Amazon v Hachette

See authors latest letter to Amazon going to their board members

 

http://www.authorsunited.net/

 

Trying to imply that Amazon directors do not know what their officers are doing in such an important issue is in my business experience doomed to failure.

 

The letter does make a fair point  about books and toasters -

Amazon has every right to refuse to sell consumer goods in response to a pricing disagreement with a wholesaler. But books are not mere consumer goods. Books cannot be written more cheaply, nor can authors be outsourced to another country. Books are not toasters or televisions. Each book is the unique, quirky creation of a lonely, intense, and often expensive struggle on the part of a single individual, a person whose living depends on his or her book finding readers. This is the process Amazon endangers when it uses its tremendous power to separate authors from their readership.

 

As there are so many books for sale readers have alternatives. 

 

I am not clear looking at the list of authors whether they are all published by Hachette. There are some notable absentees does this mean they do not share the same view? 

 

Who will blink first?

 

Douglas

Russell Blake and NYT Best Seller

http://russellblake.com/nyt-bestseller/

I have put up many of Russell's blog advice articles on this news page out of the thousands of blogs and other advice sources I have received or read during the last 4 years. Russell demonstrates by his book sales that his advice on writing and marketing does work.

Douglas

Guardian Legend Self Published Book of the Month

Gary Smailes from Bubblecow has drawn my attention to the competition.

 

The Guardian Legend Times Self-Published Book of the Month prize has been established to celebrate and showcase the best self-published novels out there. The winning novel will be selected by a panel of industry judges each month and reviewed in the Guardian.

The Guardian is the first national newspaper to champion self-publishing on a regular basis. The prize has been created with Legend Times, an award-winning independent publishing group, with companies including traditional fiction publisher Legend Press and a self-publishing company New Generation Publishing.

The prize is launched in response to the growing presence of self-publishing within the book industry. No longer can the mainstream industry ignore what the general public have been reading and enjoying for a number of years, with many self-published authors outstripping the sales of novels published traditionally.

Judges for the prize are Lauren Parsons (Commissioning Editor, Legend Press), Sophie Lambert (Literary Agent, Conville & Walsh) and authors Stuart Evers and Polly Courtney. Submissions will open on 1st of each calendar month and close on 18th.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/08/the-guardian-legend-self-published-book-of-the-month

 

 

Douglas

Do You Know The Secret Sauce That Turns Stories Into Magic?

Let me tell you a story.

Once there was a writer who had a dream.

To live, work and thrive by telling stories that made people smile, swoon and weep. Read on ...

http://writetodone.com/conflict-story-telling/

Thanks Mary

Douglas

 

 

 

More good writing advice from Russell Blake Tips 2 and 3

http://russellblake.com/craft-tip-2-senses-sensei/

http://russellblake.com/craft-tip-3-how-to-write-more-faster/

Thanks Russell

Douglas

Bardstown Writers' Group

During the visit to Compton Verney last month I met Jacci and Bren from the Bardstown Writers' group in Stratford upon Avon.

As a follow up I went to their meeting last evening in the Shakespeare Centre. There were 18 members present. I was made very welcome, told them about my writing career and listened to and even made some comments. The first half of the meeting was formal minuted business. Their members report on the Compton Verney visit was more positive than mine.

For the second half of their meeting they had a visiting speaker Hayley McKenzie from her firm Scriptangels - http://www.scriptangel.com/ - talking about the submission of scripts for films and TV. If one thinks the traditional book publishing submission and rejection system is a jungle then experience an even denser and wilder one for submitting scripts. Although it seems the rewards for a successful script are high there is unrelenting pressure thereafter to submit more material if for a series. If I heard correctly it costs some £1m per hour to produce a new TV programme. How can this be I ask?

The group has prepared an anthology of their work which is going to be launched in October at Waterstones in Stratford. I said I would put details on the Inkplotters' site. My views on the practicalities and viability of such publications have not changed. Why not just use the Writers' Group web site?

They meet on the second Tuesday of each month so next meeting is 14th October 2014. I may go again and if anyone would like to come I would be happy to provide a lift.

http://www.bardstownwriters.btck.co.uk/ for more details

Douglas

Meeting last Thursday 5 9 14

At the Inkplotters’ last meeting members gave a toast to the success of two newly published books Turning-Point by Calvin Hedley and Returning Tide by Julia Sokota. Contributions for the evening’s topic “an overheard conversation” stretched from deadly public acting, to lust on the PS Waverley and a Scottish prisoner. Calvin tested out the draft first chapter of his next book. Topic for the next meeting on Wednesday 8^th October is “An argument about nothing.”

Next Meetings – Note change to day from First Thursday of each month.

Wednesday 8^th October

Wednesday 12^th November

Wednesday 3^rd December

 

Good writing and reading

 

Douglas

Russell Blake ... again ... what's the point?

Craft Tip 1: The Mission Driven Writer

Posted: 07 Sep 2014 07:56 AM PDT

http://russellblake.com/craft-tip-1/ - Thanks Russell
 

I had a discussion with an author the other day that I thought the writers who follow my blog might find interesting. We were talking about his latest WIP, and what I believed could be improved.

About a third of the way through the discussion, I gave him one of my secrets for writing a compelling novel. The secret is asking a simple question: What’s the point?

If you do that before outlining, or writing each chapter, you’ll wind up with a much more interesting book. Alternatively, for you pansters, when you go back on your first editing run, you should view each chapter with scepticism, asking, “what’s the point?”

If there’s no compelling reason for a chapter to be there, if it’s just blah blah, it should be cut. Period. Doesn’t matter that you wrote it, that it’s filled with your precious prose. There has to be a point to every chapter (we can actually take that to each paragraph, as well as to the overall book theme, but you get the idea).

Now, lest you misread me, I’m not saying that every chapter has to advance a major plot element forward. It’s that you need to understand why you’re writing it. Is it to tell the reader more about a character? To put the character in jeopardy? To foreshadow something that will be relevant later? To have something happen that’s essential to the story? Do you need an action beat?

If you find yourself looking at a chapter and the answer is, to increase the word count, or because I need something between this last bit and the next, don’t write it. Figure out the reason that this next chapter cries out to be in your book, and ensure you achieved your objective by the last word of it.

If you take this approach seriously, you might find your books getting shorter. That’s okay. It’s better to have a shorter, punchier book than a fat, bloated screed filled with meaningless meandering. Think as a reader. You really want to read ten pages describing the woods next to the house the protag’s just arrived at? No. There’s no point to it. So axe it.

Don’t get me wrong. You can have an objective like, “I want a rhythmic beat here so the reader can catch his breath.” But it would be better to combine that with, “and I want to show the reader something important about the character while I do it.”

So that’s my quick craft tip for the day. Ask yourself what’s the point. That will ensure that your chapters are mission driven by a clear objective.

Believe me, your reader and your editor will be glad you did.

Inkplotters Christmas Competition 2014

Shakespeare in 2014

 Guidelines:

Entrants will—

Produce a short story with a strong Shakespearian theme throughout and set in 2014;

Send anonymous entries to Pauline (who will forward them to external judges);

Not exceed 2000 words;

Use their own title beneath the general ‘Shakespeare in 2014’ heading (to be excluded from word count);

Submit the entry no later than 31 October 2014.

External judges will rank each story out of 10; that which achieves the highest score shall be the winning entry.

 Good luck everyone!

 

Calvin

Christmas Competition

At the last meeting the need for a topic for the Christmas competition was discussed. Time is ticking away towards the end of October 2014 deadline for entries to be written. The matter will need to be discussed at tonight's meeting 19.00 usual place. Ideas please.

Douglas