Tuesday, January 31, 2012

to Pseudonym or not?

look here for our members blog post on PSEUDONYMS. 
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME...
 Is it a viable idea to create a pseudonym for your writing. What will it achieve?
Quite a few authors have had a writing name over the years but has it made a difference to their career?


Should we create a pen name?  What are the options, what will it get you?

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Behavioural Pricing

Take a look here this is a bit of the article

What if when you bought a new Macbook, the price was higher because your tweets constantly referenced your love and devotion for Apple? What if Orbitz used the fact that your Facebook Likes include “Party Rocking in Miami” to charge you more for a flight to Miami?
This is called online behavioral pricing. It’s a consumer’s worst nightmare as it uses the traces of your online identity to maximize prices on the products and services you want most. It’s also an ecommerce merchant’s dream.
So Be careful what you wish for...

Friday, January 27, 2012

Over here for some Poets and writers competitions. Hone your skills, find a competition to suit your writing.
this is a little of what they say
The Writing Contests, Grants & Awards database includes details about the creative writing contests—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, and more—that we’ve published in Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it. Ours is the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

grammar test from Bristol University

Here is a grammar link. Test your knowledge of who and whom.
In this exercise, you will be presented with some sentences with a word missing. You will have to decide whether the missing word should be 'who' or 'whom'. Remember, if you can re-arrange the sentence and put a subject pronoun (I or he) in the space, you should use 'who'. If you can put an object pronoun (me, him) in the space, you should use 'whom'.
So follow the link
and maybe do some more exercises. 

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Short story comp with a twist

Twisted Stringybark Short Story Award 2012
Nothing entertains a reader more than a good short story with a nifty twist at the end.  Stringybark Stories is delighted to invite all writers to enter their best work in the Twisted Stringybark Short Story Award 2012.  The maximum word length of your story is 1500 words; it must have some link to Australia (no matter how tenuous); and it must have a twist in the tail!  There is over A$500 in prizes available, cash, plus publication for place-getters and highly commended stories.  There is an entry fee of $9.75 (discounts for multiple entries) Closing date 4 March 2012.  Details: www.stringybarkstories.net

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

writing for the Woman's weekly

Here are the guidelines for those writers who aspire to be the next romance Queen.

What we are looking for


For the weekly magazine:
Short stories of 1,000 and 2,000 words
Serials in 3 or 4 parts of 3,300 words each
For Fiction Special (At least 20 stories 10 times a year):
Stories of 1,000 to 8,000 words

Take a break and read what they say about submitting, formatting, posting, and writing. Even if you don't have anything in the cupboard now, it just might get you started on something for later.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Third Sunday Blog submissions

This is the opportunity to submit your work. With a rolling submission process throughout the year on the er~ third sunday in the month you will always have an opportunity
Here is the link to submit and a little of what they want.
If you have a blog ...and who doesn't these digital days then perhaps you should try this out.


(Updated 1/13/2012) The Third Sunday Blog Carnival is an online magazine that features current and past blog posts from various contributors. A new edition of the blog carnival is posted on the third Sunday of each month.
Feel free to submit posts that contain the following:
  • Poems
  • Short stories, flash fiction, or novel excerpts
  • Posts about writing, the writing life, or publishing (posts from book review sites are not eligible)

Friday, January 20, 2012

YA market ripe for digital

here is the future for YA books
Caroline Horn gives the statistic lowdown on why and why again.
We as writers should be informed on our market. We should be active in our target writing.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Member Hettie Ashwin on Smithsonian blog

Wits member Hettie Ashwin is features with other writers on the Smithsonian Institute's blog. 
Read the whole interview Here and leave a comment.
It just goes to show that writing can take you all sorts of places and meet all different people.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Faber and Faber running a self pub course

What is going on when a mainstream company is advocating self publishing
read here to find out
A publisher running a self-publishing course? At first glance that sentence may look a little odd. We don't think so.

Monday, January 16, 2012

the way ahead for publishing

this article in the Guardian Here Stephen Page says;

n my view, while 2011 may have signalled the beginning of the end of the era of publishers-with-access-to-the-mass-market as the dominant model for book publishing, it did not signal an end to the opportunity presented by writing or publishing more generally.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Writing advice from Chuck

click here for some really interesting articles about the craft of writing. Writing is an individual pursuit but we all have the desire to progress our craft.  

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

self published Author interview Nick Russell



Nick Russell is a self published author of Big River, a kindle edition that is going great guns on Amazon. A generous man who lives in an RV in America and travels the road Nick was kind enough to participate in this short interview.
If you were ever looking for inspiration to publish on Kindle, Nick has the formula/drive/talent to follow.
What was your reason for going the Kindle route?
I have been involved in self-publishing for many years, and have several nonfiction books out in print. A number of years ago I wrote my first novel, a mystery set in the White Mountains of Arizona, called Big Lake. I sat on the book for a long time because I had no confidence in my abilities as a fiction author. In early 2011, I began researching e-publishing, and a friend and my wife both urged me to publish Big Lake on Amazon. I decided that it was a good way to test the waters and see what the reading public thought of it.   
Were you computer literate before you decided to go digital?
Yes, I work at a computer every day. We publish a bimonthly RV newspaper called the Gypsy Journal, and I publish three blogs, so computers are the tools of my trade. 
Do you think you need a big social network to promote your book Big Lake?
There is no question that the followers of our newspaper and my blogs played a huge role in the early success of Big Lake. When I announced that it was available in Kindle format, many of them went right to Amazon and ordered a copy.
How did you promote your work?
I started with an announcement in my daily RV blog, and announcements on Facebook and Twitter. I also mentioned the book on two or three RV and writing forums. As sales progressed, I posted updates on the blog and social media websites.
Are you pleased with sales/results of your efforts?
Sales of Big Lake have exceeded my wildest expectations. I thought that I’d sell a few copies a month, but sales grew steadily. In July, I sold 103 copies, by October I was up to 545 copies. In November, sales exploded, with 4,283 copies sold. As of today, Christmas Day, December sales are at 24,713 copies.
How long have you been writing to get to this point in your career?
I’ve always used writing to express myself, and I’ve been fortunate to have made my living with the written word for much of my life. I owned and published small town newspapers for 30 years, as well as self-publishing niche books and booklets.
Would you recommend Kindle/Amazon to budding self publishers?
I think that the Kindle program is excellent for any author, be they an experienced wordsmith, or a newbie just wanting to break in.
What one piece of advice would you give to a writer who is about to embark on Kindle publishing?
Buy and use a good style guide. Spend the time to learn the basics of punctuation. I have seen many Kindle books that have an excellent story line, but the terrible punctuation makes them hard to read, and detracts from the finished product. Do not try to proofread your own manuscript. Have your manuscript proofread by somebody with good English skills. More than one proofreader is even better.
What are your future writing plans?
I have a sequel to Big Lake, titled Big Lake Lynching almost finished, and I hope to have it available in the Kindle bookstore in the next month. There are a couple more books germinating in the back of my mind that I hope to turn into something in the next year.
What are your future publishing plans?
I believe that e-books are the future of publishing, and Amazon’s Kindle Desktop Publishing program is leading the charge. I plan to continue writing and publishing, and to be part of the e-book revolution.
Finally, where can we see/download/buy/read/chat/find Nick Russell and Big Lake.
Big Lake is available on Amazon in Kindle format, and on Smashwords for those who use other e-book readers. I have an author’s page on Facebook, Nick Russell’s Writing Life, at http://www.facebook.com/NickRussellAuthor. I also publish a daily RV blog at www.gypsyjournalblog.com, a self-publishing blog at http://publishing4profit.com/blog, and a general rant/soapbox blog at http://badnickblog.com.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Writing Monologues

Ever thought to write a monologue?
The Monologue DataBase is asking for submissions
The Good ear wants your writing.
Here is what Wikipedia says about monologues. Alan Bennett is the Master. play this video and you will get the idea of a great monologue. Patricia Routledge

A lady of letters part 1



A lady of letters part 2
                                                     A lady of letters Part 3

Short Fiction journal comp

This is an opportunity to go global with your short story. The journal is printed once a year with over 192 pages. here is the link to their web site. What have you got to lose.