PG 8 GET THE FULL LOWDOWN ON OUR DIGITAL BOOK FESTIVAL #BLOGIVAL2016
PG 10 AUTHOR PETE SALMON ON WHY EDITING IS SEXY
PG 18 DR. PATRICIA POLLEDRI ON WRITING ABOUT ENVY FOR THE MASSES
NEW EDITION CONTEMPORARY
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MAGAZINE ISSUE 29, JUNE 2016
NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
This Issue
HAPPENI NGS June, July, August 4
News In Brief 5
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20 2
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CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHING MAGAZINE
Welcome to the June 2016 issue of New Edition, our publishing magazine for authors. This quarter, we celebrate Authoright’s publishing imprint Clink Street and our book blogger friends with our first digital book festival, Blogival. Award-winning writer and editor Peter Salmon tells us why there’s nothing as attractive as a copy edit, and why author’s should trust the dastardly red pen. Dr. Patricia Polledri explains how she manages to make her academic work in behavioural psychology fascinating reading for the average book lover. Rachel Gilbey offers some helpful advice for authors just diving in to social media. And we get our samba on in Brazil, looking at literary trends, life and culture ahead of the Summer Olympic Games, with author Norman Ratcliffe.
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HAPPENI N GS June 4-31|
Liverpool Book Art Exhibition
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Printer’s Row Lit Fest
Liverpool Central Library liverpoolbookart.com Over forty artists from all over the world will exhibit their books and art in a free exhibition across the city of Liverpool to mark the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Books made from all manner of materials - from handmade paper, binary and textiles - will be on display for all to see as part of this free event. Chicago printersrowlitfest.org The Midwest’s largest free outdoor literary festival takes over five blocks around the historic Printer’s Row in Chicago, Illinois. Featuring more than 200 authors with events aimed at every age - including panels, book signings, and the Lil’ Lit Park for children - there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
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28-31|
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Young Adult Literature Convention
Kensington Olympia, London londonfilmandcomiccon.com/index.php/yalc A massive celebration of Young Adult literature with an impressive line up of authors including Malorie Blackman and Melvin Burgess. Fans will have a chance to meet the authors while publishers take part in workshops and listen to inspiring talks. A pass for the whole event is £60.
August Edinburgh International Book Festival
Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland edbookfest.co.uk During this three week creative bonanza - taking place while the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is on - over 800 authors will take part in more than 700 events in a specially-created tented village. Nobel and Booker prize winners, historians, musicians, biographers and more will hold daily readings, signings, workshops and children’s activities. Prices vary.
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News In Brief Killer Women to be first ever female crime festival Spearheaded by award-winning writer and journalist, Melanie McGrath, and high-profile authors including Martina Cole, Val McDermid and Paula Hawkins, a chilling new literary event will scream into London town on October 15th. Held at Shoreditch Town Hall (where the inquest into Jack the Ripper’s last victim was held) the Killer Women Festival will be London’s first official celebration of women’s crime writing. At the end of 2014, McGrath co-founded Killer Women with the aim of maintaining and raising the profiles of the female crime-writing community. “Most readers of crime fiction are women and there’s a lot of enthusiasm for an event that was women author-led,” said McGrath, while adding that there would be some male writers attending and that it was an “equal opportunities festival.” Killer Women Festival will also feature a police detective who will guide attendees through the real-
life process of solving a murder, a screening room for crime fiction and drama, with “well known” actors to boot.
Goodreads Deals coming to US members
Adult colouring book craze leads overall increase in physical book
According to Goodreads, six books are added to Goodreads’ members’ want-to-read lists every second. Now these lists will serve a different purpose for its users. Goodreads Deals will see US members altered when an ebook on their ‘want-to-read-list’ is discounted, so that they can take advantage of the price promotion. It will enhance exposure for ebook price promotions for US authors and publishers, targeting them directly to the readers who are most likely to be interested in them. “This program is also a powerful new marketing tool for authors and publishers; being able to reach the size of audience we have with personalised price promotions is a great new opportunity for them,” Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler said.
Printed book sales are on the rise for the first time in four years. The numbers are partly thanks to the continuing demand for adult colouring books and big calendar events such as the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland. This year’s annual report shows physical book sales up to £2.76 billion in 2015 from £2.748 billion in 2014. Digital sales dropped from £563m to £554m, the first year-on-year fall since 2011 when the Publishers Association started measuring ebook sales. However, the digital sales figures don’t include self published titles, or those published by Amazon and other digital media companies. “Digital continues to be an incredibly important part of the industry, but it would appear there remains a special place in the consumer’s heart for aesthetic pleasure that printed books can bring,” said Publishers Association chief executive Stephen Lotinga. Six of the top seven non-fiction titles in 2015 were adult colouring books, which are said to enhance mindfulness.
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# NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
Trending:
The Digital Downfall?
With Waterstones leaving the digital market, where does this leave one of the UK’s biggest booksellers? Rachel Gilbey examines the decision and the impact on the ebook market.
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At the end of May, Waterstones surprised the publishing trade somewhat by announcing that it would no longer sell ebooks. Their apparently anti-digital backwards step comes just seven months after they withdrew Amazon’s Kindle ereading device from sale in stores. At the time, Waterstones made a statement saying that they were barely selling any of the devices, but it had always felt like an uncomfortable deal to many; the UK’s challenged bricks and mortar store helping to prop up the business of its retail nemesis. As of June 14th, Waterstones customers’ ebook libraries will be transferred over to the Canadian born, Japanese owed e-tailer, Kobo. Waterstones has had a chequered history with ebooks, despite being one of the earliest adopters of the technology in 2008 when it started selling the Sony ereader; they also tried to launch their own device, before admitting defeat and stocking the Amazon Kindle. To many, the decision seemed an odd one, made by an old school bookseller trying to keep up in a rapidly changing market. And there’s no real question, whatever Waterstones would cry in its own defence, that Amazon has decimated its business. Managing director of Waterstones, James Daunt, told the Bookseller he took the decision to stop selling ebooks because the company could not do it “to the standard or the ability I would like”. “The simple reality [is] that we do not do selling ebooks particularly well, effectively, or in any great volume at the moment. I try and always do things that are in our customers’ best interests, there is no better reason than that.” Waterstones currently sell ebooks through the American ebook distributor Overdrive, but Daunt feels that it’s a “clunky” process for customers and that Kobo offer a much “smoother” service. Rakuten owned Kobo are still fighting to solidify their position as the legitimate challenger to Amazon’s ebook dominance in the UK, after Barnes and Noble’s Nook business pulled out earlier this year, and other services such as Blinkbox have unceremoniously folded. Kobo’s CEO Michael Tamblyn issued this statement: “We are pleased to be working with Waterstones, where we can help a great print retailer by supporting their customers who also love to read digitally. We look forward to ensuring that customers who have built ebook libraries with Waterstones will be able to enjoy them in the future with Kobo. We have partnered with beloved bookstore @Waterstones in the UK to keep its customers reading digitally.”
The Waterstones retreat from the digital market came soon after figures were announced that physical book sales are on the rise for the first time in four years and that ebook sales have dropped for the first time in the seven years that records have been kept. Ebook sales fell by 1.6 percent - which is hardly dramatic - to £554m in 2015 whilst the printed book sales were up by 0.4 percent - which is even less so - to £2.76bn, in a year where the publishers association said that overall there has been an increase by 1.3 percent to £4.4bn in the industry. Reaction from authors to this move has been positive so far. Joanna Penn, author who runs The Creative Penn website, said on Facebook – “Big news in the UK - and much better than Nook handing over to Sainsburys. Kobo really does care about readers - and clearly, so does Waterstones. Kobo continues their expansion little by little... this will also give all authors who publish on Kobo a wider market.” Romance and mystery author Jenna Bennet, also took to Facebook on the subject “Waterstones, the British bookstore, will stop selling ebooks and divert ebook sales to Kobo instead. Kobo is a wonderful company, FYI, full of very nice people.” Waterstones have also made the decision to stop selling audiobooks, and customers have until June 13th to make sure their entire library has been downloaded, as it will become unavailable after that date. Only time will tell whether Kobo will be able to start breaking into Amazon’s dominance of the UK ebook market, or if Apple and Sainsburys will be able to catch up either. But whatever happens, it’s hard not to view this decision by Waterstones as something of a failure on its part; a failure to evolve its business and grow its market into digital reading. Perhaps when faced with Amazon’s assault on eretailing, it was a noble retreat back to doing what it does best. That said, when Amazon start opening bricks and mortar stores, where does that leave Waterstones left to turn?
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NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
We love our authors and we want the world to know it! For the entire month of June 2016, Authoright will be celebrating our writers with the inaugural Blogival, a digital festival designed to introduce readers to old and new favourites from our Clink Street imprint and thank the amazing bloggers for the important role they play in sharing and spotlighting the stories we all adore. Every day in June our Clink Street authors will be featured across the web with reviews, interviews, guest posts and more! And the best part? You’re invited! So help spread the love of authors, readers and reviewers everywhere by following and sharing #Blogival2016 from the 1st - 30th of June.
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JUNE
Rachel’s Random Reads Yana Stajno Emma’s Bookery - Lee Cockburn
My Crazy Reading Obsession Gary Lines
Words and Peace - James Chilton
Snazzy Books - Lily Temperley
David’s Book Blurg - Nooshie Motaref
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Lazy Sunday Book Reviews A.W. Rock
Bibliophile Book Club - Lee Cockburn
David’s Book Blurg - Graham Wood
My Crazy Reading Obessions - Gabriela Gillespie
12 Linda’s Book Bag - Tracey Peppiat Chocolate Pages - Lee Cockburn
19 Cover 2 Cover - Nick Brown Ali The Dragon Slayer - Frank Lankaster
Yet Another Blogging Mummy - Edward Freeland
Sincerely Stacie Gabriella Gillespie Chelle’s Book Reviews Rob Sinclair
20 My Crazy Reading Obsession Ron Cope
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Bookworm for Kids Jeannie van Rompaey Damppebles - A.W. Rock Life Love Lexie - Lily Temperley 8
The Writing Greyhound Ron Cope
David’s Book Blurg - A.L. Patterson
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By the Letter Book Reviews Gabriella Gillespie The Book Trail Nooshie Motaref
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Cover 2 Cover - Nick Brown
Published Moments Lee Cockburn
Damppebbles - Edward Freeland
Yet Another Blogging Mummy Rick Hay
David’s Book Blurg - J.C. Norman
Reading Room with a View Edward Freeland
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Emma’s Bookery Nooshie Motaref
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The Book Trail Stephen Childs
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BytheLetter Book Reviews - Frank Lankaster
Life Love Lexie - Vimla Lalvani 15
Sincerely Stacie Rick Hay
Cover 2 Cover - Rob Sinclair
Damppebbles - Lee Cockburn
Sincerely Stacie Various
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Life Love Lexie - Rick 22 Hay
Linda’s Book Bag - Gary Lines
Cover 2 Cover - Lee Cockburn
Ali The Dragon Slayer - Lily Temperley
Bookworm for Kids Sheelagh McGrath
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16 By the Letter Book Reviews - James Chilton The French Village Diaries - Oscar Reynard 23 The Writing Greyhound - Frank Lankaster Yet Another Blogging Mummy Nooshie Motaref
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A British Bookworms Blog - Frank Lankaster
3 The Writing Greyhound Tracy Peppiatt Book Lover Worm Blog Rob Sinclair Snazzy Books - Declan Milling 10
A Book Addict’s Bookshelves - Andrew Man The Book Trail Andrew Critchley
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A Book Adict’s Bookshelves - Stephen Childs Emma’s Bookery Lindy Henny
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Bibliohpile Book Club Rob Sinclair
Cover 2 Cover - A.W. Rock
The Writing Greyhound - Gabriella Gillespie
A Book Addict’s Bookshelves - Jeannie van Rompaey
The Book Ali The Trail - James Dragon Slayer Chilton - Matthew Redford The Friendly Shelf Snazzy Books Patricia Marie - Frank Budd Lankaster 17 18
Chelle’s Book Reviews Rob Sinclair Snazzy Books - Stephen Childs 24
Yet Another Bloggin Mummy - Declan Miling 25
#Blogival 9
NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
Behind the Red Pen From little grammar mistakes to major plot holes, a good editor can be the savior of your book. Peter Salmon gives a look inside the mind of an editor and how the editing process can be the most important one your writing will go through.
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CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHING MAGAZINE
O
ne of my favourite objects in the world is a facsimile edition of The Waste Land by T S Eliot. It is a reproduction of the original manuscript, showing Ezra Pound’s edits of perhaps the greatest poem of the twentieth century. The first couple of pages are wonderfully wrought poetry – Eliot grappling with metaphysics, spirituality and history. And through them is a huge diagonal line and the word ‘No’. In the margin of page three, Pound has circled a phrase and said ‘the poem starts here, get rid of the rest’. And so the poem does, with the immortal opening line ‘April is the cruellest month’. It is the best copyedit in history. Is there anything sexier than a good edit? Of course, for any author, is there anything more confronting, challenging, horrifying and mortifying than being edited? As someone who is both an editor and a writer I know both sides of the coin. Here is my work of genius, which I care about, worry about, think about all the time and have a very definite idea in my head about; here is my work that I turn over and over in my head at 3 am, making characters taller and shorter, making them die, bringing them back to life, adding a chapter here, taking away a chapter there; and yet here is some devil-maycare-editor armed with nothing but red pen (or track changes on Word, but go with me) who is going to stomp through my manuscript with their own stupid ideas. How dare they? And yet, is there anything sexier than a good edit? I remember my first time (pauses, lights cigarette). I’d submitted my perfect manuscript to my publisher and waited for it to come back from the editor with nothing but a large tick at the end, and, perhaps, a brief sentence thanking me for changing the course of literature. What came back was extraordinary. Had I noticed, for instance, that I had changed tense three times on the first page. That throughout the manuscript I had used the word ‘then’ 412 times, so almost twice a page, and that most of these could be removed without affecting the meaning, ‘he sat down’ meaning the same as ‘then he sat down’? Had I noticed that the character I had die a spectacular death on page 73 was strutting about unharmed on page 82? Or that I had written 68 as ‘68’, but 54 as ‘fifty-four’? And finally, that the Zippo lighter the character uses in 1929 wasn’t invented until 1933? Part of me, of course, wanted to hunt the copy-editor down and kill them. Beating them to death with my manuscript seemed a fair
and proportionate response. Two weeks they’d had it, and had found all of this in a book I’d been working on for three years. And yet… and yet… by God it was sexy. First of all, here was someone treating my work seriously. They cared about the book because they wanted to make it work – the first person except me that I could say that of. Those people I had made up were actual characters, who’s existence had to make sense. The plot had to make sense. All sexy in itself. But also, the glorious minutiae of grammar! Had I mixed fewer and less? Indeed, I had mixed up fewer and less (though less times than I had thought – I mean fewer), and someone else was worried. Yes, ‘then’ is mostly redundant, because narrative automatically presumes time passing, so (then) you can leave it out. And the word ‘suddenly’ – ultimately, everything can be described as happening ‘suddenly’ – ‘I suddenly got up, I suddenly walked across the room, I suddenly opened the fridge, I suddenly got out a piece of cake’ – so, I suddenly realised you should NEVER use this word (I am willing to fight to the death on this point, and don’t get me started on adverbs – NEVER use them either, he said grumpily). It was a whole new and exciting world. The rules of grammar, I realised are not arbitrary. Yes, they CAN be broken (as Raymond Chandler said ‘when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split’), but the reason the rules exist is that they
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bring clarity. If you are reading something and it’s not quite working, you can bet that the grammar is all shot. Writing anything is a brave and foolhardy act. There are no roadmaps. Let’s face it, writing a novel, in particular, is a pretty ridiculous thing to do. ‘I’m inventing people who do imaginary things!’ It’s a hard sell to anyone, and it can often be a hard sell to yourself (the 3 am horrors). And don’t talk to me about plot. Whose idea was that? Imaginary Character A has to meet and fall in love with Imaginary Character B by page 89, somewhere in the Alps. How does that happen? Madness! And yet we do it because, when it works, it’s the best feeling in the world. And this is a huge part of the job of the editor – to make your work the best it can be. Yes, it is challenging, but it can also be exhilarating. Finding a good editor is the best thing you can do. Churn through husbands, wives, lovers, any other type of relationship, but if you find a good editor, then hang onto them for life. The best lesson I ever had in this was before I’d had a novel published. I told a friend, who is a prize-winning novelist, that I was ‘working on a novel’. He said no I wasn’t. He said I had a bunch of writing that may turn out to be a novel. Once I had finished the first draft, then I was working on a novel. The editing of a novel is as much a part of making a novel as the writing. Suddenly in 1921 [Ed: Published 1922 – check date of composition], T S Eliot happily wrote a load of stuff that may or may not have been a poem. Then when he had finished, him he and his editor, Ezra Pound, started making it into The Waste Land [Ed: The Waste Land], by using less fewer words. If T S Eliot can lose the odd page, I think I can… ‘April is the cruellest month’ [Ed: Is it? – check this]. Peter Salmon is an Australian writer and editor living in the UK. His first novel, The Coffee Story (Sceptre, 2011), was a New Statesman Book of the Year. He has written frequently for TV and radio, and for broadsheets including the Guardian and the Sydney Review of Books. His next novel, Blue Roses, will be published in August.
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Worth a thousand words
When Tracy Ogali decided she wanted to include original artwork in her book, she enlisted her son’s art class to produce it. Josh Hamel asks how she managed working with content from not just one illustrator, but a class full of them.
NEW EDITION, JUNE 2015
Tracy tell us what your beautiful book is about? Afterlife is a parable about coming to terms with the tragic loss of a loved one. The main character is a young fox who is unable to come to terms with the sudden death of his father. Every day is a struggle with trying to come to terms with what has happened; the impact of grief is too much to bear. Until one day when fox has an idea; he realises that he needs to understand the reason for life and death. He embarks on a quest to try and discover the meaning of life. He travels the world in search of wise creatures who can provide him with their own theories. After practicing what he has been told, fox discovers that nothing works for him. He returns home to his family realising that he has never properly grieved for his father. Then one day, he hears a voice. A butterfly. She offers her assistance and it is with her help and guidance that fox finds the answers he has been searching for. What was the motivation behind your writing? The idea for Afterlife came as an epiphany. My husband
had died two years previously and my two young children were still suffering. I had the main structure and characters of the story within a couple of weeks and the rest came together over a three month period. It felt natural to write in rhyme and it came together quite easily. The metering of the rhyme needed adjusting so that it flowed well. I had a lot of material, which dealt with many aspects of grief and emotions as well as other aspects of growing up. So after an edit I decided to concentrate on coming to terms with loss. But I have enough material for a potential second book. I loved writing it and the fact that it went quite smoothly without struggling to find a storyline made it a real pleasure. How did you approach writing about loss for a younger audience? The idea of rhyme made perfect sense to me as a lot of stories for much younger children are written in rhyme and are somehow more memorable because of that. A fairytale approach with the characters as animals rather than humans also seemed relevant. I wanted the reader to feel comfortable with the subject matter despite death being a very taboo subject. Although death is part of life it is a subject that is very rarely approached. The illustrations are wonderful! Where did the initial idea of working with your son’s secondary school art class for the illustrations come from? The illustrations came quite late on in the process. I was having trouble in trying to find someone who had the time to do the illustrations and in the style that I was looking for, although I didn’t quite know what I wanted. I had lots of images in my mind but it needed to be not too childish and not too grown up either. Then I had this idea that it would be awesome if children did the illustrations. It would be the vision of the target audience for the book. How did you get the school onboard for the project? My son’s school is known for teaching art and has art specialists. So I met with the art department with the manuscript to see if they would be interested to help. They immediately said yes and made the illustration process into an art project for the students. I had some ideas, which I spoke about, but I ultimately left everything up to the students. I wanted their creativity to flourish without too much direction from me. I think the end result works
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perfectly with the narrative. What’s the main lesson you hope kids who read this book will take away from it? The main objective of Afterlife is for children - or adults - to come to the realisation that death is inevitable, whether we lose a parent, a spouse, a friend or a relative; eventually we will all die. Yet the aftermath of any loss doesn’t have to mean that our life is over too, or that we need to suffer. Grief is natural and there are many emotions that surface over a period of time. But it is important that we recognise this and not allow the passing of a loved one to emotionally consume us, restrict us, or damage our lives in anyway. The message I wanted to convey was to let go and move on and that there is a continuation of life after death. Are there any other projects you’d like to work on in the future? I would love to continue writing. I have plans for two more books about the fox and the butter y. My wish would be for this book to be taught in schools, even used within the curriculum, for young people to have a greater understanding about the subject of death and how to come to terms with the loss of a loved one. If I were to be dreaming big! I would absolutely love for the book to be animated into a short lm. Who knows what the future holds. I am just hugely grateful that I have had the opportunity to publish this little book. Ultimately, I hope it provides some comfort to individuals who are
experiencing grief and who need some direction, on coming to terms with their loss and moving on with their own lives. Afterlife by Tracy Ogali (published by Clink Street Publishing 15th July, 2016) is available to purchase from online retailers including amazon.co.uk and to order from all good bookstores.
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NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
Beyond Book Reviews bloggers won’t just review your book. They can BAsook do so much more for you if you give them the chance! bloggers, we want our websites to look fantastic,
brimming with original and engaging material. We also want the books we review to shine and attract a broader readership, so whatever we can do to increase their appeal, we’ll usually be happy to help and open to suggestions. As long as we think it will be of interest to our readers, we will give it serious consideration. So if you have an idea, no matter how big or small, wild or wacky, please do approach us bloggers with it. Each idea or post, will have its perfect blogger match; it’s just a matter of finding that fit. Whenever you appear on a blog, or anywhere online generally, it’s a fantastic promotional opportunity for author and book, whether the outcome is an increase in readers, sales, followers or just people having read your name: it’s all a bonus. So what sort of content will get book bloggers champing at the bit? Top Tip 1 – Look for the regulars A growing number of blogs have regularly running features that are just crying out for you to notice them and offer to take part. There may be a waiting list of even a few months before your content will be schedules, but it’s always good to have ongoing exposure, even after your publication date. The sorts of features I’m talking about here could be a regular
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Think that book bloggers are only interested in writing book reviews? Think again! Rachel Gilbey shares her tips for creative content creation to help you get your book noticed in more ways than one.
interview spot with an author, talking about your favourite childhood books, your reading corner, or even talking about your holidays. The best advise I can give for finding these sorts of features is to read through a bloggers title pages. You’ll find regular features here - it will likely have a catchy name and a page dedicated to it. Top Tip 2 – have an opinion Have you got an opinion on something happening in the book community or the publishing world? Do you have something to say that will encourage discussion or interaction? Then talk to bloggers directly about the possibility of them host your comments and articles. If it will get people talking and your name shared in positive terms, then it’s likely to be good profile boosting. Top Tip 3 – smile for the camera Have you created a video trailer for your book? Do you have a video of yourself explaining the key themes of the book, or something similar? If so, then it could be another great piece of stand-out content to suggest to a blogger - it could even be included on a future blog tour. In the meantime you can put it onto YouTube and promote it yourself. People love video content because it’s intimate and immediate.
CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHING MAGAZINE
Top Tip 4 – offer a Taste
Top Tip 7 – Go On Tour
Extracts are often reasonably simple to provide to bloggers - after all, you have already written the book! It’s great for readers to have a direct experience, a taster of your writing. You could go that extra step and do a reading and film it, and use that video as your extract. Sometimes extracts can be tricky to read on screen for some, but listening to the author read out loud is always a pleasure and may just draw them into wanting to read your book all the more. Not to mention the extra boost you could get on social platforms that increasingly favour video content. One tip to help set up your reading for those listening: always give some sort of context as to whereabouts in the story the excerpt is from.
A blog tour is a virtual book tour that takes place over a period of weeks, sometimes months. On each tour day a blog - or number of blogs - features the book with either an author interview, a book review or some other promotional material, all designed to highlight the book to readers. Blog tours are an increasingly common way for your book to be promoted, especially within the first month of its publication. Ask the bloggers what they’d like to feature on their blog days - it could be just a review, or complete mix of content. Again, meeting the needs of the blogger will help deliver the right kind of material for the readers they know so well.
Top Tip 5 – write an original
Top Tip 8 – know your characters
Another option is to write an exclusive extra for a blogger. This could be a brand new very short story, or perhaps even a companion piece to your book that could be read without spoiling the main story, but could perhaps entice readers into wanting to take a closer look at your work. All of this is added value, for bloggers and their audiences.
Instead of having a regular interview, a potentially more amusing idea is to allow your main characters to be interviewed. It may be for the best if you prewrite both sides of the interview, as you obviously know your characters the best, but bloggers will be delighted to host one. Or offer character profiles, with an in-depth look at their personality, preferences and thoughts. Character specific posts could be the perfect thing to offer a blogger, after thanking them for a positive review, by asking if they would like a follow up post about their favourite character.
Top Tip 6 – Give something back For the relatively small cost of putting together a prize, any blog post with a giveaway tends to attract massive increases in views, and due to the widgets that are often used to host a giveaway fairly, your website and social media platforms could also see a large increase in interest too. This works best if the host has set up sharing or retweeting as an entry option; every time the post is shared, that’s another potential pool of people seeing your prize, your name, your book, etc. And if they don’t win they may buy a copy instead. Paperbacks, ebooks, vouchers, stationary and bookmarks all tend to be popular prizes, but whatever you are comfortable with is best. Some blogs do have giveaway guidelines, but as a general rule of thumb, state what geographic region you are willing to send the prize to and offer to post it yourself to the winner.
Top Tip 9 – go exclusive With the exception of video content hosted on YouTube, wherever possible offer exclusivity on your content to a favoured blogger - don’t give the same masterpiece to every single one! They will really appreciated you taking the time and care to create tailored content, just for them and their website. All blogs like unique, one-of-a-kind items that they will be happy to promote. wrapping up These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg with regards to content that bloggers could be hosting for you as you build up a relationship with them, which will hopefully last from book to book. Just remember to always include your book and author information with the content you share - plug away authors - in addition to any publicity pictures you may have.
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NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
Jettison the Jargon
Dr. Patricia Polledri is an expert in human psychology, specifically in the field of envy. Her work might be fascinating for all but she understands that not everyone shares her level of knowledge. She tells New Edition how she managed to convey complex theories in terms that will entertain readers more than any thriller.
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CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHING MAGAZINE
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o far, the literature describes envy as being one of the seven deadly sins, where human nature has found endorsement biblically, describing it as a flaw in human nature, which is fallen and corrupt. We are born in sin. Accepting this view allows envy to survive with its rather innocent childlike reputation intact! So, by writing this book, Envy In Everyday Life, I was aware that it may disturb many readers as, in reality, envy is much more destructive than we care to admit. After all, unrestrained envy leads to hatred; not just a trivial dislike, but rather a wish to destroy the other person’s peace of mind. This is a subject I decided to explain in more detail in order to simplify it and make the knowledge accessible to those interested in the social sciences. The starting point for me was to simplify the confusion surrounding, firstly, the psychoanalytical theory of envy that places so much emphasis on what starts within the individual’s inner world and totally ignores the influence the external environment has on a child’s development. This neglect has contributed, in the past, to failures to see the reality of child abuse. We need to recognize that many personality disorders are the legacy of another’s inhumanity. Infants do not create depriving and neglecting parents but are found, in substantial numbers, suffering from this trauma and going on into adult life with severe emotional damage. This manifests itself in disturbed emotions and the formation of destructive relationships, always based on envy of others who have had a ‘good enough’ upbringing. The emphasis being on nurture rather than nature. This was all described in great detail in the previous book I published in 2012, titled Envy Is Not Innate: A New Model of Thinking, which was a forensic psychiatry textbook. The comments and feedback I had from colleagues and friends was that it was too academic and difficult to understand even for the intelligent layperson. So, to simplify a subject that was much easier to describe in psychiatric terms was going to be quite a
challenge. So, how was I going to define it for those interested in the darker side of human nature? I decided to break it down by dividing the subject into various chapters, including what is the difference between envy and jealousy; what is meant by self envy; how do we understand the bizarre behavior of womb envy; shame and envy; envy in academia and envy in the workplace; and finally, envy and perverse behavior. The concluding chapter is an explanation of how forensic psychiatry and psychotherapy has developed within the United Kingdom. An example of the way this works is woven into an overview of the psychopathology surrounding the South African athlete, Oscar Pistorius, who murdered his girlfriend of just twelve weeks. My analysis was based on an explanation of unchecked envy in action which can culminate in murderousness…which is something I have assessed many times in my experience as a forensic psychiatrist. This was the background to the creation of Envy in Everyday Life, which unpacks the dense theoretical jargon of the majority of much that has been already been written about envy in order to provide the reader with a more accessible, modern approach towards a subject that is as old as mankind. But, as the contemporary view of envy is that it is little more than a superficial social vice, so it survives with it’s innocent childlike reputation. Envy In Everyday Life by Dr. Patricia Polledri (published by Clink Street Publishing 28th June 2016) is available to purchase from online retailers including amazon.co.uk and to order from all good bookstores.
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NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
Ready for Rio Reads With the start of the 2016 Olympics just weeks away, maybe you’re interested in learning more about what the host country has to offer besides the world’s biggest sporting event. Our Brazilian experts, Norman Ratcliffe and Stephanie Winkler, weigh in on a few of their favourite Brazilian authors to give you a better look beyond the festivities.
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CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHING MAGAZINE
Norman Ratcliffe Machado de Assis This author is one of most important Brazilian novelists to know of. His primary focus is Rio de Janeiro society at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. He writes with an ironic and critical perception of the society. The Alienist and Other Stories of Nineteenth-Century Brazil and The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas both have terrific English editions with evolving stories more than worthy of your time.
Jorge Amado
Amado focuses his writing primarily on the Bahia state and the characteristics of the people in each society, including the rich, the working class and the descendants of the black slaves. He deals with the mixing of the different religions and cultures through amusing stories. Tent of Miracle and Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon are good examples of his work.
João Ubaldo Ribeiro
Though many of Ribeiro’s works have been translated into German, but few have made it to English. He writes about delicious Brazilian stories society and its miscegenation of the cultures stemming from the colonization, slavery and immigration into Brazil. Though he died a few years ago, House of the Fortunate Buddhas, his final work, is well worth a read.
Rubem Fonseca Fonseca is a writer of suspense that delves into the violence of the underground urban society in Brazilian big cities, including the ills of drug trafficking, prostitution and illegal gambling. Winning the Games and Other Stories is a collection of short stories and High Art is a full-length criminal novel that I would recommend to anyone looking to become more familiar with tales of the gritty Brazilian underworld.
Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Rosa Rosa is most famous for his series about a police inspector in Copacabana - the most famous and populated borough of Rio de Janeiro - in which he must deal with violent gangs and a corrupt police force. A great place to start would be Blackout: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery. Norman Ratcliffe is a visiting professor of biomedicine in Rio, concerned with tropical diseases and mosquito control who has been a frequent visitor to the city for more than 20 years. He has been interviewed on avoiding mosquitoes, zika and dengue, as well as the status of the Olympics, by Sky News, Talk Radio Europe, the BBC, Dr. Oz and TNT Travel Guides. His most recent book, the Guide to Rio Olympics: Tips for Staying Safe and Healthy for the Olympics, New Year and Carnival (Clink Street Publishing), was published 1st February, 2016.
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NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
Stephanie Winkler
As I write this article, we are exactly 63 days, 22 hours and 55 minutes away from one of the world’s greatest sporting events - the Olympics. This year, as luck would have it, the host country is none other than Brazil. Having hosted the World Cup in 2014, Rio is about two months away from receiving first-class athletes worldwide. As a way to get into the spirit of the event my friends at Authoright have asked me to come up with a top five Brazilian books and authors everyone should know before reaching warmer climates. After all, we are not just all samba and caipirinhas down by the tropics! A name everyone should know when discussing Brazilian literature is Machado de Assis. Widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazil. Machado is also recognised as one of the world’s greatest novelists and short story writers. From poems to romance novels, his works had a great influence on Brazilian literary schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The birth of the Brazilian republic made Machado become more critical and an observer of the Brazilian society of his time, enabling him to write his masterpieces: Quincas Borba and Dom Casmurro. Though Machado is a tough act to follow,
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Brazil has many other authors who have made an impact in literary history. João Guimarães Rosa was not only a novelist, but a diplomat as well. His best-known work is the novel Grande Sertão: Veredas (translated as The Devil to Pay in the Backlands), a revolutionary text for its archaic and colloquial prose, rooted in the spoken language of the Brazilian backlands. The novel is so complex with significant philosophical themes that many scholars consider it to be the Brazilian Ulysses. Clarice Lispector is our third author, proving that Brazilian women are not only just pretty faces. Acclaimed internationally for her innovative novels and short stories, she was also a journalist and considered to be the most important Jewish writer since Franz Kafka. When she moved to
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Rio de Janeiro she began writing two of her most important novels - Água Viva and A Paixão Segundo G.H. The American writer, Benjamin Moser published Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector and her works since then have received worldwide attention and translation. Her works have also been published by Penguin Modern Classics, the first Brazilian to enter that prestigious series. Coming up next on our list is Carlos Drummond de Andrade, a Brazilian poet and writer, considered by some as the greatest Portuguese language poet of all time. Drummond was the first great poet to assert himself after the premiere modernist of Brazil and created a unique style dominated by his beautiful writing. His work displays linguistic freedom and free verse. He has become something of a national cultural symbol in Brazil, where his widely influential poem Canção Amiga (Friendly Song) has been featured on the 50-cruzado novo bill. Last, but not least in our list, we have Jorge Amado. He remains the best known modern Brazilian writer, with his work translated into almost 50 languages and had many of his novels been made into movies. In his works, he depicts a cheerful and optimistic country that was beset, at the same time, with deep social and economic differences. Amado’s popularity has never declined and his works have even influenced
some samba schools during Carnival - a very prestigious honour. His most popular novels are: Gabriela, Cravo e Canela, Meninos de Areia, Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos and Tieta. The list can go on for quite a bit as many Brazilian authors have influenced not only its people but many others outside the country. Though its literature is not very known outside of Brazil, perhaps this list might get you excited and make you start exploring some of these authors and their work a bit further! Hopefully this list will make you get in the right mindset for the Olympics and Brazil! Stephanie Winkler studied literature at the Universidade de Brasília and publishing at University College London. She currently resides in Brazil.
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NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
Found in Translation When Paola Pica decided she wanted to bring a verison of her Italian novel to English she knew she needed a good translator to make her work shine as bright as in its original form. She discusses the importance of understanding the differences between cultures as much as the difference in language and more with Josh Hamel.
What is your book about? My book mainly deals with feelings, even if there are facts, a plot, I mean. These facts are told by three different characters, each of which has been assigned a chapter. In fact, they speak in the first person. Points of view are the X-factor. That is to say the one which makes the difference in the three different/same stories, because each character focuses his/her teller’s attention on the error of evaluation which brought them to the complete failure of his/her relationship with Francesca. Who is she? She is the main character in the whole story, even if she never appears as such. She never tells her own story, but she comes out as being the only “deus ex machina” in the whole matter. What was your inspiration for this story? Life…mine. But it is not an autobiographical book, not at all. Believe it or not, the only real character is the shrink, a man I had the disagreeable chance to meet in real life. What is your writing process like? After having thought of the general idea about a new story, I usually sit in front of a blank page (the virtual one nowadays, of course; but it was not like that until some years ago) and let my mind go. What was the translation process like for your novel? I had the extremely good luck to find my translator
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in a woman whom I know well enough and, more important than that, who knows me well enough to be able to understand what lies beneath my written words. That’s why she asks me questions about this or that word that I used, and never tries just to translate my thoughts. Being a translator myself, I know the importance of this process. Having worked as a translator yourself, how closely did you work with the translator on your own book? My translator and I usually review the whole book several times and go through the same working process with each single proofreading, even if she is the one who works much harder at that stage. Where there any changes you made in the English version for cultural reasons? Dealing with the translation of Errors of Evaluation, we didn’t come across any relevant changes to be done, which is something happening with another book of mine that we are translating at the moment and whose title is an Italian expression that does not exist in the English language as a ready-made phrase. Having studied in England but living in Italy, how have both cultures influence your work? First of all, I have to say that I work with people from many different cultures and languages, even though they belong to what I call the Global Anglophone Colony. They, in turn, have had to come in close
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“For my translator Janice and for all translators, because their skill makes our books enjoyable for everyone, everywhere.” - Dedication, Errors of Evaluation
contact with the English language and culture at some stage of their careers and must now use that knowledge of theirs. Having said that, I can simply state, with a quote from Graham Greene, that “England made me” and my job. As for that and having stated the importance of the English language as the main link between us, I also think that the common ground for understanding each other is made of feelings, which are universal. Is there any advice you’d give to authors thinking of translating their work into another language they may or may not be familiar with? Yes, there is: Find a translator you can trust. In fact, they should be completely sure about the translator’s capability of interpreting and not just translating their works. And, in the case they shouldn’t personally know the professional in question, this will only be possible to them if they look for and find a very serious publisher, who would take such an important responsibility on himself. Errors of Evaluation by Paola Pica (published by Clink Street Publishing 26th July 2016) is available to purchase from online retailers including amazon. co.uk and to order from all good bookstores.
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NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
Be Social
Still not sure of the difference between a Like and a retweet? Rachel Gilbey is here to help with a rundown of all the social media basics authors need to know and tips how best to start implemening them into their daily life.
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ocial media offers a brilliant medium for authors to get closer than ever before to their readers and target audience. It can be a hugely addictive time-sink, but if used properly, can be a great help to you as an author. However, due to the commitment you need to devote to any one form of social media, I would suggest using only the variety of sites that you like the look of and want to be active on. There is no point having accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr if you never have the time to keep them
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all updated. Find the ones you like and make them your own.
Twitter I’ve seen a lot of discussions about social media, and the general consensus among authors is that Twitter is the most useful of the various options. While it will take awhile to build followers, a good spot to start is to follow your friends, your fellow authors and bloggers that you come into contact with, and above all, interact
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with them. A good thing to do when first starting out is to spend a few minutes setting up your account and personalising it, picking a username that makes sense, perhaps with the word author in it to help your readers find you easier. Write a short bio, change the profile picture (book covers are acceptable if you are shy to show your own face) and include a link to your website should you have one. With only 140 characters to convey your message, it can take some time to learn to make your words count. Including links and pictures do drastically reduce the character limit, but can be very useful. Due to the way most users read Twitter, the general suggestion of including an image on each tweet, especially promotional ones, makes the most sense. It is far more likely someone when scrolling a timeline at speed, will stop and look at a pretty graphic, than notice text by itself. If current rumours are true and the service eventually moves to an algorithm for showing users tweets instead of reverse chronologically, you can be sure images and videos will play highly into determining whether your post is seen or not. So what might your graphic be? Cover images are always useful. Blog tour banners, memorable quotes from reviewers, or short, few line extracts are also great content. If you go with the quote, then you could create a shareable version which includes your cover and tag a blogger with the hopes of them retweeting it. However, Twitter shouldn’t just be used for straight promotion. Try to strike up conversations with people, post random thoughts and act as though you don’t just want people to know about your book, but about yourself too. Readers and bloggers love the chance to have easy interaction with authors of books they have enjoyed and could be more likely to read more from you if they have a positive interaction. You can have a singular pinned tweet at any time, and it’s probably best used for something about your current book, upcoming work, or anything important that you want everyone who clicks on you to definitely see. While interacting with bloggers on Twitter, retweet some of their posts and feel free to chat with them. Often you will start to build up a good rapport and those are possibly bloggers worth contacting when you next have something you want shared on them.
being able to find you easily to interact. Another way is to join Facebook groups dedicated to your genres, or ones that book bloggers and reviewers are frequenters of. Most groups will allow a certain amount of promotion, in addition to you making great new connections. You’ll also want to be extra sure to post photos and video content here as you’ll double or more the number of followers that will see and interact with your posts thanks to how Facebook shows content to users. If you consider going down the paid route, Facebook is also probably the best place to get the most outreach for the money spent on promoted posts and ads.
This is just a general overview of what the internet and social media can do for you. None of these are a requirement, but as a blogger myself, I am often amazed at how little web presence some authors seem to have. With the internet so accessible nowadays, and the ways that people read gradually changing, keeping up with modern technology can only help expand your potential readership.
Facebook is, of course, the other main social media site out there. It’s probably not as time intensive as other platforms, but I’d recommend posting to it on a regular basis, though perhaps a couple of times a week at most is sufficient as opposed to the everyday requirement on Twitter. There are a variety of ways you could use Facebook. The most common, and obvious is to create yourself an author page, which has the added bonus of your readers
Websites In 2016, it is almost a requirement that you have a website, even if it is fairly basic. There is a variety of information you could put onto a website, and the best suggestion would be look at what your own favourite authors are doing, and pick your favourite elements of them. At a bare minimum, an author website should include a list of your books, complete with blurbs and purchase links, some information about you and potentially added extras. Websites don’t need to be updated incredibly frequently but are still worthwhile, especially if you have a large series, having a definitive list of the books in order somewhere will be very helpful.
Mailing Lists Creating your own mailing list and having the sign up on your website is a fantastic way of keeping in touch with your fans. This is probably the least time intensive option of reaching out, but still needs to be reasonably regular, ideally monthly or quarterly. The best emails tend to include an update on your life, possibly a giveaway, upcoming events you are going to, or have attended, as well as announcing new books to your subscribers potentially a few days ahead of other places.
Overall
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NEW EDITION, JUNE 2016
Coming soon from
20/20 You
By Paulette Agnew
Dynamic personal development coach harnesses the power of ancient Egyptian philosophy in new self-help guide, changing our internal vision to create the lives we want to lead.
When an eleven year old boy is asked a very dif- ficult question by a pack of two million pink flamingoes, he knows exactly who to turn to for the answer: creation.
RRP £8.99 paperback, £3.99 ebook
RRP £8.99 paperback, £4.99 ebook
The Alphabet with Bella
Envy in Everyday Life
Teach the ABCs with ease thanks to this delightful children’s book, in which little Bella travels the world, experiencing exotic fruits, new countries and amazing animals, all while learning the alphabet.
In this ultimate envy handbook, esteemed forensic psychotherapist shines a revealing light on the destructive nature of this serious mental disorder, explaining its roots, reasons and manifestations in fascinating detail in this ultimate envy handbook.
By Lorraine White
RRP £5.99 paperback, £2.99 ebook
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Traya’s Quest
By Rico Griffiths-Taite
By Dr. Patricia Polledri
RRP £9.99 paperback, £3.99 ebook
Elizabeth Just 16 By Cecilia Paul
Born without a vagina cervix or uterus, sixteen year old Elizabeth struggles with feelings of shame and self-acceptance, in this touching work of literary fiction from retired expert in this unusual congenital disorder. RRP £9.99 paperback, £3.99 ebook
S5 Uncovered
By James Durose-Rayner
Art as Extraordinary Science By Jenny Waller
An accessible and enlightening guide explaining the powerful role of art as a taught subject, its connection with science teaching, and the need to respect its place in academic circles. RRP £8.99 paperback, £3.99 ebook
The Best You
By Mohammed Haroon
Dynamic personal development coach harnesses the power of ancient Egyptian philosophy in new self-help guide, changing our internal vision to create the lives we want to lead.
Optimistic new life guide prompts us to question our beliefs, tap into our imagination and reconnect with our unconscious in order to unlock our full potential.
RRP £8.99 paperback, £5.99 ebook
RRP £8.99 paperback, £3.99 ebook
Afterlife
By Tracy Ogali Charming and deeply personal picture book following the life of a young fox dealing with the emotions of loosing a parent. RRP TBD
Errors of Evaluation By Paola Pica
Her husband, her cousin and her shrink; three people profoundly affected by the spoiled and enigmatic Francesca reveal their stories in this enthralling new book about life, love and the Italian upper class. RRP £6.99 paperback, £2.99 ebook
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