I've never been to this festival (talk about being a bad Melburnian writer) but it's on next weekend and I am doing two things and really excited about being there. First is The Age of Experience on Saturday 17 June, 3.30-4.30pm where Christy Collins, Paul Dalgarno and I talk to Jane Rawson about being debut [...]
Category: Publishing
The Secret Son, review in The Australian newspaper
Was very happy to see this review of The Secret Son (alongside Leah Kaminsky's first novel The Waiting Room) in the paper over the weekend. An author dreams of reviews, and they don't always happen, small or big, positive or negative. They don't always happen quickly, and they don't always happen at all. With 400 new [...]
Official publication day for The Secret Son
Even though my book has been in shops for a few days now, today is the official pub date. My dad flew in from Perth, where he's almost at the end of a drive-Australia trip with his wife. He's come for my launch. A friend has come from New Zealand to be here for my [...]
Monday musings
Melbourne is very cold at the moment so I'm sitting propped in bed, 'working'. And as usual I have a bunch of pages open in my Mozilla browser. I'm always envious of anybody who has gotten to see The Museum of Innocence in Istanbul. I know I'll get there, and I've known about it since it opened. [...]
Gone fishing
Leaving Friday for my trip but wanted to close the blog down now, as I have a lot to do before I go. Like googling directions and printing them out. Making sure I have enough boots packed. And hats. When I come back in mid Feb I have a first meeting with my new [...]
Going Global, ASA Seminar held Wed 14 May, Melbourne
Anne Beilby, Rights Manager at Text Publishing.I went along to this not quite sure what it was about (my fault, no one else's.) But I knew two things:1. Anne Beilby from Text Publishing was the speaker and 2. she is a guru when it comes to all things to do with publishing rights.Actually I knew [...]
PWF Day 1, Publishers Seminar, Session 5. THE PITCH.
What we've all been waiting for, and on the day, the Pitch session was mentioned throughout, with info about how it would work. This is how it worked:People were invited to put their names into a box and we were told they'd be pulled at random, and possibly up to ten or so would be [...]
PWF Day 1, Sessions 3 & 4
SESSION 3, THE COMPETITIVE EDGEThis was a session with a panel as follows: Rose Michael, commissioning editor at Hardie-Grant; Robert Watkins, commissioning editor at Hachette Australia; Penny Hueston, senior editor at Text Publishing and Inga Simpson, author of Mr Wigg and Hachette/QWC Manuscript Development Program alumna.)The questions to spark this session's conversations were: What are today’s [...]
PWF catch-up, Day 1, Session 2, LOST in the AMAZON
This was the blurb for this session: Given the range of print and digital publication options available today, which is the best medium for your book? With Aviva Tuffield (publisher, Affirm Press), Michael Heyward (publisher, Text Publishing), Chris Allen (author, Momentum Books) and Terri-ann White (director, UWA Publishing). My notes: Terri-ann started by saying that 'we need more readers.' She asked for a [...]
PWF14 – Publishing Seminar Day 1, Session 1 (Thurs 20 Feb)
This was a great day. I've been to 'meet the publisher/editor/agent' before but this all-in-one session, featuring the DELIGHTFUL and COHESIVE and FUN team at Fremantle Press, was a joy to watch and listen to. MEET THE PRESS 'Narrated' by author Deb Fitzpatrick, we ran through the stages of publication, from manuscript submission to sales [...]
Och aye
So next is Perth Writers Festival. I've booked into lots of sessions. This is some of what I'm excited about: Lionel Shriver on literature and religion Martin Amis in conversation Richard Flanagan on love stories An all-day publishing thing on the novel, with a series of sessions. Can't wait for that one, including watching people [...]
A year later
Was just going through my old posts and came across this one from 21 December last year. Great things It interests me that a year ago I had my first draft completed of my second novel manuscript (labelled VERSION1) and that I was trying to come up with a structure for it. What I was [...]
Messages from 2004 – no one is taking a punt any more
I have several large ring binder folders that are stuffed with clipped newspaper articles, book reviews, my handwritten notes from courses and other printed material, mainly pieces on writing that I've found online. Sometimes when my mind is too buzzy to settle on fiction when I'm in bed at night, before sleeping, I pull out [...]
The Pros And Cons Of A Two-Book Deal, by Alison Booth
Interesting post on two-book deals. I'd like to know if the same sentiments would hold if the situation was NOT for a sequel... I had a writing teacher advise not to accept a two-book deal, but maybe that's coming from a person established and with a high profile. New writers are at the mercy of [...]
Best one-stop (publishing info) shop I think I’ve seen
And that title is probably the worst I've ever seen. Never mind. I was googling around when I found Ian Irvine's website. He's a fantasy author and has most helpfully laid out, in order on one page virtually everything about the writing/publishing process, divided into three sections: Getting There, Surviving Publishing and Coping with Success. [...]
That in-between space
I love the time between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve. It goes quiet then gets busy again, but it's a perfect time for drifting around the house, calmly pottering. The house usually empties a little at this time of year; two thirds of the children go to stay with grandparents, husband works through. I do [...]
What publishers want
Australian literary agent Virginia Lloyd recently visited Sydney (Virginia lives in Brooklyn) to have a series of meetings with agents to find out: what they want more of and what they are sick of reading or not interested in. In short: helpful information for writers wanting to get published. There are no huge surprises - [...]
SERAGLIO 