you control the chaos in your life so you can get some writing done. (Make it so!)

In the craft section

A great post on restraining yourself from putting in huge amounts of sensory detail.

Janice Hardy takes a close look at style.

Joel has a handy list of tips to check if your MS is ready for publication...this is fine detail stuff folks and good to remind yourself to check before hitting send

Ollin Morales looks at other places and people you can research with.

Larry Brooks gives another perspective in writing scenes for you to try.

Writer Unboxed puts the spotlight on using opposites...to strengthan your writing.

Querytracker has five ways to polish up your manuscript so it shines...start by reading it backwards....

To finish,

Advice to Young Writers - How to have a career...

Funny, informative and something to pass on to any writer you know...

Engage Warp Speed People!

(written wearing my new mittens so my cold hands can feel the keyboard...Star Trek quotes coz the kids are on holiday and we need a bit of fun in this cold weather.)

Once Upon A Time

I am writing this cutting close to the wire again. 

I have had a busy day editing a fairy tale down to under 1500 words for a competition. I don’t write fairy tales so it was a good stretch for me to study up on the genre...i.e. pull out the reference fairytale books my kids own... and work out how to put a fairytale in a New Zealand setting. I enjoyed it. I like to work with a few constraints because then you have to be more creative as you try to stetch them.... 

Writing to under 1500 words for this competition has challenged all the kiwi children’s writers and there now seems to be an unofficial competition going on for who has the most words under 1500. I got mine down to 1493 and was pretty pleased with my effort, however another member of the FaBo team got his to 1499. It is all good practice for us as the Fabo team is limbering up and ready to charge into FaBo Olympics.  We are just putting everything in place and then we get the starters gun on 16^th July.

Around the blogoshere this week there have been some interesting tech developments. Microsoft launched their new tablet, Surface and things looked pretty nifty...Windows 8 operating system, direct price comparison with iPad, ships in November.

Today Google launched into the Tablet world with Nexus, voice operated, android system, direct price comparison with Kindle Fire, ships next week. Hmm the Tablet war heats up...Google threw in new tech virtual reality glasses to everybody at the launch...and these glasses record what you are seeing as people watching were treated to sky divers wearing them and streaming images of their jump in real time back to them.

Joe Wikert put out an interesting idea this week with his comment piece, Let’s open a ebook store. He challenges publishers to open an ebook store on their websites DRM free. If retailers can print books (think book espresso) why can’t publishers sell from their own site...there may be a few snags.

Mike Shatzkin has been thinking along the same lines and he is positive that Publishers who don’t figure this out will be has-beens in two years. And he is talking about the big six. Check out his opinion and get a heads up to the next big changes in publishing.

Kristin Lamb has been taking a hard look at Facebook and the changes they keep slipping by us, one of them holding your fan pages hostage...hmm. Why are they doing this and are they killing their own golden goose?

A lot of people are commenting on Jane Friedman’s blog with a guest post by Ed Cyzewski on self publishing being a tragic term...he has a different take. It takes a community to publish a book.

Joel is also reading from a similar page with his 6 things I love and hate about self publishing.

John Scalzi had his latest book Redshirts hit the New York Times Bestseller list.

In this entertaining piece he examines all the factors that contributed to this success or not. Not what you think...Take a look!

In the craft section

3 Tips for writing heavy emotional scenes from Jami Gold.

How to spot Mary Sue in your writing (that’s the character whom you agree with all the time)

10 Questions that will help you find your voice.

5 Story mistakes even good writers make...

World building is Martina Boones great guest post on Harry Potter For Writers

Bubblecow has a tip packed post on Book proposals, synopsis etcetc...worth bookmarking.

In the more eclectic section, Writing with both sides of the brain...thoughtful post looking at whole self writing.

7 ways to make money as an author you haven’t thought of.

Jody Hedlund has 20 ways readers can help you...worth passing on to your readers 

To finish,

Also today Mark Coker of Smashwords tweeted his announcement that Smashwords is partnering with the Califa Library system in California. Yup you can go to their libraries read topselling ebooks and buy them on the library site. This is putting the power back into libraries...an interesting development to watch in the coming year.

The End.

Flagging The Craft

When I sat down to review the list of links I have made for your perusal this week I found that there is a strong craft element showing through. This is probably unconscious on my part as I have been back in the Martian landscape trying to move my characters from their unintentional holiday spot.... 

I own some great craft books on writing and I find myself obsessively reading them when I need to tackle my manuscript...this flows into my internet reading. Hence the collection of good links for you along with my usual foray into current trending topics, springing up from BEA and enlightened or thought provoking comments from writers in the trenches.

In the New Zealand blogosphere this week the comment has been all about The Frankfurt Book Fair. With New Zealand being a Guest of Honour and Children’s Literature being the focus genre, Kidlit writers here had high hopes. Unfortunately our government saw a Book Trade Fair as a place to promote New Zealand tourism...food and wine and forgot about waving the flag for the BOOK aspect. We waited with bated breath to see who was on the list and now the kidlit community feels badly let down. They are worthy people but there aren’t many writers in the total group of 160 going. Melinda sums up what we are all feeling...and talking about.

Mike Shatzkin, publishing futurist, rounds up what he learned at Book Expo America this year and as usual it makes interesting reading. He flags MetaData Mess, Digital Rights Databases and the slow down of ebooks as the main concerns going forward. Picture Books will stay printed...but what about enhanced books?

The Gurdian highlights some research showing that enhanced ebooks actually harm children’s reading ability.

For those of us who dream about going to BEA... Publishers Launch has made available 5 keynote slideshow presentations...however they stress if you have limited time check out the presentation by Bowker on Global Sales...of course to us in the Southern Hemisphere we are firmly fixed on global but it does highlight what formats are doing well in what countries.

Goodreads has published an interesting article where they flagged what makes a book take off. There are some interesting comparisons and author agility is a must.

Joel has a nifty article about what should be in a book design contract.

Writer Unboxed has a guest blog from the writer of Scrivener for Dummies. If you haven’t checked out Scrivener...read this post...Many writers say they will never go back to word processing software again. Scrivener is especially targeted at writers.

Kristine Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith are great at putting the finger on the pulse of changing attitudes in publishing and these posts are no exception.

Dean talks about just realising that books he was paid for but were never published can have a whole new life...

Kristine has been looking at the whole Indie vs Trad publishing debate and she has an interesting article on the long tail of each of these ways to publish...add to this 77 thoughtful comments. You need to take some time out to digest this great article and ongoing conversation.

This great article on how to do an author interview can be flipped on its head for authors...and if you add in this Fabulous post from the Midgrade writers site The Mixed Up Files Of... on tips to help create a memorable author visit to schools then you are on to some marketing gold.

In the craft section,

From The YAMuses...how to push through the soggy middle of your MS

From Kidlit.com... guiding the readers emotions, you are the puppet master.

From the incomparable Larry Brooks...when you get told that your structure is off and what does that mean...just brilliant.

From K M Weiland, 25 ways to blow your book.

How to find weak verbs...just change your tense.

In the US, Print On Demand Book Espresso Machines seem to be taking off...Check out how authors are using this creatively and Joanna Penn has a list of 7 networking ideas for authors.

It is tax time here in NZ and I must really get down and carve out some time to get this in....

This TIMELY and INFORMATIVE Article from Nick Dawes deals with how you get one of those US tax numbers if you live outside the US but you publish on Amazon...BOOKMARK IT.

This week this post, responding to a letter about how downloading pirated music is ok, went viral...I flagged it on FB expecting to see comments and got zilch...maybe writers are too busy or have their head in the sand thinking that this attitude will never happen to books...As someone commented on the original article...it happens to all artists. I’d be interested in your thoughts... 

Choosing To Be Creative

This week on the writing blogosphere RAOK has been the catch phrase. 

Random Acts Of Kindness. This has been started because Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have finally made a print version of their wonderful Emotion Thesaurus and they celebrated with a RAOK blitz week which lots of writers got behind.

The Indie vs Trad argument has been heating up with many diatribes on both sides hitting the blogosphere this week.

Just for the record...You don’t have to be one or the other. You can choose the publishing medium with each project. You can be small press, Indie press, mainstream, give stuff away for free to build readers. It is up to you. Don’t get sucked into the Trad is bad or Indie is to die camps which diss each other and lose sight of the whole picture.

Anne R Allen has a nice piece about the bullies of both sides and what a new writer should be doing...take your time!

I post weekly and weekly it seems is the nature of change in the publishing landscape. This week Waterstones, a large bookselling chain in the UK has announced a partnership deal with Amazon. Some commentators have likened this to the hens asking the Fox to move into the henhouse. Here is Futurebooks take on this breaking news and the gamble and possible benefits for the booksellers.

Chuck has his 25 reasons to quit writing...of course you can turn it on its ear and choose to write. Either way Chuck is always thought provoking...(warning it is Chuck!)

Sometimes tho the act of writing is painful. Roz Morris looks at coping with RSI and what she has had to do to get through these times. I know this from bitter experience and am writing these words with tingling feelings in my left hand. (off to find my brace...)

In the craft corner, Here are some great posts on

Converting back story into character from Romance University

Margie Lawson looks at humour and the use of it to hook readers

20 craft rules from Stephen King

Mary Kole straight talks about Sounds great, No substance.

K M Weiland looks at not sabotaging your main character.

How to write from the Male point of view.

Great tips

Jane Friedman has some tips on getting the best online advertising for your dollar.

Joanna Penn talks multi media and why different media can complement your brand. 

Janice Hardy has ways that you can be more productive. 

Writers Digest has the definitive info on word counts for each genre.

Melinda Szymanik has a great post on the importance of being at the Frankfurt book fair with this year’s fair focussing on Kidlit.

And I will leave you with the video that is making waves through the creative community. This week Neil Gaiman gave the commencement speech at the University of Arts...These are words to live by no matter what stage of creative endeavour you are.

maureen

Being a Fan...

Last night I attended the the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. These are our top prizes for Children’s Literature and so are a BIG DEAL.

Today I have been reflecting on the surprises amongst the winners and the Judges comments about choosing books with a distinctly New Zealand flavor. 

For many years we have been looking outward trying to make our stories more international...or even ignoring our own stories thinking they won’t be of interest to an international audience. Publishers have hesitated about promoting New Zealand themed stories overseas...they won’t travel well, they're too kiwi. But these stories are our unique point of difference...amongst the fantasy/dystopian/superhero saturated publishing world and this year the judges decided to remind us of that fact.

Through it all Story is the defining thread...as Jack Lasenby (81), winner of the Young Adult category, said in his acceptance speech ‘Without Story, I Am Nothing.’

Jack’s writing career reflects New Zealands attitude to its own stories. He is a master storyteller deserving of a wide audience. His first novel for children tackled child abuse when no one ever talked about it and 'that is such a grim subject we don't want anyone overseas to know that happens in the land of Godzone'. Jack was known in New Zealand but no publisher took his work overseas...'it was too parochial'. Then he wrote dystopian Young Adult fiction, before it was popular...'great writing, but too dark...it might scare the children.' It won awards. His fun tall tales, for younger children, of life in New Zealand in the 30’s when he was growing up, great writing... won awards...'well the stories are too far removed from current children’s lives...won’t have any relevance to an international audience'. This year Gecko picked up his latest tall tale and took it overseas...and it got favourably reviewed by the Guardian.

Can we get over our cultural cringe and see if the world is ready for some real New Zealand stories. We are the nation of focus for Frankfurt and IBBY so we should start getting behind our great children’s writers.

 What interesting gems are there in my blog link roundup today? 

The importance of story links many of them.

From a cool infographic about how a story is born from Mediabistro to the importance of voice for audiobook narrators, the impressive Cris Dukehart on being a serial killer...and how to get the right narrators for your project from Bob Mayer.

The Book Designer has ten writing exercises to free your mind and K M Weiland talks about flipping genres halfway through the story and how to sort this out.

There is a guest interview featuring Editor Cheryl Klein who talks about the importance of plot and Bubblecow has a nifty piece on getting constructive feedback so you can edit.

The Guardian has an opinion piece on how Fan Fiction of popular stories is driving the new books being picked up and Rachelle Gardner has reprised her post on how to craft Book Proposals so your story can be picked up...

Two feel good stories offer hope out there...How one bookstore owner is taking on Amazon and how a self pubbed author of a popular scifi series got his project picked up in Hollywood.

Selfpublishing should be a marketing tool. This guest post has had lots of comment on Jane Friedmans blog and is a must read for the week along with the Books and Such agents blog on why everybody in publishing feels disenfranchised.

Joanna Penn has helpful hints on a marketing list to get your stories noticed and Catherine Ryan Howard tells you how to get your first readers.

Every link, a nice little story...I leave you with a video from Dan Blank about how the quality of the stories you create should last for generations.

The pic is The New Zealand Post Children's Book Award supreme winner...a distinctly New Zealand Non Fiction Story...which just happens to be a graphic novel!

maureen