web stuff 4 writers

One of my major distractions from writing over the past few weeks has been following the Australian elections, and reading endless politically-focused articles at the online version of Melbourne’s The Age newspaper.  Which leads me to this week’s writing about writing question…

Writing about writing, Week #10

This might be another silly question to ask writers, but in your opinion, is the pen really mightier than the sword?

If you’ve answered this question in your blog, please leave a link to the entry in the comments box below.  Alternatively you can write/paste your answer directly in the comments box.

Tags: Writing about writing by Natasha
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I’ve been working a report this week, and I wrote a page of text to explain a particular concept before deciding to replace it with an image that really said it all.

Which got me thinking…

Writing about writing, Week #9

This might be a silly question to ask writers, but in your opinion, is a picture really worth a thousand words?

If you’ve answered this question in your blog, please leave a link to the entry in the comments box below.  Alternatively you can write/paste your answer directly in the comments box.

Tags: Writing about writing by Natasha
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One of my first posts here on web stuff 4 writers was about Bianca Zander’s website, Sponsor My Novel.  Later, Bianca also agreed to be my first interview victim.

I checked that website again today, and was pleased to see that Bianca’s raised $3250 towards her $8000 goal.  And perhaps, even better, she’s added 20,000 words to her manuscript since the appeal began.  I remember enjoying the extract that Bianca’s published on her site, and hope to one day see all those words and paragraphs and pages that have been sponsored inside the cover of a book.

Tags: Funding by Natasha
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I’ve just received a comment from Lee Henshaw, whose novel, Queer Fish in God’s waiting room, is being published in February 2008 by Legend Press.

Lee’s been given three potential versions of his novel cover, and is asking his blog readers for advice on which one he should go with.

I did a similar thing, before Lessons to Learn was published, asking the readers of my blog over at LiveJournal which photo out of a series that my husband had taken one Sunday morning, should be used on the cover of Lessons to Learn.  I sent the four favourites from that vote on to the publisher, and ultimately, the one that was the most popular with my blog readers was the one that was chosen.

 Why ask your blog readers for advice?

Personally, I suck at making decisions, and once I’d asked my husband, parents, friends and everyone at work for their input, then blog readers became the next logical step. 

As a reader of blogs, I like to be asked.  It makes me feel like I’ve played some small  part in the publication process.

What do you do if you don’t agree with your blog readers’ suggestions?

Luckily, in my case, my readers’ preferences largely coincided with my own.  If they hadn’t, well, then the decision ultimately had to be made by me and perhaps more importantly, by my publisher.

Even if your blog readers have read your entries all through the drafting stages, even if they feel they’ve been asked then ignored, it’s likely that you’re the one who knows your book best and you’re the one whose names on the cover that has been decided upon.

Your thoughts

Would you/have you asked your blog readers for advice on any elements of the writing, publishing and/or marketing of your book?  What sort of reaction have you got?

PS: If you want to take a look at Lee Henshaw’s cover options, and give him your thoughts on those, you can do so at his website Next to Hemingway.

Tags: Blogging, Publishing by Natasha
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It’s midway through November and its associated writing challenges.  NaNoWriMo writers who are on track to finish on the 31st, should have written over 25,000 words by now.  NaBloPoMo participants should be on their 17th blog entry. 

I’m afraid that my novel writing hasn’t recovered from my trip to Oxford last weekend for the Society of Young Publishers’ careers conference, with the word-count of the new version still languishing at around 12,000.  And while this is my 17th blog entry, it’s going to have to be another short one, as I’ve got so many other writing and web projects to get on with this weekend.

Your thoughts

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo or NaBloPoMo or any other writing challenge this month, how’s it going for you?  Are you finding it easier or more difficult than expected?

Tags: Finding inspiration by Natasha
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It seems to have been a good week for a website launch - and not only the one I wrote about on Tuesday evening.

Following the release of her debut novel, Cover the Mirrors, Faye L. Booth has moved her website, www.fayelbooth.co.uk, to a new server, updated her About page, and added page about 19th Century Spiritualism. At the end of the latter page, there’s a link to a password protected page with information for book groups, with the intriguing sentence ‘The password should be pretty easy to guess if you’ve read the book’ (though perhaps, as she suggests, once I read the book - I’m still waiting on the copy I ordered from Amazon - things will become clear).

Rebecca Laffar-Smith has also updated the look of her website, and moved it to it’s new domain name, www.writersroundabout.com. This week, Rebecca’s also posted her first blog review, alerting me to another great site, Writing for Writers, by Melissa A. Donovan.

Finally, I received a message through Facebook today, letting me know that the new Legend Press website is now live. Again, the site is based on a blog format - which will accomodate their regular updates. It also incorporates an online shop where, at the moment, they’re offering special package deals to celebrate the launch.

Your thoughts

Launched a new site recently? Started a new writing-related series? Written a great post? Please let me know by leaving a comment on this entry.

Tags: Web links by Natasha
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What is a blog carnival?

A blog carnival is a type of blogging event. One blogger (the carnival organiser) will name a topic, and call for others to write blog entries on that topic and send in their links.

Once submissions close, the organiser publishes an entry with a description of the carnival and a list of links. You can see this in action at a post called ‘Writers from across the blogosphere’ over at The Writer’s Block blog.

Why should I submit entries to a blog carnival?

First a disclaimer: blog carnivals are another topic that’s new to me. However, after researching them for this entry, I’ve decided to take part in a few over the next month and will write a follow up post once I’ve seen the results.

For now, I can say that blog carnivals look like a good way to publicise your blog and drive traffic to your site – both from other carnival participants and from other readers who chance upon the list of links.

It also seems to be a good way to discover other writers who have similar interests to you.

In his post about how he became an A-list blogger, Scott Allen writes that he ‘can’t say enough about the value of blog carnivals.’ He suggests that in any given week, a blogger should be able to find at least five carnivals to which they can submit a recent post.

Where can I find open blog carnivals to join?

The Blog Carnival website provides a list of carnivals, which can be sorted by category (eg. writers) or searched by keyword.

Your thoughts

Have you participated in a blog carnival? Did you find that you had more visitors to your site as a result?

Tags: What is? by Natasha
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Returning to the regularly scheduled web stuff 4 writers programme, here is this week’s writing about writing topic.

Writing about writing, Week #8

What one piece of advice would you give someone who was just beginning to write fiction?

If you’ve answered this question in your blog, please leave a link to the entry in the comments box below.  Alternatively you can write/paste your answer directly in the comments box.

Tags: Writing about writing by Natasha
2 Comments »

Well, it’s not exactly for writers…

… but it is most definitely web stuff.

It’s the culmination of a lot of work from a lot of people, including my web team colleagues and myself, throughout the last year.

Here it is: the new Alzheimer’s Society website, with all its factsheets, and its events, its news stories and its publications, personal experiences, local information, online forms, and yes, I’m rather proud.

Tags: General by Natasha
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Sixty seconds of fame has come the way of web stuff 4 writers this week with the site being mentioned on Mur Laffety’s I Should Be Writing podcast.

I Should Be Writing is billed as ‘the podcast for wanna-be fiction writers, by a wanna-be fiction writer’. It’s a show that was recommended to me in the comments on my first postcasting post and I’ve been a subscriber for about a month now. Over that time, I’ve enjoyed Mur’s commentary on her own writing and her advice to other writers so much that I’ve also downloaded a number of her back episodes.

In her most recent episode (ISBW#79 – Feedback episode), Mur responds to questions from listeners, talking about what to do when you lose interesting in your characters, world building and the perils of combining alcohol and writing. Then, about 20 minutes in, Mur says that she’s received an email from Caitlin, letting her know about web stuff 4 writers.

So thanks to Caitlin for sending the email; thanks to Mur for the mention; and welcome to any first-time viewers to this blog. Please leave a comment below, and let us know who you are, what you write, and how you’re using the web.

Tags: Finding inspiration, General by Natasha
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