Writing Buddies - 05 April 2013

Several new members were welcomed to the Writing Buddies meeting at the Mercure Dolphin:

JAMES - Has been going to writing classes in Woolston and has had short stories and poems printed in The Echo’s ‘creative corner’ spot.

JEZ - Poet and photographer, watercolour artist who has printed four different books to share with friends and family over the last few years, using Southampton Design & Print on London Road.

BILLY - Has been writing short dystopian/sci-fi stories of around 5-6k words and is now working on longer stories.

Good News announced at this meeting:

MONICA was sent a contract by an Austrian company ‘United Publishing Company’ (www.united-pc.eu) who were interested in publishing her children’s book ‘Welsh Yeti’, but was unsure about the details and the terms as they stated ‘free to publish first novel’ and asked for advice.

JACQUELINE had attended a talk at Southampton Writer’s Circle and will be judging an article-writing contest next season. She had pitched a teddy-bear themed article to a magazine, which had accepted the idea, but only then revealed that they don’t pay for articles.

TESSA has released her new book ‘Spellbinder’ and is keen to get some reviews online to raise interest.

EILEEN has published a book on Smashwords ‘Blood on God’s Carpet’

JEZ has just printed his latest book of poetry ‘Lazy Days’

CHRISTINE tried out speed-pitching to agents at North London Literary Festival, where an agent said yes, and asked to see the first three chapters of her latest novel ‘Spectacular Times’

ANN currently has 3 pictures (2 prints and a painting) and a poem in Central Gallery

LISA has had an honourable mention in the Jeffrey Archer/Kobo/Curtis Brown short story contest and is being published in the free Kobo anthology along with Jeffrey Archer and the twenty semifinalists, the finalists announced at the London Book Fair.

Selma emailed with apologies as she is busy rehearsing the musical show ‘Ragtime’ at the Regents Centre in Christchurch.

The discussion around the table ranged over many subjects:

LONDON BOOK FAIR held on 15^th-17^th April at Earl’s Court. Very focused on indie and self-publishing this year, with a burgeoning Author Lounge and opportunities to meet editors, agents, and directors of Kobo, Amazon’s Kindle/Createspace, and Goodreads among others.

CHAOS Creatives in Southampton are based at Central Gallery.

PRINTING - George Mann outside Winchester will print books from £300 per 100 copies, and can provide ISBNs.

PUBLISHERS/PUBLISHING:

Self-publishing platforms offer an exciting opportunity to writers who don’t want to wait for agents and publishers to notice their work, and can be a way of raising your profile to the mainstream. Createspace offer free ISBNs, matte colour interiors if required, and no special requirements such as editing or formatting by a professional before making your book available. Lulu.com are slightly more strict in that area if you want an ISBN distribution, but you can publish a book and make it available as Print-on-Demand direct to customers through Lulu only (dispatching worldwide) without an ISBN or any paid-for upfront services, and link it to your website or blog for direct sales, including as ebooks in PDF or epub format (for which they also distribute for free to Nook and the Apple iBookstore). Lulu also pays more regularly via Paypal, even if your Royalty is less than £3.50 for that quarter! For LIGHTNING SOURCE, research suggests you need to set up a publisher name and official bank account in that name, and the file must be formatted by a professional, and then you pay at every stage of the title and upload process. Uploading a revised version also costs, if you then find typos in your proof. They have good distribution reach on all online stores as selected, can do matte covers for paperback, and cover prices are lower for the customer, but they do not market or promote your work to street bookstores for you - customers can order them in any bookstore, but it is up to the individual shops what they order in as regular stock.

Some publishers are folding and leaving their authors unpaid and unrepresented - DB Publishing, which went under in December 2012, was recently bought by JMD Media. JMDMedia can be contacted via their Managing Director, Steve Caron, at steve.caron@jmdmedia.co.uk. He will look at any book submitted (in digital format, "Word" files are OK) and consider turning them into Ebooks.

JIM BROWN - Writing for local history societies, which can have their own publishers e.g. Bitterne. They also publish as ebooks and take the first £50, thereafter pay 25%. No publishing cost to the authors. (Reviewed in the Echo)

SELF-PUBLISHING via blogs and websites: A blog is a good way of ‘copyrighting’ your work as it shows up with an exact date and time when you publish a post, which will always be searchable via Google etc and visible as your own work first, on the date you published it.

MONETISING YOUR BLOG - You can sell books directly on your blog, either by having print books that you package and mail yourself, or by offering PDF downloads that can be read on tablets and smartphones. Automatic downloads have to be set up using an automated ‘storefront’ code to set up your blog, of which there is a mind-boggling choice, and some are expensive to set up (just google ‘ebook sales storefront for blogs’ - e.g. shopify.com storefronts start at £19 per month) - and if you are managing an open source-style code yourself from your site, you have to have the time available to deal with glitches, customer enquiries, file download problems, payment problems, and to manage your own Paypal or other online payment/receipt method. You also have no ranking or visibility on other online stores using this method. The alternative is to publish via a third party as above, and link to your Lulu, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Sony, Apple, Diesel or Amazon products via a ’Books’ page, and not worry about the customer services angle, although you do have to wait for your (smaller) Royalties via your publishing platforms.

WRITING FOR FREE? Is there ever a time when it is OK to write for free?  The group was generally scathing about the increasing expectation that writers would be happy to spend time and energy writing for nothing, particularly if the market is large and expensive to readers.  However, it was recognized that there are several legitimate reasons for writing for free:

For charity

To get your name known

To test the market

For fun

Magazines and newspapers often don’t pay but there is a market for the determined and those who have done their homework. E-publishers give books away, often for reviews.  For more detailed advice about writing for magazines and newspapers, see the Help and Advice page on this blog site.

AMAZON REVIEWS: Amazon has blocked some established authors from leaving book reviews, or is working to remove them. However, they have just bought Goodreads (www.goodreads.com), which is free to join as a reader or an author. Just set up an account, search for your books already on the site (if they are on Amazon and other mainstream sales sites, they will usually appear already), send an email to admin and apply for an author profile. You will then be able to customise it rather like a Facebook profile page, and add your own books if they aren‘t already listed. It is likely that most of the reviews left on Goodreads will soon be migrated to Amazon, and Amazon will lose the ‘review mafia’ who have been complaining of too much ‘author activity’ in the Amazon forums, and reporting mutual reviews between authors.

LITERARY FESTIVALS & READING GROUPS are hugely popular. Reading groups are often quite welcoming of authors, especially if there are free books in it for them. Be prepared that comments will be honest, and reviews are given face-to-face in the group discussions, not on Amazon!

SUBMISSIONS OPPORTUNITY:

HarperCollins have set up a rolling (ongoing) direct submissions route for Romance authors (details on the loop). It is for a new digital-first imprint called HarperImpulse, and accepts unsolicited, unagented Romance novels in any genre or style, and of any length. Send full Word.doc mss and other details as on the Facebook ‘About’ page for HarperImpulse (not partial, proposals or incomplete works) to romance@harpercollins.co.uk

Southampton Library is going to run a short story (up to 5,000 words) contest about Southampton (TBA).

Notes by Lisa Scullard

Writing Buddies 1st March

Friday 1^st March and Writing Buddies met for the second time at the new venue the Dolphin Hotel. The meeting was held in the foyer as we had been told a wedding party was due and they needed the restaurant space.

Jimmy stood in for Penny and gave this news to the meeting.

Jimmy told the meeting about the launch of his new book Not a Guide to Southampton and showed a copy at the meeting.

Jim Brown gave a talk on his latest venture. He showed his i-pad on which all of his books are stored. Jim believes that this is the way publishing is going. He also told us about the way the police force is now being run. As a former Police Officer himself, in his day there were far more police personnel on duty at all times.

Publisher Tessa agreed with Jim about publishing as e-books.  She again pointed out that manuscripts offered in this way must be properly edited before they will be considered for publication.

Ray Dumper told us of his plans for the book he has written about his life. He intends to self publish and knows that quite a lot of his family and friends are showing an interest in this. He has enough material to write his story in two editions and the Writing Buddies wish him luck with this venture.

The meeting ended early due to the noise in the hotel foyer and the Writing Buddies will meet again, at the Dolphin Hotel, Below Bar, on Friday April 5^th.  Everyone is welcome.

Notes by James Marsh

New Year, New Format, New Venue!

Writing Buddies turned out in force on February 1^st for the first meeting of 2013. It was agreed that the Mercure Dolphin Hotel was a good choice, and there was ‘table service’ for drinks of all kinds at the start of the meeting, but no pressure at all to order. We were very pleased to welcome several new members, too.

From now on, instead of each member telling everyone about their writing projects at the start of the meeting, it is open to anyone who wishes to volunteer their good news.

Jimmy’s next book, Not a Guide to Southampton, is about to be published, and he is hosting a launch on February 28^th at The Red Lion (High Street, Southampton) from 5 to 7 pm. All are welcome. He is also expecting publication of his book for young children soon.

Josephine has a chapter in the Institute of Management Services Handbook, and she has now been asked to write an article for their quarterly journal.

Tessa has now published her novel as an ebook and a paperback - The Girl from the Land of Smiles; it is an exciting and unusual murder mystery based around the Buddhist belief that the dead are reborn as other forms of life. She is also soon to publish Thou Shall Not Kill, her novel set in Guernsey.

Jacqueline has a piece of flash fiction published in Paragram’s anthology, Connections.

Silma told the group about a local publisher who produces a free magazine. She has been invited to write an article for it. The editor is Rachel Muller, and the publisher is Cultura Press based in Whitefield Road in New Milton.

Penny has commissions for two further books, on crime and a sequel to Under the Queen’s Colours, this time about military wives.

We heard from Yvonne, a visiting student, who is preparing a dissertation that will be submitted to Southampton City Council. She is looking at better ways of promoting Southampton as a city to visit and as a place to live, and wanted some ideas from members; there were several suggestions made along these lines. Anyone with further ideas could contact her at ygclemmen@gmail.com

Penny read out a letter she’d received from a writer who had lost his royalties when DB Publishing (from Derby) had gone out of business. The letter explored the problems of failure of publishers and presented a cautionary tale.

Tessa recommended Lightning Source as a reliable printer for print-on-demand. Penny mentioned Oceans, the café/shop/tourist/exhibition centre which recently opened just a few doors from The Dolphin. They are interested in hosting book launches, talks and other events.

It is planned that this blog will soon have some attached pages that will cover the basics of some aspects of writing. There were offers of contributions for self-publishing, preparing manuscripts for submission, planning a book launch, writing articles and fillers for magazines, writing non-fiction books, formatting for kindle, marketing on Amazon, setting up blogs and websites, and proofreading.

It was suggested for anybody wishing to have their own novel writing software, 'yWriter' can be downloaded for free at www.spacejock.com. 

Lisa mentioned that free courses, including writing, are offered at www.coursera.org and they can be helpful for research. Two members offered to be ‘welcome Buddies’ to contact new members by email to pass on any information. Penny is looking for speakers for future meetings. 

The next meeting will be on March 1^st at The Dolphin Hotel, High Street, Southampton from 2 to 4 pm. Anyone with an interest in writing is very welcome to join us.

~ Notes written by Jacqueline Pye 

New Year, New Venue, New Routine for Writing Buddies!

Southampton Writing Buddies met at The Art House on December 7^th. This was to be an important session to discuss which direction the group should take in the new year, and there was a good attendance. At the same time it was the last meeting before Christmas, so wine and mince pies were laid on for us all.

Penny had circulated members to ask their views, and had collated the replies as well as laying plans herself. Everyone present gave their opinions and suggestions, and these are the decisions that were made.

•  The concept of ‘creeping death’, where each member spoke briefly about their recent writing, had been felt by some to be a little intimidating. Those who had not been working on specific projects could feel awkward. It was agreed to drop the name, and instead start future meetings with ‘Introductions and News’, where people could say who they are and what type of writing interests them, adding detail only if they wish.

•  Several members had been finding the current venue noisy at times, making it hard to concentrate or to hear others. Penny has therefore arranged for us to meet in future at The Dolphin Hotel in the High Street; she has found the manager keen to host us, and there is the restaurant area and quiet rooms available at no charge. This was felt by most to be an excellent choice. The venue could also be used to host book launches, rooms would usually be on the ground floor (otherwise there is a lift and disabled access), and refreshments are available.  Writing Buddies will be sorry to leave the Art House, which has looked after us well for two years, but needs must.  Writing Buddies thank the Art House staff for their hospitality over the years.

•  At some meetings there will be a focus topic for discussion, but meetings will remain informal and monthly on the first Friday – except that there will be no January meeting.

•  It had been mentioned that while we heartily welcome new members, they may sometimes raise topics that have been previously discussed at length. We thought there might be opportunities to provide links to internet resources, or a member could volunteer to meet with the newer Buddy after the meeting to answer any queries.

•  The blog will eventually have extra pages to vary the content, for example single-topic information by an appropriate person – self-publishing was mentioned, and tips for writing for magazines. Any members who would like to offer a specific page should get in touch with Penny.

We’ll meet again on Friday February 1^st at 2pm at The Dolphin Hotel, High Street, Southampton. Going through the Bargate, it’s about 300 metres south on the left. And finally, a successful and happy new year from Writing Buddies.

Blog notes by Jacqueline Pye

Writing Buddies - It's Good to Talk

Southampton Writing Buddies met again at The Art House on October 5th. We were a small group this time but with plenty to discuss.

John was due to see and review a performance of Great Expectations. He has now completed sixteen blog posts, keeping up his plan to blog every week. The previous two posts had been the two halves of a new poem. A4E have accepted his business plan involving his blog; he showed the group his poem manuscript together with the syllable counts to show how they were constructed. 

Jacqueline will have two stories in the next e-anthology by Inkslinger Books; it's called Temporal Tales and each entry involves time-slips. She has a short story in the latest edition of What the Dickens internet magazine. A piece of flash fiction submitted for an anthology was accepted but there is no payment and contributors are asked to order copies of the book at £8. The group agreed that this sounded like something of a scam.

Josephine joined Hampshire Writers' Society; they have talks by well-known writers. A recent guest was P D James, who gave a really excellent talk. Josephine is looking for a publisher for her book about meetings, and is thinking about Manchester University. She is still working on her staff management book, and is considering a book or an article on being an executor. The group felt this would be a really useful book, and Josephine has the experience.

Ray's memoir is nearly completed. He employed someone to advise, and hopes to self-publish it fairly soon. As a title he is considering 'From War to an Iron Fighter'. He has now begun to write some poetry, too.

Jimmy's book Not a Guide to Southampton will be out in January. He is working with Penny on a 1950s childhood book which will be published in May. He is planning to publish his Sundance Gang novels and the Far End of the Tunnel trilogy, and is still working on a book about teenagers. He has had a good deal of positive feedback about his first book Growing Up in Wartime Southampton, Some Else's Trousers.

Penny's latest book for The History Press, Eastleigh Then and Now is out in hardback; the Echo have requested a review copy and Radio Solent's presenter Katie Martin is interested in the book too. Penny is book-signing in Waterstone's in Eastleigh on Saturday November 24th. She recently gave talks in Southampton area about hauntings.

There was then a lengthy discussion about how to turn a manuscript into a book or an ebook, either through a publisher or self-publishing. Lulu and Amazon were mentioned, and some local printers who will produce print runs on demand, usually with a minimum number ordered. These included George Mann books (Malthouse Close, Winchester), The Sholing Press, and Hobbs in Totton who made a really good job of publishing poetry with photographs for one of our members.

We also touched on how to look for commissioned writing work and - in hope - get paid for it. Writing for no payment can be very good to get known and enrich the CV,while obtaining payment is elusive; even the major publishing houses are drawing their horns in and sometimes asking for advances to be returned if a book is late or doesn't get completed.

Writing Buddies will meet again on Friday November 2nd at 2pm at The Art House, Above Bar, Southampton. Everyone with an interest in writing, whether published or not, is very welcome to join us.

Post by Jacqueline Pye.

Writing Buddies, Friday 7 September 2012

Writing Buddies Meet Again

Writing Buddies' recent meeting was on Friday 7th September at The Art House in Southampton. As always, we talked about the work we'd been doing since last time and then discussed matters of general interest.

Tessa is setting her latest book up as an ebook for Amazon and noted how crowded the site has become. This led to a discussion, detailed below, on Ryan Deiss and how to sell in an overcrowded market.

Mo has spent a good week writing a screenplay for a Hollywood producer. He has finally paid her for her work, which is great, and she is enjoying it and feels motivated.

Janet continues to write every day, and she has been working on some art to accompany her writing.

New member John has written some stories for children but he is uncertain how and where to place them, though he has been working with an illustrator and he showed us some of her work. This was discussed in more detail later.

Jacqueline had a piece of flash fiction in issue 5 of What the Dickens internet magazine and has submitted for the next issue. Her story appeared in Tortured Hearts Vol 3 ebook by Inkslingers and will have two stories in their next anthology. Her article based on a WW1 diary is accepted by The Great War magazine, and she has pitched to CBBC an idea for a children's drama.

Christine contributed to the newly published second edition of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, Theory & Practice. She has entered the Book Guild's short story competition, and is currently editing another author's book about Emma Hamilton.

Rowan has an idea for a novella. He has found The Writers' & Artists' Guide to How to Write very useful.

John G continues with performance poetry, and is also involved in online reviewing.

Penny's book Eastleigh Then and Now is due out at any time and there are some advance orders already. She is writing a book, with Jimmy, about childhood in Southampton, and has just signed a contract for a 2013 sequel to Under the Queen's Colours which will be about women. She is planning book signings at Waterstone's in Eastleigh.

The discussion included how to judge the age group for a children's story, the language constraints, whether the relevant children would be interested in the particular subject matter, and the importance of appropriate illustrations. Younger children may prefer 'funky' pictures which should be strong on shape and colour but not necessary detail.

Tessa mentioned an internet course run by American Ryan Deiss on how to sell ebooks in an overcrowded market. He charges $250 and the course is hard work, but he promises a refund if the fee is not recouped in ebook sales. Still on the subject of marketing, John G mentioned The Masquerade Crew's blog where various sources of advice are being gathered.

Two possible speakers were mentioned, and these will be considered for future meetings.

Writing Buddies will be meeting again on October 5th, the next 'first Friday of the month', 2pm at The Art House Cafe, Above Bar, Southampton. Anyone with an interest in writing will be very welcome.

Notes by Jacqueline Pye.

Writing Buddies Latest News!

Writing Buddies moved to a new, monthly meeting format recently and this has proved to be successful.  Buddies have more time to write between gatherings and consequently have more to say when they all get together.

One casualty though has been the minuting of meetings.  The group's founder, Penny Legg, attends most of the group's meetings but does not have the time in her schedule to write up the notes taken at the time.  She has been very grateful to Jacqueline Pye and Elizabeth Streatfield, who have between them taken on the role of keeping the world up to date with the writing lives of the Buddies.  However, both of these writers have found coming to the meetings every month difficult recently and the blog has suffered as a result.  Penny has had to have a rethink about the blog as a consequence.

From now onwards, the blog will continue to try to give a flavour of what each Writing Buddy has been up to but will also give information on local festivals, events and such like, too.  Thus, when there is no scribe to write up the meeting, there will be no notes but there may be other information, relevant to all writers locally and further afield.  Penny hopes that readers of this blog will like the change.  If not, perhaps they would like to volunteer to come along and write the notes for this blog themselves!

The next meeting of Writing Buddies is on Friday 7 September at the Art House Cafe, Above Bar, Southampton, starting at 2pm.  Everyone is welcome.

The Guildford Book Festival is coming up shortly.  If you have not sampled its delights, here is a peep at what is on offer:

Hello!,   Hello again from Guildford Book Festival! We have some exciting news... We've been hard at work over the last few months building a fabulous programme of events.  The eagerly awaited Festival brochures will soon be appearing on doorsteps, in libraries, at Festival venues and in shops around the town and beyond! The brochure will also be available to download or you can view events online . The line-up includes, among others, writer and comedian Sandi Toksvig, bestselling authorKate Mosse, ex-ITN newscaster John Suchet, actor and comedy writer Ben Miller, BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz, ethnobotanist James Wong and writer, navigator and explorer Tristan Gooley. Festival Exclusive As loyal fans of the Festival, you are the first to know that Box Offices open this Friday at 10am. For full programme details or to book tickets log on to our website . Alternatively, call  The Electric Theatre on 01483 444789 or the  Tourist Information Centre on 01483 444334. Special Ticket Offers Linked Events: Block out an afternoon or evening and take in some great double bills. You can save money too! Just look out for the red + symbol in the brochure. Indulge in a double helping of Prue Leith and Rachel Allen onThursday 18 October, the opening day of the Festival or how about a historical double bill featuring Lindsey Davis and Simon Scarrow on Sunday 21 October. Following on from the success of last year's 'Britain's Defenders - An Afternoon at War', Clare Mulley and Nicolas Rankin and Derek Niemann present an afternoon of engrosing wartime stories on Thursday 25 October. A double bill not to be missed. Finally, crime fans will not be disappointed - also on Thursday 25 October spend an evening in the company of thrilling crime writers Nicci French and Tania Carver in Double Acts and Sophie Hannah and R J Ellory in The Dark Side. Reading Group Offers: If you belong to a reading group, there are some great savings to be made on a whole host of fiction events including Frances Osborne, Ann Cleeves and Peter James, Salley Vickers and David Nobbs! Look out for the green R symbol in the brochure and find out how to register here. A Feast of Fiction: Kick start your week with day devoted to fiction and a line up of fabulous novelists on Monday 22 October. A chance to catch Jenny Eclair, Kathy Lette, Kay Burley, Kathryn Flett, Dorothy Koomson and Judy Finnigan. Find out about the all day special deal at box offices. We hope you'll agree there are lots of good reasons to join us. See you soon!  The Festival Team www.guildfordbookfestival.co.uk    Guildford Book Festival Funded By