It seems to me that technology takes up too much time and I'm wasting more and more precious time trying to get out of the mess technology creates. With malign and thoroughly evil intent I might add.
I'm trying to get my blog smartened up a little and of more use with an opt in email address place.
Can I do it? No way. I follow the careful instructions and yet there is always a major problem. Either step one or step two are not possible because the place I need to find isn't there.
Take this 'add the email' business to my blog. Go to your dashboard say my instructions. Now how the hell do I do that? There is nowhere on my blogger page that I can find a way to a dashboard. I can find my personal profile. That isn't it.
Now I'm attached to Google + and life is even more chaotic. Google seems to have taken over my blog. I get cheery and revolting messages and stuff from Google but nothing about how I can attach the email thingie.
I have wasted most of the day trying to do this and various other tech things. In despair I hit the close button for the websites and somehow manage to close the inbox. Thus losing an unsent email of vital importance.
I hate computers!
Saturday, 12 April 2014
Thursday, 10 April 2014
It's April and I missed again. It seems to me I need to give up on this blogging lark.
It's a horribly grey, overcast, coastal mists type of day and I am so depressed. 12 acres is too much on my own. The WWOOFers are great but they are kids - mainly - and not experienced workers so need supervion. The lack of a job and no money means that all those jobs that need doing are simply put away on the list to wait year after year. I've always been a 'get up and do it' person and this hanging about doing nothing really hacks me off. I have this reoccurring nightmare - and I mean a terrifying dream - of the house slowly rotting and sliding into decay all round me and I cannot do anything to stop it.
March was a good month. The indies do went off well. 'Tizzie' launched with a cheerful party, good book sales, and more people knowing a bit about what Independence writers do and why.
My WWOOFers were cheery young students and quite a few of those little tasks were finished. NOw all I need is a lottery win and then I can write more and pay a manager to do the orchard work.
The new novel is trotting steadily along, page by page, day by day. It's a tough story and I find it a bit harrowing as I write it at the moment.
The good thing is that Writer's Choice is linked to three other co-operative groups like ours and we can learn a great deal from them as they have been working as INsdies much longer than we have. It is nice to be able to give their writers and books PR and we will keep mentioning them on our website.
Meanwhile I think I need to go and run round th e21 acres several times to induce a more cheerful state of mind.
It's a horribly grey, overcast, coastal mists type of day and I am so depressed. 12 acres is too much on my own. The WWOOFers are great but they are kids - mainly - and not experienced workers so need supervion. The lack of a job and no money means that all those jobs that need doing are simply put away on the list to wait year after year. I've always been a 'get up and do it' person and this hanging about doing nothing really hacks me off. I have this reoccurring nightmare - and I mean a terrifying dream - of the house slowly rotting and sliding into decay all round me and I cannot do anything to stop it.
March was a good month. The indies do went off well. 'Tizzie' launched with a cheerful party, good book sales, and more people knowing a bit about what Independence writers do and why.
My WWOOFers were cheery young students and quite a few of those little tasks were finished. NOw all I need is a lottery win and then I can write more and pay a manager to do the orchard work.
The new novel is trotting steadily along, page by page, day by day. It's a tough story and I find it a bit harrowing as I write it at the moment.
The good thing is that Writer's Choice is linked to three other co-operative groups like ours and we can learn a great deal from them as they have been working as INsdies much longer than we have. It is nice to be able to give their writers and books PR and we will keep mentioning them on our website.
Meanwhile I think I need to go and run round th e21 acres several times to induce a more cheerful state of mind.
Sunday, 12 January 2014
New Zealand Indie Writers' Month
March, all stops are out for March. March 27th for me actually but the whole month has been taken over by the Indies writers. It used to be New Zealand Book Month but the organisers suddenly changed it to August, leaving quite a few writers' groups and libraries with plans already underway for March. I'm launching my novel, 'Tizzie', promoting my Writer's Choice colleagues' newest novels and selling our already published books at a launch in the library. It will be fun as I'm being supported by the friends of the library to help with food and service and we will enjoy a party atmosphere. I hope! Roll on March 27th.
It seems to me that sales only come if you put in the work, not on social media, but with people. I hate getting tweets about buying someone's books. I'd rather chat. I hate my LinkedIn messages to buy a book. I hate blog tours and bloggers where it's all about 'My Wonderful Book'! I've been talking about Writer's Choice a lot and people are interested in the group and why we are doing what we do as Indie publishers. It's easier to do that than push my novels. This way people don't feel pressured and I also have my colleagues' books with mine and am delighted to chat about them too as a reader, so it's gains all round. I've sold quite a few for them.
And the KiwiReads group grows. We are behind the NZ Indie Writers' Month and are pushing our books into public notice in a good way. So far the website is our main weapon. Tui Allen is working hard to get a perfect site for readers to finds New Zealand books.
We are still stuck on the quality bit. How do you choose without becoming like the agents and traditional publishers? It seem unsolvable.
Too many writers, too many readers and not enough ways to link the two in a sympathetic way. Or is it that there are enough readers for all the writers but we have yet to learn how to connect to the readers who will like our particular books?
I'm working on it!
It seems to me that sales only come if you put in the work, not on social media, but with people. I hate getting tweets about buying someone's books. I'd rather chat. I hate my LinkedIn messages to buy a book. I hate blog tours and bloggers where it's all about 'My Wonderful Book'! I've been talking about Writer's Choice a lot and people are interested in the group and why we are doing what we do as Indie publishers. It's easier to do that than push my novels. This way people don't feel pressured and I also have my colleagues' books with mine and am delighted to chat about them too as a reader, so it's gains all round. I've sold quite a few for them.
And the KiwiReads group grows. We are behind the NZ Indie Writers' Month and are pushing our books into public notice in a good way. So far the website is our main weapon. Tui Allen is working hard to get a perfect site for readers to finds New Zealand books.
We are still stuck on the quality bit. How do you choose without becoming like the agents and traditional publishers? It seem unsolvable.
Too many writers, too many readers and not enough ways to link the two in a sympathetic way. Or is it that there are enough readers for all the writers but we have yet to learn how to connect to the readers who will like our particular books?
I'm working on it!
Saturday, 7 December 2013
Well I did it again! Missed blogging. It's summer! The nights are short it's light until 10 p.m. The farm work is never ending, and that Kiwiread website and its PR is eating up time. The new novel is wanting more writing time and the characters are getting insistent. Blogging falls off the list again!
One of the things which is now cropping up and concerns my colleagues at Writer's Choice and my colleagues working for Kiwireads is this quality control of Indie books so that readers don't pay money for writing which needs a lot of copy editing and and a good rewrite.
We all agree that quality control is necessary, but how do we do it? Readers want a good read, but how do you define that?
My romance writing friends will wave romance novels at me telling me the prizes they won and what good reads they are. I personally find the plots/characters unrealistic and can't stand the endings. So as a reader I wouldn't want to call them quality reads, but other readers love them.
I can't stand horror or serial killer mysteries. Does that mean there aren't quality reads out there for those who like 'em?
It's fairly easy to pick out a badly presented and edited book and say that isn't quality. How do you judge the content though as quality?
And with the Kiwireads site which is for quality indie fiction how does one tell authors that their book is grammatically and presentation wise perfect, but the content is boring, unoriginal and not worth reading? ANd who are we to judge?
Many of us are Indie authors because we didn't like the gatekeepers to traditional publishing and their 'money is the only thing which matters' attitude. We like the fact that our not easy to label work can be published. We like the control we have. So what do we do about these groups of writers springing up and insisting that they can tell quality from rubbish in content?
It's readers who want quality reads. Perhaps readers should be sorting them out and passing on the good word. I don't know, but it seems to me that groups of writers setting up a quality mark for quality fiction, and asking for money to do it are in danger of becoming as bad as the trad publishing sharks who preyed on new writers.
One of the things which is now cropping up and concerns my colleagues at Writer's Choice and my colleagues working for Kiwireads is this quality control of Indie books so that readers don't pay money for writing which needs a lot of copy editing and and a good rewrite.
We all agree that quality control is necessary, but how do we do it? Readers want a good read, but how do you define that?
My romance writing friends will wave romance novels at me telling me the prizes they won and what good reads they are. I personally find the plots/characters unrealistic and can't stand the endings. So as a reader I wouldn't want to call them quality reads, but other readers love them.
I can't stand horror or serial killer mysteries. Does that mean there aren't quality reads out there for those who like 'em?
It's fairly easy to pick out a badly presented and edited book and say that isn't quality. How do you judge the content though as quality?
And with the Kiwireads site which is for quality indie fiction how does one tell authors that their book is grammatically and presentation wise perfect, but the content is boring, unoriginal and not worth reading? ANd who are we to judge?
Many of us are Indie authors because we didn't like the gatekeepers to traditional publishing and their 'money is the only thing which matters' attitude. We like the fact that our not easy to label work can be published. We like the control we have. So what do we do about these groups of writers springing up and insisting that they can tell quality from rubbish in content?
It's readers who want quality reads. Perhaps readers should be sorting them out and passing on the good word. I don't know, but it seems to me that groups of writers setting up a quality mark for quality fiction, and asking for money to do it are in danger of becoming as bad as the trad publishing sharks who preyed on new writers.
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
One year on.
It's October. And this time last year we were just launching Writer's Choice. I'm now organising a birthday party to celebrate a successful first year.
We had no idea, last year, that we could beat the gloom and doom sayers, that we could take on the role of publisher of our own books and make it work. For me in New Zealand, where literary snobbism is rife and indie publishers like us are regarded as degrading the standard of New Zealand literature overseas - that's a quote from the NZSA person heard on National Radio - it was a real risk. I do quite a bit of tutoring of writers and it is hard to get that tutoring work when you are branded as a failure because you don't have a 'proper publisher.'
But I aim to stand tall in our library at the birthday celebration and skite - boast - about our successes. We published three novels in our first year and G.J. Berger's 'South of Burnt Rocks West of the Moon' has sold steadily. It also won the San Diego Book Awards first prize for historical novels. Superb success and a real boost to our moral. Then Sharon Robard's 'A Woman Transported' began a sales climb on Amazon which put it way up in the top fifty (and eventually higher) historical novels landing a delighted Sharon in the midst of well known historical novelists. My 'Jacob's Ladder', because of a publishing problem which only saw the print version released in September, has just begun to collect positive reviews and is about to be entered in a couple of competitions. I hope I can join in with my colleagues' successes.
Whether I do or not, their successes do reinforce our Quality Fiction claim, and my next novel, 'Tizzie', will be launched on February 13th 2014. I've a better idea of how to and where to do PR this time round and hope the book reaches a lot of readers. It's quite different from the 17thC 'Jacob's Ladder', as it's set in 1887 in the Yorkshire Dales.
I am still involved with the indies group under Tui Allen. we are hoping to work with the Book Council who have gone on line with their newsletter and are trying to be less elitist. It will take some work. For all my short story publications in respected journals and magazine around the world I was not allowed to be registered on their author's list because my novels were 'self published.' Never mind the fact that Writer's Choice was a writers' publishing co-operative and our books were selected or rejected, edited properly and well designed. Nope, I didn't have a 'proper publisher'. Tui and our group has a long way to go.
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Ah me! This blogging lark never gets the priority I am told it should. Life throws up more important things, like trying to get New Zealand Indie authors somewhere to showcase their books and sell them.
The Kiwi Readers group from GoodReads have a large contingent of writers who are independently published and want sales. Tui came up with a very nice idea for linking Kiwi Indies up with the various writerly groups and trad publishing groups in New Zealand. We are busy discussing this at LinkedIn but it seems that one good suggestion after another is objected to by one set of opinions or another.
I've tried to suggest to the disparate parties that we look at the most simple version of what we need, which is a website where Indie authors can showcase their books and sell them. The problem is that a large number of us want quality control. But other writers don't want some form of assessment. Goodreads and AwesomeIndies, the Brag medallion, these sites all read and select. Amazon is just the great slush pile. So how do we showcase those Indie writers whose books have been edited, well designed, proof read and are as good as a trad publisher's books?
I wondered if we could simply allow all Indie Kiwi writers to post their covers and blurbs but have two sections. One section called Premier or Selected or some such title where all the books which have been edited, assessed and published like a trad published book can be displayed. Those Indie books which have not been through an editing assessment process by people other than the author go in the second section.
Still I can hear screams of rage from the newbie writers and the lunatic fringe who have yet to learn that their cherished novel's breathless prose is not creative genius but a book in need of editing.
Ah well. I support Tui in what she is doing and hope to goodness that all those differing opinions can get together so we can do something and have a place for Indie Kiwi writers which Kiwi readers can access happy in the knowledge that they will find their own culture's literature and a good read.
The Kiwi Readers group from GoodReads have a large contingent of writers who are independently published and want sales. Tui came up with a very nice idea for linking Kiwi Indies up with the various writerly groups and trad publishing groups in New Zealand. We are busy discussing this at LinkedIn but it seems that one good suggestion after another is objected to by one set of opinions or another.
I've tried to suggest to the disparate parties that we look at the most simple version of what we need, which is a website where Indie authors can showcase their books and sell them. The problem is that a large number of us want quality control. But other writers don't want some form of assessment. Goodreads and AwesomeIndies, the Brag medallion, these sites all read and select. Amazon is just the great slush pile. So how do we showcase those Indie writers whose books have been edited, well designed, proof read and are as good as a trad publisher's books?
I wondered if we could simply allow all Indie Kiwi writers to post their covers and blurbs but have two sections. One section called Premier or Selected or some such title where all the books which have been edited, assessed and published like a trad published book can be displayed. Those Indie books which have not been through an editing assessment process by people other than the author go in the second section.
Still I can hear screams of rage from the newbie writers and the lunatic fringe who have yet to learn that their cherished novel's breathless prose is not creative genius but a book in need of editing.
Ah well. I support Tui in what she is doing and hope to goodness that all those differing opinions can get together so we can do something and have a place for Indie Kiwi writers which Kiwi readers can access happy in the knowledge that they will find their own culture's literature and a good read.
Friday, 9 August 2013
It seems to me that I had better accept that once a month is my blogging time!
I must also blog an apology to all those keen readers who won a copy of or who ordered a copy of my novel, 'Jacob's Ladder'. As a POD book it has to be ordered and then we wait for the copies to arrive. I have had the most unbelievable problems getting copies. First the cover was printed incorrectly. Couldn't send those copies out. Next I had to download a new cover as the POD people said it was the cover's fault it was bad. My cover artist fumed, we checked the specs and the cover was fine. We downloaded again and again and again as the company kept saying the cover was not correct. We had now reached July. Finally I get the big boss to sort out the muddle. Seems someone wasn't pressing the right buttons! Then I was told the print download wasn't good enough! Sigh. Back to my formatting expert who looked at the so-called new specs and said "But that's what we have!" She checked everything and downloaded for me with a stern message to the big boss. Finally I have copies being printed. Next time I do a giveaway offer and pre-publishing orders I will make sure I have the books in my hot little hand.
We Writer's Choice authors are still floating on a cloud of 'Wow! We did it' euphoria. Gj's 1st prize, historical novels, at the San Diego Book Awards came in June. Sharon's zoom up the Amazon sales list came in July but they both gave us a shot of confidence. We claimed to have quality fiction and now readers are endorsing that. And we've only been going for less than one year.
Trouble is though, that I feel I will have to pull another success out of the hat with my novel and I can't see how to do that right now. I have a couple of competitions lined up to enter, getting on a short list would be good! Sigh!
Selling millions would be better.
My second novel is due for a launch in October and GJ's 2nd will be coming close after that. Writer's Choice is demanding of our time and commitment but is definitely working out for us. Now all we have to do is get people to understand that Writer's Choice is not a poor relation to Harper Collins or Penguin but a better choice for writers.
I must also blog an apology to all those keen readers who won a copy of or who ordered a copy of my novel, 'Jacob's Ladder'. As a POD book it has to be ordered and then we wait for the copies to arrive. I have had the most unbelievable problems getting copies. First the cover was printed incorrectly. Couldn't send those copies out. Next I had to download a new cover as the POD people said it was the cover's fault it was bad. My cover artist fumed, we checked the specs and the cover was fine. We downloaded again and again and again as the company kept saying the cover was not correct. We had now reached July. Finally I get the big boss to sort out the muddle. Seems someone wasn't pressing the right buttons! Then I was told the print download wasn't good enough! Sigh. Back to my formatting expert who looked at the so-called new specs and said "But that's what we have!" She checked everything and downloaded for me with a stern message to the big boss. Finally I have copies being printed. Next time I do a giveaway offer and pre-publishing orders I will make sure I have the books in my hot little hand.
We Writer's Choice authors are still floating on a cloud of 'Wow! We did it' euphoria. Gj's 1st prize, historical novels, at the San Diego Book Awards came in June. Sharon's zoom up the Amazon sales list came in July but they both gave us a shot of confidence. We claimed to have quality fiction and now readers are endorsing that. And we've only been going for less than one year.
Trouble is though, that I feel I will have to pull another success out of the hat with my novel and I can't see how to do that right now. I have a couple of competitions lined up to enter, getting on a short list would be good! Sigh!
Selling millions would be better.
My second novel is due for a launch in October and GJ's 2nd will be coming close after that. Writer's Choice is demanding of our time and commitment but is definitely working out for us. Now all we have to do is get people to understand that Writer's Choice is not a poor relation to Harper Collins or Penguin but a better choice for writers.
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