Monthly Archives: November 2009
The QWC Blog Tour Goes On The Road – and gets a little bit carsick on the turny bends
Yes, it’s my turn to blog for the QWC Blog Tour, mine, mine, all mine! Bwahahahahahha!
Now that I’ve got that out of my system, I am blogging atchya from the QWC Hachette Manuscript Development Program being held at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat – which is at the very top of a mountain, at the
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Where Am I?
Or rather, where will I be? At the QWC Hachette Manuscript Development program this weekend, as the QWC rep and person who makes good useful things happen and stops bad unhelpful things from happening. And hopefully I won’t get them mixed up.
We’re at O’Reilly’s http://www.oreillys.com.au/ until Wednesday morning, talking to publishers from Hachette Australia, an agent from
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I'm Gonna Go With 'Well, d'uh!'
If You Build It, They Won’t Come: A Guide to Author Websites over at Publishing Trends http://www.publishingtrends.com/2008/12/if-you-build-it-they-wont-come-a-guide-to-author-websites/ brings sobering news for the Luddites among us … and it’s useful.
To be on the Web or not to be on the Web—sorry, technophobic authors, that’s no longer the question. Rather, what should be on your website and how can you draw traffic to it?
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Let the Charm Offensive Begin
And anyone who knows me will tell you how offensive I can be … but also charming, when I put my mind to it. What is rare is wonderful …
However, it’s not really a charm offensive and it’s not really about me … I just really liked the title … of course, I have a headache so my taste could
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Even Better than Bacon Patches!
What cheers you up even more than bacon patches? Seeing stills of the movie that’s been made of one of your short stories, that’s what! Huzzah. And creepy thing is: the dead girl looks exactly as I imagined her in my head when I wrote the story.
Sisters is based on Sunday Drivers, which appeared at The Daily Cabal.
I Heart McSweeney's
Selections from the Glossary to the 1911 Writer’s Market (Beirce, ed) by Matthew David Brozik
Agent, n. 1. The writer’s fiduciary. 2. The publisher’s first line of defense.
Aspire, v. Literally, to breathe; figuratively, to have ambition. The unpublished writer knows them to be the same.
Author tour, n. To the post office for stamps, to the café for espresso, to Mom
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On How Royalties Work
This from the terribly wise Rachelle Gardner. Most writers don’t seem to understand this part of the business, so please have a read – it’s essential to know the business you’re in and its workings – it’s in your own interests to be an informed writer. This is an American agent, so things may differ slightly to the Oz scene,
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Insurgency Campaign
The new VanderMeer novel Finch is officially out tomorrow. Take part in the Insurgency Campaign at http://www.finchthenovel.com/readers/
Order the book onlines from the below or, indeed, go into a real bookstore, touch books, drink coffee, eat danishes, see humans, buy books.
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/asin/0980226015/ref=nosim/httpwwwjeffva-20
Indiebound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780980226010
Powell’s: http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780980226010
The Author as Answerer of Questions
The delightful Marshall Payne interviews me over at his Super-Sekrit Clubhouse. There are also some awesome interviews with Amal El-Mohtar, Mike Allen, Vylar Kaftan and more.
Angela Slatter has recently been singled out by Jeff VanderMeer as an emerging writer of note in his Mammals Underfoot! group interview at Clarkesworld. She has sold
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This from Sam Leith at The Guardian …
… who, I think, has just gone onto my pinup boy list.
Do you know what today’s kids need? Thumb amputation, that’s what …
The American writer Maurice Sendak, already one of my heroes, has climbed even higher in my estimation. Asked what he would say to parents of young children who were concerned that the imminent film of his
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