Writing's Just a Job

Some wannabe writers seem to elevate the art of writing and the business of books to lofty romantic heights. The bottom line is that writing is a career and book publishing a business like any other.

I don’t want to sound too cynical - for some of us writing is what we do and love – and some are lucky enough to even make a living out of it.

Personally, I’ll carry on writing fiction even if I don’t have the tremendous good fortune to get my first book published.

I’ve been lucky enough to write professionally for over ten years as a features writer/news reporter and editor for newspapers and magazines, but writing fiction is an entirely new experience.

I’m under no illusion that getting your book published is like winning the lottery and there are thousands of us chasing the dream of ever seeing our work in print.

But why not start off as a true professional from the very beginning?

It seems like common sense that when approaching an agent or publisher to take on you and your work, you deliver your manuscript in its most polished form, and present yourself in the best possible light.

After all, you wouldn’t submit a crumpled CV riddled with mistakes and stained with coffee rings for any other job.

What Kids Really Think

Lit Crit sites are great for finding out what adults think of your book. But what if you’re writing for kids?

Getting a healthy dose of constructive criticism from your peers is invaluable, but surely its children’s opinions what really matter if you’re ever lucky enough to see your book in the YA section of Waterstones.

With this in mind, I decided to put Dr Rumbolo’s Travelling Freakarium to the test and give it to a real live youngster to read!

Waiting for her verdict was just as nerve wracking than when a grown up opened its pages for the very first time.

This is the e-mail I received from Georgia, aged nine, from Bucks, who according to her SATs has the reading age of a 13-year-old.

Dear Sasha,

Its Georgia here. On July 13th I spent half an hour on the sofa reading your book. I know you want the truth about it and I’m going to tell You.

I loved it and I found it very funny when he fell in donkey poo and I think you have used lots of powerful adjectives like “ The oil lamp spluttered, fighting to stay alight.”

It would be great if you made this into a movie and my favourite bit would be at the end with the chicken-girl.

I want to ask some questions. Please could you send me the other chapters so I can carry on reading it? When will it be coming out and where can you buy it?

You wanted your opinion from a child and you got it.

Love from, Georgia

Books Survive Credit Crunch

More books are selling than ever before, according to a senior industry figure.

That's good news for all us aspiring novelists who are currently trying to get a book deal.

And for readers who can still pick up a good read for a couple of quid.

"The book trade is relatively safe. It is well established and stable. There are more books sold than ever before, the market is growing and more people are reading. Its profits and margins are also significantly robust. I think the trade should be confident and optimistic."

Luke Johnson, Chairman of Borders UK, at the Booksellers' Association conference, in Publishing News.

Dr Rumbolo is Top Rated Children's Book

Doctor Rumbolo's Travelling Freakarium is the top rated children's book in the YouWriteOn.Com charts.

Holding on to the number 12 spot, it's ranked higher than any other kids or young adult novel on the site.

Getting the thumbs up from other writers, who are in the same position, has come as a welcome boost, as I felt like jacking it all in the other week.

I recently went through a brief "What the heck am I doing?" phase when cycling to my part-time job - which doesn't even cover the rent - in the rain.

Watching my life savings and sometimes my sanity dwindling for a very uncertain future, has sometimes been a bit too much to bear.

But I soon pulled myself together and am keener than ever to get Rumbolo finished.

I haven't yet approached a single agent or publisher. Or am I down to my last tenner.

So wallowing in despair is a bit premature!

Grounding in grammar

After a couple of frantic weeks editing the first three chapters to upload to various writers' sites I'm back in the saddle - or at the keyboard to be more precise.

It's back to the mammoth task of editing the first draft - all 80,000 words - of Dr Rumbolo's Travelling Freakarium.

And its tough.

Getting the initial story out was the easy part but knocking it into shape is quite a time-consuming and yet necessary task. It's a bit like reaching the summit of a mountain and having to climb it all over again.

After leaving school eons ago, getting to grips with grammar, sentence construction and all the nuts and bolts of good writing is a challenge. Come to think of it, when I was at school in the '80s and early '90s, the emphasis wasn't on giving kids a good grounding in grammar.

I'm lucky that my better half is a journalist and sub-editor and is also very well-read, getting through about 10 books a week!

And he's tough and tells it like it is. In fact without his continuing support I think I would have given it all up by now.

Books are Big Business

Publishing is a business, just like any other, including the film and music industries.

Anyone who thinks any different is clearly kidding themselves.

But everyone wins with sites such as Authonomy and YouWriteOn.com

Publishers and agents get thier pick of manuscripts and and prospective authors get to showcase their work and offer constructive criticism to others.

Surely a far better option than letting your MS gather dust in a desk drawer at home?

We tend to elevate writing to great lofty heights, championing it as some high-brow art form.

At the end of the day it's all about being able to spin a good yarn.

And if you can sell a few books and captivate a couple of readers in the process, then that's no bad thing either.

For an in-depth look at electronic slushpiles see the Bookseller's feature on the subject.

Read My Book

The opening chapters of my book are now posted on two different websites.

The opening chapters of Dr Rumbolo's Travelling Freakarium are available to read at YouWriteOn.com, the Arts Council sponsored website for unpublished writers to showcase their work.

You have to register first to be able to read new work and can pass on any comments. Just sign in and select the Read Sample Chapters option.

As pointed out in an earlier entry on this blog, my first three chapters are also available at
Autonomy.com

However, prospective readers are currently having problems about trying to get onto the Harper Collins site.

Access is currently unavailable unless people are invited to join. At time of writing no more invites are being issued.

Watch this space.

Live Online

The first three chapters of my book are now available to read online at Authonomy.

As I mentioned in my last post the site allows you to view and pass on your comments, criticisms and ideas about a budding author's work.

So please, if you've got 10 minutes, log onto Authonomy and tell me what you think about Dr Rumbolo's Travelling Freakarium.

Alternatively, you can get back to me here with anything you have to say about it - positive or negative.

I'm planning to put it up on You Write On.com in the near future and will let you know when I've done that as well.

Sidestepping the Slush Pile

Harper Collins has announced the imminent launch of its Authonomy website.

No bad thing for the thousands of us prospective authors out there, who are currently caught in the catch 22 situation of submitting unsolicited manuscripts to publishers.

Seems we're damned if we do, damned if we don't.

Send in the script you've been labouring on for the last year, following the stringent guidelines set down by agents and publishers and it'll probably end up languishing on a slush pile.

If you're lucky it'll be plucked out by a publisher's assistant.

Alternatively, if you can't face the thought of rejection don't bother sending it at all, leaving it to gather dust in your own desk draw.

It seems more of a lottery than ever to get a book deal these days, but at least sites like Authonomy and You Write On.com allow your book to achieve its aim and reach an audience.

As for that elusive publishing deal.. like countless others, I'll be posting my work online for the world - and hopefully a couple of agents - to see and keeping my fingers firmly crossed.

Itchy Fingers

STEPHEN KING, in his no-nonsense guide On Writing, suggests taking a six-week break between working on the first and second drafts of your manuscript.

Can't quite afford the same luxury as the millionaire-horror-maestro, but he must be doing something right, so, I decided to follow his advice and take my first break from daily bashing a keyboard in eight months.

It's been almost three weeks since I completed the last chapter and crept back into the land of the living from behind a closed door.

While out tramping around the chilly Somerset fields with my dogs in the mornings, the characters are creeping back into my head and I'm getting itchy fingers.

Can't can't wait to dive back into the story on Monday morning, closing that office door firmly behind me.

Thanks Stephen.

The End is Nigh

EIGHT months and 87,000 words later... and I've just completed the first draft of my manuscript.

Can't quite believe it's almost in the can. All it needs is a rewrite, a cull of 7,000 words and a journalist friend to run his professional eye and pen over it before it does the rounds of agents and publishers.

Attempting to churn out 1000 plus words a day, every day since last August has been the most fulfilling and scary period of my life.

Fulfilling, as I jacked in my full-time, yet predictable day job to embark on a lifelong ambition.

Scary, as I have no agent, or publishing deal lined up and a rapidly depleting savings account.

Then there's the bleak reality looming in the back of my mind that getting a book published is like winning the Lotto.

I'm pushing away the thought of the book sinking to the bottom of a very large slush pile and the soul-destroying return to the 9-5 grind of life as an office-monkey.

However, I’m sure you have heard the old saying that it’s better to have tried and failed, than to have never tried at all?

Life would be so depressingly dull without the thrilling element of risk involved in embarking on a brand new adventure.