Rowena Wiseman's Blog, page 17
May 20, 2014
About Ether Books with Maureen Scott
I have two of my short stories on Ether Books. One is
Love Potion
, about a man who discovers his wife is having an affair, so he tricks her into taking an anti-love drug. The other is
The War Artist
– an excerpt from my novella The War Artist and the Half-dead Beauty. It’s a harrowing scene where the war artist finally gets to witness the theatre of war and it took me many, many rewrites to finally get it to a stage where I thought it did the story justice.
Anyway, I came across Ether Books a year or two back and I thought it’s a great platform for short-form fiction. I like that the content is curated and that there’s a proper submission process for writers. Once a story is accepted, writers get access to a ‘writer’s hub’ section of the site, where they can change their profile picture, edit their blurb and check statistics on their story downloads. There’s also good linking with social media sites and so far I’ve found the site really intuitive and easy to use. Stories are categorised and readers are able to rate and review each story – making it easy for readers to discover something of interest.
We spend so much time on our smart phones these days. I can’t seem to stand in a checkout queue at the supermarket without checking my iPhone. A while back I realised how much crap I was consuming on my phone, it’s been a bad diet of Facebook updates, top 10 tips for writers and vacuous tweets. As Alain de Botton said ‘Tweets; to literature as Lego is to architecture.’ I realised if I’m going to spend time reading, it should be something meaningful - and that's where an app like Ether Books is perfect.
Maureen Scott is the co-founder of Ether Books. I asked her more about how Ether Books came about and where it's heading in the future …
What is the concept behind Ether Books and how is it different to other digital publishing platforms?
Ether Books was created by two founders who share a passion for reading and for mobile phones (and new technology!)
I have spent the past 15 years in the mobile industry, and ran one of the first mobile technical developer programmes when I worked at Openwave. The company is the Silicon Valley company originally set up by one of Steve Job's technology evangelist back in 1995 to enable internet access on mobile phones. I always felt like a fraud because I am not a gamer and didn't actually use any of the mobile content or apps on offer. That all changed when I saw the Classic Books App on the newly released iPhone device! The reading experience was like turning the page of a book with all the added benefits of being in your pocket on your SmartPhone. I love reading and was an English major. Ether was born from my love of mobile and my love of reading. I wanted every consumer on the planet to be able to enjoy great English language Authors right from their SmartPhone, AND be able to communicate with them right from their Smartphone. We use the headshot photo of all of our writers to make Ether writers accessible, and to illustrate that as a company we are about connecting people who love to write with people who love to read. We tear the covers off books! Plus dustcover images are way too small for a SmartPhone screen!
What are the advantages for writers publishing their work on Ether Books?
Ether is a start-up and we have seen the market potential through new eyes. We are a mobile first company; we are exploiting the new and global market opportunity that is available now with consumer adoption of SmartPhones and Apps. Digital reading is growing in popularity and we want to bring a new digital audience to Ether Writers. Writers are able to communicate directly with individual readers and reading groups, AND they retain the rights to their content. It is Ether's ethos that artists should retain rights to their work and have artistic freedom to publish their work as they intended. We provide a very supportive community to our writers, which provides an outlet for what is a very solitary endeavour --- writing.
Two Ether writers have already signed Publishing deals for their new books. We believe we will be the 'hub' for writers to get discovered by consumers and Publishers who want to offer book deals. We also have film producers interested in working with Ether! Isn't that what every writers wants -- artistic freedom, engagement with their audience, and their work watched in addition to being read.
We have attempted to create a company where the needs of authors are first and foremost. This is why our platform has deep social media links and our eQuip product enables any writer to host their very own App on Ether's platform. Amazon puts consumers first and cheap prices. Ether places authors first, we believe consumers will follow and enjoy a very different experience than going onto Amazon and buying a book. We make the user experience interactive and personal instead of an Amazon transaction.
How do you see Ether Books growing and developing over the next few years?
We are a tiny company with very big global expansion plans! We are currently in fundraising mode now and are inviting people to invest in the company via the UK Crowd Investing WEB site CrowdCube:
http://blog.etherbooks.com/2014/05/invest-in-ether-our-crowdcube-campaign-has-begun/
http://www.crowdcube.com/investment/ether-books-15012
Visit: http://www.etherbooks.com/
Anyway, I came across Ether Books a year or two back and I thought it’s a great platform for short-form fiction. I like that the content is curated and that there’s a proper submission process for writers. Once a story is accepted, writers get access to a ‘writer’s hub’ section of the site, where they can change their profile picture, edit their blurb and check statistics on their story downloads. There’s also good linking with social media sites and so far I’ve found the site really intuitive and easy to use. Stories are categorised and readers are able to rate and review each story – making it easy for readers to discover something of interest.
We spend so much time on our smart phones these days. I can’t seem to stand in a checkout queue at the supermarket without checking my iPhone. A while back I realised how much crap I was consuming on my phone, it’s been a bad diet of Facebook updates, top 10 tips for writers and vacuous tweets. As Alain de Botton said ‘Tweets; to literature as Lego is to architecture.’ I realised if I’m going to spend time reading, it should be something meaningful - and that's where an app like Ether Books is perfect.
Maureen Scott is the co-founder of Ether Books. I asked her more about how Ether Books came about and where it's heading in the future …
What is the concept behind Ether Books and how is it different to other digital publishing platforms?
Ether Books was created by two founders who share a passion for reading and for mobile phones (and new technology!)
I have spent the past 15 years in the mobile industry, and ran one of the first mobile technical developer programmes when I worked at Openwave. The company is the Silicon Valley company originally set up by one of Steve Job's technology evangelist back in 1995 to enable internet access on mobile phones. I always felt like a fraud because I am not a gamer and didn't actually use any of the mobile content or apps on offer. That all changed when I saw the Classic Books App on the newly released iPhone device! The reading experience was like turning the page of a book with all the added benefits of being in your pocket on your SmartPhone. I love reading and was an English major. Ether was born from my love of mobile and my love of reading. I wanted every consumer on the planet to be able to enjoy great English language Authors right from their SmartPhone, AND be able to communicate with them right from their Smartphone. We use the headshot photo of all of our writers to make Ether writers accessible, and to illustrate that as a company we are about connecting people who love to write with people who love to read. We tear the covers off books! Plus dustcover images are way too small for a SmartPhone screen!
What are the advantages for writers publishing their work on Ether Books?
Ether is a start-up and we have seen the market potential through new eyes. We are a mobile first company; we are exploiting the new and global market opportunity that is available now with consumer adoption of SmartPhones and Apps. Digital reading is growing in popularity and we want to bring a new digital audience to Ether Writers. Writers are able to communicate directly with individual readers and reading groups, AND they retain the rights to their content. It is Ether's ethos that artists should retain rights to their work and have artistic freedom to publish their work as they intended. We provide a very supportive community to our writers, which provides an outlet for what is a very solitary endeavour --- writing.
Two Ether writers have already signed Publishing deals for their new books. We believe we will be the 'hub' for writers to get discovered by consumers and Publishers who want to offer book deals. We also have film producers interested in working with Ether! Isn't that what every writers wants -- artistic freedom, engagement with their audience, and their work watched in addition to being read.
We have attempted to create a company where the needs of authors are first and foremost. This is why our platform has deep social media links and our eQuip product enables any writer to host their very own App on Ether's platform. Amazon puts consumers first and cheap prices. Ether places authors first, we believe consumers will follow and enjoy a very different experience than going onto Amazon and buying a book. We make the user experience interactive and personal instead of an Amazon transaction.
How do you see Ether Books growing and developing over the next few years?
We are a tiny company with very big global expansion plans! We are currently in fundraising mode now and are inviting people to invest in the company via the UK Crowd Investing WEB site CrowdCube:
http://blog.etherbooks.com/2014/05/invest-in-ether-our-crowdcube-campaign-has-begun/
http://www.crowdcube.com/investment/ether-books-15012
Visit: http://www.etherbooks.com/
May 13, 2014
Seasonal creativity with Tom Evans
Since January this year, my writing has gone a little stale. As I’ve written in other posts, since I self-published my novel
Searching for Von Honningsbergs
I’ve been consumed by social media and platform building, mucking around with Animoto book trailers, fine-tuning my use of Hootsuite and Twitter posts. I was fearing that I’d lost my writing spark and was wondering whether I’d ever write another worthwhile thing. But then I heard a podcast between Joanna Penn (my self-pub/self-help guru) and author and mentor Tom Evans. Tom Evans was talking about how he’s a seasonal writer and he writes better in the Spring and also according to patterns of the moon. This really struck a chord with me, because I do seem to spend the Summer and Autumn not as focused as I do in Winter and Spring. Once I thought about it, over the last two years I’ve tended to blog more and do other things in the first half of the year and then I settle into serious writing later in the year.
The weather in Melbourne has just gotten cooler, and guess what? I’m starting to feel more creative again in the mornings. I switch on the heater in the study, cosy up in my dressing gown, sip on my long black coffee and the words are starting to flow again. Thinking there really must be something in it, I contacted Tom to find out more about seasonal creativity ...
You’ve said that you write better in the Spring. Why do you think this is?
Well I should emphasise I am answering this question from the perspective of being situated in the Northern hemisphere. After writing three books over three years, I realised that I had started them all in April. It occurred to me then that there might be a pattern. So for the next four books, I tested it out and they popped out easily. Any attempt to start another book in Autumn seemed like I was pushing water uphill.
So I guess empirically I’ve noticed I naturally prefer to Spring Forward. I noted too that I got to first draft by the Spring Equinox in June.
How can writers better tune into their own patterns and take advantage of seasonal creativity?
We all have different times when we are creative. Intuitively though we know if we are ’morning’ or ’evening’ people. So the first step is just to become aware of our most productive times.
We can then go back historically through our diaries and think about projects that went well and those that hit blockages. When we the see the pattern, we can schedule times in our diary in the future for our creative endeavours. For example, when working on a new book, I make ’appointments’ with my chapters and book client work in around them. My book takes priority over everything as it won't write itself unless I agree to ’meet with it’.
You also talk about 'harvesting' in the off-seasons - please tell us a little more about this and how writers can benefit from harvesting time.
So even though I write my books in Spring, the reason they pop out so quickly when I start them is that the planning starts in Autumn and through the Winter. So some chapters might start out life as a blog or an exercise I try out in a workshop, in an ecourse or in a client 1-2-1 session. This ensures what I write about has been tested in the real world.
Note that this applies to my non-fiction books on the theme of personal development. This year I am getting back into writing fiction and I suspect the Winter months might suit such introspective writing. The main thing to do is for writers to try out what works. If the Muse is with us, we go with the flow. If it’s not with us, don't push water uphill.
How does changes in the moon cycle affect our creativity?
A few years ago, in my esoteric research into the Minor Arcana of Tarot, I found an obscure reference to how the Moon Phase affects our consciousness. As an experiment, I’ve been operating to Moon Phase since and I can testify that it seems to work. This video explains more:
Tom Evans is an author and author’s mentor. He is the creator of two self study programmes, How to Channel Your Book and Living Timefully. Find out more about Tom, his books, blogs and services at www.tomevans.co
The weather in Melbourne has just gotten cooler, and guess what? I’m starting to feel more creative again in the mornings. I switch on the heater in the study, cosy up in my dressing gown, sip on my long black coffee and the words are starting to flow again. Thinking there really must be something in it, I contacted Tom to find out more about seasonal creativity ...
You’ve said that you write better in the Spring. Why do you think this is?
Well I should emphasise I am answering this question from the perspective of being situated in the Northern hemisphere. After writing three books over three years, I realised that I had started them all in April. It occurred to me then that there might be a pattern. So for the next four books, I tested it out and they popped out easily. Any attempt to start another book in Autumn seemed like I was pushing water uphill.
So I guess empirically I’ve noticed I naturally prefer to Spring Forward. I noted too that I got to first draft by the Spring Equinox in June.
How can writers better tune into their own patterns and take advantage of seasonal creativity?
We all have different times when we are creative. Intuitively though we know if we are ’morning’ or ’evening’ people. So the first step is just to become aware of our most productive times.
We can then go back historically through our diaries and think about projects that went well and those that hit blockages. When we the see the pattern, we can schedule times in our diary in the future for our creative endeavours. For example, when working on a new book, I make ’appointments’ with my chapters and book client work in around them. My book takes priority over everything as it won't write itself unless I agree to ’meet with it’.
You also talk about 'harvesting' in the off-seasons - please tell us a little more about this and how writers can benefit from harvesting time.
So even though I write my books in Spring, the reason they pop out so quickly when I start them is that the planning starts in Autumn and through the Winter. So some chapters might start out life as a blog or an exercise I try out in a workshop, in an ecourse or in a client 1-2-1 session. This ensures what I write about has been tested in the real world.
Note that this applies to my non-fiction books on the theme of personal development. This year I am getting back into writing fiction and I suspect the Winter months might suit such introspective writing. The main thing to do is for writers to try out what works. If the Muse is with us, we go with the flow. If it’s not with us, don't push water uphill.
How does changes in the moon cycle affect our creativity?
A few years ago, in my esoteric research into the Minor Arcana of Tarot, I found an obscure reference to how the Moon Phase affects our consciousness. As an experiment, I’ve been operating to Moon Phase since and I can testify that it seems to work. This video explains more:
Tom Evans is an author and author’s mentor. He is the creator of two self study programmes, How to Channel Your Book and Living Timefully. Find out more about Tom, his books, blogs and services at www.tomevans.co
May 11, 2014
Outsider art
I just got back from a weekend in Hobart, where I spent a day at MONA – the new Museum of Old and New Art. I came across an artist that stopped me in my tracks. In a dark room, suspended from the ceiling, as if floating in the air, were a series of pencil drawings with watercolour of young girls. Sometimes the girls were fully clothed, outside a circus tent, and everyone was happy, other times they were naked and had penises and there was an underlying feeling of something sinister. There was one piece that had me gaping - of young girls being attacked and strangled by men in a war-like scene, over and over again. I stopped and stared for ages and wanted to elbow away anyone who so much as got near my space and threatened this magical moment of discovery.
Being MONA, I was able to look up more about this artist on their O device and I discovered he was called Henry Darger and these were his ‘Vivian girls’. Darger was a reclusive artist and writer. After he died his landlord discovered a 15,000-page manuscript and hundreds of drawings and watercolours. Darger had created art for the love of creation. It appears that he had no intention of being exhibited or published in his lifetime. Luckily the person that discovered his work was a photographer and had an eye for art, otherwise, it could all have been thrown in the bin.
Ex-National Gallery of Australia director and art critic Betty Churcher once said that the most interesting art is probably happening right now in someone’s bedroom and no one even knows about it. Darger is typical of ‘outsider art’ – art that happens outside of the mainstream art world. Is it even more precious because the maker has no desire to be ‘discovered’?
Lately a friend of mine, a filmmaker, was questioning me about why I was giving away so much content for free by having my work on a site like Wattpad. I said that it was the joy of having people read my work, that their votes and positive comments were currency to me. She kept on questioning me, and asked me how I protected my work, and what if someone ripped it off. I said at this stage in my career I’d take it as a compliment.
But on the way back from the airport this weekend, I received a Google alert on my name that directed me to a website where someone has posted my story ‘Bequest’ as a free ebook download. I didn’t feel flattered by it at all, I felt infuriated. Sure I was giving it away or free on Wattpad, but I still had some sort of control over how it was presented. I’ve sent them an email asking them to take it down, but the site seems so dodgy I doubt I’ll ever get a response. But is any exposure good exposure at this point in my journey? And if I’m giving it away for free anyway, should I care where it’s turning up? Is my intention just to have as many people as possible read my work? Is it all just about getting my name out there?
But if I’m to take a leaf from Darger’s book, does it matter at all? I’m not planning on getting rich from my writing. I’m in the fortunate position of having a job that I like and a roof over my head. I write because I love it, because if I don’t write, I feel like something is missing from my day. It’s art for the sake of making art. If it gets noticed, then great … if it doesn’t, I’m still enjoying creating it.
Being MONA, I was able to look up more about this artist on their O device and I discovered he was called Henry Darger and these were his ‘Vivian girls’. Darger was a reclusive artist and writer. After he died his landlord discovered a 15,000-page manuscript and hundreds of drawings and watercolours. Darger had created art for the love of creation. It appears that he had no intention of being exhibited or published in his lifetime. Luckily the person that discovered his work was a photographer and had an eye for art, otherwise, it could all have been thrown in the bin.
Ex-National Gallery of Australia director and art critic Betty Churcher once said that the most interesting art is probably happening right now in someone’s bedroom and no one even knows about it. Darger is typical of ‘outsider art’ – art that happens outside of the mainstream art world. Is it even more precious because the maker has no desire to be ‘discovered’?
Lately a friend of mine, a filmmaker, was questioning me about why I was giving away so much content for free by having my work on a site like Wattpad. I said that it was the joy of having people read my work, that their votes and positive comments were currency to me. She kept on questioning me, and asked me how I protected my work, and what if someone ripped it off. I said at this stage in my career I’d take it as a compliment.
But on the way back from the airport this weekend, I received a Google alert on my name that directed me to a website where someone has posted my story ‘Bequest’ as a free ebook download. I didn’t feel flattered by it at all, I felt infuriated. Sure I was giving it away or free on Wattpad, but I still had some sort of control over how it was presented. I’ve sent them an email asking them to take it down, but the site seems so dodgy I doubt I’ll ever get a response. But is any exposure good exposure at this point in my journey? And if I’m giving it away for free anyway, should I care where it’s turning up? Is my intention just to have as many people as possible read my work? Is it all just about getting my name out there?
But if I’m to take a leaf from Darger’s book, does it matter at all? I’m not planning on getting rich from my writing. I’m in the fortunate position of having a job that I like and a roof over my head. I write because I love it, because if I don’t write, I feel like something is missing from my day. It’s art for the sake of making art. If it gets noticed, then great … if it doesn’t, I’m still enjoying creating it.
May 5, 2014
ebook cover designs – Go On Write
I know from working at an art gallery that choosing the right image for a catalogue cover can make or break the sales of that publication. I was lucky to have discovered James of Go On Write earlier this year. I’ve now got six of his covers for my stories and am constantly getting comments from people about how great they are. He has a website http://www.goonwrite.com/ where he offers pre-made ebook covers using a range of fabulous stock images, both photographic and illustrative. I quite like choosing ‘off the shelf’, rather than commissioning, as I can visualise exactly what my cover is going to look like – there’s no surprises at the end.
Here’s a few of the covers he’s done for me:
James’s service is quick and his covers always get delivered with an email signoff saying ‘smiles and kindness’ … what’s not to love about that? And he’s also a rather talented short story writer … Here I ask him more about his work as a cover designer (and a little about him being a writer too) …
What makes a good cover design?Good cover design for ebooks and print are two different things, but they have their route in the same area; all authors that come to me mostly lack the bravery to try something really engaging for a cover, they want visual clichés, so that's what I deliver; but the way that they overlap is that they have to grab one's attention. It's a little different with a site like Amazon because you only have a certain amount of real-estate to play with ... a tiny part of the screen, so although a lot of the pre-made covers I make are visual clichés I try and subvert this with clean clear typography and finding the right images. Searching stock sites for images takes a lot of my time. I'm thorough. As for some good ideas of what I consider to be good cover design, you can read my 14 Points for Good Cover design that I wrote a few years ago: http://humblenations.com/2012/04/12/14-tips-for-good-kindle-cover-design/.
How does being a writer interact with your work and how does your work interact with your writing?I've probably designed close to 5,000 book covers over the last 2 years. There's about 4,200 pre-made covers I've designed and I'd say I've probably done about 600-800 commissions in that time.
I guess the advantage of being a writer myself means that when I make my pre-made covers I can come up with dummy titles that are passable and look interesting which adds to the marketability of my work. People can see their own titles on the covers rather than having to visualise it over the 'Book Title Here' 'Author Here' as you see on some pre-made cover sites. In fact, what makes me smile is when an author is so inspired they actually use the existing title and write a story around that. There was a nice article on a popular blog which did that very thing (http://thewritepractice.com/book-covers/). So I guess that gives me an advantage over some other sites. Authors think: yes this guy knows what he’s talking about. Having said that, a lot of the covers are really not my style of writing anyway. In fact 99% of it isn't because everyone seems to be genre writers who are self-publishing. Which really isn't my bag at all. I don't read genre so I don't write genre. I'm more into a less formulaic sense of literature. And I don't mind using that work. Good writing is good writing. Good story telling is good story telling. At the moment I'm enjoying the work of Etgar Keret, a fantastic Israeli writer with bags of imagination.
I guess the other thing with how my writing and my cover design interact is that at the moment the design is swallowing my time to actually do my own work. So ... I'm going to cut down on the design over the coming weeks and get some of my own work done. I went away for five weeks to Spain last September and wrote probably 100,000 words. Still haven't typed half of it up. But there's some great short stories in there. One about a drunken knife thrower. Another about ... well there's loads. I'm not going to list them. People will just have to wait for them to come out.
What are your best tips for commissioning a cover design? What should the author include in the brief?I have a set of questions I usually ask when someone comes to me for a commission. They're pretty in-depth and could be quite daunting for an author, so I say: answer as many or as little as you want. But 85% of the time authors already have an image in their mind about what they specifically want on their cover. Whether it be right or wrong. It's usually the latter. But I always say: give the kids what they want. Customer is always right and all that. Which is why when I was doing commissions it was all about getting authors to go find the images from Shutter Stock and working from there. This worked because a lot of the time the image they have in their head doesn't really exist. If it doesn't exist then how can I make a cover from it. So that gets around that little problem.
If authors wanted me to use my own design chops and come up with a concept I'd do this too. Now I guess you'll see I'm talking in the past-tense here ... and that's because I've stopped doing commissions at the moment. It's taking too much of my time and I have my own projects that I want to work on, including my writing. So no more commissions from me. Just pre-made book covers.
Will you ever run out of stock images to use?The answer to this is yes and no. There are only so many images out there but on the stock site I use there is always new work going up from photographers and you can search on date, to see the newest work. For example I had rinsed the 'Erotic Women' and 'Erotic Couples' in the middle of last year and had left it till about 2-3 weeks ago to look again and there was a stack of new stuff up. Enough to get a stack of quality new ones. In fact, I guess photographers are no different to pre-made cover designers - they see what sells in their portfolio and make more of it. So I think that self-publishing and the sorts of covers that they need is actually driving these images to be made. So it has a nice knock-on effect that photographers are getting paid more money and in turn the models too. When you think of it in these terms it's quite fun. Like there is some connection with the fictional characters that authors create, and have an image on the cover on the book and the models that are playing these characters. Is it a form prostitution? Most definitely. But doesn't anyone prostitute their time? The only people that don't are the artists. People that are creating not for money but for the love of creation. Which in the end is what also makes a good writer.
Visit http://www.goonwrite.com/to check out some of James’s great pre-made cover designs
Here’s a few of the covers he’s done for me:
James’s service is quick and his covers always get delivered with an email signoff saying ‘smiles and kindness’ … what’s not to love about that? And he’s also a rather talented short story writer … Here I ask him more about his work as a cover designer (and a little about him being a writer too) …
What makes a good cover design?Good cover design for ebooks and print are two different things, but they have their route in the same area; all authors that come to me mostly lack the bravery to try something really engaging for a cover, they want visual clichés, so that's what I deliver; but the way that they overlap is that they have to grab one's attention. It's a little different with a site like Amazon because you only have a certain amount of real-estate to play with ... a tiny part of the screen, so although a lot of the pre-made covers I make are visual clichés I try and subvert this with clean clear typography and finding the right images. Searching stock sites for images takes a lot of my time. I'm thorough. As for some good ideas of what I consider to be good cover design, you can read my 14 Points for Good Cover design that I wrote a few years ago: http://humblenations.com/2012/04/12/14-tips-for-good-kindle-cover-design/.
How does being a writer interact with your work and how does your work interact with your writing?I've probably designed close to 5,000 book covers over the last 2 years. There's about 4,200 pre-made covers I've designed and I'd say I've probably done about 600-800 commissions in that time.
I guess the advantage of being a writer myself means that when I make my pre-made covers I can come up with dummy titles that are passable and look interesting which adds to the marketability of my work. People can see their own titles on the covers rather than having to visualise it over the 'Book Title Here' 'Author Here' as you see on some pre-made cover sites. In fact, what makes me smile is when an author is so inspired they actually use the existing title and write a story around that. There was a nice article on a popular blog which did that very thing (http://thewritepractice.com/book-covers/). So I guess that gives me an advantage over some other sites. Authors think: yes this guy knows what he’s talking about. Having said that, a lot of the covers are really not my style of writing anyway. In fact 99% of it isn't because everyone seems to be genre writers who are self-publishing. Which really isn't my bag at all. I don't read genre so I don't write genre. I'm more into a less formulaic sense of literature. And I don't mind using that work. Good writing is good writing. Good story telling is good story telling. At the moment I'm enjoying the work of Etgar Keret, a fantastic Israeli writer with bags of imagination.
I guess the other thing with how my writing and my cover design interact is that at the moment the design is swallowing my time to actually do my own work. So ... I'm going to cut down on the design over the coming weeks and get some of my own work done. I went away for five weeks to Spain last September and wrote probably 100,000 words. Still haven't typed half of it up. But there's some great short stories in there. One about a drunken knife thrower. Another about ... well there's loads. I'm not going to list them. People will just have to wait for them to come out.
What are your best tips for commissioning a cover design? What should the author include in the brief?I have a set of questions I usually ask when someone comes to me for a commission. They're pretty in-depth and could be quite daunting for an author, so I say: answer as many or as little as you want. But 85% of the time authors already have an image in their mind about what they specifically want on their cover. Whether it be right or wrong. It's usually the latter. But I always say: give the kids what they want. Customer is always right and all that. Which is why when I was doing commissions it was all about getting authors to go find the images from Shutter Stock and working from there. This worked because a lot of the time the image they have in their head doesn't really exist. If it doesn't exist then how can I make a cover from it. So that gets around that little problem.
If authors wanted me to use my own design chops and come up with a concept I'd do this too. Now I guess you'll see I'm talking in the past-tense here ... and that's because I've stopped doing commissions at the moment. It's taking too much of my time and I have my own projects that I want to work on, including my writing. So no more commissions from me. Just pre-made book covers.
Will you ever run out of stock images to use?The answer to this is yes and no. There are only so many images out there but on the stock site I use there is always new work going up from photographers and you can search on date, to see the newest work. For example I had rinsed the 'Erotic Women' and 'Erotic Couples' in the middle of last year and had left it till about 2-3 weeks ago to look again and there was a stack of new stuff up. Enough to get a stack of quality new ones. In fact, I guess photographers are no different to pre-made cover designers - they see what sells in their portfolio and make more of it. So I think that self-publishing and the sorts of covers that they need is actually driving these images to be made. So it has a nice knock-on effect that photographers are getting paid more money and in turn the models too. When you think of it in these terms it's quite fun. Like there is some connection with the fictional characters that authors create, and have an image on the cover on the book and the models that are playing these characters. Is it a form prostitution? Most definitely. But doesn't anyone prostitute their time? The only people that don't are the artists. People that are creating not for money but for the love of creation. Which in the end is what also makes a good writer.
Visit http://www.goonwrite.com/to check out some of James’s great pre-made cover designs
May 3, 2014
List of digital first imprints
With the huge success of ebooks, many publishers are launching their own digital first imprints. Here's a list of some of the digital first imprints that are currently accepting unsolicited manuscripts:
Momentum http://momentumbooks.com.au/submissions/
Entangled Publishing http://www.entangledpublishing.com/about-us/
Spark http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/bloomsbury-spark/
Carina UK http://www.carinauk.com/
Guardian Shorts http://guardianshorts.co.uk/category/guardian-shorts-originals/
Harper Impulse http://www.harperimpulseromance.com/write-for-us/submission-guidelines/
Loveswept, Alibi, Hydra and Flirt http://www.atrandom.com/eoriginals/submission.php
Forever Yours http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/publishers/grand-central-publishing/forever-yours/
Dutton Guilt Edged http://www.penguin.com/static/pages/duttonguiltedged/submission_form.php
Avon Impulse http://www.avonromance.com/impulse/
Escape Publishing http://www.escapepublishing.com.au/submission
Hot Key Books Unlocked http://www.hotkeyunlocked.com/about-us/
______________
Rowena Wiseman writes literary fiction and children's stories. Her novel Searching for Von Honningsbergs has been published as an ebook on Screwpulp: http://www.screwpulp.com/?browse&*=info&id=70
THE DODGY WORLD OF FINE ART ....
Momentum http://momentumbooks.com.au/submissions/
Entangled Publishing http://www.entangledpublishing.com/about-us/
Spark http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/bloomsbury-spark/
Carina UK http://www.carinauk.com/
Guardian Shorts http://guardianshorts.co.uk/category/guardian-shorts-originals/
Harper Impulse http://www.harperimpulseromance.com/write-for-us/submission-guidelines/
Loveswept, Alibi, Hydra and Flirt http://www.atrandom.com/eoriginals/submission.php
Forever Yours http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/publishers/grand-central-publishing/forever-yours/
Dutton Guilt Edged http://www.penguin.com/static/pages/duttonguiltedged/submission_form.php
Avon Impulse http://www.avonromance.com/impulse/
Escape Publishing http://www.escapepublishing.com.au/submission
Hot Key Books Unlocked http://www.hotkeyunlocked.com/about-us/
______________
Rowena Wiseman writes literary fiction and children's stories. Her novel Searching for Von Honningsbergs has been published as an ebook on Screwpulp: http://www.screwpulp.com/?browse&*=info&id=70
THE DODGY WORLD OF FINE ART ....
April 29, 2014
Eda Utku - on writing and marketing
I recently came across Eda Utku on Twitter – born in Turkey, she’s been living in Sydney for three years. She has a background in marketing and has set up a website for writers NeedHelpWriteNow.com. She’s also developed a unique approach to get her work out to readers. This year she is publishing the 12 Seasons of Growth short stories, each month she releases one story about a character adapting to life in Sydney. I wanted to find out more about her innovative marketing ideas – so I invited her to do a guest post … Here it is …
Writing and marketing are two sides of the same coin
I’m aware that there was a time where marketers were not widely trusted by artists. Perhaps those days are over now that there are increasingly more channels for artists to connect with their fans and many artists are taking up the art and science that is marketing and finding that at the end of the day, it’s just about telling stories, listening for feedback, improving stories (adjusting the pitch), growing their community and influence through creating virtuous cycles.
I look at art as making connections. For me, marketing is just as much art as writing. So how did a marketing professional like me get into writing? Like all artists, I did not choose to be an artist. I was born this way. My closest friends were words and I was always playing with them as soon as I’d learned how to speak in my mother tongue, Turkish. I had to deny that I was a writer because it was not a socially acceptable profession. Things have come a long way and with the diligence, hard work and willingness of artists to connect directly with their audience, soon enough children will be encouraged to become artists. I feel that a long overdue change in values is happening where intelligence, generosity of artistic gift, and thoughtfulness will be rewarded.
What working in marketing taught me
Marketing is not what it used to be. Mass media is losing ground as audiences are consuming their entertainment and news from various different sources. This is an opportunity as well as a challenge. The opportunity is that advertising on social media is much cheaper than the traditional broadcast media and can be more effective if one spends enough time to understand the networks and the audience. The challenge lies in understanding the culture of different social media and offering marketing content that’s going to be welcomed and not be labeled as disruptive spam, which no one has patience for anymore.
Most marketing ideas don’t see the light of day. However, when they do, well then that’s where the magic happens. Many campaigns flop. Failing, learning and trying again are the steps to success.
12 Seasons of Growth short story campaign
Running campaigns, doing promotions, involving the community and building mutually beneficial relationships are not the typical parts of the artists’ journey, but it’s something I’m trying this year. I’ve had 12 characters in my head for a long time and finally, shortly before the end of 2013 I decided they were going to come out of my head and onto the paper in 2014.
After approaching a boutique publisher and getting rejected, I decided to promote my own stories. I’m releasing the 12 characters as part of a 12 part short stories where each story is released on the 12th of each month in 2014. I was initially contemplating distributing copies of the self-published short stories (Kwik Kopy prints them for me) to 12 cafes and book shops, but logistics got in the way. Fortunately, from the start of the project, I had the support of Lovey Bite Café in Crows Nest. The owners were some of the first readers of the first story and offered their counter space.
My goal for 12 Seasons of Growth stories
A key concept of marketing is that there must be a goal to reach. The goal must be S.M.A.R.T. That is, specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused and time-bound. As a writer, what are my writing goals? Is it better to strive for a quantitative measure on words, or qualitative feedback from readers? These are some of the questions I consider as I continue to write my stories.
My stories are now available at Lovey Bites Café for a suggested donation of $4.35. The proceeds go towards supporting NeedHelpWriteNow.com, my website where I introduce local writers to my community - I’m looking to grow to 1212 subscribers by 12/12/2014. I was glad when the story of the 12 Seasons of Growth short story campaign got picked up by Mosman Daily newspaper and I got some mentions for Lovey Bite Café. I’m focused on getting readers to offer feedback on the 12 Seasons of Growth stories. As a result, the community is growing. However, I still have a long ways to go before I reach my quantitative goal.
You can check out the campaign on her website http://www.NeedHelpWriteNow.com/sydney-reads-contest
Writing and marketing are two sides of the same coin
I’m aware that there was a time where marketers were not widely trusted by artists. Perhaps those days are over now that there are increasingly more channels for artists to connect with their fans and many artists are taking up the art and science that is marketing and finding that at the end of the day, it’s just about telling stories, listening for feedback, improving stories (adjusting the pitch), growing their community and influence through creating virtuous cycles.
I look at art as making connections. For me, marketing is just as much art as writing. So how did a marketing professional like me get into writing? Like all artists, I did not choose to be an artist. I was born this way. My closest friends were words and I was always playing with them as soon as I’d learned how to speak in my mother tongue, Turkish. I had to deny that I was a writer because it was not a socially acceptable profession. Things have come a long way and with the diligence, hard work and willingness of artists to connect directly with their audience, soon enough children will be encouraged to become artists. I feel that a long overdue change in values is happening where intelligence, generosity of artistic gift, and thoughtfulness will be rewarded.
What working in marketing taught me
Marketing is not what it used to be. Mass media is losing ground as audiences are consuming their entertainment and news from various different sources. This is an opportunity as well as a challenge. The opportunity is that advertising on social media is much cheaper than the traditional broadcast media and can be more effective if one spends enough time to understand the networks and the audience. The challenge lies in understanding the culture of different social media and offering marketing content that’s going to be welcomed and not be labeled as disruptive spam, which no one has patience for anymore.
Most marketing ideas don’t see the light of day. However, when they do, well then that’s where the magic happens. Many campaigns flop. Failing, learning and trying again are the steps to success.
12 Seasons of Growth short story campaign
Running campaigns, doing promotions, involving the community and building mutually beneficial relationships are not the typical parts of the artists’ journey, but it’s something I’m trying this year. I’ve had 12 characters in my head for a long time and finally, shortly before the end of 2013 I decided they were going to come out of my head and onto the paper in 2014.
After approaching a boutique publisher and getting rejected, I decided to promote my own stories. I’m releasing the 12 characters as part of a 12 part short stories where each story is released on the 12th of each month in 2014. I was initially contemplating distributing copies of the self-published short stories (Kwik Kopy prints them for me) to 12 cafes and book shops, but logistics got in the way. Fortunately, from the start of the project, I had the support of Lovey Bite Café in Crows Nest. The owners were some of the first readers of the first story and offered their counter space.
My goal for 12 Seasons of Growth stories
A key concept of marketing is that there must be a goal to reach. The goal must be S.M.A.R.T. That is, specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused and time-bound. As a writer, what are my writing goals? Is it better to strive for a quantitative measure on words, or qualitative feedback from readers? These are some of the questions I consider as I continue to write my stories.
My stories are now available at Lovey Bites Café for a suggested donation of $4.35. The proceeds go towards supporting NeedHelpWriteNow.com, my website where I introduce local writers to my community - I’m looking to grow to 1212 subscribers by 12/12/2014. I was glad when the story of the 12 Seasons of Growth short story campaign got picked up by Mosman Daily newspaper and I got some mentions for Lovey Bite Café. I’m focused on getting readers to offer feedback on the 12 Seasons of Growth stories. As a result, the community is growing. However, I still have a long ways to go before I reach my quantitative goal.
You can check out the campaign on her website http://www.NeedHelpWriteNow.com/sydney-reads-contest
April 24, 2014
Wattpad featured story
I'm excited to have my 10,000-word novella Bequest featured on Wattpad. The story went live on the featured list yesterday afternoon and it's been amazing to watch the number of reads increase overnight. My first votes were from Brazil and Vietnam - showing just how global Wattpad really is.
Bequest is about an old man named Leonard who wants to donate his tattooed skin to the National Gallery of Australia. He has been almost completely inked by one of Australia's best contemporary artists, but he is a canvas that nobody wants. Strange things start happening to Leonard, Darwin’s moth, a tattoo from his calf, flutters around him one night, he wakes with a Cold War gas mask on his head, Mao Tse Tung appears in his bed. Tattoos from his skin come alive before him and he becomes more convinced than ever that his skin is truly precious.
You can check out the trailer here:
And read on Wattpad here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/11397437-bequest
Bequest is about an old man named Leonard who wants to donate his tattooed skin to the National Gallery of Australia. He has been almost completely inked by one of Australia's best contemporary artists, but he is a canvas that nobody wants. Strange things start happening to Leonard, Darwin’s moth, a tattoo from his calf, flutters around him one night, he wakes with a Cold War gas mask on his head, Mao Tse Tung appears in his bed. Tattoos from his skin come alive before him and he becomes more convinced than ever that his skin is truly precious.
You can check out the trailer here:
And read on Wattpad here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/11397437-bequest
April 23, 2014
Small press pop quiz - Skylight Press
What makes Skylight Press different to other publishers?
We are different in that we don't blandly seek out 'flavour of the month' books or short-term fashions. We are interested in writing with a spark, an original voice, something transformational. We are an ethical press that pays healthy royalty percentages and always on time. We are not swayed by credentials, prizes or populist acclaim. We make beautiful books with an eye for detail and quality.
What kind of manuscripts are you looking for?
We only publish literary fiction, creative language poetry and well written books on esoteric and spiritual topics. We do not publish commercial or genre fiction, nor conversational poetry or self-help books. See our submissions page for more info: http://www.skylightpress.co.uk/submissions.html
If someone was to read two books on your list, what should they be?
We could not possibly pick two books - we love them all.
What are you excited about for 2014?
We have lots of wonderful titles coming up - both new and experienced authors - different genres and styles.
Visit: http://www.skylightpress.co.uk/
We are different in that we don't blandly seek out 'flavour of the month' books or short-term fashions. We are interested in writing with a spark, an original voice, something transformational. We are an ethical press that pays healthy royalty percentages and always on time. We are not swayed by credentials, prizes or populist acclaim. We make beautiful books with an eye for detail and quality.
What kind of manuscripts are you looking for?
We only publish literary fiction, creative language poetry and well written books on esoteric and spiritual topics. We do not publish commercial or genre fiction, nor conversational poetry or self-help books. See our submissions page for more info: http://www.skylightpress.co.uk/submissions.html
If someone was to read two books on your list, what should they be?
We could not possibly pick two books - we love them all.
What are you excited about for 2014?
We have lots of wonderful titles coming up - both new and experienced authors - different genres and styles.
Visit: http://www.skylightpress.co.uk/
April 22, 2014
Small press pop quiz - Tailwinds Press
What makes Tailwinds Press different to other publishers?
Thanks to the staff's diverse professional and academic backgrounds, we are ready to support a wide range of creative efforts and non-fiction works from little-known and emerging authors. Due to a variety of factors, it is now virtually impossible for most newcomers to break into the print publishing industry, even if they’ve done something amazing. We try to bridge that gap by bringing those high-quality works to life in print. The publishing industry is changing, and will continue to change through small, lean, independent operations like us.
We are based in Manhattan, which puts us in physical proximity to a large literary, bookstore (albeit diminishing) and publishing community. We are developing an online network, directly and through our writers. We publish in print and in ebook formats. Print is important—the feel of a physical book in your hands is like nothing else, and we think that’s here to stay.
What kind of manuscripts are you looking for?
Literary fiction is what we know best. We also welcome high-quality nonfiction and children’s books (preferably with illustrations). Instead of restricting ourselves to a specific genre, we aim to publish works that appeal to a specific audience: educated, sophisticated, introspective and curious about the world.
If someone was to read two books on your list, what should they be?
We are currently accepting manuscripts for our 2015-2016 publishing year, and have in fact already made a few positive decisions that will be forthcoming on our website. On our nightstands we have: My Struggle: Book 2, by Karl Ove Knausgaard (2013); Redeployment, by Phil Klay (2014); A Place in the Country, WB Sebald (2014). We also occasionally read: The New England Review, The Paris Review, The Southern Review, The Gettysburg Review, etc.
What are you excited about for the coming year?
First, producing a solid catalog for our inaugural season. There is a lot of skepticism directed toward new indie press start-ups, likely warranted: the internet is littered with the corpses of defunct presses. But we’re in it for the long haul. Second, we’re starting up our blog, which will consist of reviews of independently published books. So if you know of a great work that deserves wider mention, please give us a heads up and we’ll take a look.
Visit: http://tailwindspress.com/
Thanks to the staff's diverse professional and academic backgrounds, we are ready to support a wide range of creative efforts and non-fiction works from little-known and emerging authors. Due to a variety of factors, it is now virtually impossible for most newcomers to break into the print publishing industry, even if they’ve done something amazing. We try to bridge that gap by bringing those high-quality works to life in print. The publishing industry is changing, and will continue to change through small, lean, independent operations like us.
We are based in Manhattan, which puts us in physical proximity to a large literary, bookstore (albeit diminishing) and publishing community. We are developing an online network, directly and through our writers. We publish in print and in ebook formats. Print is important—the feel of a physical book in your hands is like nothing else, and we think that’s here to stay.
What kind of manuscripts are you looking for?
Literary fiction is what we know best. We also welcome high-quality nonfiction and children’s books (preferably with illustrations). Instead of restricting ourselves to a specific genre, we aim to publish works that appeal to a specific audience: educated, sophisticated, introspective and curious about the world.
If someone was to read two books on your list, what should they be?
We are currently accepting manuscripts for our 2015-2016 publishing year, and have in fact already made a few positive decisions that will be forthcoming on our website. On our nightstands we have: My Struggle: Book 2, by Karl Ove Knausgaard (2013); Redeployment, by Phil Klay (2014); A Place in the Country, WB Sebald (2014). We also occasionally read: The New England Review, The Paris Review, The Southern Review, The Gettysburg Review, etc.
What are you excited about for the coming year?
First, producing a solid catalog for our inaugural season. There is a lot of skepticism directed toward new indie press start-ups, likely warranted: the internet is littered with the corpses of defunct presses. But we’re in it for the long haul. Second, we’re starting up our blog, which will consist of reviews of independently published books. So if you know of a great work that deserves wider mention, please give us a heads up and we’ll take a look.
Visit: http://tailwindspress.com/
April 21, 2014
WriteandMatch.com - matching writing mentors and aspiring writers
Write and Match is a new free platform for writing mentors and aspiring writers to connect for one on one editing and mentoring services and to partake in virtual writing groups. WriteandMatch.com was founded as a way of connecting aspiring writers with more experienced writers who are willing to share their knowledge about the craft of writing and the publishing world.
WriteandMatch.com invites both mentors and mentees so sign up, create a profile and meet. Aspiring writers may be able to find a professional writing coach that can assist with one-on-one mentoring at their own schedule. They may also be able to find like-minded writers in their own town to start a reading club, or they can use the online group forum to ask a question or simply start a discussion on their last read.
Visit www.writeandmatch.com
WriteandMatch.com invites both mentors and mentees so sign up, create a profile and meet. Aspiring writers may be able to find a professional writing coach that can assist with one-on-one mentoring at their own schedule. They may also be able to find like-minded writers in their own town to start a reading club, or they can use the online group forum to ask a question or simply start a discussion on their last read.
Visit www.writeandmatch.com
