Pride and Prejudice
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Competitions, Short Story on December 13, 2012
I’ve been reading Pride and Prejudice in preparation for entering the Writers’ News subscribers only January 2013 competition – the brief is ‘a story based on any of the characters or events in that famous novel – but set firmly in the 21st century’.
Detail of a C. E. Brock illustration for the 1895 edition of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice (Chapter 3) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It’s the first time I’ve read the book and it’s taken me some time to get into it. I suppose it’s the old-fashioned language and often long paragraphs used to get a point across. But now that I know the characters I’m quite engrossed – although I’ve no idea how I’m going to capture its essence in just 1,700 words of a contemporary story.
In Jane Austen’s world people seem to marry barely knowing each other, with background and financial position counting far more than the compatibility of the couple. They get little time alone together and the height of a woman’s ambitions (and those of her parents) is to make a good marriage. Equally, the less well-off males are looking for a bride of independent means to make up for their own financial shortcomings.
Of course, today relationships are conducted quite differently so I think I’ve got quite a brainstorming session to think up a modern-day equivalent story! There is a wealth of Pride and Prejudice fan fiction on the web such as here – so I’m going to have a trawl through and see how it’s done.
In case you’d missed it, 2013 is the bicentenary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice – Austen held her first printed copy of the book on 29 January 1813. Today Pride and Prejudice is The British Library’s ‘most adopted’ title, in a fund-raising campaign where supporters are encouraged to sponsor a book of their choice.
I wonder which of today’s books will still be popular in 2213? Any suggestions?
By the way if you know any young writers (or are one yourself), there are details of a Jane Austen writing competition here, open to school years 7 to 11.
Christmas Round Robin Letters plus a Competition
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Non-fiction, Writing on December 6, 2012
Christmas Round Robin Letters – do you love them or loathe them?
I don’t usually write one but this year I did and it’s currently winging its way to those I rarely see. The cost of postage drove me to include the letter with my cards. I begrudge paying 50p (second class postage) just to stick a card in an envelope so I decided that people were going to hear what my family did in 2012 – whether they wanted to or not. After all, I’m supposed to be a writer so it shouldn’t be difficult to make a round-up of the last 12 months sound interesting.
It was a lot harder than I expected!
I tried to be mindful of the fact that no-one wants to read a list of my daughters’ achievements and their plans for the future. I’ve received letters like that and they leave me feeling totally inadequate. So I skirted over that and moved onto how the recession has impacted the working lives of my husband and me. Then I decided that talk of redundancies was too depressing so I moved on to the interesting things we’ve done in our spare time – and came up with nothing!
Writing a round robin letter is like trying to have a one-sided conversation in the dark. It’s impossible to gauge whether you are boring people because there’s no facial expressions to read and no feedback in the way of comments. So I did my best and sent it out . It’s up to the recipients whether they read it or bin it and from now on I’ll be much less dismissive of the letters I receive because I know how difficult they are to write!
Competition
If you’ve had any letters printed in a newspaper or magazine during 2012 you might be interested in a competition run by the Association of Christian Writers. ACW’s UK letter writing competition is looking for the best letters published in any national, regional or local magazine or newspaper during 2012. There is a prize of £50 for the best single letter published and prizes of £100, £50 and £25 for collections of 6 letters published in 6 different publications. Closing date is 31/12/2012. Full details are here.
E-book Erotica – the way forward?
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events, Markets, Self-publishing on November 29, 2012
On Saturday we had a really interesting meeting of the Birmingham Chapter of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. There were 8 of us around the table in the Edwardian Tea Rooms of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and one of our member’s exploits took up most our discussions.
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery – Edwardian Tea Room (Photo credit: ell brown)
She shall remain nameless, since for obvious reasons she writes under a pseudonym, but she is making around £800 a month selling her erotic e-books, mostly to the US markets. Bear in mind that she fits this around a full-time day job and a family -it makes me wonder why I am slogging away trying to get the odd story accepted by a women’s magazine or shortlisted in a competition!
Our successful author currently has 67 stories for sale, ranging in length from 3,000 to 10,000 words. Apparently the secret of her success is to keep up with the latest trends in erotica – for example monsters are the ‘in thing’ at the moment (the mind boggles!).
She self-publishes the e-books, formatting them and designing the covers herself. As you can imagine, we were all agog to learn her secrets and she has promised us a workshop in January…
Talking about the mind boggling, I caught the tail end of a Radio 4 program – ‘When Harry Potter Met Frodo’ – about Fan Fiction this week. The presenter was talking about Slash Fiction. This is a sub-genre of Fan Fiction and involves choosing 2 of your favourite male characters from existing works of fiction, bringing them together and letting them have an affair (at least that’s my polite way of putting it!).
So, if you want to write what the market wants – now you know!
A Bit of Bronte Luck
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Travel on November 19, 2012
Do you ever think that only the lucky get published? I sometimes despair when, after hours toiling over a story, it wings its way straight back to me in its self-addressed envelope. 
Last weekend I was in Haworth and heard that it was lucky to touch the old wooden post office counter, over which the Bronte sisters‘ manuscripts were sent on their way to London publishers. The counter is now in a gift shop (with a very friendly and obliging owner) and here is a photo of me trying to generate myself some luck! It was a shame I couldn’t actually send one of my stories over the counter and off to ‘success land’ – but perhaps a little bit of the Bronte success might rub off on me…
The highlight of this trip to Haworth was a guided tour with BronteWalks. I was brought up in West Yorkshire and had many trips to Howarth when I was younger but all that stuck in my mind from those visits was the tiny handwritten books that the sisters made as children and the drunken lifestyle of their brother, Branwell.
Our guide, Johnnie Briggs (no, not Mike Baldwin from Coronation Street!), soon put that right. For instance, I didn’t know that:
- There were 2 older Bronte siblings who died in childhood.
- The Bronte sisters disliked their work as governesses and dreamed of opening their own school.
- It was the precarious state of the family finances that gave the sisters the final push they needed to complete novels and submit them to publishers (that reminded me of Jeffrey Archer who wrote Not A Penny More Not A Penny Less to rescue himself from bankruptcy)
- Charlotte was pregnant when she died
- Branwell painted himself out of his famous portrait of the sisters – see it here.
- The sisters’ father, Patrick, outlived his wife and all 6 of his children. He died aged 84.
Following the tour I visited the sisters’ Parsonage home with my eyes newly opened. I imagined the sisters discussing and critiquing each others work in the dining room and saw the room where Branwell died, with his family gathered around him. The Brontes lives were shadowed in sadness and beset by difficulties but despite this (or maybe because of this?) they produced world-class fiction.
So no more excuses – get writing and submitting! (A little bit of luck wouldn’t go amiss though…)
Celebrating Charlotte – A Writing Competition
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Competitions, Short Story on November 12, 2012
I came across the following competition on the blog Aiming For A Publishing Deal – many thanks to Charlotte C for highlighting it!
Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823-1901) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The competition is being run by Hampshire County Council and is asking for short stories (up to 1000 words) on the theme of Charlotte Mary Yonge. Charlotte was a best-selling Victorian novelist and her memory is kept alive by the Charlotte Mary Yonge Fellowship.Your story could be inspired by Charlotte’s life, one of her novels or maybe, a present day character discovering one of Charlotte’s books. There are 2 prizes of £50 Waterstones’ vouchers, one for under 16 and one for 16 +. Closing date is 12th December 2012 and you don’t have to live in Hampshire to enter. The full details are here.
Obviously this is a competition that will require some research but, on the plus side, that could deter many entrants – meaning that the field is smaller than that for many other competitions. And you may discover that you like Yonge’s books!
Win a Kindle, Kobo or Book Tokens
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Computers & Technical, Markets on November 5, 2012
Following on from my last post – my Kobo e-reader prize has arrived and has turned out to be more of an android tablet rather than a simple e-reader. It is the Vox model and has lots more functionality than I expected, so what choice did I have but to keep both it and the Kindle?
I find the Kindle easier on the eye for sustained periods of reading and it has a longer battery life. But the Kobo will drag me into the world of tablets and Apps – something I’ve had no experience of until now.
The first App I downloaded was A Quick Read (as mentioned in this month’s Writers’ News), which is a collection of short stories for reading on the move. Have a look at the website for how to submit your own stories for inclusion.
I’ve rooted out some prize draws if you’d like to win your own e-reader or some good old-fashioned book tokens:
- For the chance to win a Kindle Fire, click here
- For the chance to win WH Smith vouchers that can be used to buy a Kobo, click here
- For the chance to win some Book Tokens, click here.
Good Luck!
Kindle versus Kobo
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Computers & Technical on October 31, 2012
I need some advice. Which is best – Kindle or Kobo?
I already have a basic Kindle (without the keyboard or any of the fancy stuff) and I’ve just won a Kobo e-reader in the monthly flash fiction competition in Prima magazine (my story is in the December issue). The Kobo hasn’t arrived yet so I don’t know which model it will be but it’s supposed to be worth £149.
I’m trying to decide whether to tear open the packaging of the Kobo when it arrives and have a play with it, or whether to keep it all brand-spanking new and advertise it on eBay.
Because of its price, I’m assuming the Kobo will have a much wider functionality but what about the selection of books available? Does it have as many titles as the Kindle? I know that many authors who self-publish, only do so on the Kindle but the file format used by the Kobo is supposed to be more ‘open’.
Which screen is easier on the eye and is the page turning functionality as good on the Kobo as it is on the Kindle?
There’s an interesting article here from the MoneySavingExpert team. It recommends Kobo if buying for oneself but Kindle if buying as a present – but only so that you don’t appear a cheap skate by giving a less expensive Kindle substitute.
Conversely, Steve Fenton has written a great blog post here which compares the two in detail and comes out in favour of the Kindle.
So what do you think? Is one better than the other – or should I keep both (I’m thinking that if I ever get round to self-publishing an e-book it might be useful to see what it looks like on the two devices).
Sell Your Books! Part 2
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Promotion, Resources, Self-publishing on October 24, 2012
In my last post I introduced you to Debbie Young – book promotion guru. And this post concludes her sage advice:
Many writers worry about the time-consuming nature of maintaining a presence on social media. What is the best platform (blog, Twitter, Facebook etc.) to concentrate on?
On Radio 4 alone there are plenty of magazine shows that need topical, expert material for their programmes – Woman’s Hour, Money Box, the Today Programme, PM. Your book and the knowledge or experience that enabled you to write it might give you viable ideas for an article, or an engaging comment to follow up a programme.
Approach your target programme’s production office with a well-thought out idea, backed up by your credentials as the author of a book on the subject, and you may get lucky. (Other national outlets can also be approached in this spirit – the nature of your book will dictate what should be your priority, e.g. a special interest national magazine in your field.)
Sell Your Books! Part 1
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Promotion, Resources, Self-publishing on October 19, 2012
Here in the blogosphere you trip over lots of very knowledgable people and they’re all very generous with their support and 
advice.
Debbie Young is one such person. Debbie is an absolute expert on book promotion and marketing. She has 30 years experience in the industry and runs Off The Shelf Book Promotions which offers a bespoke marketing and promotion service to self-published authors (she also maintains a very useful blog of book promotion tips here.)
Debbie’s book Sell Your Books! has just been published (I’ve read it and it’s excellent – well worth buying if you want to give your book the push it deserves). I asked her a few questions about selling books and her answers were so comprehensive that I’ve split them into two blog posts. Here we go with number 1:
It’s often said that a writer needs to build a potential readership before their book is published. Do you agree and if so, how would you recommend doing this?
Try to define your potential readership, so that you can bear them in mind whilst writing the book. But don’t let it distract or divert you from actually getting the writing done nor from writing the book you want to write. Be true to yourself.
Always be on the look out for practical ways of reaching your target audience. Keep a note of useful websites, interest groups etc that you can come back to when you are ready. Watch out for what others in your field are doing to promote their books.
By all means engage with your potential readership but don’t show them your hand before you are ready – your book may evolve into something quite different to what you expected!
Consider also: other influential writers who you might ask to review your book; book reviewers; book bloggers; local booksellers; interest groups for your genre or topic. Follow their blogs and comment on their blog posts. Follow them on Twitter, befriend them on Facebook and GoodReads. Write reviews of their books. Comment on their book reviews on Amazon and GoodReads. Post worthwhile comments on their websites. Go to their public events. When commenting online anywhere, include a link to all your contact details (website, Twitter, email etc) so they can track back to you and the relationship can be a two-way thing. Then, when your book is published, you will be a familiar (and hopefully respected!) name to them and they will be well-disposed towards your new book.
Secure your own website address (URL) in advance so that it can be printed on your book jacket. But don’t be tempted to promote the book before it exists. This can be counter-productive. You’ll have much more impact on a bookshop, for example, if you can go in with actual samples of your book, a fully functional website and a few reviews, than with nothing physical to show. These things give you much more credibility as an author whose books are going to make a profit for the store.
There’s a lull between finishing your manuscript, proofing it and it being on sale as a finished product – that’s a really good time to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. But don’t rush things. In this digital age of e-books and on-demand printing, there’s no rush to start marketing your book, because it’s never actually too late. Your book doesn’t come with a sell-by date, and it won’t be remaindered or de-listed by your publisher (i.e. you!). There’s more about this on my blog here.
On the other hand, don’t err on the side of sloth! You do HAVE to put in the effort sooner or later if your book is going to be successful, because no matter how good it is, it won’t sell itself if you don’t promote it at some time.
Sally Jenkins 