Publishing Archives | Page 2 of 2

The Writer as Entrepreneur

English: A web banner in use during Open Access Week. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I recently attended a seminar on Publishing at the NSW Writers Centre entitled “Open Access”. The main message I came away with was: “You must be an author entrepreneur. You need to take part in marketing your own books before, during and after publication.” In attendance were 1) digital experts, 2) publishing representatives, 3) bookshop owners, 4) editors and 5) writers.

Anna Maguire talked about the ingredients for success: Content, Cover, Connections, Metadata and Marketing.

Cate Blake: Penguin Books Australia: “The long tail”: Print, Radio, Online, campaign,

Alice Grundy: Giramondo: Quality, Enthusiasm, Commitment.

Adam Van Rooijhan: Harlequin: Finding your audience.

Megan O’Brien discussed who and what to talk to/about in a bookshop.

Robert Watkins: Commissioning Editor for Hachette talked about the 7 stages in supporting an author.

Diane Blackloch was in the right place at the right time and started with 3 friends and an electronic newsletter.

Anita Heiss (Dr) Political activist and writer: 2008 Apology in Canberra: Describes herself ironically as “the Australian Oprah”and is a long-term blogger and twitter adept.

Dionne Lister, self publisher, developed a community of authors.

Elisabeth Storrs described herself as a hybrid and “twitterer on steroids”: self publisher/taken up by a US publisher.

Bruce McCabe: The Reader is Key: Find your readers!

Darrell Pitt: Text Publishing: “The riches are in the niches”: Have a series of books ready to go!

See my next post on Strategies for self promoting.

October 5, 2014 0 comment

English: Postwoman in Great Britain, WWI. Español: Cartera en Gran Bretaña durante la Primera Guerra Mundial. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They Sought the Last of Lands:

William Skyvington presents the outcome of research into his paternal ancestors. His grandfather went out to Australia at the start of the 20th century, and married an outback girl whose English father had reached NSW in the second half of the 19th century. This book might have been a run-of-the-mill family-history monograph written by the Australian-born grandson of typical Old World pioneers in the Antipodes. However, during the final stages of the writing process, the author had got into the habit of displaying his work in progress on a dedicated Internet website… and that changed everything.

The author started to hear from individuals-indeed, relatives-whom he had never known. And two such cousins provided the author with astounding last-minute revelations, forcing him to rethink and rewrite large sections of his typescript.

Skeletons-some quite harmless, others more disturbing—started to jump out of closets on both sides of the author’s paternal ancestors. What had started out as a banal exercise in genealogy was metamorphosed, in parts, into psychological case studies of relatively recent ancestors who apparently believed that a good way of presenting one’s family history was through myths.

(https://www.amazon.com/They-Sought-Last-Lands-Forebears/dp/2919427024)