Archive for the 'Announcements Sidebar' Category

I think the writers and book readers amongst you could find this behind-the-scenes process interesting in terms of seeing how the publishing world works and also, understanding the importance of a book title, whether in the fiction or non-fiction sector.

When I was writing my first novel, The Flame Tree, that was the working title I used and when I submitted it to Hodder & Stoughton, that was the title they went with. The flame tree is the central symbol of that novel and it also evokes the Asian setting of the book.

With my second novel, my working title was Mindgame but Hodder were not initially keen on it. I remember sitting down for days coming up with a list of over 30 different alternative titles in response to their feedback. In the end, they looked at my list of 30 something titles and came back to say that Mindgame was the best of the lot!

For the last year, my co-author Silvia Cambie and I have been using the working title New Trends in International Communications/ PR for the business book on cross-cultural communications that we’ve been writing. The title seemed to us to sum up what the book was about and whenever we talked about it to friends and people we met, they would nod in recognition and understanding so we wouldn’t have to go into a long-winded explanation.

Originally, our publisher Kogan Page were keen to ensure that the title included the words “Public Relations” but Silvia, an experienced business communicator, always preferred the word “Communications”. She explains that in the world of business communications, marketing and PR, “communications” is the wider expertise, of which marketing and PR are subsets and that a title that encompasses that wider context would have a wider audience. From my point of view, coming from the world of social media, I also prefer “communications” as, unfortunately, “PR” has a bad name in the online landscape, being associated with spin and hype without authenticity in the minds of bloggers.

So when we submitted the manuscript to our publisher Kogan Page, it was time to discuss the final title of the book in some detail. After some discussion about the issues around “communications” and “PR” with her marketing and editorial team, our editor came back agreeing with the choice of “communications.”

There was another issue, however, she told us. The problem was with “new trends.” The book is going to be published in July this year and the aim is to keep it in print with good sales over the foreseeable future. What is “new” now is not going to be new in a few years time. Similarly, what are “trends” now are likely to have become mainstream in time. But what we are writing about - the case studies, the concepts etc - which are the meat of the book will remain relevant for businesses and communicators because they have practical and useful applications beyond newness and trendiness. So the publishing team felt that the phrase “new trends” did not fully or accurately capture the thrust of the book.

So what to do? We batted some ideas back and forth in a series of emails and finally, we all agreed on the final title: International Communications Strategy: Developments in cross-cultural communications, PR and social media. We introduced the word “strategy” to capture the aspects of the book where we discuss how businesses can take advantage of developments in technology and cultural sensitivities. From the publishers point of view, the word also emphasise that the book is aimed at high-level executives within businesses and communications professionals who will need to be thinking strategically in today’s globalised world.

Our pro-bono blog project Dulwich OnView was the subject of a conference for the heritage sector the other week, bringing together representatives from the major musuems and cultural centres around the UK, including The Barbican, The Globe Theatre, The Royal Academy, The Natural History Museum, Canterbury Catheral and more - all keen to find out about how we put together the project and how we make it the success that it is.

One of our team editors, writer and museum strategist Steve Slack, described the day for our Dulwich OnView readers and I’ve poached his post (with his permission, of course) to share here with you.

Steve writes:

Dulwich OnView is all about celebrating people and culture in the Dulwich area. Last week we tried celebrating ourselves, for a change.

We’ve just held a successful gathering of the Membership Membership Forum at Dulwich Picture Gallery.

The DOV (Dulwich OnView) co-editors gave an extended case-study about why and how we set up this online magazine and why we think it works for us, for the Friends and for Dulwich Picture Gallery itself.

Here’s a snap of us about to present. Left to right are: Alix Slater (convenor of the MMF), Bernard Hunter, standing (Trustee of the Gallery who kindly introduced us), Ingrid Beazley, Steve Slack, Sally-Ann Johnson, Angie MacDonald and Yang-May Ooi (chair).

The delegates at the conference were mostly membership, marketing and development professionals from some of the most prestigious arts and heritage venues in the country. It was great for us that so many turned out to hear our case study and were eager to learn more about what we are doing.

It was also really encouraging for us to have so many people agreeing that what we’ve done is worthwhile. We – the writers of the Dulwich OnView blog – all left the gallery on Friday feeling really proud of what we’ve achieved as a team of volunteers.

The Dulwich OnView model won’t work for all museums, of course. The Gallery is unique and as a result so are the Friends and this magazine. But we certainly hope it was food for thought for those who attended.

Well done us. A great big pat on the back. We’re also filled with enthusiasm for the future as well. 2009 is going to be a great year for Dulwich OnView.

Related articles:

Dulwich OnView makes impact in heritage sector

How Dulwich OnView came about - Phoneblog

Photo: thanks to Steve Slack (with permission)

We have one winner drawn at random from the Fusion View email subscription list. Margot* has won a copy of Hilary: An Unquiet Spirit.

Congratulations, Margot! I have emailed her direct to arrange posting the book to her.

And thank you to everyone who has subscribed to receive Fusion View by email/ Twitter or Skype.

*I have obscured the full name for privacy reasons.

View my subscription policy

For background to the project, read my post about the involvement of my social media consultancy in Dulwich OnView

Update: 3.45pm Wed 24 Sept 08 - this issue now seems to be resolved. Thank you for your patience. You should now be able to click through via the email newsletter links and also to subscribe to receive email notifications in the usual way.

There seems to be some problems with the links in the email newsletter - this is due to tech issues at the third party provider, Feedblitz. Apologies to my email newsletter subscribers for the inconvenience but I’m afraid I’m in Feedblitz’s hands so I hope they can resolve it soon.

Antonia Gialerakis has donated a signed copy of the collected writings and letters of her mother, artist Hilary Gialerakis, “Hilary: An Unquiet Spirit” for the Fusion View prize draw.

Click here for my review of the exhibition of Hilary Gialerakis’s paintings and an extract from the book.

One winner will be picked at random from the list of email subscribers to Fusion View. To get a chance to win a copy of the book, subscribe to this blog. Subscribe now.

Subscription is free and you will receive free email notifications once a week with the latest updates on this blog. You will automatically be entered into the prize draw to win a copy of “Inextinguishable” and also all future prize draws (unless otherwise stated). You can find out about how to subscribe/ unsubscribe by viewing my subscription policy.

The closing date for this prize draw is Friday 31 October 2008. You can still subscribe after that date and you will automatically be entered into the next prize draw.

Please read the Rules of the prize draw below.

Yes, please enter me into the prize draw - I want to subscribe now. Click here to subscribe now.

The Rules for the prize draw
1. The closing date for this draw is 31 October 2008. Within two weeks of that date, one winner will be picked at random from the list of subscribers.
2. I will notify the winner by separate emails and ask for your name and land address to which to send the prize. I will be entitled to assume that the name and address given is the name and address of the winning subscriber and I will not knowingly post the prize to any other person.
3. When I receive the winner’s land address, I will post the prize to them and delete their land address from my records.
4. I will post the name of the winner on this blog (but not the land address or email address) .
5. I will not enter into any other correspondence or discussion regarding the winners or regarding this or any prize draw and my decision on the winners and prizes is final. You may not substitute the prize offered for anything else.
6. I will post the prizes by the public postal system. I am not liable for any acts or omissions of the postal services in the UK or any other country.
7. Where the address is not in the UK, I am not liable for any taxes, duties, or customs or excise or import requirements that may be applicable in the country of receipt nor for ensuring compliance with any other laws, including but not limited to laws relating to copyright, censorship or any other matters that may arise regarding or in connection with the prize. These remain the liability of the recipient and it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure compliance with the laws of their country.
8. By subscribing / entering this prize draw, you are confirming to me that you are over 18 or that you are over 13 and have the permission of your parent or guardian to subscribe/ enter this draw.
9. Your email address will remain on the subscription list (unless you unsubscribe) and will be entered into all future prize draws (unless otherwise stated). For my subscription policy, click here.

I’m pleased to announce three winners drawn at random from the Fusion View email subscription list - each of them have won a copy of James Woods second poetry collection Inextuingashable.

They are:

# jenp

# andrew

# willow

I have obscured the real names for privacy reasons.

Congratulations to the three winners! I have emailed them direct to arrange posting the books to them.

And thank you to everyone who has subscribed to receive Fusion View by email/ Twitter or Skype.

More information:

The Inextinguishable prize draw

James Wood blogs about Inextinguishable

Fusion View subscription policy

Poet James Wood has donated three signed copies of his second collection of poetry “Inextinguishable” for the Fusion View prize draw.

Click here to James’s blog post about his new collection.

Three winners will be picked at random from the list of email subscribers to Fusion View. To get a chance to win a copy of James’s book, subscribe to this blog. Subscribe now.

Subscription is free and you will receive free email notifications once a week with the latest updates on this blog. You will automatically be entered into the prize draw to win a copy of “Inextinguishable” and also all future prize draws (unless otherwise stated). For more about how to subscribe/ unsubscribe and my subscription policy,click here.

The closing date for this prize draw is Wednesday 31 August 2008. You can still subscribe after that date and you will automatically be entered into the next prize draw.

Please read the Rules of the prize draw below.

Yes, please enter me into the prize draw - I want to subscribe now. Click here to subscribe now.

The Rules for the prize draw
1. The closing date for this draw is 31 August 2008. Within two weeks of that date, 3 winners will be picked at random from the list of subscribers.
2. I will notify the winners by separate emails and ask for your name and land address to which to send the prize. I will be entitled to assume that the name and address given is the name and address of the winning subscriber and I will not knowingly post the prize to any other person.
3. When I receive a winner’s land address, I will post the prize to them and delete their land address from my records.
4. I will post the name of the winners on this blog (but not the land address or email address) .
5. I will not enter into any other correspondence or discussion regarding the winners or regarding this or any prize draw and my decision on the winners and prizes is final. You may not substitute the prize offered for anything else.
6. I will post the prizes by the public postal system. I am not liable for any acts or omissions of the postal services in the UK or any other country.
7. Where the address is not in the UK, I am not liable for any taxes, duties, or customs or excise or import requirements that may be applicable in the country of receipt nor for ensuring compliance with any other laws, including but not limited to laws relating to copyright, censorship or any other matters that may arise regarding or in connection with the prize. These remain the liability of the recipient and it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure compliance with the laws of their country.
8. By subscribing / entering this prize draw, you are confirming to me that you are over 18 or that you are over 13 and have the permission of your parent or guardian to subscribe/ enter this draw.
9. Your email address will remain on the subscription list (unless you unsubscribe) and will be entered into all future prize draws (unless otherwise stated). For my subscription policy, click here.

I’ve been invited to join a panel at “Digitise or Die: The conference for the book industry in the digital age” on 3rd July, held at the London Stock Exchange. The conference is organised by The Bookseller, the trade journal for the book industry in the UK. The blurb says:

The Bookseller is going to get to grips with the digital questions for the book industry once and for all.

Is the digitisation furore just a nervous reaction to experiences within the music industry - or is the heightening concern very real? Is eveyone prepared for the digitisation of the written word? What are the new technologies that publishers should be thinking about that could improve their online presence?

How can digitisation sell more books? What about digital rights and digital copyright? How do you find and develop communities of readers online? What are the differences in digital strategy of trade and non-trade publishing?

With e-books about to take off in the UK, isn’t it time the industry faced up to the changing consumer climate and technology?

These are just some of the questions that will be addressed at The Bookseller’s Digitise or Die full-day conference on 3rd July in London. It is fair to say, that you will definitely miss out if you are not there.

I’ll be on the panel discussing Digital Spaces, alongside Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur, and Kieron Smith, managing director of BookRabbit, which is a cross between the book social network LibraryThing and online bookstore Amazon. The panel will be chaired by Jeremy Davis of Chameleon Net. You check out the draft programme for more information.

The panel topic will be:

Different kinds of digital spaces: @ home on PC, out on the mobile, paid for content, UGC what works on different platforms? To what extent do digital platforms fit into each other to enable content to live across hardware boundaries? How do young people in different cultures interact with digital platforms? (itunes, phones, PC, online etc…) and how does this culture affect the use of such devices?

This invitation came via a non-blog related route shortly after my series on audio downloads and ebooks so it feels to me as if there is some synchronicity going on right now. Given my background as a novelist and my current explorations of the social media sphere, what I’d like to contribute to the discussion, I think, is the use of digital spaces by writers and storytellers from a creative perspective. How can we use the new media to enhance the way we tell stories? How might the stories we tell evolve with new media channels? Is creating a story for online reading different from creating one for a physical book? Is it different for e-book reading? Is reading passe in the face of YouTube and Flickr?

I’ll be making notes and researching all this in preparation for the conference over the next few weeks.

If you have any thoughts, ideas or experiences of storytelling in digital spaces, please do get in touch so I can share your views at the conference as well. I’d also love to hear from you if you have views about ebooks and the current state of ebook publishing - and any thoughts about what you would like to see evolve in ebooks and digital publishing in the future.

You can get in touch by leaving a comment to this post, or emailing me via the Contact link above, or by leaving me a voicemail at http://www.jaxtr.com/yangmayooi. If I use your contribution at the conference I will of course give acknowledgement to you for the contribution so do leave a name as well.

If you’d like to come along to the conference, you can do so using the Bookseller’s booking form.

digsp

I will be posting to Fusion View once a week for the next little while, usually on a Wednesday. I am focusing my writing energies on my latest book project, New Trends in International Public Relations, during this time. I am working on the social media aspects while my co-author Silvia Cambie is writing the main sections on international PR. You can check out my online wiki for the book project where I’ve been collating my research. I’ll also be writing about my research and reporting on progress on the book on my communications and social media blog, ZenGuide.co.uk - and also here on Fusion View.

Wishing everyone a great New Year’s Eve and a successful 2008!