As supporters of independent book shops we were saddened by the closure of  Boekehuis, a wonderful bookstore to browse, peopled by knowledgable and helpful staff.

We believe it to be a short-sighted decision. Boekehuis, in Auckland Park, has been a haven for the bookish, and has given so much to the cultural and intellectual life of the city, surely it could have continued to serve as a resource and a   showcase for Media24. It could have been a demonstration of their caring to books and readers.

The closing down sale began yesterday and by evening many of the books were already gone. However, Corina assures us there are still great deals to be found. The store will finally close its doors next Saturday.

Monday-Saturdays 09:00-18:00, t 011 482 3609, boekehuis@boekehuis.co.za, Cnr. Lothbury and Fawley streets just off Kingsway, Auckland Park

But the good news is that we have just had a wonderful donation of R1000 towards our dictionary drive from Anna Kim. Anna  asked her friends to donate money towards our cause instead of buying her presents for her recent birthday. Thank you Anna and friends! Thanks to a large discount from Macmillan we are now able to buy 100 dictionaries for the Bapedi Primary School in Soweto.  Click here to read about how the project started.

It would be great if we could reach our target of buying a dictionary for each of the 640 children at the school. Can you help us?

If you would like to make a donation you can do so via PayPal or via eft. Email us – admin@allaboutwritingcourses.com – for our bank details.

Then, the winner of our last exercise, Julie Masiga, from Kenya, was delighted to have won the book voucher, of course – but rather than use it to buy books through Kalahari, which charges R190 to deliver to Kenya (!), she asked us to donate the R200 to a charity. We told her about Thembi and her dictionary crusade and she at once said – buy as many dictionaries as you can for R200! Actually, R200 buys four and a bit dictionaries thanks to a special price from Macmillan.

Then… Tumi Pitsie who did the self-publishing course made a donation and since then we have had donations from Mandy Collins, Hilary Macaulay, Margaret Renn and Sandy Scott. So we can currently buy 75 dictionaries.

And since the snowball now seems to be thundering down the hill, it came as no surprise — but a great deal of pleasure to us, to hear from Anna Kim who is having a birthday party this weekend and has asked her friends to make donations towards our dictionary drive instead of giving her a present.

Anna told us that she feels very strongly that “having access to dictionaries is really important to kids for increasing literacy, promoting interest & love for words and language, etc.”

Her enthusiasm for the project is driven by a very personal memory. “It was something very special for me,” she says.  ”My Dad taught me how to use one when I was about seven years old (I think he was tired of me asking him what this word and that word meant), and I found it fascinating and empowering because now I didn’t have to ask an adult, could just look it up myself thank you very much!  It’s an incredible tool.”

Mandy Collins and Helen Webster who run our Junior Writers Course have offered to come to Bapedi Primary on the day we deliver the dictionaries and run a dictionary usage workshop for the school.

We are touched by the generosity of  the Allaboutwriting community.  Now our goal is to provide a dictionary for each of the 640 pupils at the school. Can you help us achieve this? If you’d like to make a donation please contact Helen at admin@allaboutwritingcourses.com or click here to make a donation via PayPal.

That’s where your writer’s voice is ultimately located – on the shelf marked “The Real Me”. It’s where you go when you want to find how real people respond to real challenges, what emotions are really aroused when things are said or done and what really motivates people under duress.

Finding your “voice” is a key task for a developing writer – and nothing is more important in this quest than honesty.

(Finding your voice is also a key element of the first module of our 10-week Creative Writing Course, more about which directly below.)

Courses Old…

We’ve got some fabulous things lined up for the year, both old and new. Here’s some of the old (tried and trusted) stuff:

Our flagship course, the ten-week Creative Writing Course, starts on January 18. It runs from 19:00 – 21:30 every Wednesday for ten weeks. This is already filling up, so if you want to guarantee a place for yourself, contact Helen – admin@allaboutwritingcourses.com – asap.

Lopa said of her experience: I enjoyed every bit of the course. It was perfect. Richard and Jo Anne are fantastic teachers. Kate particularly liked the exercises that end each session: I found the exercises incredibly helpful because they provided an opportunity to practise the techniques learned without the pressure of thinking in terms of an entire novel…

Our one-day Power of Writing course, which we usually hold in the Workers’ Museum in Newtown, Johannesburg, takes place on Saturday, 25 February. This in an ideal introduction to creative writing, with lots of exercises and interaction.

Here’s what Charles N. said about the last course: My experience was extremely positive. I enjoyed the challenge and the constructive feedback. It was great focusing on writing rather than the content that one does in the daily drudge of communicating…

Our Growing through Writing course, run by psychologists Judith Ancer and Pierre Brouard, designed specifically to help you explore the farther reaches of yourself through writing, is scheduled for March 3.

And Courses New…

We’re in the process of devising something altogether new for the aspirant script writers amongst you – and have scheduled the first one-day excursion for Saturday, March 31. It’ll be an intensive introduction to the challenges of actually writing dramatic scenes, with especial attention being paid to structure, dialogue and pacing. For the moment, we’re restricting the focus of the course to television drama, but in due course, if we see the demand, we’ll open it up for a broader exploration of screenplay writing as well.

We’d really appreciate it if those of you who are interested in writing for the small screen would let us know whether there’s anything specific you’d like us to tackle in the course, bearing in mind the inevitable time restrictions.

We’ll keep you updated on the development of our thinking in our next newsletter.

In the meantime, we are taking bookings for that last Saturday of March. We’ve set the price of the course at a modest R950. Should be a lot of fun.

If You’d Done Something Truly Immoral…

Our first exercise of the year (should have been the last exercise of last year, but you know how it goes) is, we hope, a provocative one, because our challenge to you is to create a character whose task, in the scene, is to justify the unjustifiable – all within the compass of a short story no longer than 250 words.

Here it is:

Your protagonist is a professional person (a doctor, lawyer, psychologist…) Write their serious defence of their actions after stealing the charity tin outside the Spar, while the collector was distracted. Let your character try to explain how this came about to a disapproving spouse who has come to bail them out. Write a small story, in 250 words or less, which includes the spouse’s reaction. Write it in 1st person from either perspective.

Send it in to admin@allaboutwritingcourses.com by midnight on Tuesday 17 January.

A Word in Your Ear…

Thembi Majombozi, a Soweto teacher, was very generously funded by MNET to send a batch of her students to our very first Junior Writers Course – and we’ve kept in pretty constant touch since then. Last year, we decided to donate the proceeds of one of our publishing courses to a deserving cause and phoned Thembi to ask for her advice. She said that teaching children creative writing (our idea) was all very well – but in the schools she taught in, most of the children don’t even have access to dictionaries.

So as soon as the school term begins, we’ll be buying about 40 dictionaries for distribution by Thembi. The winner of our last exercise, Julie Masiga, from Kenya, was delighted to have won the book voucher, of course – but rather than use it to buy books through Kalahari, which charges R190 to deliver to Kenya (!), she asked us to donate the R200 to a charity. We told her about Thembi and her dictionary crusade and she at once said – buy as many dictionaries as you can for R200!

Actually, R200 buys four and a bit dictionaries (thanks to a special price from Pan Macmillan) – so we’ll be handing nearly 45 dictionaries over to Thembi later in January.

We wondered whether any of you out there might like to add a few dictionaries to our pile yourselves? Seems cheap at the price: forty bucks a shot. If you think the gesture worthwhile, email us at admin@allaboutwritingcourses.com

Last Word

The last word in this newsletter goes to a cartoon  found in The New Yorker  which amuses.

Have a good year writing dangerously!

Here is the list of the blogs, click on their titles to read them and do keep checking our site for more publishing blogs which we’ll be posting once a week in 2012.

DO JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER – Henrietta Rose-Innes on the art of publishing – the book cover.

A PROMOTIONAL TOOL FOR WRITERS – BLOG TOURS - Following his own advice David Chislett turns his blog into a destination for other writers to promote their work.

THE PUBLISHING MERRY-GO-ROUND – Fred de Vries on loyalties and the fickleness of the publishing world?

FROM BLOG TO BOOK – Q and A with Oxford philosopher Marianne Talbot whose book, Keeping Mum, was based on a blog she wrote while caring for her mother who had Altzheimers.

PUBLISHING ROCKET SCIENCE - David Chislett offers up five rules for successful publishing.

GET YOUR TEETH INTO PUBLISHING – Writer, journalist, teacher and foodie, Mandy Collins, gives us her take on traditional versus self-publishing and a recipe for a delicious and quick chicken tagine

THE ROAD TO PUBLISHING - Arja Salafranca reflects on studying literature, becoming a writer, publishing and editing.

A BLOODY AGENT – Winner of the 2011 Debut Dagger Award Michele Rowe gives us all the tactics needed to find and secure an agent.

PORCUPINE PRESS – David Robbins of Porcupine Press on the importance of marketing and distribution in the publishing process.

SMART SELF-PUBLISHING - Judy Croome takes a long, hard look at the additional skills writers need if they want to self-publish.

BREATHING IN THE PERFUME OF YOUR FIRST BOOK - Lisa-Anne Julien talks about the joy of her first traditionally published book.

A PUBLISHER TAKES TIME OUT TO WRITE ABOUT WRITING – Publisher Gary Cummiskey of Dye Hard Press puts on his writer’s cap to discuss ideas, inspiration and the writing process.

THE ULTIMATE STEP IN THE PUBLISHING PROCESS – Roger Smith, screenwriter turned thriller writer riffs on being adapted.

DO YOU WRITE FOR LOVE OR MONEY? – Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper tells us about the joys of getting published, being translated – and the money to be made…or not.

FIVE REASONS TO SELF-PUBLISH…OR NOT! – Author Judy Croome weighs the pros and cons of self-publishing.

SELF VERSUS TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING? – Kelly Ansara, self-confessed book nerd and junior publisher, continues the discussion around publishing and answers the question ‘what is the holy grail of all publishing projects?’

PUBLISHING: GO INDIE, GO DIGITAL – A provocative look at publishing by David Chislett.  Is he right? What do you think? Should you go indie, go digital or is first prize still a mainstream publishing deal?

THE STATE OF SOUTH AFRICAN FICTION WRITING – By journalist, scriptwriter and producer Janet van Eeden, guest blogger for our publishing month.

NOTE TO MY INNER BRAT – By writer and editor Louis Greenberg – guest blogger for our publishing month.

THE CHANGING FACE OF PUBLISHING – By publisher Wesley Thompson. The face of publishing, like any media that’s disseminated through the internet, has changed drastically over the last few years and some of the changes have been seismic.

The Heartstoppingly Gorgeous Front Cover: it’s one of the most compelling daydreams for an unpublished author. I know writers who’ve lovingly designed book jackets in their minds – complete with blurbs, endorsements and their own name gold-embossed – long before the book is written or the title picked out. (Matte or gloss? Bold or subtle? Author photo – brooding, alluring or enigmatically absent?) Even better: a row of identical covers, gleaming on a bookshop shelf.

Many writers assume they’ll have a big hand in designing or at least choosing their book’s cover – and are shocked to realise it doesn’t work quite like that in traditional publishing. Authors can end up feeling bitter resentment for what they’re given. Sometimes, they’re correct to do so: there are some incomprehensibly ugly books in existence, and publishers can cut corners or make seriously questionable decisions. When that happens, you have every right to cause a fuss.

However, publishers and authors can have very different ideas about what makes a winning book jacket –and there’s not much you can do to force the issue. A publisher may be happy to give the writer a role in briefing the designer, and most times will avoid imposing a loathsome cover; but ultimately the choice is a marketing decision, and publishers have the final say.

I’ve been on a couple of sides of the book-design table, as both determined/ imperious author and longsuffering/ insolent publishing assistant (all adjectives interchangeable). I know what it’s like to tactfully decline an author’s close relative’s inept artwork.  But I also understand what it feels like to have some strange person dress up your infant book in nasty, inappropriate clothes and send it out into the world looking like that. It can seem like they’re taking your work away, making it less yours. The truth is, that’s exactly what’s happening.

One of the biggest lessons for a writer is this: at a certain point your book ceases belong to you, or only to you.  Once you entrust your manuscript to a publisher, it develops a whole set of other, parallel relationships: with the publisher, the editor, the proofreader, the page designer, the cover artist – and of course, ultimately, the readers. Every one of these people will imagine your book, and own it, in their own particular way. You need to let that happen.

I’ve had to learn that my brain may not be as visual as I’d like to think it is. I remember clearly the first time I observed a trained designer work on a cover. I realised the depth of expertise and experience that goes into picking out fonts and font sizes for the title and author name, balancing their placement on the page, against each other, against the artwork, against the brief for the book. I was forcibly reminded that sometimes it’s best to leave the visual stuff to those who really get it. (If you’re published in other countries, you have to respect foreign publishers’ knowledge of their markets, too, even if the aesthetics can feel odd.)

In an ideal situation, you’ll work with a designer who is open to input, who has read your book and really cares about content, but who also has their own independent vision and is able to work within the particular strictures (budget, marketing) of the industry. To my awe and delight, I’ve had that privilege several times. All of the above counts for self-publishing, too: if you don’t have those professional design skills, it’s really worthwhile to find someone who does.

When it works, it’s beautiful. A skilled designer can turn a book into a gorgeous object, exploring graphic possibilities that would never occur to most word-focused writers. I love to look at book covers. (Indeed, often the outsides promise more than the insides deliver.) There are plenty of collections of striking covers online – just Google “beautiful book covers” and you’ll find a wealth of images. Here’s just one such list that appealed to me. And here are some lovely old covers from the turn of the last century.

We’re lucky in having some brilliant book designers working in South Africa. Local books these days look really slick, a far cry from some of the muddy, rather worthy covers I remember from my early writing days. I’ve put together an off-the-cuff, unrepresentative, highly subjective handful of local fiction titles from 2011 (or coming out soon) that I find striking or effective. Of the ones I’ve read, I can say the covers match and enhance the books perfectly. I’ve included the names of the designers / artists / design studios responsible, some more high-profile than others. Often designers, like editors, get professional respect but not much public acclaim. You’ll generally find their names in small print right at the bottom of the imprint page. I’ve certainly missed out many lovely books that deserve to be listed – what are your favourites?

Nineveh by Henrietta Rose-Innes (Ok, so I’m biased; but you have to admit, it’s a killer cover) – design by Michiel Botha

Illuminating Love by Hazel Frankel – design by Publicide

The Loss Library by Ivan Vladislavić – artwork by Sunandini Banerjee

The Big Stick by Richard de Nooy – design by Joey Hi-Fi (coming out soon)

Go Tell the Sun by Wame Molefhe – design by Bitscape Design, artwork by Jesse Breytenbach

Things I Thought I Knew by Kathryn White – design by Hanneke du Toit

Light Across Time by Tom Learmont – design by Publicide

Henrietta Rose-Innes is a South African writer based in Cape Town. Her novel, Nineveh, was published by Random House Struik in 2011. She has also published a collection of short stories, Homing, and two previous novels: Shark’s Egg and The Rock Alphabet.http://www.henriettarose-innes.com/ 

I live in a wonderful section of Manhattan in the heart of New York City’s Upper East Side known as Carnegie Hill, affectionately named after Andrew Carnegie, one of America’s leading 19^th Century industrialists (steel) and philanthropists. The Hill is riddled with wonderful museums (the Met, the Guggenheim, and the Neue Galerie) to name several. Ensconced on the southeast corner of 93^rd street and Madison Avenue is a neighborhood treasure: The Corner Bookstore, no more than 900 square feet ‘in stature.’ It’s just one of those down home, cozy, old, ‘book smelling,’ great places. The owners love literature, travel and books. Lots of books of all types: the latest and greatest, and plenty of classics. They sponsor book signings for local authors, mini wine and cheese parties, book clubs for the younger set (15 and below), and they will obtain any book you’ve ever craved.

A block up Madison is the Squadron “A” Armory Ruins; yes actual ruins in New York City. It’s modeled after a 14^th Century French fortress, and it was the home of the First New York Dragoons. It is being painstakingly restored. Some locals  even claim that the J. Edgar Hoover approved black-and-white spy film “The House on 92^nd Street” was filmed just down the street from the Corner Bookstore in 1945.

A few blocks south of my apartment is a Barnes & Noble megastore on East 86^th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues. It has to occupy at least 25,000 square feet going at least 40 feet between the street levels. It’s wild! And you can hang out all day and drink Starbucks coffee, eat sandwiches, and pastries. Barnes & Noble’s website boasts “30 Million products.” You can load up your “Nook” as you savor your java and munch egg salad on whole wheat, all wireless and credit card sanctioned. Modern America! The staff is eager, sweet, and accommodating, but they are not the “literary scholars” of The Corner Bookstore a tad uptown.

Both venues are a delight offering huge contrasts and resources of all types. Bottom-line: it’s all enlivening and fun. Both stores offer lots of stuff. Perhaps it all just depends on your mood, the weather, how hungry you are (and what you hunger for), and the time of day. Barnes and Noble opens early and closes quite late. Just east of this B & N megastore is a fantastic New York Market, “Fairway.” They moved into the old, smaller Barnes & Noble location in August. Point being that you can get some fresh food marketing in after your coffee and your ‘nooking’ at B & N. Unfortunately Barnes & Noble has fallen on hard times, and they may be an acquisition target for Amazon or Apple. In contrast The Corner Bookstore will outlive and outlast us all.

Christopher Bayer, Ph.D.

Founder: www.thewallstreetpsychologist.com

Founder: www.money-mind101.com

Co-Founder: www.theshareholderactivist.com

Corner Bookstore: 1313 Madison Avenue, on the corner of 93rd Street, New York

Barnes & Noble megastore:  East 86^th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues

“Blog tours are a big promotional tool for authors internationally,” says Chislett of the programme of guests, “But I don’t really know of anyone in South Africa offering a destination to writers to that to our audience. So I decided to start one. Some of these names readers will already know, but some will be complete new comers. It’s going to be great fun for me and the writers and, I hope the readers of my site!”

 The programme kicked off in mid November with a guest post by American fantasy author, Mark Tierno. The programme will roll over through December and into 2012 with Kate White, Margie Orford, Tracey Farren, Michelle McGrane, Jo-Anne Richards, Joan De La Haye, Frank Riganelli, Doug Simpson and Wade Cox with more to be confirmed shortly.

The idea is that readers can interact with a new voice and follow the links to e-book and physical purchases and the author’s home-page. Along the way they will discover some new voices or learn new things about more familiar names. “The beauty of the internet is that it is truly international,” continues Chislett, “So while of course I want to feature South African writers, I also want to talk to international writers and hear what they have to say, thereby bring their readers to us and ours to them.”

For more publishing advice join David on December 7  in Johannesburg for his Getting Published Workshop in which he  gives his take on publishing, its perils and its opportunities. David’s Getting Published Workshop will be available online from January.

Cost:  R500. Email Trish, trishurquhart@gmail.com, to book your place.

David Chislett is the originator of the Urban series of short fiction and author of “A Body Remembered” and “1,2,1,2”. He is an experienced workshop facilitator and speaker and well-known entertainment journalist and publicist. http://www.davidchislett.co.za/

On a hot summer day in 2006 my Dutch publisher Nijgh & Van Ditmar proudly presented my book Club Risiko in a trendy place on the Amsterdam canals. It was a great occasion, with lots of beer and lots of friends. There were several speeches, and when it was my turn, I said something that must have made the publisher feel slightly uncomfortable, if not embarrassed.

The idea for Club Risiko was born in 2001, when I thought someone should write a book about ‘the eighties generation’ and all its underground cultural manifestations. I wanted to travel to different parts of the world to interview icons from the era, such as the postpunk bands Einstürzende Neubauten, Sonic Youth, Crass, Laibach, The Ex and film maker Leos Carax. As I couldn’t afford all these travels myself I had to apply for funding. But to get funding you need a letter of intent from a publisher. So I wrote a synopsis and sent it to several Dutch publishers. One of them was Nijgh & Van Ditmar, a nearly hundred year old institution. I approached them because they had a good name when it came to music books and their head was a well known music buff who had released several successful compilation CDs, mainly consisting of obscure fifties and sixties 7 singles.

After a few weeks I received a short, polite mail from Nijgh & Van Ditmar, saying that they were unfortunately not interested in publishing a book about Einstürzende Neubauten and their ilk. But of course they wished me all the best and they were sure another publisher would be willing to give me the go ahead.

They were right.Amsterdampublisher Thomas Rap had an energetic young editor who proudly claimed he knew all the bands I mentioned, and who would be happy to give my book a chance. So with his letter of intent I managed to get a research grant, which covered most of my travel expenses. And off I went, to Berlin, Paris, London, New  York, Ljubljana, Johannesburg and Amsterdam, where I duly interviewed all the bands I had wanted to meet.

 But after some time I received the news that the young enthusiastic editor was having a nervous breakdown. He was out of circulation for a good six months. Then, just as he was about to resume his duties with Thomas Rap, he wrote me a letter, saying he had moved to Nijgh & Van Ditmar, and would of course be happy to try and take me with him, but he couldn’t promise anything. I was new to the game and decided that one should stick to the publisher with whom you signed the contract. So I wrote a few chapters and sent them to the young one’s successor. But we didn’t click. He didn’t understand the book, and I didn’t understand his criticism. And when things don’t click, you better move on, because it will lead to frustration, anger, resentment and a still-born book, if it’s a birth at all.

More than a year had passed, and I was at a loss. I didn’t want to stay with Thomas Rap, but found it hard to approach the young editor and go through another vetting process with a publisher who had initially rejected me. In the end the urge to get the book out won, and I contacted the young editor. He said he was glad to hear from me. We made an appointment, had coffee and apple cake and he said it wouldn’t be too hard for him to push my book through with the head of Nijgh & Van Ditmar.

He was right. Since Nijgh & Van Ditmar saw this young editor as their bright future star they were happy to follow his suggestions. So I travelled a bit more and wrote and wrote and wrote and eventually came up with a final manuscript. But by then my restless, ambitious young saviour had moved to yet another publisher. Sure, he said in an apologetic mail, he would try to get his new employer to publish me. But now I was sick and tired of his promiscuity, and decided to stick with Nijgh & Van Ditmar. That meant that I had to meet the head, the 50s and 60s music buff who had declined my initial proposal. We had a few beers, talked about our overlapping taste in music, had a few more beers and food and things clicked. I sat there glowing. I felt like a real author, being feted by my publisher, who had also feted some of the most famous Dutch writers in that same old pub on the Singel inAmsterdam. And what was even better: he said he would edit my book himself.

So Club Risiko was printed in 2006. And we had our launch. The guest speaker spoke, my publisher spoke. And when it was my turn I ended with the words: ‘…and many thanks to Nijgh & Van Ditmar for publishing my book, after first rejecting it.’

I looked at the head. If there was embarrassment or discomfort, he didn’t show it. He’s an experienced old fox, who has had to deal with some real prima donnas. Later we went for dinner, had more beer and wine, and laughed it off.

But it still nags me, because it shows just how fickle and arbitrary this whole business is.

Fred de Vries is a Dutch freelance writer/journalist, who after living all over Africa moved to South Africa to write a biography of Sinclair Beiles.

Previously he worked as a correspondent and foreign editor for de Volkskrant a daily Dutch newspaper. Together with his colleague Toine Heijmans he wrote Respect! in 1998, a book about hiphop in Europe. In 2006 he published the travelogue Club Risiko, a close and personal look at the underground culture of the eighties, including chapters on Sonic Youth,  Einstürzende Neubauten and Koos.

 He recently published a collection with the highlights from his interviews for The Weekender and Empire Magazine. The Fred de Vries Interviews; From Abdullah to Zille contains 39 interviews with more and less famous creative South Africans, such as Fokofpolisiekar, Helen Zille, Ivan Vladislavic, Abdullah Ibrahim and Warren Siebrits.

He teaches Travel Writing  with Allaboutwriting, and has regularly contributed to the travel pages of the Sunday Times and the now defunct Weekender.

Learn what it takes to publish your book by joining David Chislett on December 7  in Johannesburg for his Getting Published Workshop in which he  gives his take on publishing, its perils and its opportunities. David’s Getting Published Workshop will be available online from January.

The book was based on a blog Marianne wrote for Saga Magazine Online (readership of the Magazine 1.45 million all over 50, all subscriptions) from 2007 after her Mum, who had Alzheimer’s Disease had lived with her for 3 years (before which she cared for both her parents from a distance for 9 years). The blog started as a monthly blog but its popularity was such that within two months she was asked to make it weekly. On the basis of the blog Marianne was asked to speak at several national conferences, appeared on the main platform at the conference of one of the UK’s main political parties and wrote occasionally for the national press.

Since publication Marianne has continued to speak widely about caring and dementia, has written several articles for the national press and has been voted ‘Carers’ Champion’ by Age UK, one of Britain’s largest charities aimed at helping the elderly.

David Chislett, the facilitator of our Getting Published Workshop, says an author should establish  a track record and a reputation and then publish. It struck us that you were a perfect example of this. And then of course the work does not stop there, an author needs to promote their book, give talks and write articles, which you  have done too. Do you think your book would have had the impact it has had without your doing all of this?

I am sure that the book has had the impact it has had because I did do all this. Though I have to stress I didn’t set out to do it. I started to write the blog because I thought it would be therapeutic as I cared for Mum. It was indeed therapeutic. But I was certainly thinking secondarily of a book because I made it clear to Saga that I wanted to keep the copyright of the blogs. The blog attracted thousands of regular readers, many of whom commented on the blog. My speaking in public was also quite high profile so that too added to my reputation.

I was extremely lucky because I also have very good contacts. This is mainly the result of my job (director of studies in philosophy at Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education). This certainly helped me to attract attention to the book when it first came out. I made a huge effort in contacting people who might publicise it, and this effort paid off. I also made use of a website set up especially for the book, and social media such as Twitter @keeping_mum and Facebook keepingmumbook.

However, life has intervened and I am not now doing nearly as much as I ought. I have virtually ignored the website, and social media for the last two months, and I am not doing what I intended to do which is stake out the news and fire off ideas for articles to Editors as they arose. I am sure if I did more of this the book would be even more successful.

What are the lessons you’ve learned from your publishing experience  - good and bad? What tips can you give other authors?

That publishing a book involves much more work than you’d expect. The proofs all arrived at hugely inconvenient times. There were clashes with the Editor about the right way to cut down the words in the book (it then turned out we didn’t need to so that was OK!). At one point I even considered withdrawing the book when the publishers wanted to use, for the front cover, a photo of Mum that I hated (I could see it might have sold the book well, she did look more demented than in the photo used, but I would have felt like crying every time I lookked at it. 

But on the whole I have enjoyed it, though I am sure it really is necessary to do much more than I am doing if the book is to remain popular!

Are these bits of advice pertinent when it comes to heavyweight works on ethics and moral philosophy — or do they call for totally different game plans?

Publishing an academic book is a totally different game plan. For a start one is often approached to write academic books, advances are virtually non-existent, the process is far more leisurely (a book on Bioethics finished before I finished Keeping Mum has yet to go into final proof stage!), and far more –er – courteous.

You can help to publicise an academic book by adding it to your reading lists, putting it on your website, mentioning it on your podcasts (see iTunesU – I have twice been global number one, and on 3 May  2011 I held every single one of the top ten download positions on iTunesU), and again using social media (@OxPhil_Marianne), Facebook. But it is never going to sell as successfully as a mass market book unless it is a text book for a high volume subject. If it is the latter it could make you millions! But the sales for many academic books are very low indeed.

www.mariannetalbot.co.uk

Keeping Mum website: www.keepingmum.org.uk

Facebook: Marianne Talbot Philosophy

Twitter: @OxPhil_Marianne  or @keeping_mum

Learn what it takes to publish your book by joining David Chislett on December 7  in Johannesburg for his Getting Published Workshop in which he  gives his take on publishing, its perils and its opportunities. David’s Getting Published Workshop will be available online from January.

We were particularly interested in a detailed and precise description of the physical action. This, in fact, proved the most difficult part of the challenge to many of you.

Jo-Anne and Richard judged the entries without knowing who the writers were: it was, if you like, a blind tasting.

We’ve chosen a winner, and four runners up.

“I can’t hear the sound. I feel the pain like an amputee feels a lost limb. Pain that lives at a dead nerve ending. But the sound… the sound used to be so loud. Snap. Crack. The whirring and whizzing as my head whipped sideways. Wild and jagged in a violent curve.

And then a thud. Bang, against the wall.

 Not an angry sound, but a final and resounding gong. Like soil plopping on a casket, six feet below the ground.

Like the tolling of a death bell. That’s the sound. 

But I can’t hear it. The window opens wide, yawns like a grave. Opportunity. Choose ye this day, life or death.

Life, I choose life.

I have the back of his hands in my sights. Slow, like the movies. Swwosh. My fingers rise like the blade of a sword. Standing at attention like five generals and five armies. My eyeballs dart to the side of my head. I can see his hand as it meets my armies.

 The impact causes our limbs to shiver and shake with the tremor of a thousand earthquakes. Our eyes meet. Fear. His lips begin to snarl but my eye travel steadily to his cowardly countenance.

I hold his gaze. Cold as a snake. His hand drops. Slow, like the movies. I can’t hear the sound.”

Congratulations Julie Masiga who has won a R200 book voucher.

We’ve put the entries of the four runners up, Stephen Doherty, Jeff Meyer, Raleen Bagg and Austin Westwell,  on our website, which you can access here.

Generally, the level of bloody violence in the entries was extraordinarily high. Various organs – eyes, scrotums, hearts – were violated with great relish. Does this say something about our thirst for revenge?

Publishing Workshop

Writing the book is unfortunately only half the battle – blood really starts to flow when you try to get the damned thing published.

Allaboutwriting declared November Publishing Month. We started with a workshop on self-publishing – and we’re ending, on December 7, with an evening workshop on publishing, which, under the direction of writer and publishing expert Dave Chislett, will set out to answer a number of crucial questions:

What does it take to get your book published?

What can you do to make sure your book sells?

Venue: Parkview. Time: 18:00 – 21:00. Cost: R500.00.

The Year of Writing Creatively: 2012

Please click here for more information.

We’re all astonished

“A writer lives, at least, in a state of astonishment. Beneath any feeling he has of the good or evil of the world lies a deeper one of wonder at it all. To transmit that feeling, he writes.” William Sansom