Kathleen Jones's Blog, page 69

Authors Collectives and the Great E-Book Giveaway

As some of you will know I’m a member of Do Authors Dream of Electric Books?, a group of established authors who’ve branched out sideways into E-books because of our publishers’ reluctance to take a risk on anything unusual or publish anything that hasn’t got ‘instant best-seller’ stamped on it.  An alternative name for the group might be ‘the Revenge of the Mid-List Author’!    There are 28 of us - a mixture of children’s writers, young adult, crime fiction, mainstream fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and romance.  So far I’m the solitary biographer, offering up my back-list of out-of-print biographies.   Publishers haven’t yet woken up to the fact that E-books are brilliant for the back-lists of authors they want to keep, but can’t afford to keep in hard copy. 

Recently it was World Book Night, which still doesn’t have an E-dimension, and we thought it would be a great idea to change that.  So, we organised a free E-book giveaway for the event.  The advantage of being part of an author’s collective is that you can generate so much more activity because you don’t have to do it all yourself. It’s also much easier to approach people if you’re promoting a group rather than just yourself.   Some of the group wrote press releases, we all blogged about it, those of us on Twitter tweeted like crazy, we called in favours, approached contacts,  talked about it on radio and TV and in as many newspapers, local and national, as we could persuade to give us a mention.  From the Guardian to the Bangalore Times, from Irish TV to BBC radio we gave it our all.

The result was extraordinary.  Between us all we ‘sold’ more than 24 thousand books and several of our members got into the top 10 best-sellers on Amazon.  Jan Needle made number 1 with his political thriller ‘Kicking Off’ , as did Dennis Hamley with his historical mystery ‘Of Dooms and Death’.   And I sneaked into the number 1 spot on Amazon USA with Christina Rossetti.  I was gob-smacked.  Literary biography is a minority form and Christina Rossetti not exactly a household name.  If only the freebies had been paid for, we’d all have been able to pay the bills for a month or so!

Since the giveaway we’ve all reverted to more normal ratings, but many of us have sold more books in the week since the promotion, presumably because Amazon is giving us more of a push, based on our downloads.  It seems so far to have been well worth doing, and it’s also got Authors Electric mentioned a few times in the press (most notably the Guardian Book Blog).

Authors collectives seem to be the way forward for self-published authors because of the support and advice they can offer and the possibilities of wider publicity. We are also better placed to take on the sometimes hostile traditional publishing/bookselling establishment and defend the position of the independent E-author.  Individually, we take every opportunity to comment on articles about E-publishing, and challenge some of the more outrageous assertions in the great E-debate currently raging in Book World.  Some of us have also joined the  Alliance of Independent Authors, begun by the indefatigable Orna Ross, which this year took a stand at the London Book Fair - the beginning of something much bigger I think.

This is all really exciting, but tremendously fragile.   It’s going to be interesting to see what happens. 

[Please note that all the opinions in this blog are entirely my own!]

Tuesday Poem: For I will consider my cat Jeoffry

For I will consider my cat Jeoffry

by Christopher Smart

For he is the servant of the Living God, duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in
his way.
For is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant
quickness.
For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For he purrs in thankfulness when God tells him he's a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him, and a blessing is lacking in
the spirit.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.






As a cat-lover and grandmother of three kittens I thought this unusual poem was very suitable this week.   Christopher Smart was born in 1722.  He wrote under the wonderful pen names of  Mrs Mary Midnight (a midwife) and Ebenezer Pentweazle.  One of his poems is the mock epic The Hiliad.   But apparently he began to have religious delusions - believing himself to be a prophet.  His relatives (some say it was his father-in-law) committed him to St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics suffering from “religious mania” . The confinement was considered controversial and attracted the attention of Dr. Johnson.  In Boswell's Life of Johnson,  he records this conversation between Johnson and Fanny Burney. 
 
BURNEY. “How does poor Smart do, Sir; is he likely to recover?”
JOHNSON. “It seems as if his mind had ceased to struggle with the disease; for he grows fat upon it.”
BURNEY. “Perhaps, Sir, that may be from want of exercise.”
JOHNSON. “No, Madam; he has partly as much exercise as he used to have, for he digs in the garden. Indeed, before his confinement, he used for exercise to walk to the ale-house ; but he was carried back again. I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities, were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I’d as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else. Another charge was, that he did not love clean linen; and I have no passion for it.”
'For I will consider my cat Jeoffry'  is one of the poems that Christopher Smart wrote there and it's a fragment of a much longer piece called 'Jubilate Agno'.  Even after his release from the asylum his troubles weren't over and he ended his days in a debtor's prison.

For more Tuesday Poems from around the world, please go to the Tuesday Poet's website at http://www.tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com

Kittens galore!

Two Heads and a Tail
Neil came back to Italy almost a week before me, fortunately, because on Wednesday night the Batcat began to give birth to her kittens - in our bedroom,  to Neil's absolute consternation.   But, while he was phoning me in England to find out what was the best thing to do, Batcat disappeared into the night - with the kittens.  Next morning the mystery was solved.  Batcat has found a hiding place in the tool shed in a dark corner of the top shelf, among the paint cans.   I sneaked in yesterday while she went out to feed and managed to get this shot of the three little fur balls - two black and white and one tabby.   One of the black and white kits has buried itself under the other two and only the back end is visible! 
Three days old
The plan is to get them used to being handled (as much as the ferocious Mum will allow), and then - as soon as they're weaned -  take them to the animal welfare centre for re-homing.  We hope too that Batcat herself will be approachable enough to take for sterilisation by then.  There are so many wildcats here they starve and we don't want to add to the problem.  I find it quite touching that she trusted us enough to come into our house to have her kittens.

Tuesday Poem: 'Hill Speak' by Zaffar Kunial

The Poetry Society UK recently published the three winners of the National Poetry Competition.  Allison McVety won with a response to Virginia Woolf's novel 'To the Lighthouse', but it was the third prize winner that caught my eye.  Not a published poet (until now!) but a British born asian with a new take on things.   Check out his reading of the poem here. 


Hill Speak

There is no dictionary for my father’s language.His dialect, for a start, is difficult to name.Even this taxi driver, who talks it, lacks the knowledge.Some say it’s Pahari – ‘hill speak’ –others, Potwari, or Pahari-Potwari –too earthy and scriptless to find a home in books.This mountain speech is a low language. Ours. “No good.You should learn speak Urdu.” I’m getting the runaround.Whatever it is, this talk, going back, did once have a script:Landa, in the reign of the Buddhists.... So was Dad’s speech some kind of Dogri?Is it Kashmiri? Mirpuri? The differences are lost on me.I’m told it’s part way towards Punjabi,but what that tongue would call tuvarda,Dad would agree was tusaana –‘yours’ –truly, though there are many dictionaries for the tongue I speak,it’s the close-by things I’m lost to say;things as pulsed and present as the back of this hand,never mind stumbling towards some higher plane.And, either way, even at the rare moment I get towards –or, thank God, even getting to –my point, I can’t put into wordswhere I’ve arrived.Zaffar Kunial was born in Birmingham and lives in Shipley, Yorkshire. His mother was English and his father, who has since moved to Lahore, is from Kashmir. Zaffar studied at the London School of Economics and later attended Michael Donaghy’s classes at City University. He recently went on an Arvon course with Ian Duhig who then invited Zaffar to join his small writing group in Leeds. Until now, he’d held back from submitting his poetry for publication, but was writing toward a collection. He thought he’d start by entering the National Poetry Competition – “just in case”. He works as a writer for Hallmark.

Check out the Poetry Society web page for the other winners and more information.  

For more Tuesday Poems go to the website at http://www.tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com



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The Great E-book Give-away for World Book Night

Lots of books are being given away free tonight to celebrate World Book Night (and the bard's birthday), and the independent e-book enthusiasts at Authors Electric decided that we should take part too. I'm offering my biography of Christina Rossetti - Learning not to be First  (currently at no 5 in the Amazon  UK non-fiction chart and no 1 in USA!) and there's a whole range of e-books on offer from award-winning authors, from children's books to self help, thrillers, romantic fiction and historical novels (check out Catherine Czerkawska's newly published Polish epic 'The Amber Heart').
If you would like a free read, check us out at http://www.authorselectric.blogspot.com  and follow the links to books available throughout Europe, the USA and beyond.  Books are availabe for free download until midnight on Tuesday.  If you don't have an e-book reader, we have links to free software to enable you to read the books on your computer, i-phone, and tablet.
This is all a bit of an experiment - according to the experts, giveaways boost sales by providing greater exposure.  I've no idea if this is true, but I'll be reporting back on the PR strategy.  
Meanwhile - dive in and get yourself a free read - you can't go wrong!

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com


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You either get it - or you don't!

Reading at the Lamb and Flag in Worcester was a fantastic experience.   Michael Woods is not only a very good poet himself, he really does know how to organise a reading.  What you need is an enthusiastic landlord (thank you Garry!), a lively audience (including the dog), and some good poets.  The wine was excellent and - as the Pri-mate (much recovered) tells me - so was the beer.



Worcester poets Sarah James and Jenny Hope (check out Be-Magazine)  kicked the evening off with some good readings from their new work, and then Irish poet Nigel McLoughlin read from his fifth collection 'Chora'.  This really knocked me out.  The poems are linguistically clever, lyrical, spare - I'm hoping to get permission to put one up in the next couple of weeks - and Nigel reads beautifully.  It was a pleasure to be part of it.
Kathleen and Nigel

Now I'm back in Cumbria for a few days, trying to dig my unruly garden and sort my life out - though I think that might take just a little longer. [image error]

Tuesday Poem: The Birthday Poem and John Cleese on Creativity

The Tuesday Poem is  2 years old today.  To celebrate we've been writing a group poem - one line each - over the last two weeks on the theme of  'A Birthday'.  It's been great fun, but very difficult to do.  How do you follow someone else's words, while leaving the door open for the poet who's going to write the next line?  You can see the result at the Tuesday Poem blogsite.

On a lighter note, I found this clip of John Cleese talking (for once quite seriously) about Creativity.



Now I'm off to Worcester to do a poetry reading with northern Irish poet Nigel McLoughlin at the Lamb and Flag Pub, (30 The Tythings), Wednesday 18th April at 7.30pm.  Entry Free.  For details see Poets On Fire. 

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Not the way to spend Sunday

You definitely don't want to spend a sunny Sunday in A and E, either as a patient or a relative.  But, after the Pri-mate suffered chest pains  in the morning after volunteering to walk up the hill to get milk and bread from the shop, that's exactly what happened.  When he came home, looking decidedly dodgy, I rang our GP for advice and she promptly rang for an ambulance.  Although we live in quite a remote rural area (nearest hospital almost an hour's drive) within minutes a First Responder arrived laden with gear and quickly had him pinned down and attached to a heart monitor.  About 30 minutes later paramedics arrived in an ambulance, did an ECG print-out and we were soon being whirled away under blue lights and sirens.

A and E on a Sunday is a crowded melee of rugby and football players clutching arms, heads and legs, dripping blood and mud on the floor in equal quantities.  A group of DIY enthusiasts who had either fallen off ladders or tried to remove parts of their anatomy with stanley knives, sat or lay on trolleys glumly in the corridors.  A queue of ambulances at the door delivered more casualties to a department already full.  We had nothing but admiration for the staff as they cheerfully tried to cope.

By early evening Neil was feeling better, the heart monitor showing normal readings, but he was ordered to remain in resuss until blood tests and x-ray results came back.  Then he was told that he would have to remain in hospital overnight 'just in case' and for more tests.  The mere thought of it made him feel so ill he instantly discharged himself.  Good friends collected us and we staggered back home to our own bed.    He's fine this morning, but should (of course) have stayed in hospital as a precaution.  But he's hospital phobic and of the opinion that only the really sick should be in there, which (of course) doesn't include him!![image error]

How [Not] to Organise a Poetry Reading

At various times in my life I’ve been in literature development jobs where it’s been part of my remit to organise poetry readings and writer events.  From a promoter's point of view, dealing with poets and writers can be wonderful, but it can also be a nightmare.  One poet arrived drunk for the event, dropped his poems on the floor and spent half the evening crawling around trying to pick them up.  Another poet had 15 provisos on the contract (including only one special brand of mineral water) arrived late, and read so boringly that most of the audience went home in the interval.  
Beryl Cook's take on the Poetry ReadingBut I’ve also been on the other side of the divide and at the mercy of well-meaning, but sometimes inexperienced organisers.  So I thought I’d share some of my most extreme experiences as a set of  counter-instructions for would-be events organisers.  I bet this rings bells with a lot of writers and poets out there, but I hope it makes you smile!

1.  Book a room in a pub next to the bar with an open hatch to the kitchen for the waiter to go backwards and forwards with the food.  And the cutlery trolley.  (A Sky sports TV would be a nice touch in the bar too - if you can get it.)

2.  Don’t offer the poets a fee, or expenses, tell them they’re doing it to raise their profile, and anyway - they’ll sell some books. Won’t they?

3.  Don’t advertise the reading. Don’t put it in any of the local papers, the poetry  web sites, Poetry Society listings, Time Out and definitely not Twitter or Facebook.

4. Don’t put a sandwich board outside that says ‘Poetry Here Tonight!’

5.  Don’t put up posters in the pub, or a notice that says ‘Poetry this way’, or a label on the door ‘Poetry in Here’.  Make sure that anyone who might possibly come to the reading never finds it.

6.  If by any chance, after all your efforts, someone does turn up, don’t be at the door to welcome them.

7.  And, the one absolute rule of the organiser, never apologise to the poet for the lack of an audience. 

One venue that really does know how to organise events is the Lamb and Flag Pub in Worcester, which has hosted readings by dozens of brilliant poets including Carol Ann Duffy.  I’m reading there on Wednesday night (18th April) at 7.30pm with northern Irish poet Nigel McLoughlin.  We guarantee a warm welcome and a lively reading![image error]

Spring in northern England

Well, finally made it back to the Mill yesterday evening.  Typical April weather - showers and sunny intervals and a wind from Siberia!  The river is brown and high and running at quite a lick over the weir and this morning we woke to a pair of swans feeding in patch of calm water under the willows.

Homecoming was very mixed - there's a feeling of  being back in a familiar landscape, but the house is cold and damp, and the dining table is piled several inches high with two months mail - quite a lot of it bills and bank statements, income tax, council tax and all the things you don't want to know about.  Fortunately I have a very good friend who comes in every week to water my plants and sort the mail.  She opens anything that seems urgent - I don't know what I'd do without her.   

But outside the garden is just beginning to come to life - the magnolia stellata and the yellow winter jasmine flowering together.  Definitely feeling better today.




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