Exciting Times for e-books!

I woke today to some exciting posts in Google + - Amazon have announced their new Kindle!

I am a huge Kindle lover, I have hundreds of titles on my beloved Kindle and I take it everywhere with me. I've even gotten used to the robot voice for listening to books on the writing craft while driving (I prefer the woman robot to the man robot).

Our house is a little torn with our devices. Hubby and Matilda (10) love their iPads and read on those, whereas Emily (13) and I are Kindle all the way. I love the e-ink reader for reading long passages without straining my eyes, plus the tablet won't read to me. So if I love e-ink, why am I excited about Amazon producing a tablet device that is smaller and less sexy than the already iPad (which I already don't want).

At first I wasn't at all impressed. I couldn't understand why Amazon would produce a device in an already overcrowded market when they are already winners with their Kindles and the fact that the non-Kindle devices still host the Kindle app (so even if it's not their device they sell books through it). While out shopping I looked at some iPads and figured if Kindles were going this way then I might as well buy the real thing. I didn't. I realised if I had an iPad I would hardly ever get any reading done because of the lure of Facebook and internet and, and, and. Never mind trying to get my manuscripts written.

But.

Then I saw the big news today - lots of Kindles!

There will be the Kindle Fire selling US$199, an e-ink touch screen kindle from US$99 (that's the one I want) and an introductory Kindle at only US$79. At these prices Kindles will become more accessible to the public and will probably fill quite a few kids' stockings this Christmas.

Add this exciting news to the fact that Kindles are now available from Woolies, BigW, Dick Smith (and probably more places) in Australia - I believe ebooks are about to experience a whole new BOOM! 

Authors who are prepared to handle their writing as a professional business and produce QUALITY ebooks have a real opportunity opening up to them. Exciting times. I have shivers - how about you?

Here's a great article by Andrew Wilson, on why ebooks are the way for authors to control their future:

How you can make a million writing your own e-book

YouTube and Writers

YouTube - not just for dancing cats

Do you YouTube?

One of the social networking suggestions Aleesah Darlison made during her 'Promote Your Book' workshop recently was to set up a YouTube page.

Sure, I had a YouTube account, who doesn't, but a page? This had never occurred to me. If I have one talent above all others, it's following instructions. I set about creating a YouTube page under my username charmaineclancy. I know I need to add some more exciting clips, because the most recent recommendation from YouTube for me was a clip called 'Schnauzer napping'... can't wait to see that one.

On Aleesah's page she keeps book trailers, interviews, interesting clips about native animals that feature in her books and more. This is a great resource to use for writers workshops, school visits, book launches and building up your platform. If you don't have a YouTube account it's easy. Go to the site and create an account - I recommend using your author name and if that's taken, add the word author in front. For example, if charmaineclancy wasn't available I'd use authorcharmaineclancy.

Once you've joined and signed in, you'll see some arrows by your name in the top right hand corner. That releases a drop box menu. Click on Channel and set up your channel (this is the page for you to share your clips). In Settings you can change the colour, add your author pic and bio. Videos is where you upload your own clips. I'm yet to do that, hey, maybe one day soon I'll even vlog. In the meantime if you'd like to see a vlog about the craft of writing, visit The Creative Penn's YouTube page.

Want to share YouTube clips on Blogger?

1. Find a clip you want to share, underneath is a button titled 'Share' - click it.
2. This brings up a link for sharing, but now click on 'Embed'. Here is the code you need to embed the clip into your blog. Copy the code.
3. You can change the size if you need to (if you have a narrow blog column), I always just go with the smaller size listed (560x315).
4. Now Blogger does not like code when you are in 'Compose', so I usually choose to go to HTML and insert the code. But there is another way.

Alternative - Probably easier:

1. In Blogger, when composing your blog, click on the button for 'insert a video'.
2. Choose 'From YouTube'.
3. In the search box you need to type in the title of the clip - the one I've chosen was called "Interview with Aleesah Darlison".
4. Choose the correct clip from the list of possibilities. Ta-da!

If you have a YouTube Channel set up already, share your link in the comments :)

Telling A Story Masterclass

Me totally invading Brian Falkner's personal space

I'm still recovering from inspiration overload I received at the recent CYA Conference. The day kicked off for me with a writing masterclass hosted by author Brian Falkner.

This master class ran for a few hours and was absolutely jammed packed with tips and advice on writing. I have about ten notebook pages filled. Here's just a tiny taste of what we enjoyed:

Muse
If you turn up every day at the same time, ready to work, and start writing without inspiration - then eventually your muse will turn up too.

Characters
As an exercise we were asked to share one observation about the person sitting next to us. Then we were asked to share one thing about ourselves. What was noticed was that we tend to make superficial descriptions of others, like the colour of their hair, or if they wore glasses, and we offer more personality descriptions of ourselves. So don't just decide your character is 5ft tall, short brown hair and freckles, instead tell us that they pick up any shiny objects they find on the ground, just like a magpie. This was summed up as shallow vs deep characterisation.

Conflict
Conflict must come from the story and not be placed simply for more conflict. Obstacles must seem impossible to overcome. When faced with a dilemma, give your character two choices - each with their own dire consequences, or, make them think up a third option. Also, danger must always be immediate, not something coming slowly. Characters are avoiding an oncoming train, not a possible problem that may happen some time next year.

Scenes
If you have trouble writing a full scene that includes a variety of writing techniques, try the following method:

1. Start by writing the narration. Explain what happens in this scene, where your character moves and what he does.
2. Go back through your paragraphs and insert description. Give the reader a sense of place and images for characters.
3. Now go back through what you have and add dialogue and actions.

We also talked about narration, description, writing tips, point of views, dramatic irony, overlapping suspense lines and much, much more.

Brian Falkner has a great range of novels, and I've chosen to begin by reading Brainjack:

Check out the book trailer!

Scene Change

I only re-sparked my passion in writing a couple of years ago when I moved to my lovely country town outside of Canberra. Long cold winters by the fire provided plenty of time and ambience to work on my manuscripts.

It's no coincidence that my character (Kitty Walker) finds herself moving to a small country town in DOG SHOW DETECTIVE. I wanted to share the awe of driving pass cows in the morning, something that only a city-raised kid could understand.

The kids in my high school have been great inspiration for me too, country kids have a certain quirkiness and brashness that is endearing. I've been lucky enough to have a great writers centre not too far off in Canberra (ACT Writers) and many of you know I attend workshops religiously.

If this were a story it'd be time to shake things up. So we will.

Twice now I've flown up to Brisbane when the annual CYA Writers Conference, and I've made some good friends. So, although I hate change (here comes the inciting incident), when hubby was offered a position he really wanted at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, I wasn't too horrified.

I'll miss the cows, the country kids and the wide spaces, but I'll love being close to my dad (also a budding writer) and joining in the writing activities with Queensland Writers Centre (I've become a member already!). I can't wait to find a critique group to join too :)

My plan next year is to cut back on my teaching hours and step up my writing schedule. I is gunna be a real writer!

Pitch Your Manuscript!

I'm back from the CYA Conference (Children's and Young Adult Writers and Illustrators). Phew, it was exhausting! But of course, it was also absolutely brilliant.

Brisbane's a fair distance from Yass, but it was well worth making the effort. There was a fantastic master class, workshops and book releases. I loved it all, especially the pitch session. I know, I know, those of you who remember my post last week, Surviving a Pitch Session know that I was FREAKING out about my pitch. Turns out pitching is no where near as scary as I thought.

I'm glad I did some research and that I took along some information about my other works. I pitched to an Editor of my choice of publishing house my manuscript MY ZOMBIE DOG, but we also talked about what other works I had ready to go and what I was working on. The editor was very friendly and put me at ease immediately. She gave me feedback on the chapters I had sent her and had some great ideas for fine-tuning the story. The best thing about meeting with the editor is that she told me she loved the idea of MY ZOMBIE DOG. That felt very nice :)

The end result was that I do have some more work to do on this manuscript. Actually one of the changes was suggested to me by kids that critiqued MY ZOMBIE DOG - they wanted my main character Zane to be older. Guess what? So did the editor. But the good news is that once I've reworked MY ZOMBIE DOG, the editor would like me to send it through to her. So, regardless of how this turns out, at least I know I'm on the right track!

Unfortunately many of my other stories are mysteries and the feedback was that mysteries are not popular with kids at the moment. I figure that's okay, they're bound to come back as a trend and then I'll have several manuscripts ready to go.

My advice to you? If you get the chance to pitch in person to an editor (or agent if you want to go that route) then do! The personal feedback you get is well worth it. I'll blog more about the workshops at the conference later, but for now, my brain needs some recharging.

Marketing DIY for Authors

I've been a workshop glutton. My latest was on Marketing Your Book run by author Aleesah Darlison. Okay, so technically I don't have an actual book that I can hold in my hand, but I do have MY ZOMBIE DOG and DOG SHOW DETECTIVE out there pitching.

The great thing about this workshop is that we covered marketing yourself as an author and your unpublished manuscript to editors and agents. Some of the things we were asked to consider were:

• What do you want from your writing career? Do you want to be known for your ability to raise controversial subjects, or for your wit and sense of fun? Knowing this will help understand the image or persona you want to put forward. I'd like my books to show that sense of humour and fun within the Aussie culture. I'd like to celebrate the oddity that is people.
• What is unique about your writing? For me it is that teaching gives me an insight to children's interests in literature and theme topics. Plus I write a really good dog.

I've come away from this workshop with a to-do list:

1. Build a Facebook Fan page. Okie-dokie, you can help me keep that page by clicking on the like button in the FB box to the right, or just going to this link: CHARMAINE CLANCY 
2. Build a Youtube Channel page. Sort of done. I've set it up now, you can visit here: CHARMAINE CLANCY YOUTUBE I need to find some more relevant videos that I can store there, and this is where I will keep my book trailers (when I have book trailers).
3. Have a one sentence answer ready for when I am asked 'what do you do?' Mine is: I write mystery, fantasy and adventure fiction for children.
4. Do up my Writing CV. Okay, haven't started that one yet.
5. Write my synopsis for all my manuscripts, even those that are not yet finished or even written. You should have a synopsis ready at a pitch incase the editor/agent would like to discuss your other works.
6. Practice my pitch for this weekend's CYA Conference!

What's on your Marketing DIY to-do list?

Surviving a Pitch Session

I have pitch-fear!

Next week I pitch. Not the safe kind of online, or written pitches I've tried thus far... no... I pitch in person. I really didn't think it would be a big deal. After all, I've sent my first ten pages in, they'll either like it or they won't. So what's 15minutes chatting with a publisher?

Gulp.

Now that it's fast approaching I am in panic mode. Eeek! What if I just make a fool of myself - and not in the good way I usually intend to make a fool of myself? So, in preparation for the CYA Conference in Brisbane, I am searching for advice on pitching in person. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Don't:

• Act like they are providing a service to you. You are not doing them a favour, treat them like you have a product to sell to them. (Fabianspace)
• Assume they will make allowances for you because your work is just so special, play by the rules. (Fabianspace)
• Spend the whole time talking about your manuscript and going over what they've already read. Make a personal connection. (Nathan Bransford)

Do:

• Welcome feedback. You don't have to implement every change suggested to your manuscript but take it all in for serious consideration - this person knows what they're talking about and the feedback is generously provided to help you. (Nathan Bransford)
• Know the summary or synopsis of your story by heart. You might be asked to refresh their memory. (Redlines and Deadlines)
• Have a synopsis handy for any other manuscripts you have ready or nearly finished. You might have time to discuss those. 
• Do your homework. Know a little about the publishing house you are pitching to. I'm pitching to Black Dog Books and know that they have novels aimed the same age group as my manuscript and in the same genre. I can specifically point to some of their current books and say my novel is like a cross between this novel and this one. At the very least, know that they publish the sort of genre you produce. (Writing World)

That's all I got - any suggestions????