Category: Uncategorized

Hans Christian Andersen by Anne Grahame Johnstone

There are a lot of articles and reports out there giving various and often conflicting figures about the Indie book market. All seem to agree, however, that the percentage of Indie writers and publishers is huge and growing. You only have to read a few Indie books to realise there is some seriously good stuff out there and marvel at the ingenuity and diversity of the imaginations from which they were born.

Yet there is still a stigma attached to independently published work. There are those, it is true, who see it only as a way to make a fast buck and churn out little more than rubbish. These are not writers in my opinion and it is not of their books I speak, they are little more than opportunists; marketeers who, seeing a potentially lucrative product churn out a cheap imitation that…

In my search of good places to submit original writing, one of the first I came across was the juggernaut that is the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. Having received many of these books as gifts over the years, I was intrigued. So with my usual, What the hell, attitude, I wrote an essay and sent it off to their call for submissions on Volunteering and Giving Back. (They have a boatload of titles and topics so check out their website and write an essay to submit.)

Much to my shock delight, I’m in! The book is publishing in August and my essay entitled, “A Little Lipstick,” will be inside.

So, the point of this post, is this. If you are a writer or a wannabe writer, adopt the useful, “What the Hell” attitude. Send off your work and send positive vibes into the universe. Or, do as I did…

During his tour stop in Salt Lake City on May 20, Ed Sheeran brought out his opener, Ben Kweller, and the two performed an acoustic duet of “Stand By Me.” The song, of course, was originally performed by Ben E King who, sadly, passed away recently. Watch the perfection below!

I am fortunate to live within 10-15 minutes walking distance of Upper Norwood’s Joint Library, the oldest and, I believe the only independent institution of it’s kind, (http://uppernorwoodlibrary.org/).

In search of ways to get my book, “Dalliance: A Collection of Poetry and Prose” into the hands of more readers I visited the library to ascertain whether they would add it to their shelves. To my delight a librarian confirmed the library would be pleased to accept my book. Its wonderful to know that “Dalliance” is available for the residents of Noorwood to enjoy.

The following article contains useful advice on getting a self published book into a library, (http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-Self-Published-Book-into-Libraries). The article mentions the importance of specifying that you wish your book to be added to the library’s stock rather than sold. This is good advice and I asked the librarian to add “Dalliance” to the library’s…

Rodney Jones, author of The Sun, The Moon, and Maybe the Trains (Red Adept Publishing)

How to edit before you submit your manuscript to an editor:

As is true with anything, editing skills improve with experience. The first novel I wrote, I read over about twenty times, changing this word and that, cleaning, tightening, strengthening sentences and paragraphs until I arrived at a point where I thought it was ready to send out. I took the route of seeking an agent. I sent out a couple dozen queries and sample chapters, and in return received an equal number of impersonal rejections.  I went back to my MS, took a hard, critical look at it, concluded that the entire plot structure was wrong, so then reorganized it, did another dozen read-through-edits, resubmitted it to a different group of agents and was rewarded with more rejection. I continued this process, spending close…

Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one remembers to turn on the light – Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter, J.K.Rowling)

(Image: Pinterest)