Writing Buddies, 13 May 2011

The Southampton Writing Buddies met at The Art House Café on 13 May for a discussion dedicated to self publishing and welcomed Ann, Jan, Veronica and Tony to the group, who were joining for the first time.

Penny had invited author Martin Baum along, to talk to the group about self publishing, but before Martin began, James Marsh shared his experience of self publishing his Davie Collins series of books. They were published by Lulu. Jim explained that the company do not charge for publishing but take 20% of all sales. The author is expected to lay out the book in the correct manner, set the selling price, print size, paper weight and decide on the front cover. Lulu do not provide an editing service, so no proofs are sent to the author for checking. Jim's advice is that anyone thinking of self publishing with Lulu should take care to ensure they are aware what is expected of them before embarking on this route.

Martin addressed the WritingBuddies, explaining that he is a satirist and wrote a condensed Shakespeare book in modern language, for his son, to make it easier for him to understand. After failing to get his book published through an agent he decided to self publish. He did his research in depth and self published through Richard Fitt at Authors Online. The company charges £750 to set up and publish the book, and the author receives 6 free copies. Authors OnLine send proofs, which need to be thoroughly checked. The company charges to have any mistakes corrected. Martin emphasised the importance of proof reading '7, 8, 9 or however many times it takes,' to get your work accurate, and he advised involving one or two people to help.

Following publication, the author will need to do much leg work. This will involve a press release and Martin advised that 200 words maximum be used, with bold letters in red. When his book TO BE OR NOT TO BE, INNIT (www.yoofspeak.net) was released, it invoked upset amongst the Shakespeare purists. This led to interest from the press and Martin found himself giving interviews on television and newspapers, and much more.

Martin's sources of advertising included information gathered from either the Writers' Handbook or Writers' and Artists' Yearbook. He contacted television and everyone relevant with press releases, including local radio and the Bournemouth Echo.

Martin recommended contacting the library service and provided the group with the website address for libraries nationwide As librarians from each library meet and select books, it is advisable to make them aware of the release of a self published book. Royalties of 6p per book are gained each time the book is taken out of a library (and even photocopied), but it is necessary to register for Public Lending Right and also with The Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society. Perseverance is needed as it is very repetitive contacting the libraries. Martin advised the group to be prepared to be asked questions. He also stresed how important it is important to put everything on your website.

Martin explained that although he has written short stories for magazines and had them published, together with three plays, he had been unable to get his book accepted for publication by a main stream publisher. His view is that having short stories previously published held no sway when it came to trying to get a book published. On Martin's website he gives advice see: 60 second book break. His conclusion regarding Authors OnLine is that they are an honourable company. Martin suggested using google or flickr for pictures for a front cover of a book. Martin added that he is willing to answer any questions if you email him.

Tony, new to the group, has self published books through Authorhouse and has the impression that they are a genuine company so he can recommend them, but, just be cautious. Tony decided on the price and size of his book and found that the company gave a lot of advice. Previously, Tony had set up his own publishing company; with his son setting up a website. He visited bookshops and within two years sold his books on a sale or return basis. He used to publish other writers' books, but now prefers to have a publisher and limit himself to his own work.

Penny thanked Martin for a very informative talk and sharing his experiences with Writing Buddies. She also thanked James and Tony for sharing their self publishing experiences.

The Writing Buddies display will be arranged at the weekend, 14/15 May, in the front window of The Art House Café.

Penny will be giving a talk at Woolston Library on Friday 20 May at 7.00pm. Tickets £1.00 available from Woolston or Weston Library, or by emailing carolyn.taplin@southampton.gov.uk

The next meeting will be on 27 May 2011, when the group celebrates its second birthday.

Post by Elizabeth Streatfield.

Writing Buddies, 15 April 2011

The Southampton Writing Buddies met at The Art House Café on 15 April for a discussion on writing matters.

Elizabeth is still working on the second assignment for The Writers Bureau and has completed a little more of her book.

Sunida is studying magazine journalism at The Solent University.

Jacqueline is once more flowing with her writing and has had a letter accepted for Sainsbury's magazine. The current issue of Writers News has her short piece about World Book Night and she is about to be paid for her contribution to Peoples Friend magazine. Also, Writers Forum magazine has printed her letter. Jacqueline is currently reviewing a self published book and is finding many errors. Last but not least, Jacqueline has received an email from Yours magazine who would like her to write an article on sleep, for the July issue. The magazine has planned it out and expects 800 words by 1 June, for which they will pay £200.

Glen is continuing with her book on Eastleigh which she has been commissioned to write by The History Press. She has written about 13,000 words so far and the requirement is 30,000 plus photographs. She is finding it a little difficult transcribing her interviews but is enjoying writing the book.

Mike is a new member and is in his 3^rd year at Chichester University where he is studying Counselling Psychology. He has written prose and poetry and is currently working on his dissertation of 12,000 words.

Jimmy has just completed a short children’s book which, when illustrated, will be dedicated to his grandson. He is working on chapter 5 of his latest book. His visit to The London Book Fair was productive as he was able to get two publishers interested in his books.

Mo also attended The London Book Fair and took three chapters of her book to Black Spring Publishers. She was particularly interested in the Russian section at the fair.

Catherine is editing her novel and is currently on the second draft. She aims to complete this by the end of April. Catherine has posted an interview with the author, Margaret James on her blog and the Writers in Southampton group have asked Catherine to do a talk on blogging in February 2012. Catherine was pleased to announce that she has been long listed for the Flash 500 competition she entered.

Penny went to The London Book Fair on the final day and was surprised to find some of the stands packing up. She visited The History Press stand to obtain feed back on her book sales and was very pleased to hear that her latest published title, Haunted Southampton, had achieved sales of 1,085 between 1 February and 31 March 2011. She has four further book proposals and on 1 May her Winchester book will be released. Winchester Cathedral, which will be stocking this book, have asked Penny to host an event. Waterstones have suggested to Penny that she hosts another ghost evening talk, following the great success of the last one.

General topics discussed ranged from the importance of a correctly composed covering letter to a publisher, to the need of double checking spellings instead of just relying on the spell check facility on your computer. As previously discussed, Penny confirmed that the meeting on self publishing would be arranged for Friday 13 May, which will be the next meeting of Writing Buddies. Jimmy self published through Lulu a few years ago and will be able to give some insight into the pitfalls that he encountered. Lisa has published on line and also John has self published his book of poems.

The Writing Buddies window display at The Art House Café was discussed and Penny will check if it is booked for 14^th or 15^th May. Mo will be able to contribute a laptop plus two posters, magazines and front cover of her book. Business cards and flyers will be needed and Jacqueline confirmed that she is able to contribute. Penny asked members to think about the display and requested help in dressing the window.

New member, Mike, explained more about his counselling services and that he has a website and would like to set up a regular blog. His website is www.livingchanges.co.uk He works privately and also with NHS referrals.

The next meeting of Writing Buddies will be on Friday 13th May. The meeting will be about self publishing and author Martin Baum will be welcomed as a guest.

Post by Elizabeth Streatfield.

Writing Buddies 18th March 2011

The Southampton Writing Buddies met at The Art House Café on 18 March for a lively discussion to share information on writing matters.

Jacqueline has received a critique for her children’s book and taken note of the comments. She has been busy editing Talking News and is working on a short story for Take a Break magazine. She is entering a humorous poetry competition and has had a letter printed in The Echo. Jacqueline has also been asked to review a book on child abuse. She also mentioned Ether Books www.etherbooks.co.uk .

Sunida joined the group for the first time. She is in her third year at Solent University and wanted advice on how to proceed with writing about the strange experiences she has encountered in her life.

Eileen writes crime books. Her second novel is ready to go to the publishers and she is working on the third. Her first novel, Miss McGuire is Missing, is being reprinted and also being published in large print.

Gunvor is from Sweden and started writing short stories and poems. She wrote a book aimed at eight to twelve year old girls and has also written a sequel. Her third book is different and she is trying to get this one published, so needs advice on this aspect.

Elizabeth has completed the first assignment for The Writers Bureau and is working on the second. She has also been able to write more of her novel.

Jacob has been working on a variety of different things. He is editing one short story and has started another.

Mo has a new reader for her book and has been requested to do a one woman show. She has been actively blogging - see www.loudwomen.blogspot.com, www.themotiononline.couk and Mo's own blog on www.mo-foster.co.uk

Penny's activities include her launch of her book, Haunted Southampton. The evening of ghost stories Penny hosted at Waterstones was a sell out, and she is considering a repeat performance. Her talk at the Civic Centre was plagued with problems. Penny overcame these and emphasised to the group the importance of ascertaining, before-hand, that the equipment provided at a venue is compatible with your own. The page proofs and cover design for her Winchester book are now through. Haunted Southampton is currently no.1 in Waterstones book listings.

Laurel is working on a short story entry for the Bridport Prize. She is also entering a ghost story for a competition in a writing magazine.

Lisa has finished her proofs for Death And The City, books one and two. A producer, from Lymington, is looking for a script based on a female security officer and is very impressed with Death And The City and has contacted Lisa regarding this. Lisa took her book, The Terrible Zombie of Oz to be passed to Andrew Lloyd Webber for his perusal.

John has written one or two reviews and two poems as a result of his visit to Bournemouth, as mentioned at the last meeting.

A general discussion followed covering various topics including the benefits of having a blog, Twitter and Facebook. LinkedIn was mentioned but this is more for professionals.

Sunida was given advice on how to write about her experiences and it was suggested that whether it is written as fact or fiction, is dependent on how much material she has. Another suggestion was a plan for both fiction and non fiction. It was generally agreed that thorough research was needed.

Gunvor is having difficulty placing the two fantasy children’s books she has written, aimed at girls from age 8 – 12. She has been working her way through agents and now contacting publishers. Penny advised her to go straight to a publisher and research those who accept unsolicited manuscripts. Penny stressed the importance of the accuracy of a covering letter and synopsis when sending to a publisher.

Penny confirmed that she will organise a meeting solely about self publishing after Easter. The publication of Wordfall, The Writing Buddies Anthology, is postponed until September.

The date for the group's advertising in The Art House Café window has now been confirmed as being from 15^th May to 24^th June.

More suggestions for display included:

· Book marks

· Flyers

· Banner

· Flip-chart (stories/articles)

· Book-covers

The meeting concluded with Lisa showing members her E Touch Android Tablet, which is a book reader, not storing as many books as a Kindle, but costing less.

Post written by Elizabeth Streatfield.

Writing Buddies, 4 March 2011

The Southampton Writing Buddies met at The Art House Café on 4 March to share information and discuss writing matters.

Jacob is still working on his board game. He is writing a poem and also considering entering a short story he wrote a while ago, and put on line, into a competition. Penny advised him to look at the competition rules as they usually state that entries must not have been previously published, in any form. He mentioned a short story competition with THE POINT, Eastleigh. www.thepointeastleigh.co.uk

Penny mentioned that Martin Hodges of Poetry 24 is actively looking for poetry. http://poetry-24.blogspot.com/

Tessa is editing the third draft of the third book of her 'Dohlen' trilogy.

Laurel has written a short story and submitted it to the Write Space competition. She has written two poems for Moving Voices and is downloading details of competitions closing in March with a view to entering her work.

Jimmy has completed the first chapter of his new book. He has visited Waterstones regarding signings of his book, Growing up in Wartime Southampton: Someone Else’s Trousers and the book launch will be held at The Riverside Club, above St Deny's Rowing Club, Priory Road, St Deny's on Sunday 8 May, 2 – 5.00pm.

Elizabeth is working on her first assignment for The Writers Bureau and hopes to complete this by the next meeting.

Lisa's book The Terrible Zombie of Oz is being sold by Amazon all around the world and is also available through Barnes & Noble. She researched e book prices and it is being marketed at £3.50. Penny confirmed that Lisa's book will be put up on the Writing Buddies bookcase on the blog site. See www.createspace.com/

John has written two reviews and five poems. He performed two poems at Moving Voices and went to Freeway Poets in Bournemouth. He will be hosting an open mic at Petersfield.

Penny's book Voices of Southampton is now finished and with the publisher. She has been accepted into The Society of Authors. The magazines she was working, Carousel and The Bulletin on have now gone to press. Her current book, Haunted Southampton is no. 11 at Waterstones, Above Bar, Southampton, in their best-seller listing.

Penny will be launching Haunted Southampton on Sunday 13 March book launch for Haunted Southampton at The Station Pub, Bitterne, 3.00 – 5.00pm. .

On Wednesday 16 March Penny is hosting an evening of ghost stories at Waterstones, Above Bar starting at 7.00pm.

Penny was particularly pleased to receive a review for Haunted Southampton on Amazon. She is thinking of possibly writing another ghost book as there are plenty of stories to be investigated.

A general discussion followed covering various topics including the closures of bookshops and the increasing popularity of e books.

Laurel expressed her frustration at not being able to get her work published. Penny advised her to write directly to a publisher rather than trying to get an agent and also encouraged her to set up her own web site. Amanda Hocking was mentioned. She is a 26 year old American author having great success with her self published books. See www.authorsonshow.com

John suggested having a guest columnist on the Writing Buddies blog, perhaps commencing with Penny. If this is to be initiated the member would need to forward their piece to Penny and she would then put it up on the blog. The blog is quite high on the wiki league. Advertising on the site was also mentioned but was felt to be time consuming and generally members agreed against this.

The next Writing Buddies meeting will be on Friday 18 March at 2pm at The Art House Cafe, Above Bar, Southampton. Everyone is welcome.

Post written by Elizabeth Streatfield.

Writing Buddies, 18 February 2011

The Writing Buddies met at The Art House Café in Southampton on Friday 18 February 2011, where a slightly smaller number than usual were gathered. Regulars Jacqueline, Catherine and Glen sent their apologies. Lisa has self published her book The Terrible Zombie Of Oz, which is available in paperback on Amazon and e-book in the Amazon Kindle store. Lisa did all the work herself including the jacket design and really enjoyed the process. See www.createspace.com/3540206. The group congratulated her on this achievement. Tessa is looking to get her books on Kindle, however, Amazon are insisting on 35% of the proceeds. Jimmy's article has now been published on The Motion Online publication. He is proof reading his book Growing Up in Wartime Southampton: Someone Else's Trousers and this has to be completed by 26 February and returned to The History Press. He has been informed that his book will now be in the shops mid April and his book launch will take place on Sunday 8 May 2011. Jimmy has also finished Java's Revenge and is looking forward to beginning his 15th book. Elizabeth has now sent off her entries for two short story competitions and is starting the first assignment for The Writers Bureau. She has also done a little more work on her book. Jacob, at the moment, is just writing for the love of it. He is currently writing counter cards for a board game. John has reviewed six shows and has received payment for the first four. He recently had a job interview for an Art Workshop and although he was not successful he did gather lots of information. He showed the group IdeasTap literature. See also www.artshub.co.uk Laurel is aiming to enter the Bridport Prize writing competition. She is preparing three entries, a poem, flash fiction and a short story, which she says, she hopes will be 'off the wall.' She is trying something not already thought of. The group gave her encouragement with this. Annette is contacting various publishers. The Editor of Scots Magazine requested that she email her ideas and the magazine would like to publish her work, for which she will be paid. Regarding the 1950's stories, The History Press like the ideas Annette has put forward. Penny advised Annette that The History Press are good at contacting so will not keep keep her waiting long for a decision. Low royalties though, perhaps only 5%. Mo has started turning one of her stories into a play. She was at the Nuffield Theatre on Monday and has a meeting in London regarding her poetry. Penny's latest book deadline is the end of February. The Writing Buddies Anthology is now almost finished. Penny is working on DSFA magazines and has been offered work on Twitter. She is also considering writing another ghost book. The next meeting of Writing Buddies is on Friday 4th March at the Art House Cafe, Above Bar, Southampton at 2pm. All with an interest in writing are welcome to come along. Post by Elizabeth Streatfield.

WRITING BUDDIES, 21 JANUARY 2011

The Writing Buddies met at The Art House Café in Southampton on Friday 21 January 2011 where several new members were gathered round the table.

Jimmy has received the cover for his book Growing up in Wartime Southampton: Someone else's Trousers from The History Press and is very pleased with it. Chapter 24 of Java's Revenge is ongoing, possibly continuing to chapter 25. Recently he was asked by Age Concern to talk to a group of young people from Southampton College about his experiences growing up during the war. He ran a writing workshop in the afternoon and was particularly impressed by one young man’s grasp of what life was like during the war.

Claire, a new member, wrote two non fiction books some years ago but now wants to try her hand at fiction writing. Last year she attended an Arvon Course and this led to her entering a competition with her first story of 4,000 words, set in China. As yet she has not received any results. She is also thinking of entering the Début Dagger competition.

Jacqueline entered the How-to-Books, December competition. She is still writing for Suite 101, which she informed the group has re-vamped its site. Now, statistics show how many people read the articles that week, particularly over Christmas. She has been looking at the Cats Protection Competition which is for a poem or story up to 1,000 words. The first draft of her children’s book is finished and she is now editing and this will be ready in February.

Pam has had a quiet time on the writing front but continues with her research.

Laurel, another new member, writes short stories and has written a science fiction book for children, which was turned down by the publisher she sent it to. She has recorded it for You Tube. The title is Alice and the Best Friends Forever! Jane's Secret. She has also submitted four poems for consideration with a publication and is a member of the Southampton Writers Circle where she recently won the Greensleeves trophy for a short story competition.

Mo's illustrations for her new novel are presently on hold. She reported that her Berlin interview has inaccuracies. She is re-writing her novel and has written four or five more poems.

John has been reading short poems in Bournemouth and has written four drama reviews this year. On line reviewing from Writing Buddies would be appreciated. John advised the group of a Poetry Anthology competition with a closing date for entries of 30 June 2011. To enter send three unpublished poems of no more than 20 lines and 160 words each to United Press Ltd., Admail 3735, London EC1 1JB or visit unitedpress.co.uk.

Tessa has sent the illustrations for her trilogy to Germany and is considering translating the trilogy. She has been asked to do a talk on Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day and a reporter from the Echo has been to interview her.

Josephine has 'started to finish' her book on Meetings. She went to a Parish Meeting and realised there was no difference, but it was useful. Next step is publication as all the book is written - 163 pages plus 70 appendices. She is considering taking bits of the book for articles.

Mercy, a new member, has a poetry connection and is currently writing a novel about HIV set in Africa. She has so far completed 10,000 words. She wanted to join a group and not just be a lone writer so would welcome sharing her work for feedback.

Richard has ideas for a novel and stories but other issues are at present preventing him from forwarding these.

Annette told the group that she had recently purchased Penny's book Southampton Then and Now from Tesco's, Bursledon. She has been inspired by Writing Buddies and approached BBC Scotland regarding a script she had written about life during the last world war. They informed her that they do not take unsolicited scripts. She has poems put together that need illustration. Her family suggested she write a book set in the 1950s about her memory of Scotland. One story has already been accepted. She wrote an illustrated children’s book some years ago and is now wondering about its suitability for animation.

Fiona has finished her book Relative Truth, the editing of which took a long time. She has drawn up a list of agents who favour first time writers. The synopsis is done and she is pacing herself. She has also started her next book. The City Literature course is going well. Her partner's book is being launched 19^th February, about Racing Ace – Samuel Kinkade.

Martin, new to the group, was a columnist back in the 1980's, mainly writing about family life. He started blogging in July 2009 and has self published a poetry book through Blurb.

Catherine took a break from writing in December but is now continuing on the first draft of her novel of 75,000 words. She was very pleased that her application to the Romantic Novelist Association New Writers Scheme has been accepted. Catherine has booked to go to the York Festival of Writing in March, where she has a meeting with a publisher. She has submitted a short story for Queensland competition which is for 500 – 1,000words and closes on 28 January 2011. One hundred entries will be selected as winners.

Elizabeth has enrolled with The Writers Bureau which will give her the encouragement and incentive to continue writing regularly. A short story for a competition is well under way and she is progressing with her book, although much research is still needed.

Penny advised that the Writing Buddies Anthology has been proof read. She apologised for the delay but her software is not compatible with the publisher's and this had caused a problem. Her book Voices of Southampton is on track for end of February. Haunted Southampton is due out next week and she should have copies by 4 February. It will be in the shops shortly after that. Penny continues to mark scripts for The Writer Bureau. She was invited to The Writers' Study in Dorset to present the prizes after judging their short story and poetry competition.

Further discussion took place and Penny advised the group that she could arrange to have one Buddies meeting just about self publication. She will keep the group advised about this.

The London Book Fair will be held at Earls Court on 11 -13^th April 2011. Writers can book appointments with publishers and discuss submissions and contracts. This is an opportunity to meet publishers and test out ideas, knowing they will give straight answers. There will be workshops but you need to book the fair in advance. It is advisable to take a trolley on wheels for all the literature that is available. Details are on line now.

York Festival of Writing, 25 - 27^th March, is residential but with the London Book Fair you can do a single day.

On Friday 4 February Penny is running a creative workshop through Age Concern for the over 50s. It will be held at Cranbury Terrace, Southampton from 10 – 12 noon and the accent will be getting going with writing and making it fun. Penny emphasised that poetry will not be covered.

Mercy was hoping that someone from the group would be willing to read her work and it was suggested that perhaps she and Claire could become writing buddies.

Penny requested new members to furnish her with their blog addresses, so that they could be put on the Writing Buddies blog site.

The next Writing Buddies meeting will be held on Friday 4th February, at 2pm, at the Art House Cafe, Above Bar, Southampton. Everyone is welcome.

Notes written by Elizabeth Streatfield.

Writing Buddies - Mo Foster in Berlin

One of the Writing Buddies, Mo Foster, is causing quite a stir in Berlin at the moment. Click to read her interview in the NPR Berlin blog.

Congratulations, Mo!