If only...

I have been enjoying the brilliance, clarity and sheer genius of Dr Philip Ball. The Doctor is 'a freelance science writer, broadcaster and lecturer who's particularly interested in the interactions of the sciences, the arts, and the wider culture.' That sounds somewhat abstruse. In fact Ball makes it all so fascinating I'm in despair.

In May he was one of the guests invited to New Zealand for the Auckland Writers Festival. He gave two talks - the first 'Bright Earth: the Invention of Colour' was recorded at Te Papa in Wellington. The second ‘Invisibility: A Cultural History’ was recorded at St Margaret’s College in Christchurch and both were gobsmackingly brilliant and utterly depressed me. He is one of those incredible people who can link unlikely things and make connections which pull parts together and give the listener a great Eureka moment.

I'm hoping to buy his latest book: 'Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Colour', published by the University of Chicago Press, ISBN: 9780226036281. I learnt so much not only about colour and art but about people, history and chemistry. But it was his talk, ‘Invisibility: A Cultural History’ which has had me going back to Radio New Zealand to listen and I still haven't got half of it sorted in my head.

What I wonder about is where Dr Philip Ball got the ideas and how he could see that they stretched across all the things he linked so sensibly? This kind of intelligence and ability to see beyond surfaces and basic ideas stuns me. I do not feel capable of doing this myself and know that I need to do it in order to write the things I want to write. Hence the depression and frustration as the novel refuses to make sense and won't go where it ought to in order for me to finish it. Listening to the talks simply leaves me feeling perhaps I should not waste my time trying to write because I won't be able to write anything worth much anyway.

This is mid-novel blues and time to call on the strength of my colleagues in Writer's Choice and get mutual support, sympathetic groans and some bracing advice. It seems to me that writers on their own need to make sure they have a support system for those agonising days, weeks and even months. I wonder what Dr Philip Ball could make of this creative depression and what he might connect it to. I would love to know in the hope of preventing the dread depression next time I hit the mid-novel blues.

Sometimes...just sometimes.

It seems to me that New Zealand writers and the NZSA and Creative New Zealand and the Book Council will never grow out of this idiotic belief that pretentious arty-farty 'literahry' writing is great writing. Whilst searching for a market for a story I came across this print journal, an American well established Small Press one, called 'Iconoclast'. Its submission guidelines sum up perfectly what I want to shout at New Zealand writers.

Prose: To 3500 words (occasionally longer). Subjects and styles are completely open (within the standards of generally accepted taste—though exceptions, as always, can be made for unique and visionary works). We like work to have a point or more. We don't care for the slice of life type of story—or any other kind in which characters are unable or unwilling to change their own conditions. Most stories of alcoholism, incest, domestic and public violence are best left to the mass media. Anything topical has probably already been overdone. Simple storytelling usually wins out over slickness of style or the perfectly crafted workshop, MFA story about nothing or the author's neurosis. We never look down our noses at plot. Nor are we immune to the power of a literary stylist. With the possible exception of mysteries, most genres written well, sincerely, and conscientiously have a chance. Humor and science fiction are hard sells (too often these writers think an interesting concept can substitute for a plot or an original ending), but we do publish a fair amount of both. Politics and religion are best left to the demagogues and hypocrites. Killing a character-(s) off in the end usually indicates a lazy or unimaginative beginner. Will we ever publish another bar room story? I don't think so.

Is a cover letter really necessary? We don't do bios (as iconoclasts, we're not into personality cults or self-glorification). A good writer can make us interested in nearly any subject or person. Essays that are merely undocumented opinion or op-ed style pieces have little chance.

Please don't send preliminary drafts—rewriting is half the job. If you're not sure about the story, don't truly believe in it, or are unenthusiastic about the subject (we will not recycle your term papers or thesis), then don't send it. This is not a lottery (luck has nothing to do with it).



Wonderful stuff! It's the difference between writing for other writers to admire your work and writing to share something with readers. I wish Kiwi writers who all want to be literary writers would grow up and remember that if it's fiction they are writing then it should be a work of imagination to share with others as in the good old days of storytelling when people gathered to hear 'Once upon a time...' or 'Listen and I'll tell you a story.'

A really useful place for Indie Writers

I've been working with two wonderful new writers. Full of enthusiasm, grit, stickability and thousands of story ideas these two newbies put the writers' group to shame.

Moaning about not getting published via the traditional route this writers' group wouldn't even consider being independent and forming a co-op to help each other publish. Too much hard work and they couldn't sell their books, it was too difficult.

Sigh!

Might I recommend to all Indies new or established that they join up or even just check out the Author Marketing Club.com? Full of useful advice from successful Indies, and PR experts there are videos and podcasts, transcripts of the same, and the wonderful check list. http://authormarketingclub.com/members/checklist/

There is a free basic service and a paid (not too expensive either) premium service.

My newbie novelist is determined to have the novel out in kindle and then paperback by year's end. Naturally she is eagerly reading all the advice she can find and agrees that the Author Marketing Club check list is the best yet.

Indies take note and go and read it.

Emails and the Book Fair

Why life gets in the way of writing is something we writers all moan about. I note that the men moan less. They usually have wives to do the cooking, cleaning and child rearing for them. I need a wife, or housekeeper or a good WWOOFer to do all the chores, manage the telephone and let me write. Life has been intrusive for months with that stupid neighbour, and the court case, insurance problems, medical problems, penguin protection problems and the need to do these water exercises to keep walking. I'd rather write, preferably on a desert island with a ready supply of fruit and nuts.

April and May have been extra hellish for trying to chase up the problem with my emails being blocked. I haven't heard from my Writer's Choice colleagues for a month. I know they will be cross. I have a possible new member with a novel nearly ready to go, but it will take a lot of thought and discussion to include her. Can't do that without email working. My invoices for next month's income never arrived. I missed the deadlines! Financially next month will be difficult. 'Fascinating' as Mr Spock would say.

Email problems can render one paranoid. Why does the normal stuff get through but every vital, important, financial or writerly email not arrive? Who is reading my email and destroying it? No idea. Which writer out there took offence at my review? At least I can laugh about it all.

It has been particularly difficult without email trying to get the Indie Book Fair organised. It is in Auckland and you have to book a table and space, pay for it and then organise a place to sleep, never mind about bouncing all over the internet trying to catch really cheap flights which are flashed up once a day. It has taken two months to make contact, pay and register.

Indies have to be active. I wish Kiwi Indies would wake up to the book fair. Last year I carried some twenty odd South island writers' books on my stand. The naiveties of most of those writers worried me. Sitting with 500 or 1,000 books in their garage you'd think they would welcome the Book Fair. Not if they had to pay money to go! Not if they had to pay a part share of the space. Not if they had to supply a couple of free books as a giveaway. Sigh.

Someone who sells a lot of his Indies books online and at fairs said that in order to sell a writer needs to be where his readers are. The Indies Book Fair is crowded with readers looking for interesting and different books. Surely it's a good place to be if you want to sell a few books. Wake up Kiwi Indies and start thinking.

The joy of reviews.

Oh the joy of a good review for the Indie writer. I was fortunate enough to have The Review Blog read a copy of my historical novel, 'Tizzie' and then present me with this charming review. http://thereview2014.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/louise-reviews-tizzie.html

Obviously I am pleased with such a thorough review but I wonder why so many so-called reviews do not discuss important aspects of a book such as the cover and formatting? And I won't go into the rants you can read littered all over GoodReads and even Librarything.
They reveal more about the person writing the review than the actual book. What can you make of a 'review' like the following:

'I hate this book. Don't read it. She's rude about vegans.'

or the review from the poor souls who one starred an Australian book because the writer had winter in June and everyone knows that June is summer.

Various people had a go at that reviewer and her pals, to no avail.

But we Indies need good reviews for without them we cannot get our books into the email book newsletters or persuade readers to read them. But how to obtain them?

Here is a list of suggestions gathered from other authors.
1
Put a plea at the end of your novel, in the back pages. Explain why you need reviews and ask nicely. Chances are anyone who finished your book liked it and will do so.
2
Look for reviewers who have reviewed books like yours. Try blogs and journals and readers' sites. Spend time researching the reviewer and write them a personal letter.
3
Use your mailing list. Offer a bribe in the form of free copies or something similar.
4
Use your social media but carefully. Don't wail or demand. Ask politely.
5
Search the blogs for blog reviewers. Send personalised requests, take time to speak to the bloggers.
6
Search for book reviewers on Twitter. Twitter has a good search engine and many reviewers. Search carefully. I tried this and ended up with a weird collection! Select your search words carefully.

Happy review hunting.

May I recommend that all Indies and those snooty people who keep saying the e-book is dead have a look at this? I really appreciate what the Author Earnings people do collating all this information for us so that we may know what is really happening in the Indie world.

http://authorearnings.com/
Welcome to the May 2015 Author Earnings Report. This is our sixth quarterly look at Amazon’s ebook sales, with data taken on over 200,000 bestselling ebooks. With each report over the past year and a half, we have come to see great consistency in our results, but there is always something new that surprises us. Often, it’s something we weren’t expecting, like the massive shadow industry of ISBN-less ebooks being sold, or the effect Kindle Unlimited has on title visibility. This time, we went into our report curious about one thing in particular. But we were still not prepared for what we found.

If you’ve been shopping for ebooks on Amazon lately, you may have seen this new addition to many ebook product pages:

http://authorearnings.com/report/may-2015-author-earnings-report/?utm_source=Author+Earnings+Updates&utm_campaign=86e4408164-May_2015_Author_Earnings_Report5_6_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2438cb1801-86e4408164-128100545

Useful Advice for Indies about Twitter.

I am always grateful for places like IndiesUnlimited because of the sound, practical and useful advice I find there. I am nearly sure these extracts come from there. I am now thinking more kindly about Twitter. See what you think.


'Why would Google want tweets? Twitter has become the first line of communication in breaking events. If an event occurs on the other side of the world, tweets are relaying that information in nearly real time. If Google has access to that information (called the Twitter Firehose) then it can include it in search results immediately and it doesn’t have to rely on crawlers to acquire info.

What does this mean for us? Well, first off, it’s probably a good idea to get on Twitter if you are not already. Does this mean that if you tweet about your book fifty times a day, people will start to see you book show up on Google? No. However, if you are active on Twitter, and you can align yourself with good content, there is a better chance that Google will lend credibility to your tweets.'

Makes sense doesn't it? And Google certainly is aiming to take over the internet world.

Another consideration is current events. If you write spy novels that involve stolen information from the government and today a rogue agent is busted for that in real life, then start tweeting. The more you connect your writing to current events (if possible) the better chance you’ll get visibility. The other day I saw an article about human trafficking in our region and thought of DV Berkom and her book Bad Traffick. With a few tweets and a link to the article, bam, you’ve just brought awareness to this tragic scourge on society and linked yourself to the cause. Meanwhile, you just might end up in a search as people turn to Google for more information.

I’m not suggesting spamming Twitter with tons of promos for your books. I’m suggesting that you now have a chance to connect yourself to issues that are important to you through means that might not have been available before. Please don’t take this as a holy grail.

Nice example and worth thinking about fellow writers?

We struggle every day as authors to get the word out about what we do. It’s important to be firing on all cylinders. The agreement between Google and Twitter might help us in that endeavor. So, if you aren’t active on Twitter, maybe now is the time to reconsider. It will take a few months before the effect is noticed on Google, as the best estimate of the functionality taking place is sometime in the first half of the year. Happy tweeting!

Reviews. We Indies really need them. This advice is simple, easy to follow and comes from one of those nice author marketing groups whose name I cannot remember!

Here is how to find book reviewers on Twitter:
1. Load up Twitter, and using the search form, search "book reviewer" "book blogger" "(your genre) reviews" and other topics like that. Be creative! I don't want everyone contacting the same exact reviewers!
2. This will show you a list of Tweets. Scroll and find the "People" box, and click "View All". You will then find all profiles related to your search topic.
3. Click on each profile and make sure they are a) active with a fairly recent tweet and b) they have at least 100 followers (the more the better).
4. Then, identify possible matches, click through the Website listed on their Twitter profile, and find their rules for review submissions.
5. If your book is within the confines of their rules, then submit your book for review!
That's it! You should be able to find quite a few people willing to review your book! They will have some reach on social media, and they will increase exposure of your book!

The Writer's Choice members are split between those who use Twitter and those who won't. I've found it useful for spreading the word about eco and political things I care about and for sharing markets and tips for writers. I do not spend time there. I cheat. Most sites I visit, or the emails which groups send me, have a Twitter button and a ready made tweet to send. I use those to keep my presence out there. And I limit any marketing to things like Hurray. My novel Tizzie made the short list in the M.M. Bennett Historical fiction comp.