Robert Scott-Norton's Blog, page 6

Getting started with Createspace

   by  Don McCullough 
I'm ready to start compiling a paperback version of The Face Stealer and it seems that Createspace is the tool of choice. It's a print on demand service owned by Amazon. Once you have a version properly formatted, it sits on Createspace's servers waiting for customers to buy it. If a customer buys a copy, your book is printed to your specifications and sent to them directly.

There are some things I really don't understand yet and should find out the answers to before I get too stuck in:

When you create a book, can you then link that to the Amazon listing so a customer can see the option to buy a paperback alongside your ebook?If I want to distribute a few around local bookstores, is it better for me to order them directly and then sell them to the bookstores?Are ISBNs important? I'm pretty sure by publishing on Amazon I've already got an ISBN. And also by making it available through Smashwords I've got another (different one). Does is actually, practically make any difference at this stage of my writing career that I might have different ISBNs for the same book?What size is going to be the best for my book? At Createspace you get a variety of options. There's probably some magical formula to work out the optimum page size to page count ratio that will help keep costs down.How long is it going to take me to do this? Is the time spent away from writing my next novel time well spent?

Use several modes to cement learning

   by  Infinite Jeff 

Desperately swotting up this week for something exciting. Geography is my worst ever subject, so much so that I struggle to remember where even obvious countries are in Europe. It's just knowledge that I don't really need on a day to day basis so it gets shunted out of my tiny brain.

My best resources so far have been:

Leapfrog World Map - originally bought for my daughter but being really useful to me right now.Quiz up - The android app that pairs you up with players around the world. Lots of different types of geography questions on offer.Children's Atlas - There are so many to choose from. Ours has lots of nice pull our maps to cement learning.What I've found is that using all three methods and alternating them, is really helping bed in some of this. Of course, it doesn't help when you get questions around historical events in different countries, but at least I'll know where those countries are.

Face your fear of talking to groups

Another great week at Southport Writer's Circle.
I knew that I was expected to read something this week so had something ready, and not for one minute during the evening did I get anxious about reading it in front of this group of still relative strangers. This is one of the ways that attending the group has made me more confident, not just with my writing, but with speaking in front of groups of people.
Richard Carlson said to give up your fear of talking in front of people:

Another factor to consider is this: if you're frightened of speaking to groups even a little bit, you may avoid doing things that could greatly benefit your career, give you a promotion or more responsibility, or an advancement of some kind.

And he's absolutely right.
I hate speaking in front of groups of people. They don't have to be strangers, hell, I hate talking in front of groups of colleagues I've known for years. Reading your own fiction to a group of people, is far riskier than giving a presentation at work. The fiction is after all, a part of you; it's your lifeblood.
By taking a little step into the unknown, a few feet away from your comfort zone, there may be an opportunity to grow-and it might not be in the area you were planning on.Image attribution    by  Marc Wathieu 

Dead Man's Gift: Part Two - Simon Kernick

I also wrote a review of Part One.

Kernick doesn't slow down the pace at all in the second part of his Dead Man's Gift serialised novel. I read this part pretty quickly and even though I'd left a few weeks since reading the first part, I had no problem picking up the plot again. The plot is neat and contained and with a small number of characters, you get to follow the action closely.

I'm not sure that Snope is my favourite Kernick character but he's up there with the best. Unencumbered by the regulations of the police force like many of his character (although come to think of it, many of his police characters seem unencumbered by their own rules and regulations), Snope knows how to get things done, and does what is necessary.

The book ends with...well, let's just say that time is ticking out.

Face Stealer on sale at Smashwords

   by  kevin dooley As part of Smashword's summer sale, you can now pick up The Face Stealer for FREE.

Get a copy of The Face Stealer for free.

If you get a chance to leave a review that would be even better.

Take a look at some of the other great books in the Smashwords sale.

(Sale ends on July 31.)

3 steps to a lazy review

   by  azrasta 

It's nice to leave a review. There's lots of discussion about how effective reviews are for authors. Some claim that it can just be the sheer numbers of reviews that can help influence a buying decision. I don't know it that's true, but what I do know, is that writing reviews for the first time can be a bit daunting. With that in mind, here's my suggestions to take some of the pain away.


Write a sentence telling us what the book was about. Perhaps not even that important, as if the author has done a semi-competent job, there should be plenty of book description in the main listing. Tell you what, let's skip this one and move to number 2. (or the new number 1 as I'm going to call it.)Start again....Tell us what you liked about the book. There must have been something. Did the character act in a believable way? Did the action rip along so fast that you stayed up extra late to finish the book? Was it a nice cheap book (are you a cheapskate? perhaps you didn't mind paying 69p for that book, OK say so.)Anything you didn't like. I'm not talking about trying to remember the rules of grammar you learnt in high school, but was it written in decent English (or the language of your choice)? Full of typos, say so. Characters dull as ditchwater? Rip-offs from the latest blockbuster. Tell us.Would you buy anything from this author again? Yes or no. Easy.Probably only take you 5 mins. 3 mins if you type fast and ugly. So, hardly any effort...but it makes a big difference to the author. Yes, I guess even a bad review as it helps to remind us that we've still got room to grow.
Here endeth the sermon. Go forth and share your review love.

Harvest of Time - Alastair Reynolds

A story involving the third Doctor, Jo Grant, Unit, and others. This feels very much like season 8 with perfectly recognisable characters. These ARE the versions of your much-loved characters and Alistair Reynolds deserves buckets of praise for this book.

The main plot involving activities on oil rigs feels so right and a fast pace makes this story rattle along nicely. The scenes where the first aliens appear are particularly tense.

The best Doctor Who story you've never seen. I wish all Doctor Who books could be this good.

You can pick up the Kindle version on Amazon.

Dead Man's Gift: Part One - Simon Kernick

It’s been a while since I’ve read a serialised book. Probably the ONLY one I remember is Stephen King’s The Green Mile. Has this serialised series been a success? Well, I guess I’ll have to wait till I’ve read the last two parts but if they are anything like as satisfying as this one, then the answer is a resounding YES.

An MP arrives home to find that his son has been kidnapped and he is under tight control by the kidnappers. What can he do to solve this problem? If only he knew someone with a special knack for getting people out of impossible situations. Enter Scope.

I’ve never read any of Kernick’s Scope books before but have been a fan ever since Relentless. This book is so fast paced, you’ll get to the end before you know it. Scope is a fantastically realised character. The reluctant hero.

Kernick’s writing is breathless and fluent and with such little room in this part one, he never veers away from the main plot. I like this approach and wish my own writing could be as disciplined.

Great book, great characters. Quick read. Buy this now and you might as well get the other two parts at the same time. You won’t want to waste time coming back to the Amazon store at the end of part one.

You can pick up Dead Man's Gift: Part One from Amazon.

Joining a writer's circle

   by  Bob AuBuchon 
I've been a writer for a long time. Probably longer than I care to admit.Yes, those early days when I drew comics based on Doctor Who stories I watched still counts! In that time I've had little support from anyone other than my immediate family.

Things changed when the Internet came on the scene (I realise I've made it sound like the Internet just walked in one day and said "Hi"). My early dabblings with any kind of writing community came when I discovered Critters.org, an online critique group. I learnt loads from this and even wrote an article about my experience. Reading other writers' work and writing a critique is a perfect way to recognise faults in your own work, and getting critiques on your own stuff is the icing on the cake.

But, for one reason or another, I dropped out of the group. I think too many fantasy novels was putting me off, and having to write 3 critiques a week was seriously eating into my own writing time.

Google+ has most recently been a source of great support and feedback on the writing life. The Writer's Discussion Group is an incredibly useful community on all aspects of the writing craft and I use it regularly. In this age of self-publishing and self-promoting, it's full of clever, talented people, who've probably already tried what you're thinking of doing. The one thing I would say is lacking is a social aspect. The group's rules (that I agree with) are to only post items that will engage with the community. They don't want people filling up the community with comments about what a crappy day they're having writing.

And this leads to Twitter. The perfect place for any writing drivel to spew forth. Use the appropriate hashtags and you have the semblance of a pretty limited conversation with other writers. Maybe conversation isn't right, it's more like a peek into someone else's stream of consciousness.

But none of this is exactly what I need right now. I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing on social media but the thing that's ironically missing for me is that sense of social. Yes, I can engage with others, but the conversations are quick and focussed.

Southport Writer's Circle has been on my mind for a couple of years. Off and on, I've considered turning up and attending a meeting but reading horror stories on the Internet about writing groups in general (the Internet is great for horror stories isn't it?) has been enough to put me off. What if these people were all a bit weird (as opposed to me, who's completely normal <ahem> ), what if they laughed at my attempts to write?

None of that actually happened when I went along last week. A smallish turnout with genuinely nice people who were all interested (or at least gave a great pretence of interest) in what I had to say, and were all passionate about writing. What I enjoyed most though, was the chance to talk about our writing experiences over a cup of coffee and biscuits. Something that is far harder to achieve over the Internet.

So, if you're feeling like something might be missing in your writer's life, take a look around and find a local group. There's plenty of them, and you might just find a new support network.

Everybody can write