How could I forget, www.warrenellis.com ?
www.warrenellis.com/?p=14978
ahahaha.
Monday, 3 June 2013
Using a blog to promote oneself as an artist
Using a blog to promote oneself as an artist.
Fortunately, there are blogs on that.
www.bloggingpro.com/ seems to be a blog with regular content about using blogs.
http://www.bloggingpro.com/archives/2011/01/28/the-ultimate-guide-to-blog-promotion/ is supposed to be, well, the ultimate guide to blog promotion. It is a compilation of links, but with a synopsis of each. Certainly an extensive resource.
http://www.michielgaasterland.com/blogging/how-to-promote-blog-posts-in-2013/
what it says. Network, network, network.
But is there a crucial difference between getting people to read your blog and hoping they'll buy your work, and making sure that the blog promotes the work in some significant way? Exact definitions and strategies seem hard to come by. I suppose you're supposed to keep referring to the work in the blog, and hoping blog readers become work buyers.
http://weblogs.about.com/od/marketingablog/tp/10FreeBlogPromotionTips.htm
we have ten basic tips here:
comment on other blogs
post frequently
participate in online forums
use social media
link to other blogs in your own posts
include your blog link in your email signature and on business cards
hold a blog contest
join a blog carnival
guest blog
write multiple sites and join them together.
Most of this is pretty self-explanatory, and some of it falls into the 'well, duh' category. Anyone remotely familiar with the internet and blogs generally probably knows you should post frequently, include links, use social media. Commenting on other blogs and participating in online forums may already be happening for other reasons. I'm aware of the need to be judicious in doing this, though, as spending too much time on social media and forums can eat up time like a big time-eating monster, leaving you less time to actually write blog posts, or your novel, or do anything else useful. At the same time, unless you interact with people, they won't interact with you, so consider your engagement with these conflicting priorities in mind.
The most successful sites I've seen have belonged to writers/artists who have their blog closely linked to their website, and both are updated regularly and content-rich, including with pictures, because you may be a writer but people on the internet, including other writers, find visual stimulus engaging. I'm thinking of Neil Gaiman and Catherynne M Valente in particular. For me, it may take a while to actually build up content and pictures and stuff, because I'm only just starting, and busy, and kind of clumsy with the whole business of digital pictures of any sort. I am hoping this will start to improve in the next few days...
Fortunately, there are blogs on that.
www.bloggingpro.com/ seems to be a blog with regular content about using blogs.
http://www.bloggingpro.com/archives/2011/01/28/the-ultimate-guide-to-blog-promotion/ is supposed to be, well, the ultimate guide to blog promotion. It is a compilation of links, but with a synopsis of each. Certainly an extensive resource.
http://www.michielgaasterland.com/blogging/how-to-promote-blog-posts-in-2013/
what it says. Network, network, network.
But is there a crucial difference between getting people to read your blog and hoping they'll buy your work, and making sure that the blog promotes the work in some significant way? Exact definitions and strategies seem hard to come by. I suppose you're supposed to keep referring to the work in the blog, and hoping blog readers become work buyers.
http://weblogs.about.com/od/marketingablog/tp/10FreeBlogPromotionTips.htm
we have ten basic tips here:
comment on other blogs
post frequently
participate in online forums
use social media
link to other blogs in your own posts
include your blog link in your email signature and on business cards
hold a blog contest
join a blog carnival
guest blog
write multiple sites and join them together.
Most of this is pretty self-explanatory, and some of it falls into the 'well, duh' category. Anyone remotely familiar with the internet and blogs generally probably knows you should post frequently, include links, use social media. Commenting on other blogs and participating in online forums may already be happening for other reasons. I'm aware of the need to be judicious in doing this, though, as spending too much time on social media and forums can eat up time like a big time-eating monster, leaving you less time to actually write blog posts, or your novel, or do anything else useful. At the same time, unless you interact with people, they won't interact with you, so consider your engagement with these conflicting priorities in mind.
The most successful sites I've seen have belonged to writers/artists who have their blog closely linked to their website, and both are updated regularly and content-rich, including with pictures, because you may be a writer but people on the internet, including other writers, find visual stimulus engaging. I'm thinking of Neil Gaiman and Catherynne M Valente in particular. For me, it may take a while to actually build up content and pictures and stuff, because I'm only just starting, and busy, and kind of clumsy with the whole business of digital pictures of any sort. I am hoping this will start to improve in the next few days...
Getting started
Five links about getting started in business in your artform. Well, I suppose a novelist is essentially a freelancer, sole trader, responsible for paying their own tax and stuff, so I guess this works. What do we have?
www.authors.org.nz/
The New Zealand Society of Authors is usually a good place to start for anything to do with this. And they have a page full of links specifically on getting published:
www.authors.org.nz/wawcs0137983/Getting-Published.html
They have resources about all the important bits, like Manuscript Assessors and Editors, Literary Agents, Publishers, Private/Indie Publishing, Digital Publishing, Magazines Journals and E-zines. I don't just mean more links. They also have well written resources of their own.
Then there's a specific genre site, www.romancewriters.co.nz which is the place to go for those whose books focus around a the beginning and development of a romantic relationship with a happy ending. There's not a lot on here specifically about getting into business exactly, but they provide further links, including to publisher Random House NZ, and hold conferences to enable authors, agents, publishers to network with each other.
www.specficnz.org is the site for Speculative Fiction Writers of New Zealand. In other words, science fiction, the future, etc. They have a link to the New Zealand Association of Manuscript Assessors...
www.elseware.co.nz/NZAMA/ is the site for them.
www.penguin.co.nz/getting-published is the kind of thing one should probably look at before sending off one's unsolicited manuscript, in this case, to Penguin NZ. NZ is lucky that publishers here will consider any unsolicited manuscripts at all, in most other places you need to be accepted by an agent first, who will then talk to publishers on your behalf. There's a similar page for Random House NZ, www.randomhouse.co.nz/about/manuscripts.aspx
So actually not a lot that is NZ specific, but it's covered so well by NZSA not a lot more may be needed. There are, of course, about a billion international sites.
The basic road seems to be this:
Get manuscript assessed, edited, etc by someone who knows what they're doing. Rewrite. Perhaps go through this process a few times, so your thing has a chance of actually being good enough to be considered by anyone in the first place.
No, it will not likely be picked up and then you get an editor, if you can't get it picked up in the first place. First projects are rarely as good as the author thinks they are. The idea and potential may be good, but the execution takes years to master.
Research, contact, submit to suitable looking literary agents and/or publishers.
Do your homework. Does this publisher even take unsolicited manuscripts? If they do, when, where, how? What are the guidelines? What don't they take? There will be similar guidelines on the sites of lit agents. As publishers and agents get billions of unsolicited things, most of which will be bad, or simply not what they want because the author didn't bother to read their guidelines properly, make sure that you do.
If you get feedback, take it seriously.
If you get interest but they want to edit and change a few things, take that seriously. Don't be the author who couldn't get his work published because he refused to cut any extraneous detail. These people know what they are doing and are making suggestions for a reason.
Be on the lookout for competitions to enter, like short story comps. Most of these will include opportunities to be published in some way, and then you have something published and you have a better chance of getting something else published.
Register as a sole trader with the IRD. Novelists pay their own tax off the royalties and advances they get from publishers. So register, and then decide how you will keep track of your tax over the course of the year so as to pay it and fill out a tax form without headaches and financial hardship at the end of the financial year. Consider what business costs you can claim against your final tax. Start keeping recipts, because they will likely audit you at some point. www.ird.govt.nz
www.writersworkshop.co.uk/How-To-Get-Published.html
is a British site, and has an excellent, and detailed, outline of the process, including info about putting together a pack of info about your book, cover letters, etc.
janefriedman.com/2012/01/28/start-here-how-to-get-your-book-published/
has something similar, but more general, full of things to consider before you solicit, and if you are unsuccessful.
www.authors.org.nz/
The New Zealand Society of Authors is usually a good place to start for anything to do with this. And they have a page full of links specifically on getting published:
www.authors.org.nz/wawcs0137983/Getting-Published.html
They have resources about all the important bits, like Manuscript Assessors and Editors, Literary Agents, Publishers, Private/Indie Publishing, Digital Publishing, Magazines Journals and E-zines. I don't just mean more links. They also have well written resources of their own.
Then there's a specific genre site, www.romancewriters.co.nz which is the place to go for those whose books focus around a the beginning and development of a romantic relationship with a happy ending. There's not a lot on here specifically about getting into business exactly, but they provide further links, including to publisher Random House NZ, and hold conferences to enable authors, agents, publishers to network with each other.
www.specficnz.org is the site for Speculative Fiction Writers of New Zealand. In other words, science fiction, the future, etc. They have a link to the New Zealand Association of Manuscript Assessors...
www.elseware.co.nz/NZAMA/ is the site for them.
www.penguin.co.nz/getting-published is the kind of thing one should probably look at before sending off one's unsolicited manuscript, in this case, to Penguin NZ. NZ is lucky that publishers here will consider any unsolicited manuscripts at all, in most other places you need to be accepted by an agent first, who will then talk to publishers on your behalf. There's a similar page for Random House NZ, www.randomhouse.co.nz/about/manuscripts.aspx
So actually not a lot that is NZ specific, but it's covered so well by NZSA not a lot more may be needed. There are, of course, about a billion international sites.
The basic road seems to be this:
Get manuscript assessed, edited, etc by someone who knows what they're doing. Rewrite. Perhaps go through this process a few times, so your thing has a chance of actually being good enough to be considered by anyone in the first place.
No, it will not likely be picked up and then you get an editor, if you can't get it picked up in the first place. First projects are rarely as good as the author thinks they are. The idea and potential may be good, but the execution takes years to master.
Research, contact, submit to suitable looking literary agents and/or publishers.
Do your homework. Does this publisher even take unsolicited manuscripts? If they do, when, where, how? What are the guidelines? What don't they take? There will be similar guidelines on the sites of lit agents. As publishers and agents get billions of unsolicited things, most of which will be bad, or simply not what they want because the author didn't bother to read their guidelines properly, make sure that you do.
If you get feedback, take it seriously.
If you get interest but they want to edit and change a few things, take that seriously. Don't be the author who couldn't get his work published because he refused to cut any extraneous detail. These people know what they are doing and are making suggestions for a reason.
Be on the lookout for competitions to enter, like short story comps. Most of these will include opportunities to be published in some way, and then you have something published and you have a better chance of getting something else published.
Register as a sole trader with the IRD. Novelists pay their own tax off the royalties and advances they get from publishers. So register, and then decide how you will keep track of your tax over the course of the year so as to pay it and fill out a tax form without headaches and financial hardship at the end of the financial year. Consider what business costs you can claim against your final tax. Start keeping recipts, because they will likely audit you at some point. www.ird.govt.nz
www.writersworkshop.co.uk/How-To-Get-Published.html
is a British site, and has an excellent, and detailed, outline of the process, including info about putting together a pack of info about your book, cover letters, etc.
janefriedman.com/2012/01/28/start-here-how-to-get-your-book-published/
has something similar, but more general, full of things to consider before you solicit, and if you are unsuccessful.
Wedding mags, advertising,
At the moment I am lacking certain images required to properly illustrate my thoughts here, but that won't stop me from going to town just a little. I found a new magazine, and gradually managed to identify why I liked it so much more than the others, and had a few thoughts about why some magazines make me happy, and most make me depressed and insecure, even while all of them promote Stuff.
The other day I picked up the first issue of Hitched magazine. It is a new, quarterly, wedding mag, which describes itself as the "non-bridal bridal magazine." Which is absolutely correct, at least compared to the other publications I see in the shops, published for New Zealand and Australia. I made a little facebook comment about this,
They call themselves "the non-bridal bridal magazine." I call them "the only wedding mag that doesn't make me feel poverty-stricken, fat, ugly and inadequate, and the only one that actually kept my interest, and that I would consider actually buying." They promise, "no satin chair covers, princess tiaras or spray tanned brides, ever."
I even went to their website and sent them an email, telling them that theirs was the only wedding magazine I had bought apart from one ten years ago, and the only one I had ever seen where I was actually interested in seeing a second issue.
Anyway, I was looking through the bridal mags in Whitcoulls the other day to see if they really were as bad as I remembered, and yes, they were. They gave me an unpleasant sensation, which is part of the reason I now strictly limit my consumption of most magazines, especially fashion and lifestyle ones.
I felt vaguely uneasy, uncomfortable, awkward, and then became aware that I was too fat, not pretty enough, too poor, and generally felt totally inadequate. Then I felt like an outsider looking in, and then eventually like a tourist or anthropologist studying a different culture; I was looking at people whose lifestyle and customs bore little resemblance to my own. I suspected them of having somewhat different values, priorities, perhaps entirely different paradigms of thought. Yet these pictures were supposedly aimed at me, or people like me. They were supposed to hit a wide target, a common denominator, be part of and reflecting a common culture, in which I am immersed, and am a part of.
I found a lot of somewhat interesting yet somehow irrelevant stuff, a lot of stuff that I just assumed without checking would be far too expensive for me to afford ever, some stuff that was attractive or interesting yet just not what I was looking for. I also felt overloaded and awkward after only flipping quickly through one. There were a very few things I thought deserved greater attention, and a few things I felt were actually awful or even nightmarish. The magazine devoted entirely to wedding cakes was a bit better, but still, more weird or bland than inspiring.
When I got home and picked up Hitched again, I finally realised part of what had been staring me in the face all along.
A distinct lack of advertising.
Astonishingly, Hitched has very few ads. Most magazines have plenty, and the big fashion mags, including bridal, may be saturated with ads to approximately 50%. In the yearly September issue of US Vogue it almost doesn't matter, as many of the ads blend fairly seamlessly into the photo spreads, and anyway, you come to that mag, especially that issue, precisely to see what everyone is launching for fall fashion. In bridal mags, you could make the same argument, but I found it worse than Vogue could ever be; not all the ads blend very well into the content, and some of them never could, as there are just as many smaller text-dense ads as large full-page photo ads. This leads to one actually noticing the ads more, and a greater interruption of flow. I can't forget for a minute that I am being saturated with commercial messages to consume. I cannot pretend this is art.
Most mags of course must sell ads to make money. And of course if you pick up a mag about clothes you are probably interested in buying some, and want to know what's available. So it's almost staggering that Hitched has only seven proper ads in the whole thing. (By this I mean, ads for companies that are not the magazine itself. There is also a page devoted to subscription, and a page devoted to promoting the second issue, forthcoming in July.) And all those ads are full page, image-first things, with one big photo or montage, little text, are in keeping with the aesthetic of the mag, don't interrupt content, and seem possibly to be positioned in relation to articles or sections according to their colour and design, although that could be my imagination. There is no back cover ad, and no ads in the inside cover spreads front or back, just a wallpaper of pattern, just like you get in some classy hardback novels. This refusal to sell the most valuable advertising space must seem like financial madness to some, but makes the publication as a whole feel like something elevated above a run-of-the-mill rag mag. More like a book, perhaps about photography.
Well, books don't have ads, and they cost more than most mags. I'm sure it's no coincidence that Hitched costs more than the standard $10 or $12, running at AUS $14.95, or NZ $17.95. It's also quite likely that the ad space here costs more than in some other mags. Vogue was revolutionary in charging higher ad fees, on the basis that their mag was aimed at a less general market and more at a specific market, so advertisers could be sure that their ads were being seen by the right people, the people who could afford to buy their products and were interested in doing so. I imagine something similar is happening here. I also wouldn't be surprised if Hitched is forced to compromise a bit and run more ad space in future issues. Perhaps they actually couldn't get a lot of advertisers in this first issue and will naturally collect more as they become more established. But I suspect, and hope, they will continue to show the same thoughtfulness in selection and placement that I see here.
Will enough people get on board to make Hitched a going concern? Are enough people willing to pay more for a magazine with fewer ads and better content? Considering that the bespoke angle is, so far, heavy on bohemian and DIY, and not everyone likes that, will there be enough of an audience? With the continued success of what I like to call 'alternative mainstream' mags like frankie, smith journal, and Peppermint perhaps there will be. As fashions and aesthetic trends change, will this mag be able to change yet retain a consistent core?
Meanwhile, I feel certain that the care demonstrated about ads is a big part of the reason why I found Hitched to be interesting and inspiring, rather than nauseating, alienating and anxiety-provoking. It didn't promote products by making me feel bad and suggesting things to fix the condition it caused; it made me consider possibilities and feel good and enthusiastic, and suggested items that I might be interested in to enhance my already good life.
This seems to echo a trend I've dimly perceived in a few other places, including the afore mentioned 'alternative mainstream' mags, where advertising is limited and carefully chosen, and content is not just positive, but somehow less drenched in consumerism, while being in a commercial product promoting other commercial products. Perhaps it was the lack of slimming articles, or absence of cosmetic surgery ads. Perhaps it was partly that it had content somehow more balanced than just clothes, makeup and hair, or the lack of weird relationship questionnaires. It was certainly less in your face about things, with some features having no guides to pricing and availability at all - they seem simply meant to be ideas intended to inspire more ideas, those of the reader.
Perhaps most importantly, an overall trend seemed to be that it concentrated on people, on ideas, on relationships, on stories - which is what weddings are supposed to be about. Not about a public display of wealth, not about how rich the groom is as a trophy, or how beautiful and sexy the bride is as a trophy, or how many people are invited or how exclusive the venue or how over-the-top the ceremony and trappings. Weddings are about people, relationships, the stories of the couple, the family, the friends, the clan. They are about the knitting together of two people, and two families, and a community. The public acknowledgement of a private fact - the family now includes a new person. And that family might not give a rat's ass about the bride's spray-on tan.
I found a lot of somewhat interesting yet somehow irrelevant stuff, a lot of stuff that I just assumed without checking would be far too expensive for me to afford ever, some stuff that was attractive or interesting yet just not what I was looking for. I also felt overloaded and awkward after only flipping quickly through one. There were a very few things I thought deserved greater attention, and a few things I felt were actually awful or even nightmarish. The magazine devoted entirely to wedding cakes was a bit better, but still, more weird or bland than inspiring.
When I got home and picked up Hitched again, I finally realised part of what had been staring me in the face all along.
A distinct lack of advertising.
Astonishingly, Hitched has very few ads. Most magazines have plenty, and the big fashion mags, including bridal, may be saturated with ads to approximately 50%. In the yearly September issue of US Vogue it almost doesn't matter, as many of the ads blend fairly seamlessly into the photo spreads, and anyway, you come to that mag, especially that issue, precisely to see what everyone is launching for fall fashion. In bridal mags, you could make the same argument, but I found it worse than Vogue could ever be; not all the ads blend very well into the content, and some of them never could, as there are just as many smaller text-dense ads as large full-page photo ads. This leads to one actually noticing the ads more, and a greater interruption of flow. I can't forget for a minute that I am being saturated with commercial messages to consume. I cannot pretend this is art.
Most mags of course must sell ads to make money. And of course if you pick up a mag about clothes you are probably interested in buying some, and want to know what's available. So it's almost staggering that Hitched has only seven proper ads in the whole thing. (By this I mean, ads for companies that are not the magazine itself. There is also a page devoted to subscription, and a page devoted to promoting the second issue, forthcoming in July.) And all those ads are full page, image-first things, with one big photo or montage, little text, are in keeping with the aesthetic of the mag, don't interrupt content, and seem possibly to be positioned in relation to articles or sections according to their colour and design, although that could be my imagination. There is no back cover ad, and no ads in the inside cover spreads front or back, just a wallpaper of pattern, just like you get in some classy hardback novels. This refusal to sell the most valuable advertising space must seem like financial madness to some, but makes the publication as a whole feel like something elevated above a run-of-the-mill rag mag. More like a book, perhaps about photography.
Well, books don't have ads, and they cost more than most mags. I'm sure it's no coincidence that Hitched costs more than the standard $10 or $12, running at AUS $14.95, or NZ $17.95. It's also quite likely that the ad space here costs more than in some other mags. Vogue was revolutionary in charging higher ad fees, on the basis that their mag was aimed at a less general market and more at a specific market, so advertisers could be sure that their ads were being seen by the right people, the people who could afford to buy their products and were interested in doing so. I imagine something similar is happening here. I also wouldn't be surprised if Hitched is forced to compromise a bit and run more ad space in future issues. Perhaps they actually couldn't get a lot of advertisers in this first issue and will naturally collect more as they become more established. But I suspect, and hope, they will continue to show the same thoughtfulness in selection and placement that I see here.
Will enough people get on board to make Hitched a going concern? Are enough people willing to pay more for a magazine with fewer ads and better content? Considering that the bespoke angle is, so far, heavy on bohemian and DIY, and not everyone likes that, will there be enough of an audience? With the continued success of what I like to call 'alternative mainstream' mags like frankie, smith journal, and Peppermint perhaps there will be. As fashions and aesthetic trends change, will this mag be able to change yet retain a consistent core?
Meanwhile, I feel certain that the care demonstrated about ads is a big part of the reason why I found Hitched to be interesting and inspiring, rather than nauseating, alienating and anxiety-provoking. It didn't promote products by making me feel bad and suggesting things to fix the condition it caused; it made me consider possibilities and feel good and enthusiastic, and suggested items that I might be interested in to enhance my already good life.
This seems to echo a trend I've dimly perceived in a few other places, including the afore mentioned 'alternative mainstream' mags, where advertising is limited and carefully chosen, and content is not just positive, but somehow less drenched in consumerism, while being in a commercial product promoting other commercial products. Perhaps it was the lack of slimming articles, or absence of cosmetic surgery ads. Perhaps it was partly that it had content somehow more balanced than just clothes, makeup and hair, or the lack of weird relationship questionnaires. It was certainly less in your face about things, with some features having no guides to pricing and availability at all - they seem simply meant to be ideas intended to inspire more ideas, those of the reader.
Perhaps most importantly, an overall trend seemed to be that it concentrated on people, on ideas, on relationships, on stories - which is what weddings are supposed to be about. Not about a public display of wealth, not about how rich the groom is as a trophy, or how beautiful and sexy the bride is as a trophy, or how many people are invited or how exclusive the venue or how over-the-top the ceremony and trappings. Weddings are about people, relationships, the stories of the couple, the family, the friends, the clan. They are about the knitting together of two people, and two families, and a community. The public acknowledgement of a private fact - the family now includes a new person. And that family might not give a rat's ass about the bride's spray-on tan.
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
the blogs of others
So, how do other writers use their blogs?
I've been looking at a few, and there are some observable trends. First and foremost, to communicate important support-the-work stuff, like the release date of a New Book, Tour Dates, any Awards the author is running for, etc.
There is also related-to-work stuff, like This Is What I'm Thinking About for the Next Thing, You Might Like This, Look at My Friend's Stuff, etc.
Then there are varying levels of more personal communication. Mandy Hager has recently blogged about censorship and controversy in relation to the book Tender Morsels. Catherynne M Valente has blogged about everything from her struggles with burnout and depression, to the friendly ghost who lives on her island, to her thoughts about pop culture and the need for a cheering squad for writers.
The kind and amount of personal stuff varies. Valente gets more personal perhaps, but it's usually related either to writing or to themes relevant to her writing. Her concerns. She writes grown-up fairy tales, so of course she blogs about the friendly ghost. She has also produced an insane amount of work over the last ten years, so naturally there is a post about how this level of super-productivity can destroy a person. Hopefully she feels able to slow down a bit now she has firmly entrenched herself in a niche of the market. catherynnemvalente.com/blog
Gaiman's blog seems to be less personal in an obvious way, but includes things like his thoughts and observations on his wife's use of twitter to build communities, (his wife being Amanda Palmer, singer performer person) and how his cat Princess is very old and mostly sleeps by the heater in the attic and how he went up there and found lots of old work from when he was a teenager and how unpromising it was except for one thing - there was a lot of it. journal.neilgaiman.com
Mandy Hager has some interesting thoughts on being a writer for YA and kids, including how contrary to some opinions, it's no mean feat creating a book that will help turn someone into a lifelong reader. And I'm now very curious about Margo Lanagan's book Tender Morsels, now that it has apparently been deemed "inappropriate" for younger readers due to themes including rape, incest, and forced abortion.
I've always been fascinated by how some people seem to think that young people shouldn't read about young people being abused, even though plenty of young people themselves are abused. A shocking number of young people are raped, and a significant proportion of those are raped by a member of their own family. Surely, a book about someone who suffers such things and rises above them should be required reading? Especially more so than books where the violence is added as an excitement and the consequences are glossed over?
Some of my favourite YA books are guilty of this, and they're often especially guilty of creating the impression that large-scale killing is never accompanied by that unmentionable vulgarity, rape. Don't believe me? Think about all the fighting in those wholesome Narnia books by C S Lewis, which are indeed a beloved part of my childhood imaginative furniture. But those are just my thoughts, on a book I haven't read yet. For Mandy's thoughts, go here: mandyhager.blogspot.co.nz
Some writers enable comments, and use posts partly as a way to interact with followers, to enable conversation. This can, however, cause problems, when on the internet nobody knows you're a dog. How much time should a writer devote to moderating comment threads, and what the hell do you do when some attention-seeking psycho threatens you? For an elaboration on this, which also goes some way to explaining why big-name writers typically DON'T have comments enabled on their blogs, see Valente's livejournal version of her blog, and the item "This Blog Is Now Moderated By The Iron Fist Of Elizabeth Bennet," catvalente.livejournal.com
For those who are puzzled, Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist of the early nineteenth-century novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She is very proper but also sensible and doesn't take crap from anyone, in a middle-class early-nineteenth-century sort of way. See also, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which is sort of an abridged version with mayhem added.
Meanwhile, Renee not only has a blog, but is serialising a novel on it. That's certainly one way to keep people coming back! wednesdaybusk.com
I expect she has rather more stamina than I do...
I've been looking at a few, and there are some observable trends. First and foremost, to communicate important support-the-work stuff, like the release date of a New Book, Tour Dates, any Awards the author is running for, etc.
There is also related-to-work stuff, like This Is What I'm Thinking About for the Next Thing, You Might Like This, Look at My Friend's Stuff, etc.
Then there are varying levels of more personal communication. Mandy Hager has recently blogged about censorship and controversy in relation to the book Tender Morsels. Catherynne M Valente has blogged about everything from her struggles with burnout and depression, to the friendly ghost who lives on her island, to her thoughts about pop culture and the need for a cheering squad for writers.
The kind and amount of personal stuff varies. Valente gets more personal perhaps, but it's usually related either to writing or to themes relevant to her writing. Her concerns. She writes grown-up fairy tales, so of course she blogs about the friendly ghost. She has also produced an insane amount of work over the last ten years, so naturally there is a post about how this level of super-productivity can destroy a person. Hopefully she feels able to slow down a bit now she has firmly entrenched herself in a niche of the market. catherynnemvalente.com/blog
Gaiman's blog seems to be less personal in an obvious way, but includes things like his thoughts and observations on his wife's use of twitter to build communities, (his wife being Amanda Palmer, singer performer person) and how his cat Princess is very old and mostly sleeps by the heater in the attic and how he went up there and found lots of old work from when he was a teenager and how unpromising it was except for one thing - there was a lot of it. journal.neilgaiman.com
Mandy Hager has some interesting thoughts on being a writer for YA and kids, including how contrary to some opinions, it's no mean feat creating a book that will help turn someone into a lifelong reader. And I'm now very curious about Margo Lanagan's book Tender Morsels, now that it has apparently been deemed "inappropriate" for younger readers due to themes including rape, incest, and forced abortion.
I've always been fascinated by how some people seem to think that young people shouldn't read about young people being abused, even though plenty of young people themselves are abused. A shocking number of young people are raped, and a significant proportion of those are raped by a member of their own family. Surely, a book about someone who suffers such things and rises above them should be required reading? Especially more so than books where the violence is added as an excitement and the consequences are glossed over?
Some of my favourite YA books are guilty of this, and they're often especially guilty of creating the impression that large-scale killing is never accompanied by that unmentionable vulgarity, rape. Don't believe me? Think about all the fighting in those wholesome Narnia books by C S Lewis, which are indeed a beloved part of my childhood imaginative furniture. But those are just my thoughts, on a book I haven't read yet. For Mandy's thoughts, go here: mandyhager.blogspot.co.nz
Some writers enable comments, and use posts partly as a way to interact with followers, to enable conversation. This can, however, cause problems, when on the internet nobody knows you're a dog. How much time should a writer devote to moderating comment threads, and what the hell do you do when some attention-seeking psycho threatens you? For an elaboration on this, which also goes some way to explaining why big-name writers typically DON'T have comments enabled on their blogs, see Valente's livejournal version of her blog, and the item "This Blog Is Now Moderated By The Iron Fist Of Elizabeth Bennet," catvalente.livejournal.com
For those who are puzzled, Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist of the early nineteenth-century novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She is very proper but also sensible and doesn't take crap from anyone, in a middle-class early-nineteenth-century sort of way. See also, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which is sort of an abridged version with mayhem added.
Meanwhile, Renee not only has a blog, but is serialising a novel on it. That's certainly one way to keep people coming back! wednesdaybusk.com
I expect she has rather more stamina than I do...
Sunday, 12 May 2013
oh crap it's May
So. The last few months have not been easy, for various reasons, and so some blog posts have been written but not posted, and some haven't been written at all. As I actually have to do this to pass my course, I really have to get on with this. So the overdue posts will soon be appearing. Hopefully a bunch of other ones will be too. Today, Monday, I have a nasty headache that won't entirely go away and am horribly tired, and the next while is going to be chaos anyway, so any and all posts are likely to appear sporadically.
Right now I am going for a walk while the daylight remains, because I think a bit of fresh air and exercise will help. Back soon...
Right now I am going for a walk while the daylight remains, because I think a bit of fresh air and exercise will help. Back soon...
Sunday, 10 March 2013
Back again
Back again. With this blog being a compulsory part of my course. Maybe I'll even keep updating it.
About me...
L C McCahon lives in New Zealand. She was born and raised in Christchurch, spent time studying in Dunedin, and now lives, works and studies in Wellington, which she loves.
One of her earliest memories is going to the local library with her Dad where he got out Tintin: Destination Moon. She's been hooked on libraries and books ever since.
After spending too many years collecting almost enough papers to finish a BA in Theatre Studies, and an abortive attempt at a fashion sewing qualification, Lucy is now in her final year of a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Creative Writing at Whitireia New Zealand. She hopes to find a writing or publishing related job at the end of 2013 while attempting to get her book published. She is very glad that so many other people need someone else to write their website content for them.
About me...
L C McCahon lives in New Zealand. She was born and raised in Christchurch, spent time studying in Dunedin, and now lives, works and studies in Wellington, which she loves.
One of her earliest memories is going to the local library with her Dad where he got out Tintin: Destination Moon. She's been hooked on libraries and books ever since.
After spending too many years collecting almost enough papers to finish a BA in Theatre Studies, and an abortive attempt at a fashion sewing qualification, Lucy is now in her final year of a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Creative Writing at Whitireia New Zealand. She hopes to find a writing or publishing related job at the end of 2013 while attempting to get her book published. She is very glad that so many other people need someone else to write their website content for them.
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