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. 

Against the crowd

Last weekend I travelled up to Auckland to take part in a workshop on eBooks.

My bit was to tell attendees what I discovered when I decided to make Craic an eBook.

In a nutshell - Know what you are getting into, (Publishing- Dean Wesley Smith has a great post on that.) 

Remember that you want to do the best work that you can, so pay attention to detail...because you are going to be putting your name on this product and you don’t want your name to stand for a crappy reading experience.

The workshop was a great success. The organisers made sure there was information available for everyone at all stages of the e publishing spectrum. I’m sure by the end of the day attendee’s were wishing that they had brought spare heads to help them process what was coming at them.

You may need to grab your spare head for help with understanding this week’s dramatic change in the world of epublishing. Microsoft are partnering with Barnes and Noble. 

Barnes and Noble are a book store chain with their own ereader, Nook, who are in competition with Amazon. Microsoft is...well who hasn’t heard of Microsoft?

What does it mean for us... Digital Book World were the first out of the box with their predictions followed by CNET with a tech overview.

While we are on the subject of ereaders, epublishing and the rise of the independent writer... Passive Guy takes issues with some of Mike Shatzkin’s comments on how no big writers have gone indie yet and why. This is a good read, giving you an overview on the current issues facing writers as they weigh up options. Especially interesting are the comments from some big authors....

 One of the biggest challenges in the decision to go Independent...is how to be noticed by your readers. Marketing is so important and so hard to do, if you are an introverted writer sitting in a closet somewhere. So here are a few links that may help you to open the closet door.

11 Keys to self publishing success.

5 simple ways to spend less time marketing and sell more books.

John Kremer has a handy post on turning the whole marketing thing around...and just write for your fans and Tamara Webber has a good post about finding out that your fan’s aren’t necessarily who you think they are....

Mid Grade writer Shelli Johannes has taken a hard look at what worked and what didn’t in her Indie experiment...The numbers are interesting and so is what not to do....

Amazon has announced their next big move in their publishing portfolio...kids stuff....especially kids series on screen...Check out what they are looking for.

While you are contemplating screen moves, Joel Friedlander has listed ten handy Apps for the writer that turn your iPhone into a writing tool!

For those writers who love a challenge... Storyaday is the thing to do for May.

To finish

Those that have been following me for a while know that I am interested in author collectives and how they support each other and market their work.

Check out this delicious idea...love it!  (Hey FaBo Team are you watching?)

What's The Name Of That Song?

Today we have a typical New Zealand weather day...that’s the one with four seasons in one day...subject of popular songs by Kiwi bands.

When you live on a large island the one thing you know for sure is that the weather will change quickly...bit like the publishing landscape at the moment.

In the blogosphere over the last few days...another shift has taken place with Amazon acquiring the print and ebook rights to the Fleming Estate for the next ten years. Amazon has Bond...there must be a collective shiver going around the big six.

Rachelle Gardner has been wondering about the publishing landscape too. She took time out from her busy agent career to speculate on the changes and what everyone is doing now to better position themselves in the sun.

Publishing Perspectives has taken a look at who is buying print publishers...and it makes for interesting reading...the numbers are staggering and the implications for more change on the horizon very clear...at the moment Apple with cash in hand can buy the whole publishing industry and not worry about the change...

In a rare interview Larry Kirshbaum, ex CEO of Time Warner and the guy now running Amazon publishing talks about what they are doing, what they plan to do and what excites him now...Children’s Writers take note!

In the craft section...there are some goodies for you.

K M Weiland talks about talking...specifically if your characters are talking too much...

Darcy Pattison has a great post on 11 questions to ask yourself when revising.

The Editors Blog has a great post on Backstory and how and when to dribble it in...This is one of those read it and bookmark posts!

A few weeks back I posted a link to a part one of a discussion on midgrade writing between an agent and an editor...part three wraps up the discussion and it has been really insightful for those of us who love writing for this age group. If you didn’t get a chance to read parts one and two, go to it. I really recommend it!

Mary Kole of Kidlit.com has a great post on the reality check of a critique and how many writers looking for golden prize of being discovered don’t realise the hard work that has already been put in by those who are....

Check out 25 things to sell your book and not be spamming from badredhead media...actually just check out this site!

Joanna Penn has an uplifting post on intellectual assets...of course you have them.

The wonderful Storyfix site has a great guest post on mash ups...I love mash ups...Go and get some inspiration...and creative writing prompts.

Watership Down meets Star Wars anyone?

The builders are still in...that's three blog posts written to the sound of hammers, drills and crowbars...Next week all will be quiet...the kids will be back at school...the builders will be somewhere else and the house will be mine... all mine...mwaahhaaaaahhahhhh Crazed writer takes a trip to the big smoke.....

Weaving the strands

Last week was a fairly tough one in the family with a family funeral to deal with so there was no weekly blog post looking at the hot topics in the publishing blogosphere.

This week I am trying to pick up the threads and get back into the warp and weft of the publishing world.

Just when you think Amazon has every thing stitched up as the biggest book retailer in the world there is a thread ready to be yanked which could cause some unravelling...

Amazon has been negotiating (dictating) new pricing terms to book publishers this year. When the Independent Publishers Group rejected their terms all the Amazon buy buttons were disabled for all books represented by them. (Two years ago Amazon did this to Macmillan and Macmillan won. IPG are much smaller and their members risk going out of business entirely.)

The stand taken by IPG has lots of support from across the blogosphere as different ways to buy IPG books get promoted on websites and other online book retailers.

IPG Authors are stuck as they watch entire catalogues disappear...5000 authors are affected by this and there is much pessimism. When the largest book retailer on the planet refuses to stock your book...what do you do?

Mike Shatzkin as ever has the long view with his article on two questions that loom over the trade publishing business...In the end what will Amazon become and do we really want this?

Seth Godin has problems with Apple refusing to carry his latest book because it has links to buy books he quotes from Amazon...He questions whether the book retailer should have such a sensitivity to book content....

Crafting a successful children’s book requires the manipulating of many strands. Marketing is one important one as you want people to want to own your creation.

Lindsay Buroker has compiled a list of links to check out to help new writers tackle the marketing questions.

Author media shows how a purple cow can help you in your marketing efforts and Susan Kaye Quinn puts all your sweat equity into perspective when you market your work.

In your quest to make your book glow with subtle colour and texture you need a strong cover. India Drummond continues her examination of book covers. This is a must read post as India explains the contract and price work sheet she uses with clients when she designs book covers.

Along with subtle colour you must have strong threads to hang everything off and Warrior Writer have a post on story structure using Finding Nemo...Warrior Poet has one on using a Hollywood trick to outline....(hmm lots of warriors out there)

Jody Hedlund has finally read Hunger Games and she has an interesting post on riveting readers using Death as the main theme...Death by another name as the great antagonist.

There are 10 pieces of rotten writing advice...read and don’t follow....

Catherine Ryan Howard has an interesting piece of advice for you to try with your book if you are brave enough....

Liza Nowak wants to enlist the help of all writers of Boy Books out there. She has an interesting proposition for you.

Agent Kristin of Pub Rants has been experimenting with Friday video blogs and she has one examining the different levels and word counts of Mid Grade my favourite genre.

Time to tie off the ends with Publishers Weekly and their blog post on whether teens are embracing eBooks...Yup right after they address the digital divide between those who can afford e readers and those that can’t and that is where the libraries come in....

maureen

Doing What We Do

The news around the blogosphere this week has been one of disbelief. 

No it wasn’t delayed reaction to Steve’s death. 

Several prominent bloggers and agents have come out to say the blogosphere is getting crowded and unless you are getting around 15k visitors a month it is not worth it.

So why do it?

The reaction has been swift and many bloggers are sitting down and examining whether they want to go on a blogging holiday like Joe Konrath, who has one of the most heavy trafficked blogs around, or to keep going in the hope they get to the magic number....

And then there are prominent bloggers who say the argument is seriously flawed, because your blog is where you as a writer can interact with your readers, or your community, by either writing a great blog that shows off your writing voice or writing a blog that adds value to the sum of knowledge out there. 

Roni Loren has written a great breakdown about blogging addressing the issues raised this week and putting all the rants into perspective.

Bob Mayer has taken a hard look at indie publishing with his post, The Sustainability Of The Indie Author. He doesn’t sugar coat and some of the points he makes could choke you....As always, read the comments to get a sense of the discussion this post has started...and breathe deeply.

Mike Shatzkin has been looking at the other side of this with his interesting post on whether traditional publishers can maintain their primacy as eBookpublishers.... Magazines and other media are beginning to publish their own eBooks...but will they stop there?

This week Jane Friedman posted two excellent interviews on her blog. The first was with Scott Sigler and looked at how Scott is using new technology and a new service to get his self published books into as many hands as his bestseller trad books do. Read and be inspired...I’ve told you before there’s merch and audio and limited edition and.....

The second interviewis with Sean Platt who started out as an entrepreneur and then moved into writing. Sean talks about the mistakes he made but also what he has found works in marketing your book.... Both these interviews can give you some concrete goals if you are feeling a little bit battered by the first links.

Angela Ackerman of the wonderful BookselfMuse also has a guest post with Donna Gephart. Donna is a great mid grade writer and she talks about how children’s writers are promoting their books and that you don’t have to go crazy over marketing.

Socialmediaexplorer has written a warning post on social media contests...There have been law changes and bloggers could find themselves in legal hot water if their contests break the new rules...and if you think it doesn’t apply to you because you are in different country think about where your website is hosted...Yes, it may apply.

The popular blog YA Highway has taken a good hard look at writing mid grade. In particular they have looked at nailing the mid grade voice.

Over in the Craft Section

Storyfix has a popular series of posts looking at ten important tips to nail your NaNoWriMo. This weeks post is on the first 12-15 scenes...the set up (NaNoWriMo is next month).

I09 has a great list of ten types of writers block and how to overcome them...

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

Future Proof Your Digital Publishing...This is an important article about the changing formats of epublishing.

Suffragette Steampunk...a match made in heaven?

Digital Rights...Do you really know how many you have?

To finish,

The Frankfurt Book Fair is happening right now and if you want to get a feel for the topics under discussion drop into this German blog which has roundups on every topic...It is in English!

There are posts on gamers needing storytellers, eLearning futures where Taiwan is leading the way, Books meeting games...

It is where we are heading...Are you going to be still there? 

maureen

pic is from here

That Dirty Word...

Sometimes, as I research sites on the blogosphere for this weekly roundup, a topic just keeps getting highlighted. 

This week it is marketing. 

Everyone seems to be talking about marketing books or ideas in some way or another. 

Marketing is one of those dirty words that authors need to know and understand but would prefer that other people say and do on their behalf.

Now that the author is stuck with having to learn marketing tips, as the publishing industry either ditches their authors or ditches their publicity budget, marketing is becoming a hot topic.

What works?

This week some online gurus had some interesting things to share about this bright, new, shiny, wholesome word.

Michael Hyatt is CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and has a popular blog. This week he is looking at How to use FREE as your marketing strategy.

The BookDesigner has started a new series on Book Marketingfor the beginner self publisher. Even if you are not self publishing take a look. You never know where you might find a golden tip to generate more sales.

Ducttapemarketing has posted a podcast interview on their site with David Merman Scott on his new edition of New Rules of Marketing and PR. David’s book changed the landscape of small business marketing when it came out in 2007. His ideas and tools quickly became a bible for small business. So if you are seriously in business, drop by to listen to David.

Tony Eldridge recently reposted his Bookbuzzr link.  This is a nifty piece of code that allows you to put a sample of your book in a book icon with your cover on it on your websites with links to bookseller sites....and it is free.

While you are focussing on the word FREE... a group of dedicated contest lovers have started a Facebook page where they list every free book giveaway contest going. This is an interesting bit of marketing...for authors... bloggers...publishers....  Word of mouth is an incredible force and so is Facebook. They have only been going a couple of days and already they have over 200 people joining in.

The Children’s Writer’s and Illustrators Market Guide 2012 is out this month and Kidlit.com has a free copy to give away...because they contributed a couple of articles. With our exchange rate looking so good it is worth investing in a copy of the Guide. It is the white pages of publishers, agents, and art editors across the US (and their international section is growing every year) for people working in Children’s Publishing. It has great articles and how to tips as well. It is tax deductable and, if you get a free shipping bookseller, so worth the money. ($28 NZ for over 400 pages)

In the hot topics being discussed this week...David Gaughran’sidea of getting translators to translate your ebook/book for a share of theroyalties became a hot topic amongst the translating community as well as the Indie publishing community. Writers and Translators were weighing into the discussion to say how it might work or should work. Lots of interesting comments and examples of how to get your book translated into other languages as publishers get ready for the roll out of Kindle into non English speaking markets later this year.

Publishing Perspectives has focussed their critical eye onthe Gamification of books. If you are scratching your head...Children’s publishing has taken a head start on this with 39 Clues and Pottermore...those poor adult writers...how do you make a game out of your cookbook? Ah ha, read the article to find out...

Mark Coker, the guy behind Smashwords, has uploaded his slideshow keynote from The Central Coast Writers Conference last weekend about Five Big Trends That Will Rock The Future Of Publishing.

Over in the Craft Section,

The Five Elements Of The Riveting First Line. K M Weiland takes a scalpel to the first line and shows you how to craft the layers in. (take some time to trawl around her site too. You Will Be In Awe.)

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

Links to Free Clip Art

The Agents Side Of The Gay YA Saga

What StartUps Can Teach Publishers....This is a great article looking at crowd sourcing, dynamic pricing...

To Finish,

 A couple of months ago Writer Beware highlighted the questionable behaviour of Publish America...a ‘publishing’ firm who (for a fee) would take your MS to Edinburgh and present it to JK Rowling for comment. Yesterday, Writer Beware has become aware of a new scheme(scam) by this ‘reputable’ company...They can get your Christian Book in front of Christian Booksellers (for a fee.) Read the whole story and BE AWARE that sometimes Marketing (by unscrupulous people) is still a dirty word.

enjoy,

maureen

pic from ablebrains

Taking A Punt

This morning in my inbox was a little heads up email from Publishers Weekly with the round up of children’s publishing news. 

A quick glance down and this takes my eye. Scholastic, Ruckus in joint venture. On the surface it’s another business merger with the biggest children’s publisher. Ho hum. But look a little deeper and think about what this is telling us now about children’s publishing.

Ruckus Media was started a year ago this week by the former head of Simon and Schuster’s Children’s Publishing division. He got together with a web developer to take a well known children’s audio book company Rabbit Ears into the digital age and create apps for the new iPad.  They promised a 12 week turn around time and to release an App a week. They were going to acquire new content and had signed up some impressive authors. Ruckus also promised that eventually they would go into partnership with a publishing house.

So a year to the day they are going with Scholastic.

While the big publishing houses have had a wait and see approach or are nervously dipping a toe in the water of digital publishing. Their top brass have been jumping to get into the market knowing that eventually the publishing houses would have to come to them for their expertise. These guys aren’t going to lose their shirts on this, they are businessmen. Print publishers are now seeing the huge market for new content in Games and Apps and want a piece of the pie.

Ruckus published new digital content first and now they are partnering with Scholastic to bring it into Print.

Writers, You don’t have to sell print rights first...(Do I hear the sound of pennies dropping?)

Children’s writers need to look at their manuscripts and see it as suitable for submission to Digital Media publishers as well as print...especially junior and mid grade writers. Illustrators too could begin submitting portfolios into these smart publishers.

After all if Scholastic can take a punt why can’t you?

Also in the news this week...

These three links have generated much comment around the blogosphere.

Bob Mayer explains his statement That Fear Is The Downfall Of the Publishing Industry

A publisher explains why they won’t carve off ebook rights from a contract.

On the popular Publishing Perspectives blog a literary agent puts up his argument against agent publishers.

If you are wondering about marketing your new book, Cory Doctorow tells it straight with his to the point article for Locus. Why should anybody care? This is a great article which has generated heaps of comments all over the blogosphere.

Also in the same issue of Locus there is a spotlight on Ultra Cool Children’s Writer Bruce Colville. He has an audio publishing company that puts full cast audio productions together....(wish I was living near him, I would love to be a voice actor for a book...)

 M J Rose is interviewed by Jungle Red (a mystery writers group blog) about starting the company Author Buzz and how successful it has been. There are some great marketing tips for authors in this article.

Jenny Hansen from Writers in the Storm, examines social media and how that impacts on your Author Brand. This is a useful post because she breaks down the use of hash tags on twitter...and the best people to follow. (you can follow me if you like..:)

40K has a great roundup of trends currently happening in publishing. They use up and down arrows with great effect.

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

Internal and External Inspiration

25 tips for Queries, Synopsis and Treatments. (This is a great article but comes with a content warning hehehe Cover your ears....Chuck lets rip.)

In the Craft Corner,

The wonderful Casey McCormick has a guest blog from Martha Ramirez on how to deal with critique editing.

Superheronation tells you how to critique something that is just plain awful...

To finish,

 Cheryl Reif has a great little blog post about deadline tricks and how they can boost your productivity...

Explore all avenues....take a punt!

enjoy,

maureen

pic is a punter on the Avon River in Christchurch

The five reasons to do it....

Today I had lunch out, without a child chaperone, with two author friends. It was wonderful just briefly feeling like a human being - able to enjoy lunch in a cafe without that nagging guilt...is my child going to throw up... be impossibly demanding... hog the conversation...spill something across the table.... Of course the other authors are mothers too but they weren’t bringing their kids along for a working lunch in a cafe...and neither today was I. Yippee.

So at the end of the working lunch, one author leans over and says...” Pippa you have another book coming out... you need a website...” (the famous words that Fifi said to me 18 months ago)

“I’ve been thinking about it,” came the reply. This started the discussion of author websites.

“I blog every Thursday,” I said

“Its Thursday today, what are you going to blog about today?”

“I have no idea,” I replied, but the conversation started me thinking...

Over the last year of learning about marketing for authors these are my five essential points to putting together an author website...and how you go about it...

1. Research.

Have a look at what other authors are doing, especially in your genre. Decide what you like and what you don’t... Make a list. Some things you will need straight away...some you can work up to...

Have a look at my link list on the right. In the cool websites lists... there are a range of authors who are doing a superb job with their websites. Take a tour...

2. Who is the website for? Children? Adults? Other writers? Potential publishers and agents?

As Pippa is a children’s author... the content and language of the website matters as children researching her and her work will be ‘googling’ her name first. This is not the place to be showing pictures of your holidays at the Sunshine ‘au natural’ park.

3. Have a budget. It could be zero or thousands.

If it is zero...look at the biggest impact you yourself can do...learn techniques on free blogs. Blogging software is simple to use, it’s drag and drop technology. You don’t need to know any computer languages. You can play in private while you get the skills to put a website together...or play in public which is what I do...(coz I like learning)

If you have money, talk to a website designer about what you want...but be careful. A site that has lots of flash and whizzy stuff can take ages to download. Studies show that people are prepared to wait only about 7 seconds for a site to download...and many not even that....If you need a degree in website design to upload new content on your site it probably isn’t for you. Clean (uncluttered) easy to navigate around works every time.

3. Authors must have...names of their books, what they are about, where to buy them and some way of being contacted.

Remember that this is your public brochure to the world. If you are waiting to be published then find some other point of difference which will be of interest to a potential publisher who might be ‘googling’ you after they see your manuscript.

If you write for the Young Adult market consider having a myspace page as well. This is all part of your marketing. I recently heard of a YA author who was turned down by a publisher because they had no ‘social media’ presence. If myspace is where your readers are... that is where you should be.

A free email address can be the difference between getting a paying workshop job or making a manuscript sale.

4. When looking for a dot com name...look around for the best deals available.

You can set up a free blog and change the domain name to a dot com for very little money. There are deals out there for ten years for around $10 US...and with the exchange rate at the moment that’s almost $1.20 NZ a year (worth thinking about) If you invest some time in a free website and get a domain name, It doesn’t look any different from one that has been designed costing lots of bucks...Check out Ribbonwood designs (http://ribbonwooddesigns.com/) to see what I mean. (hi trish...love your site)

5. Be committed to updating your site regularly.

Old, out of date information is a real turn off. It shows your readers that you don’t care that much about them.

Tell them where they can buy your latest book...have competitions or extra content just for them or recipes...songs...etc that inspired the book...talk about the hidden meanings in chapter 5... Make your site fun, interactive and interesting. Not only does this show the reader that your books might be just great to buy... it keeps the search engines noticing that your site is updated, which moves your page up the rankings on a general search....Would you rather be on page 1, of the google search on your name, or page 20?

Here endeth the lesson

On another note - The Spinning Gold team are very excited for three people who in the last week have had their manuscripts accepted for publication as a result of the Pitch Slam at the conference.

We are toasting you all...

maureen

pic...the seedling...because it's the beginning of a new life...(online life)

P.S. Jon from CBICLUBHOUSE put together this video on how easy it was to get started yesterday... great minds think alike... so take it away Jon....(and to think that when I started blogging 18 months ago posting video was so out there......)

Golden Germination

I have been jumping around this week never quite settling down and definitely needing some quality time to get my head together...however that is in short supply...what with school holidays...tsunamis etc... In my jumping around I found this on Editorial Anonymous.

So, I follow quite a few authors (and wannabe authors) on Twitter. One of them just Tweeted a link to her new web site, which is from the POV of her main character (of an unpublished book for which she is unagented). The site is professionally done and looks great, but I'm wondering how smart it is to have (and promote) a site for something that a. readers can't even buy yet, b. readers may never be able to buy, and c. potential agents might see.

Editorial anonymous responded to this query this week. It is an interesting read and the discussions that follow her post are insightful...whether you should have a website before you are published, whether you should post any of your work in progress on it or post by your main character....the jury is still out and debating.

Gone are the days when the publishers marketing team swung into action for you. The marketing of your work is increasingly up to you. You generate interest as the author and you have to find out what works for you. Melinda has posted some interesting thoughts on this.

A cool spin off from Spinning Gold is the opportunity to skype the author. Derek Wenmoth of CORE, who was on the educational publishers panel, is right into added value for kids in an educational setting. He has some amazing ideas and one of them is to have a New Zealand version of skype the author. If you want to learn more jump on over to the Spinning Gold Blog, which is still going and read all about it. Derek has also posted his thoughts on Spinning Gold.

A big thankyou to all the people who have contacted us with emails of congratulations.

We have been overwhelmed with your generosity. This was also a feature of the conference for me. Everybody’s willingness to help out and make it work.

A long time ago a friend said you need to get involved to learn the most about your chosen path and boy were they right.

I have learned and am learning constantly from you all. The variety of business cards out there (I got 17...nowhere near Frances Cherry...) the range of websites, the skills of the multi talented Children’s Writers and Illustrators who give of their time to others...you made the conference for me. There is still so much to process...and I am mulling over and chewing the bones of learning.

I think we all are.

I will be interested to see what germinates from Spinning Gold.

maureen

blogger having difficulty with posting pics...just imagine a germinating seedling....

52 days to go...

When you wake up at 3 am on a regular basis you know that something is occupying your mind.

There is always the odd thought...you hope could be a story, but mostly you know it is going to be conference related.

Over in Los Angeles, I’ll bet the organisers of the SCBWI conference (society of children’s book writers and illustrators)are having sleepless nights. The 38th summer conference kicks off today. Four days. 66 presenters. Over 1000 delegates .

There are a couple of kiwis going over...Frances Plumpton is among them and I can’t wait to pick her brains at our conference to see what they were talking about over there.

My guess is that we will be talking about much the same topics...

Marketing and Promotion...Here is a great link to the top ten marketing tips from an author who bills herself as The Shameless Promoter

New technology and how to use it... The creativepenn (a great site) has a post on 5 easy steps to do podcasting...ramp up your website with some excerpts of your work in progress.... Or you could check out Fifis cool book trailer for GLORY

Maybe they will be talking about, and to, amazing authors like Karen Cushman, winner of the Newberry medal who will be a presenter. There is a great interview with her on the cuppajolie blog

I have a new quote for my wall from reading this interview.

“The best reason to write is just to find out what happens.” Karen Cushman

So True. (My planned plots usually last about five chapters...then I need to write to find out what happens.)

They will be talking about the future of publishing... Jane Friedman’s current post about the future of publishing is a must read. Click on the sidebar link or Go Here to read it...

If you check out our conference timetable above you will see that we address all these topics...

But mostly I think the LA delegates will be soaking up the atmosphere.

Alice Pope, The editor of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators market (writers digest annual) is leading a team of bloggers who are blogging the entire conference as well as presenting. Go here to check out some amazing interviews already.

We have got some awesome presenters, great workshops and panels and our delegates come from all over New Zealand and are at all different stages of their writing and illustrating careers.

It’s going to be great.

Now if I could get some sleep to prepare for it.

maureen


pic is our conference schedule...click on it to bring it up in a large new window....

Feeding Flu...

I have been learning about RSS feeds and Google Reader.

Yeah I’m slow, but remember the purpose of this blog is learning about marketing and the web and what’s out there for authors. So I am learning in public as it were.

As I stumble around I find all sorts of interesting things. Sometimes I link to them in a blog post or put them in my cool websites list. Elizabeth Pulford is my latest add and what a cool little site this is...

Sometimes I overwhelm myself with new information...it could be delaying tactics on my part tho. (I am rewriting, Fleur... slowly.)

This week has been the Flu week.(excuses excuses)

Wellington has a third of the swine flu cases in NZ at the moment and schools are recording a lot of absentees. Middle child came down with the flu this week. The speed of it was alarming.

Treat the symptoms. Isolate. Also wash your hands after every thing... That’s all the ministry of health can tell you. So we don’t know if it is swine but you take no chances....as you can’t go anywhere to confirm it.

The baby is happy and healthy and sleeping in our room...that means we are grumpy and sleep deprived. The middle child has thrown up over three beds so far... missing the buckets, bowls and towels... The eldest has lurched from room to bathroom to room to fridge to room for the last two days, coughing...but had to go to school to sit an internal and go to work tonight...She just has a heavy cold...It’s not the flu as she doesn’t have all the other symptoms...(we hope) Meanwhile husband is working from home.(just in case)

So before it all went flu shaped I was finally investigating Google reader...a nifty invention by Google designed like your personal magazine with articles that you want to read because you have subscribed to the RSS feed of that site. Updates are collected in the Reader which looks like an inbox and you can just scroll down and have a look. If you have a gmail address just go to the top and click on Reader...

The two sites I have subscribed to this week are Kidlit.com...because I found their post ‘The pros and cons of going to writing conferences’ very good reading...( go and have a look if you are thinking about it in the future or you are coming to Spinning Gold.)

And Author Tech because it had a great post on a survey done about what readers want to see on an author website....

We have posted a question on the Spinning Gold website writers and illustrators pages about the best books on their craft that they would recommend to others. We have a chance to locate the books and arrange to have them for sale at the conference.

If you are coming to the conference jump on over to the website and add your favourite to the list. If you aren’t joining us but you think there is a must have, that should be there, feel free to jump on over to the website and add it.

maureen -staying healthy....

pic is fromhttp://openedweb.com/blog/tag/plugins/

Busy....Busy...

After the excitement of Monday Night, I have spent the week immersed in tracking registrations answering queries and emails and responding to begging emails.

Right at the beginning of this Conference Ride, a year ago last month, we thought ‘ok let’s aim for 80 people.’ That’s a reasonable number, (double the previous conference 16 years ago.) It is affordable at the venue. The next biggest venue would double our costs....(Would anyone in NZ pay $700 to go to the same conference given the current economic climate...)

When we began to realise the public interest in what we were doing we started to let everyone know that interest was high. The speed of the take up surprised us and baffled some who thought Oh I’ll register tomorrow or next week. So now we have a waiting list...growing by the hour....

I did take a little break on Wednesday night to update our WCBA blog about the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. Fifi was texting them through from the award ceremony so I had to post them. Go Here if you want to read what I wrote.

Hats off and a wave to Melinda, fellow blogger, who won The Children’s Choice Award with The Were-Nana.

It has been a busy week...but I took another break this morning to catch up on blog reading.
So here are some little gems for you to take you into the weekend....

Every now and again I hop onto The Buried Editor site and have a look at what Madeline is talking about. Recently she posted the handout of the workshop she took at a regional conference in Texas. Madeline took a session looking at Online Marketing. It is very informative and covers a lot of ground. So go take a look.

The team at Writers Digest have put together a conference in New York that touches on some of the themes at our own conference. So worldwide, everyone seems to be asking the same questions. There is a great line up of speakers and sessions...

The great Jane has posted a MUST READ article on Five Ways Writers and Book Publishers Need To Embrace Change NOW.
Jane is an amazing resource in what’s coming and trends in the publishing world in America. Keep an eye on her....

When you take these 5 things together, I think authors will partner with publishers who offer a community of other like-minded authors (networking/growth potential), who offer diverse opportunities and methods of support, across all types of media, and who share the same values.

So it's been a busy week...

Maybe this weekend I'll get my tax done, paint that wall, write something on Mars....

Maureen

pic says it all really