Publishing a 'Daily' - and Today's Find

‘The Marit Meredith Daily’ – how pretentious does that sound? It’s not meant to be, and it very rarely contains anything that I have written. It’s published by paper.li and although not of Twitter, it’s closely linked. Each daily edition (or weekly/fortnightly/monthly – whichever one you should wish to go for) is tweeted to your followers, and all the articles in the ‘paper’ itself are drawn from – or via - people you follow on Twitter. Very often, followers re-tweet, so that the paper reaches even wider audiences, which is good publicity for those having their articles/blog posts published. I have wondered how to get my own posts in – especially when spotlighting on The Pages and Friends blog http://www.thepagesandfriends.blogspot.com/  – but I think it boils down to luck – and the number of times other tweeters re-tweet.

I don’t spend much time on Twitter itself – lack of time and inclination, I’m afraid – but I do like to keep up with what is going on in the world of writing and publishing in particular – and here I have my very own, almost tailor-made, Daily Paper. Instead of picking through the tweets for some tasty morsels, I can click the link in my subscriber’s e-mail and hey presto, pages of interesting articles on my screen. True, some are repeated a few times, but I can live with that.

Today’s find was in The David Robinson Daily, and it was the great cover for the children’s book A Leap of Faith, by Richard Hardie, that drew my attention. The cover is by Tracey Tucker at http://www.brownlovesblue.com/  It’s a great example of a cover drawing the reader in. To learn more about the book, go to the author’s website http://www.rhardie.com/  The book is available as an e-book for now, at his publisher’s website http://www.46s.biz/

It’s a children’s book, and first in a series, but that is not going to stop me buying a copy for Kindle.

I wonder how much she would charge for a cover design? Any good at drawing dragons, Tracey?

I haven’t really got much time for reading at the moment, but being a bookworm I steal time where I can.  With an operation on my right hand – my writing hand – looming, I’m trying to finish two manuscripts - one children's story - and a novel.
My pre-op assessment is next week, so I might just have a couple of weeks to get on with it – and as , I have a very busy family life – that means writing in the early morning, RA allowing, and in the evening. Tomorrow is going to be busy. I’ll be cooking for 9, I think. Better get a few words of the novel committed to the page before bed.
After I've bought a copy of Leap of Faith, that is.

Peggy Larkin's War by Trevor Forest

You may wonder why there are two versions of the cover of Peggy Larkin's War in the sidebar. The simple answer to that is that you can now buy this excellent tale in paperback version from Lulu by just clicking on the paperback version image.
While the Kindle version is very good, I have a thing about being able to hold a book to read it, and to be able to wrap it up to give it as a present. My eldest granddaughter turns 9 in a couple of weeks, and she will be receiving a copy in with her other presents.
Peggy Larkin is a loveable character, and her adventures a journey into a childhood past that the children today can only read about. To learn what it was like through Peggy's adventures is in my opinion the best way to learn (without realising it). The children who are fortunate enough to get this paperback to read, will be wanting a follow-up. As will us adult readers. Trevor - you have been warned!

£3.99 for the 120pp paperback version, and worth every penny. For the month of April, postage is free, so take advatage of it and quote: APRILMAILUK305

'Yesterday' Anthology Update

The collection of short stories and poems drawn from the first annual short story and poetry competition run by The Pages eZine/magazine, was published as paperback and download - £2.50 and 99p respectively - through Lulu yesterday.

The stories and poems are very varied, and a great read, and the cover illustration stunning. Thank you to Meg Kingston for allowing us to use it, and a big thank you to all the contributors - who came from far and wide: Wales, England, France, Spain, Italy, Bangladesh, Thailand and Australia: a global effort!

Proceeds will go to the Ty Hafan Children's Hospice in Wales - either via Meg Kingston's Just Giving page, or direct.

'Tŷ Hafan offers comfort, care and support for life-limited children and young people and is dedicated to improving the quality of life of their whole family.'

http://www.tyhafan.org/

'Yesterday' the Anthology

A little preview of the image we're using for the cover. Art work by Jane Kalaiti, with kind permission from Meg Kingston who commissioned it. It illustrates the winning story 'Dragon Bridge', by Meg, beautifully. I just have to make sure the title doesn't become too obtrusive.

The galley is ready for a final proof reading, and I'm awaiting confirmation of details from the charity 'Homeless Child', as I have decided that any proceeds will go to them, towards their program A Brighter Future:

Children living on the street in the slums of Rio are faced with extreme violence, sexual exploitation, dire poverty and an ever increasing crack epidemic that kills every addicted child within 6-8 months. Our projects give these children a chance for a home, an education, love and a future.

(Quoted from their website)

The anthology is the result of the first annual competition run by our magazine, The Pages eZine, and the contributors make up an international crowd.
Watch this space for more news.

Back to The Diary of a Would-Be-Protagonist

The manuscript has been languishing for a while - but the character never leaves go - and now seems as good a time as any to release him into the world. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but when I first aired it on Authonomy it did get some good reviews, so I'm being brave and risking it.
I just need a bit of time to rewrite, update and fix errors. I hadn't expected to find so many. As for exclamation marks - where did they all come from? The red pen is getting good use.

On being brave, I swallowed my fear and contacted the Hubble organisation to ask permission to use one of their images for the cover, so watch this space, while the Would-Be-Protagonist travels through space - and time.

Why now? I spotted the article about Creationism, by Tony Leather, in my own 'Daily' (strange how hard it is to get into your own paper, by the way), and I have my own views - or perhaps I should say that the Would-Be-Protagonist has. There might even be a possible point where the two can meet. Well, the character thinks it's worth showing some alternatives.

Me? I'm just the alter ego in the story. Not his, but that of the virtual writer, the alias Anna.

WA Anthology 2011 Call for Submissions

FOREIGN FLAVOURS ANTHOLOGY 2011

We are seeking submissions of short stories and non-fiction pieces on the general theme of food, drink and cooking from around the world. This year Writers Abroad will be donating any profits made to The Book Bus charity. Well-known author, Alexander McCall Smith, will be writing the foreword for the Anthology. To see our first Anthology (2010) see our Books Page
Title: Foreign Flavours
Genre:Short Stories and Non-Fiction
Theme: Food, drink and cooking - around the world.
Contributions: Expat writers, or those writers who have been an expat at some time or another
Word Count: Fiction – up to 1700 words (flash fiction is welcome) Non-Fiction – up to 1000 words
Submissions and Entry Rules:
● All submissions must be previously unpublished
● Submissions should be received by midnight Friday 9th September 2011
● Submissions must be in English
● References to pornography or racism will not be accepted
● Manuscripts must be submitted via the link at http://www.writersabroad.com/foreignflavours-
submissions.htm

The approximate word count should be inserted at the end of the submission
● Author name and title of the story or non-fiction piece should be placed in the left header of the document and page numbers in the right footer
● Manuscripts should be presented with double spacing and Times New Roman Font size 12.
● Queries only can be made via the contact button on the Submissions page
● Entries are free, only one entry per author, plus a short bio of 30 words
● Successful authors will be informed within two weeks of the closing date
● It will not be possible to provide feedback on submissions but successful stories will be edited and authors may be required to undertake minor changes for publication purposes.
● Copyright will remain with the author and the stories will be published in an anthology in a number of formats.
● All proceeds from publication will be donated to the chosen charity.
http://www.writersabroad.com/foreign-flavours-submissions.htm
All Submissions will be via Submishmash where you will be required to set up a username and password and will be able to track your submission. Please click on the icon on the submission page on the website (link above) to be taken to the Submissions Page on Submishmash. There's also an email link there for any queries.

Judging a Book by Its Cover

The saying goes that we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but the fact is that we do.

A post by David Robinson the other day, on the importance of the image we use for our headers for our blogs, happened to be posted the same day that I unearthed a cutting squirreled away in one of my folders. The cutting contained a reader’s letter I had published some time ago (that would be 12 years ago, to be precise) in Writers News, and David’s post prompted me to write this one. I think it’s still as apt today. The letter was in reply to an ‘almost-dismissal’ of the importance of the cover in self published books.

I have had the pleasure of being the go-between between a writer and an artist this week, and I think the cover for Trevor Forest’s children’s book ‘Peggy Larkin’s War’, painted by Marie Fullerton, aptly illustrates the point I make in my letter (some of which is copied out below). ‘Shambelurkling and Other Stories’ with the cover illustration by Paul Townend is another example. Likewise David Robinson’s scary-looking covers for his ‘Stasis’ books Coldmor and The Dead Web gives an indication of what to expect when you read the content.

You’ll find images of the covers for both Peggy Larkin’s War and Shambelurkling on this blog, with David’s cover-images at the end of this post.

‘…what ought to be the inherent in a good design should be an illustration which, together with the blurb or alone, will draw the potential reader in, hinting at the content of the book and thus setting the scene in the reader’s mind, allowing for the text to be desired to be read even before commencing to read the book itself… Too often the content of a book may be overlooked because of a less than interesting cover.’


(It still happens, although not so often.)

‘… The design of any cover/jacket should be complementary to the content, and content and design form a harmonious whole.’


Well, that’s the important parts of the letter. If it sounds a bit like it’s taken from an essay, I’ve got a good excuse. I was a postgraduate student at the time and I was also doing some part time work as a tutor on a degree course. I remember adding that it might be a good idea to contact course leaders in art colleges to see if students would like the job of illustrating for 'hands-on-experience' - or something to that effect (it's how I got my first design job), but that bit was edited out. Pity.