Writing in a Digital Age 2014: Day 2

Back at the Free Word Centre in Farringdon today for Round 2 of The Literary Consultancy's Writing in a Digital Age conference 2014. Today was, even more so than yesterday, all about the author - more specifically, the self-published author.

First up 'The Writer in the Machine' brought us a 'dynamic quartet' made up of Orna Ross, the founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors, and self-published writers Joanna Penn, Polly Courtney and Rachel Abbott. The first hour consisted of each panelist giving a talk about their own experiences, their own bylaws and their own take on the daunting task of marketing.

Joanna Penn's energetic (if not slightly manic) manifesto on exploiting the plethora of rights opportunities out there was certainly informative and her results hugely impressive but I felt left with a mild case of whiplash... In short, though, they all agreed you need a damn good cover, a great blurb, a strong strap-line and "know your reader". The discussion of the latter may have sounded a little stereotypical in places and potentially creepy taken out of context... hunt down your 40-something women on Mumsnet, capture your sci-fi readers as they browse techie websites and fan fiction forums - but essentially the message was that every book needs a primary readership to target and that you're doing it all wrong if you're just saying 'any gender, any age, any location'.

The second half was what I will call the Marmite session in that some people in the audience really loved it, others looked slightly bamboozled and on the verge of an attack of the giggles. Orna Ross led a practical session where all the writers got out their pens and pads (did not help me stay inconspicuous as the only non-writer in the room...) and scrawled down answers to questions like "why do I write" and "who do I write for".

As engaging as it was, after a two-hour long session lunch was a welcome break.

Last year it was Tina Seskis, this year it was Piers Alexander - winner of last year's Pen Factor award and the latest TLC self-published success story with his historical novel, The Bitter Trade. This guy should be an agent - it was the greatest pitch of the weekend and saw him sell a healthy number of signed copies of his book and likely double the size of his book launch by sort of accidentally inviting the entire conference... charming, talented and go-getting, just what you want from an author!

This post is getting quite long... so I'm going to stop rambling quite so much... other highlights included a star-studded panel chaired by Paul Blezard (who has a voice to rival Michael Gambon and Anthony Hopkins in my opinion), which saw 'book-blogging's First Lady' Dovegreyreader, the Telegraph's Sam Leith, and founder of ReadySteadyBook and Quercus's Mark Thwaite discuss the art and future of the book review.

We also got to hear who had won TLC's Kobo Writing Life sponsored Pen Factor Award 2014. The prize went to a very shocked Guinevere Glasfurd-Brown - such a lovely moment seeing her collect it from Kobo's Diego Marano. Judging by Piers's success, great things are sure to follow for her - I do hope so, having myself had a read of the sample material she submitted.

Another great day at the conference. Final day tomorrow!

Writing in a Digital Age 2014: Day 1

Today I attended the first day of The Literary Consultancy's annual conference: Writing in a Digital Age. It's my second year, the Conference's third, and there was a strong turnout, which is always good to see. I personally opted for the best seat in the house - halfway up the raised seating at the back, right in the corner so I have a great view and a sturdy wall for some good right-angled leanage, while remaining reasonably inconspicuous, which is generally a good way to be in my opinion when you find yourself the only non-writer and member of 'traditional publishing' in a sea of authors. I just typed out my reasons and decided that as it took up two beefy paras that I best delete and move on to the conference itself...

For those of you who don't know who The Literary Consultancy are, I've put their very helpful website at the bottom but, in short, they provide professional and in-depth editorial and proofreading services for authors. Beyond that, and what the conference is really all about, they are an excellent source of advice for authors on traditional publishing, but also all the other options available to new writers in the changing publishing landscape.

The conference is a three-day extravaganza and I'm not about to go into loads of detail now. Why not? Not because I'm lazy but because TLC cleverly slipped in little writing spies, including myself as it happens, to write up each session in detail and you can have a read (and listen) of those HERE. I really recommend you taking a look as there's so much interesting information to be taken, be you a writer, a reader, a publisher, an agent, a bookseller or anyone else with an interest in whether books are going to die or not (spoiler: they're not by the way, we're gonna save 'the book'  by doing lots of cool digi-shit).

But let me give you my highlights of Day 1

The first session with keynote speaker, sci-fi writer Cory Doctorow, was pretty mind-blowing. I don't think I've ever heard quite so eloquent a speaker - not a single 'umm'. And Cory sure knows his stuff, and he has a whole lot of passion to go with his knowledge. But the whole talk left me slightly sweaty with anxiety if I'm completely honest. I thought I knew what DRM meant but it turns out I really don't know anything at all about anything and basically Amazon is trying to eat our souls and really I shouldn't call myself a publishing-person (not that that's how I introduce myself at dinner parties...) because I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING. *breathe* Conveniently for me and for the writer-up of the session, it was all recorded - thank the lord - and you can have a listen HERE. Phew.

The next two sessions were brilliant. In content, yes, but what I loved most was the juxtaposition of the two panels. The first of the two was the Industry Snapshot with an all-male panel which, after a very informative talk from Steve Bohme at Neilsen Bookscan, discussed the doom and gloom of publishing. Having come from an agency myself, I am certainly no stranger to the view of panelist and agent James Gill talking of a 'narrowing' of the industry, but it's still so depressing to hear that even the proverbial gatekeepers are struggling to summon up a bit of hope. After an hour and a half of talking about publishing 'service providers' and 'processes', the next session with an all-female panel (including author Rebecca Abrams, publisher Alexandra Pringle, and writer and Kingston's Publishing MA course leader Alison Baverstock) had a slightly different approach... 'service providers' had suddenly morphed into a discussion about editors, authors and agents forming a publishing 'family'...

A talk on funding for writers followed but the prize for the most cheering talk of the day goes to the wonderfully positive sounding 'The Age of Possibility'. Last year, this session was probably my least favourite... on a completely subjective level I guess I'm just not that interested about creating an app with situation-specific stories for the reader to enjoy on their commute. Clever, yes, but inspiring - I'm afraid not for me. That said, this year was fun. John Mitchinson of Unbound, Canongate's Frances Bickmore, and David Varela all discussed the digital opportunities available out there for novelists. Not KDP, no, far more exciting than that and enviously creative (particularly loved hearing about the evolution of the Letters of Note blog tie-in book and Letters Live). Discussions ranged from zombies computer games, to setting up pirate radio stations, to crowd-funded literary projects. Have a read of the write-up for more info, and have a browse of the Unbound website yourself, and feel inspiiiireeed.


TLC Conference 2013

Book Hoarding - The World's Only "Good Addiction"? No.

(c) Quentin Blake

Book hoarding is a condition that we regularly disguise as 'a good addiction'. There is, my friends, no such thing as a good addiction. "Addiction to vegetables!", "addiction to studying!", "addiction to documentaries!". No, no and no, people. Not only are those not good addictions, they will also make your life exceedingly dull so please please stop.

Basically, book hoarding is all about the deep stuff. What's going on inside our insecure little minds. Can you tell I'm the daughter of a CBT therapist?

I've been thinking about this, as a self-confessed book hoarder, and am trying to come up with all the potential internal dialogues we are having without even realising. One that I am certain is relevant to me, is an obsession with 'ownership'. Some how, and I think it's Brits in particular, we have persuaded ourselves that we need to OWN things in order to be accepted as a proper human. I mean who are you if you don't leave your relatives a dusty room full of things they will spend decades getting rid of?

In the case of books, of course, by owning them we do become more intelligent. Rich people have been building libraries for themselves in their own homes for centuries, filling them with mammoth great encyclopedias on the flowers and fauna of Cumbria just so that when they have their friends around for a nice cup of tea or a sophisticated cocktail party, they will think better of you. Maybe even be slightly intimidated. Now I don't think this is the case with me, not really. Largely because I don't think there are any literary shoulder-pads in this world that I could put on my shelf that would make me look intimidating.

There is always the more positive spin and that is that a physical book can be so PRETTY. I mean it was all Amazon's fault anyway. Even before Kindle, it was Amazon who preyed on the impulse purchaser in us all by making it possible to buy a book in pretty much one click. Then no delivery charge came in and we're hooked.

As for Kindle, it's convenient, yes, but after all this we still like pretty things. To hold a book, absorb its cover that has manipulated you in to buying it and turn its pages and feel its individual weight, all the things you don't think you're noticing when you're reading but you are.

After a bit of a ramble, I am definitely no closer to curing my addiction to owning books and you are probably fast asleep. But maybe I'll try and work my way through my hideously huge unread pile/bookshelf before buying another book...

Writing in a Digital Age

Literary conferences are definitely the best kind of conference. You get to talk about books, your keynote speaker is nearly always some wonderfully quirky, amazingly talented writer who can actually entertain rather than throw dull information the audience's way and even the 'facts and figures' element is more interesting when they're all about books. So yeah, last Friday, I got to go along to the first day of The Literary Consultancy's (TLC) Literary Conference, 'Writing in a Digital Age'.

The keynote speaker this year was Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveller's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry as well as a number of illustrated books, her latest of which, Raven Girl, having just been adapted into a ballet at the Royal Opera House. Niffenegger used her great sense of humour and honesty to take us through a mixture of history and personal experiences in relation to books, writing and the ever-growing digital era. Interestingly, Niffenegger held on to the eBook rights in TTW for some time before publishing under new digital imprint, Zola Books.

I personally loved Niffenegger's approach, which I found to be a brilliant antidote to the serious, overly-techie and downright miserable tone that seems to dominate whenever booky people get together and talk about 'the state of publishing'. Unfortunately Niffenegger's positive outlook on the state of the book market, that we needn't be worried about the future of books, was later dismissed by other speakers.

That said, it's not surprising. Waterstones is quickly slipping through our fingers and it feels like soon you won't be able to find a physical book on the high street. Bowker's Books & Consumers survey has pinpointed that eBook sales in certain genres (including Crime, Romance and Classics) are reaching 20% of overall sales.

While I wouldn't say I learnt anything entirely new about the state of the book market, it did confirm to me that no one has a clue what the future holds and there really isn't much point in speculating. All we do know is that the industry is changing but people are still reading.

Learn more about the TLC and what they do here.

Other relevant posts:

Her Fearful Symmetry  by Audrey Niffenegger

To Kindle or not to Kindle

Save the Sci Fi Campaign

It is no secret that the book industry is suffering but if you imagine that bestsellers are losing out, imagine what is happening to the less read genres like Sci Fi. Well new Brooklyn bookshop, Singularity & Co is on the case. The brand new shop opened last week at 18 Bridge Street in Brooklyn, New York, alongside an online shop that will sell eBooks. Now what exactly are they doing, I hear you ask.

Well it's brave, certainly. Second-hand bookshops are suffering, closing down all over the place but this one has a mission. Singularity & Co is aiming to bring back into print at least one cult Sci Fi novel each month and make it available on eBook via their website... for FREE.

Cici James, Jamil V. Moen and Ash Kalb, the people behind this idea and self-named "time traveling archivists", have insisted that this is not a 'for-profit' project. "It doesn’t have to make any money at all," they say, "since our day jobs cover our rent." What a revolutionary thought in the modern world that a business doesn't have to make money... and all in the name of books and getting people reading? Brilliant.

It's not just the founders that are involved, however. They are asking you, the readers, to vote on which book will get saved each month.

The project has already raised over $52,000 - over three times more money than they originally aimed for.

If you want to show your support, vote, visit the shop or simply get reading, visit their website: http://singularityand.co/index.php

If you're a Londoner like me, why not follow SF Gateway? SF Gateway is part of the Orion Publishing Group, which is home to the UK's oldest Science Fiction publisher, Gollancz. The aim is to make sure that this genre does not drift out into space (forgive me) and get lost forever.

You can visit their website here: http://sfgateway.com

Kindle Secrets

Hide your kindle betrayal in an old book... just one of many Kindle secrets... 

As a nosey commuter, I have to say that the kindle is a disappointment: how am I supposed to know what people are reading?? I like chuckling as people try to hide their Mills & Boon covers or judging what the bestsellers are and pretending to everyone that I just have 'the knowledge'...

It seems that kindle readers are more than aware of that, though. Kindlers have been for months now harbouring some bookish secrets...until now. Over the last couple of weeks E L James' Fifty Shades of Grey along with some other titles have soared up the Amazon bestseller charts putting erotica on the map where before titles tried to flutter their eyelids from the higher shelves in travel bookshops.

In my view, it's not just erotica that's getting a new lease of life in the burgeoning Kindle kingdom. Chick Lit has always done well, sure, but there are always people who are embarrassed to read books they feel are seen as 'trash'. Suddenly everyone has read JoJo Moyes latest tear-jerker, Me Before You, for instance. The Amazon charts are also being filled by first-time, self-published women writers talking about 'rising bosoms' and cupcake parties where publishers don't have the money to buy the rights and publicise them. Whether or not they should be published is a dilemma I won't go into - there's always going to be pros and cons - but it certainly gives new authors a chance.

If you're like me and want to know what people are reading, why not have a look at the survey that The Guardian have done, looking into just what commuters are reading...


The Guardian

World Book Night 2012

Last night was the second World Book Night. What a great opportunity for a Children in Need-style programme to get everyone excited about books but nope. The whole thing, to me, is quite unsatisfactory. I’d quite happily spend my evening watching author interviews, learning about new books and authors, getting some ideas for my book club but it seems that the whole thing has been played down or is that just me? I just would have thought that, being in the industry, I would have a bit more WBN hype in my inbox…

If you’re like me and seem to have missed this year’s hype, here is the low-down on World Book Night 2012.

Essentially World Book Night was set up by organiser Jamie Byng as a celebration of books and to ‘raise awareness’ of reading by putting books in the hands of non-readers. On the night, 20,000 volunteers head out into their nearby cities armed with their favourite book from the list (this year’s 25 books look pretty good and you can see a full list here), and handed them out to people in the street. So basically 20,000 book geeks ambush your local city - hoorah!

From my point of view, in the Kindle age, it's quite nice that books are being given a bit of help. Unfortunately, the whole point is that they go out for free... quite the debate amongst the publishing community who, ultimately, have to provide the books and sacrifice the royalties. You will notice, though, and for that reason, that most of these are back-list titles, so it's a great opportunity to rave about and get your hands on some great modern, and not-so-modern, classics.

To Kindle or not to Kindle...

Today, a fully-functioning, commercial literary agency walked into the 21st century armed with Amazon's latest state of the art, sleek, lightweight, slate-coloured, brand new Kindle. And, do you know what, I didn't die and there are still books on the shelf - beautifully tidied by me, might I add.

There's no getting away from it - the eBook is here to stay and today was the first time I've really had an up-close look at the beast that threatens to destroy the industry that I am so desperate, perhaps naively, to be part of.

I don't know about any of you kindlers out there but, aside from being easy to use and having ridiculously satisfying screensavers, there's definitely that feeling that you know this is an early generation of something potentially huge. One day it's going to be an all-singing, all-dancing, all-colour glistening beauty but for now, it's got something ancient about it. Maybe that's part of its charm? That its trying to slot its way into a world that has been around for so long and still produces thick bricks of paper for people to spill coffee over and accidentally rip.

For me, I can't see myself in the near future buying one of these for myself but it's fun and, realistically, necessary for me to be used to using one considering my job. The best thing about it for now, though, is that I can now read unpublished, unbound manuscripts on the train! Wow... geeky. But seriously, I can't believe that anyone, whether it 2012 or 1812, carrying around hundreds of double-spaced A4 pages could not do with a nice handy slimline tablet device to make it all that little bit easier.

Let's see where it takes me... but for now, would love to know where you all stand on the Kindle divide! x