Entries Tagged 'Freelancing' ↓

We kick this fry-up off with a boldly-titled article from John Barber: There Will Be No More Professional Writers in the Future. It takes a pessimistic point of view of the changes undergoing publishing, bringing forth a series of arguments about the aggregation of free content and the rise of self-publishers who have outflanked the traditional industry.

In contrast, Stephanie Lauren’s  has delivered the keynote at this years RWA conference in the USA that celebrates the changes in publishing and the ability to focus on connecting with readers, rather than publishers, as the measure of success.

Guy Kawasaki looks at the increasing lack of limitations in his Doctrine of Self Publishing post at the Kirkus site. While his Doctrine post is all about the advantages of self-publishing, it’s followed up by Plan C in Self-Publishing that succinctly outlines some of the things that self-publishers are giving up.

DearAuthor.com have been following the Roni Lauren lawsuit regarding pictures used on her blog, and have posted The Principle of Fair Use and Image Use for Bloggers.

There’s a language warning on this link, but it’s a great one for when you get stuck. Help Me Be Fucking Creative uses twitter to curate a list of advice for creatives who a suffering a creative blank, and offers up one pearl of wisdom every time you go to the site.

J. W. Manus argues that Electronic Files Shouldn’t Be This Hard that talks about what is, and isn’t, achievable with current ebook conversion technology.

Rachel Hill offers up some advice about approaching magazine editors with freelance submissions.

Jane Gleeson-White has blogged about her experiences at the Reality Bites non-fiction literary festival.

Porter Anderson asks What if your platform becomes your shadow career?

Finally, there’s been a run of guest-post at Louise Cusack’s site every Wednesday, covering topics such as How to use a writing contest to score a book contract, dealing with the media, and some advice on self-publishing an ebook from an Australian perspective.

First up, a handful of links for writers just beginning to build their online platform. The Booklife Now blog offers seven core pieces of advice for those new to blogging in So You Want To Star A Blog, covering everything from scheduling to platform.  It’s a good base-line understanding for newcomers.

We also recommend YA-author Lili Saintcrow post about Basic Internet Safety for Authors. It’s a topic that’s frequently under-represented in terms of advice aimed at authors, and we’d be interested in hearing about the kinds of precautions Speakeasy members have instituted.

Finally, a cautionary tale from Roni Lauren, who discovered that You Can Be Sued for Using Pics On Your Blog without getting the permission of the copyright holder. Lauren’s tale is based on an innocent mistake, perpetuated throughout the internet, and her post includes some advice on where to find images that can be used safely.

From promotion we move onto process, with Christina Katz’s advice on How to Impress the People You Interview. Conducting a successful interview is one of those things that seems easier than it is, so we’re happy to consume any advice we can on the topic.

YA author Justine Larbalestier has posted a streak of great content over the last couple of weeks, but we’ll cherry-pick our favourite and direct you towards her post on Becoming a Brand versus Writing What You Want and, ’cause we’re feeling a little retro, her 2008 post on rewriting which is a perennial favourite we were reminded of by one of Justine’s more recent posts.

In other parts of the internet, Australian author Kim Wilkin’s celebrates publishing over 2 million words of fiction by sharing some particularly blunt advice about writing. The link does come with a language warning, but with twenty novels in publication, we’re prepared to overlook a curse-word or three.

We get a little digital when The Hub poses the question: Have eReaders Killed the Book Cover, which was a particularly timely question in light of our post about ebook covers earlier this week. Does the adoption of a thumbnail sized image destroy the book cover, or does posing a new design challenge simply create new opportunities?

Finally, Mashable presents a round-up of 8 Tools to Create Irresistible Ebooks. The tools actually cover each stage of the process from production to process, and includes some old Fry-Up favourites such as 750words.com.

Those are the links that caught our attention around the office this week – how about you? Let us know about anything we’ve missed in the comments.

The big publishing news this week included the launch of HarperCollins 360, a global publishing program that ensures all books published by any division of HarperCollins around the world are available in print or digital format in all English-language markets. When the program is fully implemented, the HarperCollins global catalog — 50,000 print books and 40,000 e-books — will be available, limited only by the rights held, not by technology or geography. This may seem like a no-brainer to many casual observers, but the 3 Reasons 360 took so long to start post over on publishing perspectives offers some insight into why it’s taken so long.

Rejection is a part of the writing life, and all too often there are those who take rejection as an excuse to mope. Keith Cronin is prepared to institute a No-Moping Zone for the good of all writers, offering up some alternative reactions to rejection that may better-serve an aspiring writer in the long-term.

Stephanie Vanderslice speaks out in praise of author-crushes at the Huffington Post.

Gossamer Obsessions discusses the importance of being nice for book bloggers.

The Queensland Literary Awards – the community-based initiative that replaced the recently axed Queensland Premier’s Awards – has received twenty thousand dollars of funding from the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) Cultural Fund to administer and deliver this year’s awards.

Jon Merz discusses the rise of the authorpreneur in light of the news that best-selling fantasy novelist Terry Goodkind is planning to self-publish his next novel.

Chuck Wendig offers 25 Reasons This is the Best Time to be a Storyteller.

You’ve probably heard of Nora Roberts, best-selling romance novelist, but what about Nora A. Roberts? Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has a post examining the tactics used by two self-published novelists who adopted the pen-names Nora A. Roberts and James A. Paterson. It’s a great example of why this sort of thing isn’t a great idea, and the response from the real Nora Roberts included in the article goes a long way towards answering Shakespeare’s question, what’s in a name?

Jane Friedman has a great interview on her blog detailing How One Introverted Author Successfully Markets his Work.

Those are the links that caught our attention at the AWM offices this week. As usual, we’re keen to hear about your favourite links in the  comments – tell us the advice, opportunities, and essays about writing and publishing that caught your attention this week.

We’re sneaking in late this week, but here’s our regularly scheduled fry-up of tasty links to whet your appetite for the writing week to come. We’re kicking off with an important one: How to Decide When to Work for Free by Penelope Trunk. It’s good advice, and something worth thinking about, but its always worth checking into the standard assumptions for your genre and style of writing.

It seems everyone is offering advice about freelance editors this time of year. Last week we linked to Writer Beware’s advice, but here’s More advice for hiring a freelance editor courtesy of fantasy author India Drummond.

Everyone’s noticed that publishing is in a state of flux at the moment – whether you’re interested in indie publishing or the future of traditional publishing, there’s little doubt that something is changing. With this in mind, Jane Friedman offers some thoughts on Distinguishing between Straight-Up Advice and Paradigm Shift.

Bad reviews happen; it’s a fact of the writing life. Beth Revis has a great post on How to Respond to Negative Reviews.

Those are the links that caught our attention at the AWM offices this week. As usual, we’re keen to hear your recommendations in the comments.

Ever wondered what editors want from writers? Our special Facebook event Lunch with Sam Cooney is your chance to ask.  Sam, incoming editor of The Lifted Brow and experienced editor across a range of genres and publications, will be on hand to answer your questions about finding a market for your work.

Who is Sam? Sam is not only the current editor of The Lifted Brow, but also a writer, publisher, manuscript assessor, guest commissioning editor, proofreader, copyeditor, copywriter, and tweeter.  He has worked as a reader and editor at Voiceworks, Overland, and Sleepers Almanacs.  A regular festival-goer, Sam has reviewed for some Melbourne Fringe Festival shows, worked with the Melbourne Writer’s Festival, and hosted panels at the Emerging Writer’s Festival and the National Young Writer’s Festival. 

One of my favourite writing blogs, Booklifenow, has come back to life after a long hiatus this week and among the kick-off posts is a bit of useful advice for working during air travel and the bluntly titled you need a website. The advice to pack a small power-board along with your laptop is brilliant, especially if you’ve ever had the experience of searching for a free power-point in a small airport when there are flight delays.

The Guardian’s feature on Why I Hate the Myth of the Suffering Artists is a great look at the myths that dog the steps of fiction writers.

Pinterest continues to pick up momentum as the hot new social media of note, and despite it’s visual nature there are people figuring out how to make it work for writers and readers alike. This week Media Bistro curated a list of 10 Pinterest Boards with a Literary Bent that serves as a great example of what writers can do with the Pinterest platform.

Artshub has a great article about The Future of Freelancing that looks at the impact technology is having on freelance journalism.

Lawrence Block offers up some great advice on Getting By on a Writer’s Income. The article was originally published back in 1981, but the advice seems to hold true today (in fact, it gels rather nicely with the more recent Unasked For Advice For New Writers About Money by science fiction writer John Scalzi).

A great post from Lindsay Buroker’s that answers the question Are More Authors Than You Think Making a Living Self-Publishing? with some sensible, level-headed advice as to what goes into making a successful self-publisher in the ebook field.

People are used to asking when do you find time to write, but Theodora Goss wonders if perhaps it’s time to address The Real Problem of where do you find the energy. It’s an interesting post that makes you wonder if we’ve asking the wrong question all along.

The Pew survey on The Rise of E-Reading has gotten a great deal of attention on the internet this week, with one-fifth of Americans reporting that they’ve read an ebook in the last year. If you’re looking for some posts that put the data into context, you might find some of the commentary at The Shatzkin Files and Dean Wesley Smith’s site interesting reading.

Those are the links that caught our attention at the AWM offices this week – how about you? As always, we’d love to hear about the posts, articles, and links that got you thinking this week in the comments.