R.L. Giddings's Blog
August 14, 2017
GETTING THE WORK DONE
Strength and conditioning coach Dan Johns has a theory about which group is most successful when it comes to actual results. It would seem that the most successful trainers, by far, in his experience, are those people who have been incarcerated. That’s right: those people who’ve been locked up in prison. Despite the fact that the conditions they train under are less than ideal, their diet is often counter to what would be optimal for their goals and that they don’t have access to the best supplements, yet still they are the most successful group he has worked with.
And the reason for their success is simple: consistency. They don’t have any distractions. They can focus absolutely on the task at hand and so they keep at it until they’ve achieved their goals, whatever they might be.
I thought about this when author and former MP Jeffrey Archer was sent to prison a few years ago. I was, in a strange way, quite envious. He was going to have several years where he would be able to devote himself to writing full time. Often, when you’re bringing up children, looking after an elderly relative, studying or working a range of different jobs, you’d give anything for just a few hours of uninterrupted silence.
And that’s the challenge. You have to find the time to do the work and you have to do it on a regular basis. Otherwise, you’re simply fooling yourself. Every New Year someone posits the idea that if you wrote a page a day for a year you’d end up with a book at the end of it. It’s a great idea although not particularly practical. Real life doesn’t tend to work like that.
It’s really difficult to maintain focus over such a long period of time. We tend to get distracted by all the other concerns vying for our attention. Chances are that you’ll give up, get bored or simply switch to a ‘better’ idea. That’s just human nature.
Determination is a limited commodity. We only have so much of it and, once it’s gone, we struggle even to cover the basics. Anyone who has stuck to a diet for more than a month will tell you the same thing. The mind gets bored with the restrictions placed upon it and starts to look for ways to circumvent them.
I find that the best way to approach writing is to be professional about it. Commit to an agreed amount of time in terms of daily application in order to limit how long it takes to complete your first draft. An hour is the least amount of time that you can give over and still expect reasonable results. If the writing is going well on one particular day then of course you can work for longer but – and this is the important bit – you have to stay in the chair for that hour.
Once you’ve completed your first draft then you’re going to have a solid idea of what you’re dealing with and so you’re less likely to give up. You can then cut, edit and re-write as you see fit. It’s much easier to give up on a book that’s only half written.
Others like to set themselves a minimum daily word count. Make sure that the number is attainable for you. You’re not going to write 5,000 words after a hard day at work when you still have the shopping to do before you have to pick the kids up from soccer practice. Settle on a reasonable number and then share it with your friends and loved ones. Be conservative in your initial estimate in order to ensure that it’s sustainable over the long term. Then record how much you’ve written in each session. You can use a note-book but some people prefer using a white-board because it’s more visual. There’s nothing quite like seeing your word-count going up every day to inspire you. A minimum allotted time or word count will keep you honest and it’s the best way that I’ve found of getting the work done.
And the reason for their success is simple: consistency. They don’t have any distractions. They can focus absolutely on the task at hand and so they keep at it until they’ve achieved their goals, whatever they might be.
I thought about this when author and former MP Jeffrey Archer was sent to prison a few years ago. I was, in a strange way, quite envious. He was going to have several years where he would be able to devote himself to writing full time. Often, when you’re bringing up children, looking after an elderly relative, studying or working a range of different jobs, you’d give anything for just a few hours of uninterrupted silence.
And that’s the challenge. You have to find the time to do the work and you have to do it on a regular basis. Otherwise, you’re simply fooling yourself. Every New Year someone posits the idea that if you wrote a page a day for a year you’d end up with a book at the end of it. It’s a great idea although not particularly practical. Real life doesn’t tend to work like that.
It’s really difficult to maintain focus over such a long period of time. We tend to get distracted by all the other concerns vying for our attention. Chances are that you’ll give up, get bored or simply switch to a ‘better’ idea. That’s just human nature.
Determination is a limited commodity. We only have so much of it and, once it’s gone, we struggle even to cover the basics. Anyone who has stuck to a diet for more than a month will tell you the same thing. The mind gets bored with the restrictions placed upon it and starts to look for ways to circumvent them.
I find that the best way to approach writing is to be professional about it. Commit to an agreed amount of time in terms of daily application in order to limit how long it takes to complete your first draft. An hour is the least amount of time that you can give over and still expect reasonable results. If the writing is going well on one particular day then of course you can work for longer but – and this is the important bit – you have to stay in the chair for that hour.
Once you’ve completed your first draft then you’re going to have a solid idea of what you’re dealing with and so you’re less likely to give up. You can then cut, edit and re-write as you see fit. It’s much easier to give up on a book that’s only half written.
Others like to set themselves a minimum daily word count. Make sure that the number is attainable for you. You’re not going to write 5,000 words after a hard day at work when you still have the shopping to do before you have to pick the kids up from soccer practice. Settle on a reasonable number and then share it with your friends and loved ones. Be conservative in your initial estimate in order to ensure that it’s sustainable over the long term. Then record how much you’ve written in each session. You can use a note-book but some people prefer using a white-board because it’s more visual. There’s nothing quite like seeing your word-count going up every day to inspire you. A minimum allotted time or word count will keep you honest and it’s the best way that I’ve found of getting the work done.
March 25, 2016
My first Author's Talk
It’s been a couple of weeks now since my first author’s talk and it has taken me this long to get over the shock!
I was more than a little nervous about how the whole thing would turn out. Writing this stuff is one thing but talking about it is something else. Now, bear in mind that this all took place in the school that I teach in: a secondary school with about 1200 students. The librarian, Hilary, had read the first book early on and given me some great feedback. In fact, she was the one who suggested that it would work best as a YA title, which I had never previously considered. Well, Hilary wanted to have a way of publicising the talk which took place on March 3rd, World Book Day. Together we came up with: “Which one of your teachers is THE SECRET AUTHOR?” She publicised this in the library and it really did catch the students’ attention with a number of my students asking me directly if I knew who the secret author was. Which was pretty cool.
On the actual day I went up to the library early to give me time to get into position but also to lay out my publicity along with my wife, Christine. We’d had five posters of the cover made up, copies of the book to sell along with laminated book-marks to act as giveaways.
As we were laying all this out with my Book Elves, Miriam and Hayley, we heard a commotion outside. I asked the librarian what was causing the noise and she told me that that was coming from the people in the queue. FunniIy enough, it was about that time that I started to get really nervous.
Before the doors opened I had to go and hide myself away out the back so that I could be properly introduced. In the meantime, a number of staff who had turned up to support me were pressed into service by Hilary who lined four of them up at the front. She then asked the students to vote on which one of these did they think was THE SECRET AUTHOR. The students loved this but I was in full panic mode out the back because I couldn’t really hear what was going on. I’d probably still be waiting there now if there hadn’t been this sudden, tumultuous applause prompting me to stumble out into the light.
I thought that I knew how this would all pan out; I mean, I work with students everyday. But this was different. As soon as I appeared my wife and the Elves spun the display boards around revealing the posters before moving through the crowd circulating the bookmarks. The students were ridiculously excited by all of this, as was I. I just stood there holding up a copy of the book while they applauded. It was a great feeling and sort of vindicated all the hours of work we’ve put into it.
The bookmarks were a little project my wife had cooked up. She wanted all the students to take something away with them which would include both our web address and the title of the book. But she was also sensitive to the cost implications. In the end, after considering various options, the 60 bookmarks cost us £6.66 exactly – I know- and they really caught the student’s imagination.
Then I was into my talk. The Powerpoint didn’t work but that didn’t seem to matter. I started off by talking about how Dennis the Menace and Gnasher had gotten me into the whole reading business in the first place. The bit that I’d been dreading was reading an extract from the book but I’d chosen an early section detailing a bird attack and that seemed to go down well. After that, I started to calm down and enjoy myself. I talked a bit about how the book had come into being before opening the floor to a Q + A session. Simply put, there were two types of question: those about writing and those about self-publishing. I hadn’t expected the latter but there were lots of students who looked upon this more as a Small Business Start-Up talk than anything else. They were curious to know what sorts of percentages people like Amazon offered and more than a little shocked to learn about the sorts of deals favoured by the major publishing houses.
That left about ten minutes for signing copies. This was a bit of a bun fight with 18 books being sold on the day and another ten sold subsequently. I have no way of knowing how many were sold as e-books and, whilst there was a spike in my sales after that, it was definitely the printed copies which generated all the interest. I sold the book at £7.99 which is a £1 saving on the Amazon price. The book does look very professional and no one baulked at the price.
It was a great experience all round and generated a huge level of interest and discussion with a number of staff members going on to buy copies both for themselves and family members. This definitely impacted on my sales figures but it was just as important because it gave me a real mental boost.
None of this would have been possible without the help of the librarian: Hilary Sutton. She is extremely knowledgeable about her students and what they like to read. She was the one who orchestrated the whole Secret Author campaign and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that the event was a huge success. Personally, I can’t thank her enough.
I was more than a little nervous about how the whole thing would turn out. Writing this stuff is one thing but talking about it is something else. Now, bear in mind that this all took place in the school that I teach in: a secondary school with about 1200 students. The librarian, Hilary, had read the first book early on and given me some great feedback. In fact, she was the one who suggested that it would work best as a YA title, which I had never previously considered. Well, Hilary wanted to have a way of publicising the talk which took place on March 3rd, World Book Day. Together we came up with: “Which one of your teachers is THE SECRET AUTHOR?” She publicised this in the library and it really did catch the students’ attention with a number of my students asking me directly if I knew who the secret author was. Which was pretty cool.
On the actual day I went up to the library early to give me time to get into position but also to lay out my publicity along with my wife, Christine. We’d had five posters of the cover made up, copies of the book to sell along with laminated book-marks to act as giveaways.
As we were laying all this out with my Book Elves, Miriam and Hayley, we heard a commotion outside. I asked the librarian what was causing the noise and she told me that that was coming from the people in the queue. FunniIy enough, it was about that time that I started to get really nervous.
Before the doors opened I had to go and hide myself away out the back so that I could be properly introduced. In the meantime, a number of staff who had turned up to support me were pressed into service by Hilary who lined four of them up at the front. She then asked the students to vote on which one of these did they think was THE SECRET AUTHOR. The students loved this but I was in full panic mode out the back because I couldn’t really hear what was going on. I’d probably still be waiting there now if there hadn’t been this sudden, tumultuous applause prompting me to stumble out into the light.
I thought that I knew how this would all pan out; I mean, I work with students everyday. But this was different. As soon as I appeared my wife and the Elves spun the display boards around revealing the posters before moving through the crowd circulating the bookmarks. The students were ridiculously excited by all of this, as was I. I just stood there holding up a copy of the book while they applauded. It was a great feeling and sort of vindicated all the hours of work we’ve put into it.
The bookmarks were a little project my wife had cooked up. She wanted all the students to take something away with them which would include both our web address and the title of the book. But she was also sensitive to the cost implications. In the end, after considering various options, the 60 bookmarks cost us £6.66 exactly – I know- and they really caught the student’s imagination.
Then I was into my talk. The Powerpoint didn’t work but that didn’t seem to matter. I started off by talking about how Dennis the Menace and Gnasher had gotten me into the whole reading business in the first place. The bit that I’d been dreading was reading an extract from the book but I’d chosen an early section detailing a bird attack and that seemed to go down well. After that, I started to calm down and enjoy myself. I talked a bit about how the book had come into being before opening the floor to a Q + A session. Simply put, there were two types of question: those about writing and those about self-publishing. I hadn’t expected the latter but there were lots of students who looked upon this more as a Small Business Start-Up talk than anything else. They were curious to know what sorts of percentages people like Amazon offered and more than a little shocked to learn about the sorts of deals favoured by the major publishing houses.
That left about ten minutes for signing copies. This was a bit of a bun fight with 18 books being sold on the day and another ten sold subsequently. I have no way of knowing how many were sold as e-books and, whilst there was a spike in my sales after that, it was definitely the printed copies which generated all the interest. I sold the book at £7.99 which is a £1 saving on the Amazon price. The book does look very professional and no one baulked at the price.
It was a great experience all round and generated a huge level of interest and discussion with a number of staff members going on to buy copies both for themselves and family members. This definitely impacted on my sales figures but it was just as important because it gave me a real mental boost.
None of this would have been possible without the help of the librarian: Hilary Sutton. She is extremely knowledgeable about her students and what they like to read. She was the one who orchestrated the whole Secret Author campaign and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that the event was a huge success. Personally, I can’t thank her enough.
March 12, 2016
Death of the Bookshop?
I was lucky enough to spend some time in San Francisco last year. Beautiful city but it came as a shock that there were no books. I had really been looking forward to spending some time in a big American bookstore. I’d done so on previous visits and had brought back some real gems. Only I couldn’t find a bookstore in San Francisco. Not one. The one in the central square which everyone directed me towards had closed down twelve months earlier. Tourist Information directed me – with some pride I might add – to a Stationery store which sold novelty books; mostly Humour and Cookery.
To be fair, when I returned home it was pointed out to me that there was an excellent independent bookstore, City Lights, on the outskirts of the city, albeit one which the residents of the city seemed totally unaware of. The idea of a future without bookshops seemed all too real then and still does now with the emphasis shifting towards on-line book-buying. My strongest feeling at the time was one of frustration, with the idea of there being all these different books, editions, covers out there and me just not being able to access them. It’s not a million miles away from the feeling I get when I walk into my local WH Smith and Waterstones.
My local WH Smith’s had, up until recently, given over their first floor to selling books but, for some reason, they’ve closed that off and a much reduced volume of stock – about a third - is squeezed off into a poorly lit ghetto downstairs, just opposite the Moleskin notebooks. But, unless you’re looking for the latest Mary Berry or Lee Child you can forget it. There’s very little chance of finding a book you might actually want to buy. They have recommendations from The Richard and Judy Club on their website along with a few other fluff pieces but otherwise there’s little attempt to connect with the average reader.
My local Waterstones fares a little better. It’s got a half decent range of books but the emphasis is still on getting you to buy multiples of books from the front of the store. In the past, I’ve used their Click and Collect service (only one book at a time) and gotten decent reductions as a result. But, it’s a fairly passive experience. The one positive note is that they have a number of hand-written recommendations littered around the store, so it looks as though the staff actually do read. Granted, in the larger stores you do have the option of visiting a coffee shop with that all important sense of interaction. You’ve also got the opportunity to take part in a book-signing or an event but, in reality, this hasn’t been my experience. When I searched Events on their website in my three nearest stores: Kettering, Market Harborough and Northampton, I came up with no results for the months of March, April or May. Nada. Nothing.
Contrast this with the Games Workshop experience. Sure, it’s aimed at table-top gamers but there are things to learn here. They organise several events a week – even in the smaller branches - the staff are only too keen to work with the customer and you get to meet up with a wide variety of people who share your interests. They organise enviably big events, largely around their city branches admittedly, but it’s very accessible and allows you to interact with both artists and writers. It should come as no surprise then that their Black Library imprint is extremely well supported and, as a result, sells shedloads of books. It’s a completely different business model and is as interactive as the bookshop experience is passive.
Interestingly, Amazon have revealed their plans to open 300 bookshops and already have one in Seattle. It will be interesting to see what dynamic they bring to the table. The size of their company will allow them to absorb their initial set-up costs and give them the ability to experiment with new initiatives. And, who knows, they might be able to re-invigorate what has become a tired old retail model.
What I’d like to see in a bookshop:
A seating area where I can read whatever I like. Bring back browsing.
Coffee. If you can’t have a proper café then why not install one of those Costa machines they have in Service Stations?
Access to a laptop / tablet with a permanent link to GoodReads. Why doesn’t this already exist?
Also, the seating area can double as a meeting area for Book Groups.
As well as author talks we could have Recommendations. People come along, say on a Sunday, and recommend their favourite book. Have three people each doing five minutes with copies available to buy or down-load.
After school there could be a Jackanory session. Parents can bring their children to have a story read to them while they get a chance to browse the shelves.
Follow that with a session for adults early evening. I’d love to sit down while someone read me a Neil Gaiman short story. Absolutely love it.
Set up a Non-Readers Anonymous group. My friend Frank had only read one book in his life, Tarka the Otter, and absolutely hated it. He might never have read another if ‘The Da Vinci Code’ hadn’t caught his eye aged 50. He says now that he really wanted to read but had no idea where to start.
I really do love book-shops, I spent most of my adolescence in various Second Hand bookshops around the North West, and I really can’t envisage a time when there isn’t at least one gracing our High Streets. I just hope that it’s not too late to turn the tide.
To be fair, when I returned home it was pointed out to me that there was an excellent independent bookstore, City Lights, on the outskirts of the city, albeit one which the residents of the city seemed totally unaware of. The idea of a future without bookshops seemed all too real then and still does now with the emphasis shifting towards on-line book-buying. My strongest feeling at the time was one of frustration, with the idea of there being all these different books, editions, covers out there and me just not being able to access them. It’s not a million miles away from the feeling I get when I walk into my local WH Smith and Waterstones.
My local WH Smith’s had, up until recently, given over their first floor to selling books but, for some reason, they’ve closed that off and a much reduced volume of stock – about a third - is squeezed off into a poorly lit ghetto downstairs, just opposite the Moleskin notebooks. But, unless you’re looking for the latest Mary Berry or Lee Child you can forget it. There’s very little chance of finding a book you might actually want to buy. They have recommendations from The Richard and Judy Club on their website along with a few other fluff pieces but otherwise there’s little attempt to connect with the average reader.
My local Waterstones fares a little better. It’s got a half decent range of books but the emphasis is still on getting you to buy multiples of books from the front of the store. In the past, I’ve used their Click and Collect service (only one book at a time) and gotten decent reductions as a result. But, it’s a fairly passive experience. The one positive note is that they have a number of hand-written recommendations littered around the store, so it looks as though the staff actually do read. Granted, in the larger stores you do have the option of visiting a coffee shop with that all important sense of interaction. You’ve also got the opportunity to take part in a book-signing or an event but, in reality, this hasn’t been my experience. When I searched Events on their website in my three nearest stores: Kettering, Market Harborough and Northampton, I came up with no results for the months of March, April or May. Nada. Nothing.
Contrast this with the Games Workshop experience. Sure, it’s aimed at table-top gamers but there are things to learn here. They organise several events a week – even in the smaller branches - the staff are only too keen to work with the customer and you get to meet up with a wide variety of people who share your interests. They organise enviably big events, largely around their city branches admittedly, but it’s very accessible and allows you to interact with both artists and writers. It should come as no surprise then that their Black Library imprint is extremely well supported and, as a result, sells shedloads of books. It’s a completely different business model and is as interactive as the bookshop experience is passive.
Interestingly, Amazon have revealed their plans to open 300 bookshops and already have one in Seattle. It will be interesting to see what dynamic they bring to the table. The size of their company will allow them to absorb their initial set-up costs and give them the ability to experiment with new initiatives. And, who knows, they might be able to re-invigorate what has become a tired old retail model.
What I’d like to see in a bookshop:
A seating area where I can read whatever I like. Bring back browsing.
Coffee. If you can’t have a proper café then why not install one of those Costa machines they have in Service Stations?
Access to a laptop / tablet with a permanent link to GoodReads. Why doesn’t this already exist?
Also, the seating area can double as a meeting area for Book Groups.
As well as author talks we could have Recommendations. People come along, say on a Sunday, and recommend their favourite book. Have three people each doing five minutes with copies available to buy or down-load.
After school there could be a Jackanory session. Parents can bring their children to have a story read to them while they get a chance to browse the shelves.
Follow that with a session for adults early evening. I’d love to sit down while someone read me a Neil Gaiman short story. Absolutely love it.
Set up a Non-Readers Anonymous group. My friend Frank had only read one book in his life, Tarka the Otter, and absolutely hated it. He might never have read another if ‘The Da Vinci Code’ hadn’t caught his eye aged 50. He says now that he really wanted to read but had no idea where to start.
I really do love book-shops, I spent most of my adolescence in various Second Hand bookshops around the North West, and I really can’t envisage a time when there isn’t at least one gracing our High Streets. I just hope that it’s not too late to turn the tide.
February 25, 2016
Where do you get your ideas from ?
I am of the mind that there are no new ideas in story writing. We’ve been telling stories now for thousands of years so it is, literally, built into our DNA. Some stories work on a mythic level and touch us so deeply that we have little resistance to them. Look at the faces of young children when they’re listening to a good story. They’re in a state close to hypnosis from which they struggle to awaken.
Terry Prachett talked about all writers drawing from the same story pot but suggesting that, every once in a while, we should put something back in. This cooking analogy holds up really well. You take a traditional recipe and you tinker about with it, combining elements in a new and invigorating way. Sometimes, just one small change is enough.
What if I re-tell the story but, this time, from the villain’s perspective.
One of the greatest sources of ideas I find are the Greek Myths. If you’re rolling your eyes just at the thought of it then you’re sort of proving my point. It’s fertile ground which still goes largely untapped by most modern writers. These stories are beautifully wrought, they’re thought-provoking and still resonate with modern audiences if they’re done well. Think about Suzanne Collins. She didn’t do too badly when she re-worked the story of Theseus and the Minotaur and gave us The Hunger Games.
The biggest mistake for an aspiring author, I feel, is to go looking for ideas in your own genre. Granted, you do have to know the rules of the game in order to get started but you should at least try and avoid simply re-working the novels of your favourite author. There are a lot of e-books like this where the author re-cycles everything. They even use the exact same hero and think that, by simply changing their name, no one will notice. We’ve all done it at some time or another but its fan-fiction, at best.
No, in order to be a good writer you also have to be a good reader. I’d recommend that you look to other genres from which to draw your inspiration. If you write Fantasy then check out Crime. If you write Sci-Fi then try reading a Historical novel. It’ll bring a fresh perspective to any new idea you might have and stop you from getting jaded. I stole a great story idea once from ‘Crime and Punishment.” Yeah, that one. It’s a short scene in which a mule driver overloads an old mule. When it collapses he loses his temper and beats the animal to death while a crowd gathers to watch. My thought was simply: what if someone tried to stop him?
My final tip is to use paintings. It’s really hard coming up with quirky and original characters to populate your novel with because, if you’re not careful, they can all end up sounding a little bit samey. My solution then is to use people in paintings; even if it’s just their faces. 19th Century Russian paintings are my personal favourites because so few people have ever come across them. You’ve got all the characters you’re ever likely to need and they’re only a click away on the internet. All you have to do is provide them with an interesting backstory.
Hopefully, I’ve given you some fresh ideas there. Ones that you can return to time and time again.
Terry Prachett talked about all writers drawing from the same story pot but suggesting that, every once in a while, we should put something back in. This cooking analogy holds up really well. You take a traditional recipe and you tinker about with it, combining elements in a new and invigorating way. Sometimes, just one small change is enough.
What if I re-tell the story but, this time, from the villain’s perspective.
One of the greatest sources of ideas I find are the Greek Myths. If you’re rolling your eyes just at the thought of it then you’re sort of proving my point. It’s fertile ground which still goes largely untapped by most modern writers. These stories are beautifully wrought, they’re thought-provoking and still resonate with modern audiences if they’re done well. Think about Suzanne Collins. She didn’t do too badly when she re-worked the story of Theseus and the Minotaur and gave us The Hunger Games.
The biggest mistake for an aspiring author, I feel, is to go looking for ideas in your own genre. Granted, you do have to know the rules of the game in order to get started but you should at least try and avoid simply re-working the novels of your favourite author. There are a lot of e-books like this where the author re-cycles everything. They even use the exact same hero and think that, by simply changing their name, no one will notice. We’ve all done it at some time or another but its fan-fiction, at best.
No, in order to be a good writer you also have to be a good reader. I’d recommend that you look to other genres from which to draw your inspiration. If you write Fantasy then check out Crime. If you write Sci-Fi then try reading a Historical novel. It’ll bring a fresh perspective to any new idea you might have and stop you from getting jaded. I stole a great story idea once from ‘Crime and Punishment.” Yeah, that one. It’s a short scene in which a mule driver overloads an old mule. When it collapses he loses his temper and beats the animal to death while a crowd gathers to watch. My thought was simply: what if someone tried to stop him?
My final tip is to use paintings. It’s really hard coming up with quirky and original characters to populate your novel with because, if you’re not careful, they can all end up sounding a little bit samey. My solution then is to use people in paintings; even if it’s just their faces. 19th Century Russian paintings are my personal favourites because so few people have ever come across them. You’ve got all the characters you’re ever likely to need and they’re only a click away on the internet. All you have to do is provide them with an interesting backstory.
Hopefully, I’ve given you some fresh ideas there. Ones that you can return to time and time again.
February 17, 2016
Keep writing but get promoting!
It’s been a pretty busy few weeks in the Giddings household.
I’ve been working hard trying to finish the 1st draft of Urban Witch #2. I’d be nearly done by now if I could resist the urge to go back and tweak sections as details become clearer. As it is I’m about two thirds of the way through. I’m very happy with it, my only concern is in giving enough stage time to the villain. I’m finding the first person perspective kind of limiting in this regard. I have the villain fully fleshed out in my notes, it’s just hard for Bronte to interact with him without the prospect of him killing her. An interesting problem, shall we say.
We’ve just had delivery of the first run of Urban Witch 1#. Chris, my wife, is the brains of the operation and she has spent a good month comparing the quality of copies we received from CreateSpace in the US and FeedaRead in the UK. I was really keen to go with FeedaRead initially as its Arts Council funded and just getting going but in the end we plumped for CreateSpace. The finish is top quality, their delivery is second to none and they somehow work out a good deal cheaper than FeedaRead.
You’re never going to make your fortune through print copies – the profit margins are too low – but there is still something pretty humbling about handling a physical copy. It just has more heft to it.
The reason behind all this hard work is that I have a book talk coming up in my school library, March 3rd. They’re getting some authors in for Reading Week and, since Hilary, the school librarian, was kind enough to read the book she thought it might be fun if I went along. The idea is that the students can buy a physical copy or, if they prefer, an e-book. I don’t think the students would believe that I'd actually written a book if I didn’t have at least a few physical copies on hand.
In light of this, we’ve been working on two other ideas. Chris thought it might be nice if we gave all the students who attended the talk a free bookmark in order to make the event more memorable. To get these done professionally we’re talking about 60p each - which is going to mount up over time - so she’s now looking into how she might do this herself. Seems it’s all about the quality of the card.
In the meantime, Bethan, my youngest daughter, has been working on some A3 posters to publicise the event. I haven’t seen them yet but she’s really excited about how they've turned out.
Finally, we’ve been pushing out copies to various people in an attempt to generate more reviews. We’re specifically targeting GoodReads now and have set up a series of giveaways in the up-coming months with that in mind. GoodReads is awesome! I’ve been a member for years but it’s only recently that I’ve started to realise the breadth of its influence. No wonder so many authors are actively involved.
Okay, that’s all for now – hope that this has given you more of an insight into the weird world of self-publishing.
I’ve been working hard trying to finish the 1st draft of Urban Witch #2. I’d be nearly done by now if I could resist the urge to go back and tweak sections as details become clearer. As it is I’m about two thirds of the way through. I’m very happy with it, my only concern is in giving enough stage time to the villain. I’m finding the first person perspective kind of limiting in this regard. I have the villain fully fleshed out in my notes, it’s just hard for Bronte to interact with him without the prospect of him killing her. An interesting problem, shall we say.
We’ve just had delivery of the first run of Urban Witch 1#. Chris, my wife, is the brains of the operation and she has spent a good month comparing the quality of copies we received from CreateSpace in the US and FeedaRead in the UK. I was really keen to go with FeedaRead initially as its Arts Council funded and just getting going but in the end we plumped for CreateSpace. The finish is top quality, their delivery is second to none and they somehow work out a good deal cheaper than FeedaRead.
You’re never going to make your fortune through print copies – the profit margins are too low – but there is still something pretty humbling about handling a physical copy. It just has more heft to it.
The reason behind all this hard work is that I have a book talk coming up in my school library, March 3rd. They’re getting some authors in for Reading Week and, since Hilary, the school librarian, was kind enough to read the book she thought it might be fun if I went along. The idea is that the students can buy a physical copy or, if they prefer, an e-book. I don’t think the students would believe that I'd actually written a book if I didn’t have at least a few physical copies on hand.
In light of this, we’ve been working on two other ideas. Chris thought it might be nice if we gave all the students who attended the talk a free bookmark in order to make the event more memorable. To get these done professionally we’re talking about 60p each - which is going to mount up over time - so she’s now looking into how she might do this herself. Seems it’s all about the quality of the card.
In the meantime, Bethan, my youngest daughter, has been working on some A3 posters to publicise the event. I haven’t seen them yet but she’s really excited about how they've turned out.
Finally, we’ve been pushing out copies to various people in an attempt to generate more reviews. We’re specifically targeting GoodReads now and have set up a series of giveaways in the up-coming months with that in mind. GoodReads is awesome! I’ve been a member for years but it’s only recently that I’ve started to realise the breadth of its influence. No wonder so many authors are actively involved.
Okay, that’s all for now – hope that this has given you more of an insight into the weird world of self-publishing.
