This month we have competition news, expert advice on working in collaboration with other writers, Ten Top Tips for promoting your non-fiction book, successes stories and ideas to inspire you plus the usual useful websites.

Top Tips For Writers

 Issue 111

December 2009

Hello dear readers,

Brrrrr – it’s cold here. Sharp sunny morning frosts follow what has been the worst soaking we’ve seen for many years in the UK – a perfect combination for falling on ones derriere I fear! And hurrah! – Christmas looms again. I look forward to some time off relaxing. However, first I need to find my festive spirit. I have to say, I am not feeling it quite yet – a bit bah humbug so far – but I will once I start to prepare my tree decorations.

Not only is Christmas approaching but so is Hannuka, Humanlight Day, the Day of Candles in Colombia, the Fetes Des Lumieres in France and Proclamation Day in South Africa. So, if you too have holidays approaching, are a student of The Writers Bureau and have been published in the last year, put a free afternoon to good use and enter our Writer of the Year 2010 competition – the closing date is 31st December 2009. You could bag yourself £250 for simply telling us what you have gained from your course and what successes you’ve had! There are also four runners up prizes of £50 each. If you want some inspiration have a read through last year’s winners.

Next year is a big one for The Writers Bureau – we are turning 21 years of age! So, as part of our celebrations we thought we’d get all of you involved by holding monthly competitions and quizzes themed around 21. Prizes range from book tokens to complete courses with a grand prize of a laptop at the end of the year. We will be announcing the competitions on a monthly basis and the first one is, of course, for January. Entries should be a poem on any subject written in only 21 words. The prize is, yes you’ve guessed it, The Poetry Writing course. Further entry details here.

And staying on the subject of competitions, here’s another. This one has a Christmas theme and will be judged by our very own tutor, Lorraine Mace. It’s for Writelink, it’s called Tinsel Tales and it’s a flash fiction competition. There are some nifty prizes and it should keep you occupied for an afternoon or two. Be quick though as they are only accepting 100 entries – register as soon as you can to be in with a chance of taking part. More details here.

And speaking of Lorraine Mace, she’s just become the editor of a new online magazine called Words with JAM. I’ll let them explain what they want, “Stories should be no more than 5,000 words (we accept flash fiction) and poems are unlimited in line length. As the magazine is very new, we are unable to pay for stories and poems we accept at the present time. Due to this, we are more than happy to consider works that have already been published either online or in print (please state where and when they were published on your submission if this is the case). For more info visit: http://quinnpublications.blogspot.com/ 

Also this month we have some interesting expert advice from the author of The Writer’s ABC Checklist – Maureen Vincent-Northam – on collaboration with other writers, which may be something you’ve not considered before. Ten Top Tips covers promoting your non-fiction book, with a useful widget in Useful Websites too, and Syreeta from Nigeria provides us with an inspiring story to keep us going.
 
Fancy meeting some like-minded word wizards this month? If so, you could attend Bob Mayer’s Novel Writers’ Workshop, 21st January 2010, Whidbey Island, Seattle. You’ll “explore your material for your one-sentence idea, ensure your story has a core conflict lock, scrutinize the integrity of your plot, examine your writing and voice, make certain all three of these critical aspects - conflict, plot, voice - are aligned to maximize characters and storyline.” The workshop is a full day and costs $250 if you book before 3rd January.

Or get yourself a place on Cecily Bomberg’s Chelsea Workshops, London. The next is due to be held in January and is a Writer’s Advice and Mentoring Surgery. The cost is £45.00 for one and a half hours of one-to-one time. More details here.

If you feel like letting someone else do the work you should attend one of the Flying Goose readings at the cafe of the same name in Beeston. The next one is on 19th January – featuring Eirann Lorsung and Dan Tunstall – at 7.30pm and costs £3.00 on the door including a glass of wine! More information here.

Remember, if you are still looking for the perfect present for that special someone, look no further than one of our courses. If you need any help choosing which course would be best call and speak to one of our student advisors. Plus, if you let us know it’s for a gift, the free trial will not start until Christmas Day. Think about it, not only are you giving the gift of knowledge, always a good start, but you could also be giving them a new career – now that’s what I call a gift!

Shelley x

EXPERT ADVICE

 Joined Up Writing – How to successfully collaborate with another author.

by Maureen Vincent-Northam

If you find the idea of penning a novel or non-fiction book daunting, why not team up with a writing buddy and complete this marathon task together? There are many advantages to co-authorship, but be sure to join forces with the right person. Choose your partner because you respect their work and their judgment, not simply because they’re your best friend.

The benefits: 

- A major writing project is less intimidating

- There’s potential for twice as many ideas

- You’ll have a built-in support system

- More writing gets done – you won’t want to let your partner down

- Editing and rewrites are halved

- Marketing is shared

Finding and communicating with your writing buddy

Your ideal writing partner could be someone at your local writers’ group. As well as the group’s monthly gathering, you might meet up once a week to thrash out ideas and swap completed chapters.

Online writing communities are great places to get together with like-minded folk – this is how Lorraine and I met. It’s easy to outline a plan of action and to send drafts and completed files by email, which is what we did when writing The Writer’s ABC Checklist. For more immediate interaction instant messenger services such as MSN are ideal.

Decide who’s doing what, when (and how)

For it to become a match made in heaven, co-authorship roles and responsibilities need to be clarified before you begin writing.

This is easily sorted if you or your writing buddy have explicit knowledge or are tackling your own specialist topics. But what happens when the borders are less obviously defined – if your book requires you to interview people for example? How will it be decided which of you gets to talk to the baked bean magnet and who gets to visit the chocolate factory?

Other things to bear in mind
It can be harder to maintain consistency when a piece is written by two authors.

It suits some co-writers to work closely together on each section or chapter of a book – particularly if they have differing writing styles. Working in this way, choosing or omitting certain words and phrases as you go, might get tedious but should help ensure the book gels together as a whole. For Lorraine and me – our writing styles are very similar – it was easier to be allotted sections dependant on our expertise, preferences and occasionally the spin of a coin.

Some publishers have their own house style. But when there are no ready-made style rules co-authors need to agree on how they will write certain words so that the work remains consistent. Many of these will be words that can be written with or without hyphens, such as email/e-mail.

A book’s ‘voice’ generally should remain the same throughout. The exception to this is when a novel depicts two diverse characters and in this instance the use of different author voices can work very well.

Joint copyright
Copyright is owned jointly in a piece of work (article, play, novel, non-fiction book and so on) which has been written by two or more authors.

Under UK copyright law joint authorship is defined as ‘a work produced by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution of each author is not distinct from that of the other author(s)’. In other words each writer has to make a fair – though not necessarily equal – creative contribution to the work and simply suggesting a darn good idea doesn’t make anyone a joint author!

Copyright lasts for an author’s lifetime and 70 years after their death, or the death of the last surviving author in the case of co-authorship.

Public lending right and co-authorship
Public Lending Right (PLR) is a government-funded scheme which makes payments to authors and illustrators whose books are borrowed from UK public libraries. You need to register with the PLR office and payments due are calculated on the estimated number of times your book has been borrowed nationally.

To qualify, you don’t have to be the copyright holder but you do need to be named on the book’s title page or be entitled to royalty payments from the publisher. For joint authors, the PLR will be divided between the collaborators. This might be a 50-50 split, or a different percentage share depending on creative input, but should be worked out before you register. With the percentage share agreed, each co-author then submits a separate application.

Authors who are eligible for PLR must, at the time of registering, have their main home in the UK or the EC Member States, or Norway, Iceland or Lichtenstein.
http://www.plr.uk.com

A joint author agreement
It’s sensible to agree some basic rules, and get these down in writing at the onset so that each is clear about where they stand if one author decides to abandon the project.

There have been court cases where a joint copyright owner was not allowed to exploit a copyright work without the agreement of the other joint owner or owners. The effects of such a case can be lessened by an initial contract outlining the forms of use permitted by each joint owner.

Draw up a document outlining the rights held by individuals and what should happen if one of you should drop out. This needn’t be a formal document drawn up by a legal professional, but it must be signed, and a copy held by each co-author. The main points to cover in an author agreement are:
 
- The name of each collaborator signing the agreement 
- The project title (or working title) 
- How the workload is to be divided 
- How royalties will be split 
- Whether the co-writer can carry on with the idea if the other pulls out 
- If an author leaves, whether the remaining co-writer can use their work, or research data.

Every collaborative relationship is different. Whether you meet up regularly in real-time, chat on the phone, or communicate by email, the most important thing is to find a system that is an enjoyable and productive experience for both of you.

Maureen Vincent-Northam is the co-author, along with Lorraine Mace, of The Writers ABC Checklist, a guide for writers aiming to be published in magazines, radio, TV, e-books and mainstream publishing.
www.maureen-vincent-northam.co.uk 

TOP TIPS...

Ten Top Tips for promoting your non-fiction book

Whether your book has been accepted by a mainstream publisher or you are self-publishing, you can’t afford to sit back and wait for sales. So here are some tips on how to promote your book:

1. Prepare a press release that you can send to local newspapers and radio stations, especially if the content of your book might appeal to local people or you have an appropriate peg on which to hang it. But remember – keep the press release short. It should be no longer than a single sheet of A4 paper and the most important facts should be at the top so that if the newspaper hasn’t space for all of it they can cut from the bottom upwards. If you send a photo with it, make sure the quality is good – or just state that photo/s are available.

2. If your local paper prints book reviews, send a copy of the book to the literary editor for review.

3. Contact your local radio station to see if they might like to interview you about your book. Or try local societies and organisations (writers’ groups, church groups etc) – ask if they would like you to come along and be guest speaker at one of their meetings.

4. Make sure you have an attractive personal website where you can showcase your book. Spend a little extra money to purchase a domain name that people will recognise and spend a little extra time making your site search-friendly. Have a look at Useful Websites for a neat widget to promote and market your work.

5. Why not blog about your interests, your book etc? But make sure that you keep your postings up-to-date or people will lose interest. Visit www.blogger.com for information on how to proceed.

6. Join chat rooms that are relevant to the subject of your book. You can then spread the word as you chat. And make sure that every email you send out has a mention of your book, where it can be obtained and how much it costs in the signature block.

7. Send out articles to magazines on topics that are related to the subject of your book. You’ve written a book, so you are classed as an expert! Then make sure you give your book a plug at the end of each article. It’s also a good way of using the same material to make more money.

8. Go into local bookshops (preferably at a quiet time) and ask to speak to the manager. Many of the chains can purchase books with a local interest, at the manager’s discretion. But be prepared to discount the selling price quite heavily and you may also have to offer ‘sale or return’ terms.

9. Whatever your age, consider joining one (or more) of the social networking sites. The more ‘friends’ you have – the more you can promote your book by word of mouth. Also, ask your real (as opposed to virtual) friends to put their thinking caps on and see if they can come up with any good ideas for promoting your book.

10. Finally, don’t be a shrinking violet. If you want to publicise your book you’ve got to be pushy and explore every avenue you can think of. 
 

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
Being a writer is as much about reading as it is about actual writing. Writers can use other people’s work as inspiration for their own pieces or for ideas on style for example. So, to that end here’s a site that allows you access to download thousands of classic literary texts free of charge, although I would urge you to donate if you can so that the site can keep running – it can be as little as £0.01! You can search by author, title or key word. Plus, those of you on our Proofreading and Copyediting course can get some valuable experience and help the site by proofing the uploaded work.

http://bookbuzzr.freado.com/indexB.php  
This is a great little tool for those of you who have websites or blogs where you can market your published books – a route that’s set to become more and more popular in the future. Upload an extract of your book to their site and then download the widget to your blog, webpage or social media page. Those interested in your book will see a dynamic cover and will be able to view a sample of your writing. They claim it should bring in more sales, but you have nothing to lose as it’s free!

Remember, if you run a website that you think may be of use to our readers, let me know. If I like it, I’ll publish a link to it giving you a free plug. What could be better than that?

Inspiration

Could you write an article about ...

THE WRITERS BUREAU, SEVENDALE HOUSE, 7 DALE STREET,
MANCHESTER, M1 1JB, ENGLAND.