Writing is a solitary occupation. We sit at the desk, with only characters for company, and tap at the keyboard. The cast of our latest  project become friends and, for a time, that is all we need. Everything else fades into insignificance. What happens, when we  merge from the cocoon, manuscripts ready for publication? Who do we turn to?

The Australian Writer’s Marketplace, of course!

When I first came to the world of writing, I had no idea where to start. It was only through hard research that I began to understand   little of the industry. I foolishly thought that writing for me was enough – I didn’t need to talk to others, didn’t need anyone except my publishers. I was very wrong.

Luckily, I stumbled across The Australian Writer’s Marketplace and, I can tell you, it travelled many a  mile with me! It sat next to me in the ute while I was shifting stock, I poured over it each night before bed, and I had it beside me when I made my first pitch to an agent. It was like my map in a world that was completely unfamiliar, and is responsible for me  finding writers groups and like-minded people, as well as my publisher.

I quickly became aware of its power and have purchased one every edition since. I now proudly own five copies – and what is even more exciting is being able to point aspiring authors towards it!

One of the things I’ve learnt during the publication of my two books is that just because one publisher doesn’t want your manuscript today, doesn’t mean no one will want it tomorrow. As a writer, you need to keep this book handy, so when the rejection
letters come (which, unfortunately they will!) you can find the next publisher without having to spend too much time researching where to pitch next – with The Australian Writer’s Marketplace the information is all in the one place.

The dedicated team at Queensland Writers Centre spend many hours putting together this resource that not only includes almost every publisher in Australia, but also where to find agents, writing groups, magazine specs, advice on setting out your manuscript and many industry hints that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. I think I was incredibly lucky to have this book as my ‘best friend’ and will continue to keep it close by as my writing career continues.

Thank you to all who have had a hand in compiling this book and to all who use it, I wish you the best of luck in your writing career – using The Australian Writer’s Marketplace will help you go far!

You can buy the new AWM through AWMonline, Queensland Writers Centre, or good bookstores.

The fun part for me was presenting some hot-off-the-press results from AWM’s survey of Australian literary agents. More about that next week…

Firstly, I need to add to the last post about publishers. Whole Shebangers also heard from Laurie Steed and Zoe Dattner of SPUNC (Small Press Underground Networking Community). A resident organisation of The Wheeler Centre, the relatively young SPUNC works tirelessly to strengthen and promote small publishers – and this is great news for Australian writers and readers. The diversity of niche and independent publishers of SPUNC (currently 73 members strong, and growing) means that aspiring writers have a greater chance of finding a publisher who believes in their work and can help them connect with their audience. Australia is blessed to have such a vibrant and multi-faceted publishing industry, and SPUNC ensures that writers and readers are aware of the wealth of books beyond those published by the top tier houses.

Whole Shebangers were fortunate to learn about the role of literary agents from Clare Forster. Formerly with Penguin for 17 years and now representing Curtis Brown in Melbourne, two of Clare’s authors were recently nominated for The Age literary prize. Forster began by emphasizing just how small this integral sector of the publishing industry is, with just 17 members of the Australian Literary Agents Association, plus some others who are non-affiliated. But as Forster pointed out, not every author needs an agent: an author with a great non-fiction project and a popular blog is likely to get a direct commission from a publisher.

Forster presented some of the services that agents should , and should not, provide. Agents DO: Read widely, and ’stand shoulder to shoulder with publishers to lobby for and protect Australian authors’. Agents DON’T: charge for reading, fail to disclose finances, or intervene with a good author-publisher relationship.

Forster also set some homework for the writers present:

•    Find 20 good published books and read them: the kind of book you’d like to write, or you’d like your book to sit next to in a bookstore.
•    Find a good narrative or story: with a beginning, middle, and end – with drama, scenario, and exchange – outline what it is that you want to say and how you can say it uniquely.
•    Find a voice: develop clarity and distinctiveness of expression.
•    Develop your style: whether it is plain and understated or vivid and pyrotechnic; get good at listening to style and voice.
•    Use bum glue (as Bryce Courtenay calls it).
•    Read and revise your own work – completing and printing, reading and revising each draft. Take the lead from Thea Astley, who would only submit her 8th draft – writers need ‘pausation’ (Ruth Cracknell’s term) to consider our own work afresh.

The last highlights I will share are from fiction author, arts grant-writer and Writing Race guest, Tom Cho. Tom began by assuring us that if an author meets the eligibility requirements, has a strong project, and uses some grant-writing basics, then they were in with a chance to gain funding to support their work. He also emphasized the usefulness of grant writing in helping you clarify your ideas – it gets you thinking clearly and logically about the steps, goals, reasons for your work. His main tips were to:

•    Always speak to someone at the funding body before you apply to check you fit eligibility criteria.
•    Write to the selection criteria.
•    Include all the info – communicate what’s in your head to your audience
•    Get feedback from rejections

Cho recommends a few websites to help you get started: Australia Council, Australian Society of Authors, Artshub, and GrantsLINK.

The Wheeler Centre, established through a generous endowment by the former owners of the Lonely Planet, includes a number of organisations working alongside each other as part of Melbourne’s City of Literature initiative: the Victorian Writers Centre, Emerging Writers Festival, SPUNC, Express Media, Melbourne Writers Festival, Overload Poetry Festival, Melbourne PEN, and the Australian Poetry Collective (the latter to merge with the NSW Poets’ Union next year to become Australian Poetry). Each resident org gave a short presentation to Whole Shebangers about their key goals and activities. The Wheeler Centre, located in the State Library of Victoria, certainly provided a great venue for an incredible day of professional development for writers.

Bob Sessions, the gentlemanly publisher of Penguin, gave an overview of Australian book publishing ‘at this crucial moment in its evolution’. He acknowledged the rise and rise of eBooks, but pointed out that last year in Australia, Penguin sold 7 million books compared to 500,000 eBooks – ‘we are not experiencing the end of the book, but a watershed in the history of publishing and writing’. While acknowledging the instant gratification of one-click eBook purchase, Sessions championed the pBook as a cultural artefact of enduring value: ‘our books on our shelves in our homes says something about our culture.’

Sessions shared a fascinating insight: multinational media conglomerates, which own newspapers, magazines and film studios, try to ensure that they also own a publishing house – like Murdoch with Harper Colllins – because they are hoping to mine gold: the million dollar success story that often begins with an author’s brilliant idea. ‘Some of the best ideas start in books – writers are the best ideas people.’

So for Sessions, no matter the format, a publisher is still an ‘ideas facilitator’ or a ‘cultural business person’, who must filter, tailor and fund ideas – ideas which begin with the author.

Sue Hines, Publishing Director from the Australian-owned Allen&Unwin made an impression, striding up to the lectern claiming: ‘I’m a revolutionary – bring on the future!’ Allen & Unwin now produce an eBook version of every book they publish (except pictorial rich ones, due to tech constraints). Their business model is that eBooks staff will be integrated throughout the publishing house, resourcing another process in the complex series of interlocking steps involved in publishing. She is adamant that the role of the publisher and editor will continue.

Hines sees the real challenge for publishers as how to sell into the electronic market, without the bricks’n'mortar shopfronts for customers to browse. Publishers need to develop ways to get customers’ attention online: ‘the revolution is here – now we just need to work out what the new world will look like.’

Hines’s shared an interesting observation from her international experience in publishing. Publishers tend to describe their roles in metaphors: in Australia, it used to be that publishers compared themselves to caring professions – handmaidens and midwives. When Hines asked her New York colleagues, no one used caring metaphors – instead they saw themselves as generals, quarterbacks and gamblers. But when she returned to Australia, she found it a rougher and tougher place. Australian publishers now see themselves as orchestra conducters, team players – gone are the midwives of Australian books.

Ending on a positive note, Hines stated that the ‘new world’ will give writers more chance of getting published.

Aviva Tuffield also had positive news and useful insights for Australian authors. Tuffield was hired as Fiction Acquistions Editor at Scribe in 2006 specifically to build an Australian fiction list, and has achieved incredible success. After spending the first 5 years just getting Scribe on the fiction publishing landscape, Tuffield has gone on to develop an amazing list: 3 out of 5 of Scribe’s top bestsellers last year were fiction.

Tuffield reported that Henry Rosenbloom, founder and publisher of the independent Scribe, has a philosophy of publishing ‘books that do good as well as doing well’.
Tuffield works to a broad brief of finding and publishing ‘quality fiction’. She said for her, it’s the writing that matters, especially that ‘the narrative voice is very important for a writer to find – it’s about communication with readers– a sense of audience’. Tuffield hunts for promising manuscripts via literary agents, but also scours literary journals and competitions (and not just the winners). She urged authors to get their work out there – ‘it’s both an art and a craft.’

Tuffield is also a big believer in ‘late-bloomers’: the Scribe CAL prize for over-35s closes on Sept 15. Last year, out of 530 entries, the winner was chosen – and a 72 year old woman from rural NSW achieved her lifelong dream of being published – and Scribe then chose to publish the two shortlisted winners as well. These odds are much better than those facing unsolicited manuscripts.

Tuffield concluded by emphasizing that one major strength of small publishers is the care and attention they give their authors. Small publishers have limited marketing budgets, so they rely on good reviews and word-of-mouth to drive sales – which means they will take the time and effort to work with each author on each project to make it the best possible book it can be.

All up, The Whole Shebang provided a great industry overview from the publishers presenting. Next, I’ll share the highlights from amazing presentations by Clare Forster, literary agent, and Tom Cho, author and grants write, among others.

But right now I have to head in to MWF to catch a crime panel!

Festival highlights included Brett Easton Ellis behaving badly with Ramona Koval, then dishing the goods on his craft and process in conversation with ABC’s Simon Marnie. BBWF 2010 was Ellis’s first ever appearance at a writers festival – anywhere, ever -  and he did not disappoint.

Singapore was well represented at BBWF again this year, with the lyrical charm of poet Alvin Pang, and the  firecracker wit of multi-talented Shamini Flint, author of the wonderful Inspector Singh series, as well as many CYA titles…

The AWM crew also had the chance to deliver an authors’ publication primer workshop, Nuts and Bolts 2010: a jam-packed day with 50 or so emerging writers in attendance. The content was great, from presenters such as Hachette Australia’s Vanessa Radnidge and Red Hill Publishing’s Rob Collings – I’ll share the notes here over the next couple of days.

I still blog 10-15 items a day, just as I’ve done for 10 years now on Boing Boing. But I also tweet and retweet 30-50 times a day…. the more media I have at my disposal, the more ways there are for me to work out my own ideas.

Nearly 70 tweets and blogs every day? Truly, Doctorow is a man for the times.

Proving that blogging is alive and well is Queensland Poet-in-Residence, Emily XYZ. When fighting the writers’ demons – the doubts and distractions that plague us all – Emily convinces us that action brings answers! (And she proved it at the recent Speed Poets gig).

Emily XYZ in action at Speed Poets

And have you seen Tom Cho’s beautiful blog? Full of writerly wisdoms, like the ones he offered at last night’s Writing Race:

• "We who write live in a kaleidoscopic world of ever-shifting assessments and judgments, unable to determine whether it is revelation or supreme self-delusion that fuels our most crucial efforts" – Joyce Carol Oates
• "Ask yourself ‘What am I too lazy or afraid to write?”’ – Gerald Murnane (Tom’s former fiction teacher).

You can catch Tom at the upcoming Byron Bay Writers Festival.

Neil Gaiman:

I didn’t even get to feel unique in my despair.

 Steven Heighton:

In the long run, curiosity and stamina trump talent.

Mark Charan Newton:

This is one of many reasons I’m glad there’s a SFF blogosphere – at least we all talk about books and help sidestep a lot of potential pain for new authors.

PC Mag quotes the FTC:

"Twitter deceived consumers and put their privacy at risk by failing to safeguard their personal information," the FTC said. "Twitter was vulnerable to these attacks because it failed to take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorized administrative control of its system."

Under the terms of the settlement, Twitter must provide accurate information as to the level of privacy security it offers users, and must develop a comprehensive security program.

From the noteworthy: ‘Vanity’ Press goes digital

Writer Karen McQuestion spent nearly a decade trying without success to persuade a New York publisher to print one of her books. In July, the 49-year-old mother of three decided to publish it herself, online…

To the informative: Author Platform

It has never been more crucial for authors to play a major part in marketing themselves – but it has also never been easier…

To the freaking hilarious: SlushPile Hell

A grumpy literary agent wades through query fails…

Have a great weekend of writing, folks. Then join us next Tuesday at the Writing Race with special guest, Lee Battersby!

Need inspiration? Favourite fry-ups this week:

Of tattoos and writing by Adam Rex

Mangels: the next Big Thing (The New Yorker)