Archive for the 'YM's books and writings' Category

My article “The Writer as Entreprenuer” is published this month by Mslexia, the UK literary journal for women writers. Researching the article, I interviewed three self-published authors, Preethi Nair, Mark Blayney and Julie Noble as well as former Managing Buyer at Waterstone’s, the UK book chain, now Commercial Director of The Friday Project, the UK publisher of books derived from blogs. They shared with me masses of invaluable information about the process of self-publishing as well generously telling me their personal stories.

With the agreement of Mslexia and my interviewees, I am posting onto Fusion View my research for the article.

Today, I am posting below my email interview with Scott Pack - see below.

The other resources relating to my article for Mslexia are posted as follows:

Yesterday, Tue 10 July - Interview with Julie Noble, author of Talli’s Secret.
Thurs 12 July - Interview with Mark Blayney, author of Two Kinds of Silence
Fri 13 July - Podcast of my telephone interview with Preethi Nair, author of Gypsy Masala

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

# What are bookshops looking for when they buy a book?

I can only really speak from the perspective of a big high street retailer. I spent 6 years as Buying Manager at Waterstone’s so know quite a bit about that but suspect you may get a different answer if you asked someone from a smaller chain, or even an individual bookseller in a store.

For me, the rule of thumb when selecting a book to buy was simply this: will our customers like it? The best buyers are able to spot the books that will appeal to their customers more often than not. Sometimes this is easy - an author with a proven track record in your stores is highly likely to sell well again. Where it becomes harder, and where the real skill comes in, is identifying a book from a new or unknown writer which your customers will love and thank you for recommending to them. This is nearly always a question of judgement.

Personally, I used two criteria when making a call on a new writer. Do they tell a good story and do they excite me with their writing? This doesn’t mean the book has to be all plot and exciting twists; the best storytellers are often more subtle than that and excite with the way they use language. The same criteria can be used for non-fiction but with an understanding regarding the contraints of the subject matter.

On a more practical note, and bearing in mind self-published authors, it is important the the production values of the book are high. It needs to look the part with an attractive jacket, in keeping with the genre, proper typesetting etc. Customers respond to books that look and feel nice, so why offer them anything else?

# How should an author approach a bookshop with their stock? (eg phone first? Just turn up? Who should they speak to?)

This seems so basic but is a very good question, and one that many authors are desperate to have answered. When we set up a consultancy service at The Friday Project a few months back, part of the thinking behind it was that small publishers and self-published authors might want to pick the brains of someone who had spent time in a key position at a major retailer. Fortunately this has proved to be the case and we are advising a number of clients on just this sort of thing. We even produced an information pack with top tips and I would be happy to pick out some of the key points that may be of use.

The most sensible approach to a major retailer is to email the relevant buyer upfront and ask them if you could send them a copy of your book. They would have to be extremely rude to say no, and that then gives you an opening. You send in your book with a covering letter that can say ‘As requested, here is a copy of ….’. That gets you in the door and, if the buyer does their job properly, and your book is any good, you can progress things from there.

When it comes to individual bookshops it is usually best to send in a copy of your book with a short covering letter. If you phone or turn up out of the blue you are almost guaranteed to do so at the worst possible time. Always send work for the attention of the manager.

# What should they emphasise in their sales pitch?

The book, the book, the book. What is it that makes your book worth reading? Highlight any passages you feel are particularly good. Chances are the person you give it to will not read the whole thing so make sure they read the best bits.

# Do you have any advice about how authors should present themselves in the sales pitch?

It is the book they need to worry about, the best sales pitches work long after any meeting or phone call as they rely on the buyer or bookseller actually reading the book itself. Don’t be too pushy, just ask the person to read a chunk of the book. That is all you can expect really.

# Are bookstores seeing an increase in self-published authors pitching direct?

They certainly are, although not as much as you would think. When I was at Waterstone’s I created a role called (rather boringly) Independent Publisher Coordinator. Their job was to deal with small publishers and self-published authors with a view to advising them on the best way to sell their books but also to spot any significant talent that we could promote and sell.

# Are bookstores generally open to authors selling their own books or do they prefer to deal with publisher’s sales reps?

Most major chains really can’t be bothered to deal with self-published authors directly and, as I write, the Independent Publisher Coordinator role at Waterstone’s is vacant. I hope they fill it as it was a great benefit to the business. Individual stores often feel likewise but most independent shops are happy to sell self-published books if they like them, and especially if the authors are local.

# What qualities and skills do you think an author needs to succeed in selling their own books?

Well, number one is to have written a bloody good book. Booksellers and head office buyers know a good book when they read one, regardless of who published it. I have read countless ‘huge’ new books from major publishers which cost a fortune that were simply not very good. Likewise, I have read lots of self-published work that should have been in the bestseller charts with a major publisher behind them. If you can win someone over with your writing then the job is almost done.

That aside, it helps to be confident and be prepared to self-publicise. Local press and media are great avenues to promote your work and if you have the right presentation skills they will be happy to accomodate you. It also helps to be friendly and accessible to your readers.

But do avoid being overly pushy. Don’t tell me your book is the best thing since Life Of Pi as it almost certainly isn’t. Do be polite and ask the buyer or shop for advice on how best to sell your book, they will usually be forthcoming even if they don’t select it to sell themselves.

# Are you seeing a trend towards self-publishing?

God yes, it is all over the place. Most of it is rubbish, let’s be honest, but more and more titles are proving to be genuinely good.

# You are now Commercial Director at The Friday Project. How does The Friday Project fit into the current publishing market? How might it help authors who may have a book that doesn’t quite fit into the traditional book publishing market?

In some ways we are highly cutting edge and innovative. In others we are remarkably traditional. So, rather than follow the usual author/agent submission route for sourcing our books we explore the internet for talent, and the internet increasingly comes to us. This gives us an almost infinite pool of writing and ideas to dip into. However, once we have found that talent, that great writer or great book, we then publish it in a very traditional way.

We pride ourselves on risk-taking and have already published many books that no one else would have dared to do. I would like to think that anyone outside of the mainstream could find a home with us. As previously mentioned, we also have a consultancy service which is mainly used by small publishers and self-published authors. We advise then on many areas but the most popular is how to get retailers to consider their books and hopefully to sell lots of them. So, we hope we are able to help authors both as publishers and advisors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Further resources:

The Friday Project

Scott Pack’s Blog

Mslexia

Pictures: thanks to waterstones.com and thefridayproject.co.uk

My article “The Writer as Entreprenuer” is published this month by Mslexia, the UK literary journal for women writers. Researching the article, I interviewed three self-published authors, Preethi Nair, Mark Blayney and Julie Noble as well as former Managing Buyer at Waterstone’s, the UK book chain, now Commercial Director of The Friday Project, the UK publisher of books derived from blogs. They shared with me masses of invaluable information about the process of self-publishing as well generously telling me their personal stories.

Mslexia is a fantastic quarterly journal for women writers, with news about what’s happening in the UK publishing industry and topical features which are hugely relevant to all writers and women writers in particular. It cost just over £18 for an annual subscription if you are in the UK and is really worth that minimal cost. It is published in hard copy and will be posted to you once a quarter. I was a subscriber for years before they invited me to write the Entrepreneur article and it really kept me abreast of all the hot issues for writers in an in-depth and informed way.

I am thrilled to be able to offer readers and writers alike, this additional resource, in conjunction with Mslexia - the full text of the email interviews with Mark, Julie and Scott as well as a podcast of my telephone interview with Preethi are now available on Fusion View to co-incide with the publication of my article in the magazine - see the category in the sidebar marked “Writer as Entreprenuer”. All materials are published here with the agreement of Mslexia and my interviewees.

I will be posting up these resources over the course of this week:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following is my email interview with Julie Noble, author of “Talli’s Secret”, a story about Cassie, a girl with dyspraxia and dyslexia struggling with family and school life. On a school trip to Haworth Parsonage, the home of the Brontes, a strange figure on the stairs calling herself Talli takes a mysterious interest in Cassie. Julie studied psychology and literature and Lancaster University and has worked on television programmes such as “Heartbeat” and “The Royal”. Part of the inspiration for “Talli’s Secret”, Julie’s first book, came from the fact that one of her three children, her son Jonathan, struggles everyday with dyspraxia and dyslexia.

Incidentally, it’s Julie’s birthday today as well - so Happy Birthday to you, Julie!

# Why did you self-publish?

All the usual reasons: impossibility of getting contracts with either an agent or publisher despite good recommendations, prize-winning work and determination. I have had the manuscripts I sent out returned, often unopened or by return with standard rejection letters pushed in: “our lists are full etc; limited number of books being published”, etc then two people in my area (Both men) self-published the year before I did; one has since gone on to gain acclaim, fame and fortune (GP Taylor) the other made enough locally to create a reputation as an author. I bought copies of both their books, also aimed at children, as my first book was, and I had to recognise that my languishing manuscript was at least as good as theirs, if not better. To their credit, they were both encouraging, though GP Taylor much more so, even before his reputation really took off, and he kindly allowed me to use his recommendation on the back of my blurb.

# How did you go about self-publishing your novel? Did you use print on demand? If not, where did you store all the stock?

See Advice for how I researched which publisher to use;
We had all 3,000 books delivered here, took the dining table out, and filled the front room with boxes! Getting the dining table back was a real achievement. Now we just have a few boxes left under the stairs, and that’s because I had to stop marketing to deal with family issues last year, otherwise they’d all have been long gone.

# How much did you spend? (If you are prepared to say…)

Several thousand pounds. We had to remortgage the house to do it….

# How did you get the book into bookshops? (I’m particularly interested in this bit as it seems to require strong sales skills, persistence and stamina/ resilience that many writers would shy away from)

(SEE ADVICE points 9 10 15 20 for practical and note responding to “qualities/skills” question for reaction from booksellers)

You’re right about the tough stuff, and it’s not always easy, which is why I didn’t get all the books sold when my family life became very difficult, but really if you’ve got something you believe in, and you can convince people, perhaps by offering a free inspection copy as we did, and they see how good it is, then you’re in; you don’t need to treat them as the enemy because after all, deep down, they want the same as you - they want to sell the books!

# What marketing did you do?

Everything possible: See advice section below for more details

# Do you have a background in business? What is your day job?

Mother of 3 (with another on the way). I have an excellent grasp of budgeting, bringing up children on a limited income, balancing what needs to be paid right now with what can wait, etc, and I worked in a bank, though I hated the sales I liked problem solving. Also I was a self-employed childminder when the children were small.
I don’t think you need a business mind or background, if you can manage a household budget, chop and change credit cards to keep on the interest free, that sort of thing, you can do it!

# Do you consider your writing career as a business/ profession? What activities do you pursue to maintain your career as a writer? eg teaching creative writing etc.; networking

Yes I absolutely consider my writing career as a profession although many times it seemed to be labour of love rather than providing financial rewards! I remind myself that once the books I am currently writing and revising eventually get published they will build my reputation and give recompense to the time spent on them. As with all Arts Careers you are not drawn into writing because of the possibility of financial gain, but rather because of the impossibility of doing anything else! I love writing - it is as necessary to me as breathing and it helps me make sense of the world - and every time I get another job offered such as teaching a poetry workshop or running a drama workshop for either adults or children, I am grateful that I am able to do something that I enjoy so much and get paid for it. At the moment I am encouraging a group of 11 year-olds to finish their first book in a six-month project with two schools in the area and when the Heads came to see me begin the first workshop it was clear that I was going to enjoy it as much as the children did! This enthusiasm also invigorates other areas of my life. I have given talks to parent groups about the aspects of my book as relating to my son’s learning difficulties and I have been able to offer encouragement to many parents and children who are facing the same things my son and I have faced, this in itself is an inspiration to keep writing especially when you meet people who have been affected by reading your work and inspired to begin their own! I maintain a professional approach to my writing setting aside particular hours to work and refusing to take long coffee breaks, watch daytime TV or go shopping with friends when it is my work time, and this discipline helps other people to recognise that I am actually working.

# What qualities do you think you discovered in yourself during this experience? If you have a background in business, do you think that helped you handle the business aspects of self-publishing? If not, what other skills did you bring to the experience?

My biggest skill in dealing with bookshops was quiet determination laden with humility because I suspect they have to deal with a lot of people who think they’re going to be “the next big thing”. When I went in with a self-published novel and they started out to rubbish them I would just quietly and determinedly show them my book, talk about it, and without being arrogant let them see how good it was. I found that quiet and polite determination did very well - one columnist reviewer once e-mailed to say he’d never met any one so persistent and that I was just this side of annoying, but he published a grudging but good review and later admitted that he wanted to publish himself but was not getting anywhere; he still keeps in touch from time to time, so I can’t have been that bad!

# What qualities and skills do you think a writer needs to have to become their own publisher, publicist, sales rep and distributor? Also, what qualities and skills would a writer need to maintain their career as a writer apart from just writing?

The following should cover all qualities and skills for everything….

While recognising you are a writer who can work alone for long periods and single-handedly create complicated plots, and become totally involved in the characters within, you must also be outgoing, approachable, obliging, hard working and effervescent when called on to be so (meeting public and teaching, book signings, media appearances etc). You must be diplomatic and a good sales negotiator (bookshops, esp big wholesalers like Gardners) and someone who can make contacts with people in the media and maintained them by remembering to ask about them and by forming a proper relationship. You need to be patient yet single-minded in pursuit of your writing career while admitting that some improvements can always be made (think Proust). Think that you may well have to bear criticism and possible jealous reactions if you have any success whatsoever, or if you have written anything worthwhile, or even if you haven’t, but you’ve tried. You have to prepare to be competitive and to be passed over time and time again for “the next big thing,” knowing full well that however good you are it is unlikely it will ever be you! You have to believe in yourself –remember Emily Dickinson writing and putting away but still producing the best she could despite knowing that she would never see the success in her own lifetime. You have to cope with rejection letters from editors who have never read a word you have written apart from the greeting ‘Dear Sir or Madam’. You have to maintain a sense of purpose and finally you have to believe despite masses of evidence to the contrary (in the thousands of words published every year) that you have a message that the world needs to hear! If you can do all this you can successfully self publish whatever you choose to write.

# What returns did you make on your investment (financial or otherwise)?

Okay, I’ll be honest, financially it’s not a big money spinner, unless you hit jackpot and get taken on by someone else, but I did make most of the outlay back, in dribs and drabs, though as I would not take into account distribution/marketing and publicity costs, probably not, but we got about £500 for the two charities, and I wasn’t in debt at the end of it!
Otherwise the returns were huge!

I wanted to raise awareness of dyspraxia and dyslexia because of the experiences of my son and the publication of this book did have an enormous effect on his education because I gave one to his school and the teachers that read it were so impressed that they bought copies of it for each other and took far more of an interest in Jonathon’s problems. Many said it was the first time they had been able to see the conditions from the child’s point of view, and very many other teachers have since been in touch to say it is affected them and their pupils. I have been told that it has frequently been read out in class. Most people, old and young, could identify with my heroine Cassie’s difficulties and remembered somebody to be like that. I have also had very many phone calls and letters from people with dyspraxia or dyslexia, or members of their families, who had suffered and found comfort from this book; also people who had experienced bereavement found it accurate and useful. Many readers got in touch to tell me how this book made them cry (usually in the same part that made me cry when I wrote and revised it!) A really wonderful return was when I got a huge folder of work from a school in Derby, from a class who had done an entire project on Talli’s Secret, lasting weeks. The children had drawn pictures of my characters, made cartoons with their likes and dislikes, and imagined monologues. To receive this response to the world I had created was a great gift. I also had excellent reviews from such eminent organisations as the Bronte Society, the Dyslexia Institute and the Dyspraxia Foundation, as well as reaching the Whitbread Book Awards long list (though I was told afterwards self published books may be subject to the snobbery/isolation factor, which may have been a reason for it not to get any further, though I never followed it up because the same day as that news arrived my family life was completely turned inside out and I had to put the book business on hold while I saved my children, and myself.)
The random quotes and e-mails from complete strangers on amazon.com gave me another boost, and the genuine enjoyment of my story by all the readers I have heard from (and as a percentage of responses against sales I would guess I’ve got a higher rate than some of the greats!) gave me a return on my investment in the form of something that money could never buy - it made me realise that I really was an author, because my work reached other people and touched them, my characters, plucked from my imagination, lived for other people, and that knowledge has changed my writing and given me more confidence to declare myself a writer. Also, I received a payment from the PLR for my book’s library loans, which made me immensely proud. I am more fulfilled by my writing than anything else I’ve ever done, it makes me believe in myself, which as a woman, and especially one who has done a lot of childcare, (which for some reason demeans in this society, we don’t revere motherhood at all), is a necessary part of developing as an author.

# Do you see a trend towards self-publishing?

Yes; more and more publishers want guaranteed returns and so are aiming at Blockbusting bestsellers, often celebrity/TV based or part of an established genre. We need the entrepreneurs and adventurers to ensure that writing develops and expands, especially for women. It’s still harder to break into publishing: we shouldn’t sell ourselves short.

# What would you say to those who still have a snobbery around self-publishing - ie who mistake it for vanity publishing?

(see notes in response to q about skills/qualities for bookseller reactions)

I’m afraid its difficult because so much of the work self-published would benefit from an editor’s eye – I know mine would have done, but necessity is the mother of invention, so in the event I had to ask friends and family to help, where a professional would have made other comments I’m sure. Yet the reviews I received, even from Professional publications recognised the quality of my writing regardless, and it has been exceptionally well received. My book won one prize (Writing Magazine/David St John Thomas self-publishing Award) and was longlisted for the Whitbread, therefore its quality should not be dismissed. I am not alone, and the increasing success of self-published works has got to make a difference, and professional production will help that. Most of the ‘dross’ produced by the vanity press disappears without much of a fuss, whereas a well-written book properly presented, marketed and distributed can do better than some of the published works from ‘proper’ publishers!

ADVICE SECTION

# What is your advice to writers who may be thinking of self-publishing?

Go for it-but do it well! Here are some practical points:

1) Research your market carefully when you are revising your novel and aim to match the standard of the genre you are writing in:
look at covers/blurb/length and ask –honestly- how do you compare to the professionals?

2) Spend some time looking at self-publishing publishers rather than vanity press or basic printers; ask for a sample of a published book; feel free to ask questions about ISBN, the British Library requirements etc as well as text style/paper quality and cover design. A good publisher will be able to answer all your questions.

3) Think about what angle to use to pitch the book to the news agencies, and make first contacts with reporters e.g. Talli’s Secret is raising the profile of, and money for, the Dyslexia Institute and the Dyspraxia Foundation, reporters were interested in learning more about both conditions, but also about the fact that we remortgaged the house to pay for the publishing! Offer free copies for competition prizes etc it’s an excellent form of advertising!

4) Get a recommendation for the back of the book - from someone whose opinion would be listened to! It is particularly valuable for getting your book into bookshops, as some buyers are sceptical about self publishing. We were lucky that Graham Taylor sent us: “this is one of the best books I have ever read. It keeps you turning the pages from start to finish. I was lost in Talli’s world and didn’t want to come back.’ GP Taylor Author of the New York Times best-sellers

5) Plan the book launch,
i)try to tie in with local cultural/historical events e.g Talli’s Secret has the Brontës in it, so we opted to launch it at the Robin Hood’s Bay Victorian Weekend.
ii)draw prospective book buyers in with a gimmick, preferably something free! It needn’t be expensive- we had a calligraphy workshop with ‘Victorian’ bookmarks made by staining cardboard with tea!

6) Talk to people about the book Is anybody experienced or knowledgeable? Especially useful for the local contacts/ networking information you need.

7) Design and order flyers: bookshops like them and they also used for giving people to put up at events/ on noticeboards etc,

8) Prepare press releases- find personalised angles for each approach

9) Search for suitable outlets
i) the internet (if not from home use the library which is often cheaper
ii) Yellow Pages/ telephone directories - libraries stock these for various areas.

10) Approach Book Shops Independent bookshops can be hesitant with self-published books, offer to send a sample, and also guarantee that the books are only being provided on a sale or return (SOR) basis. Get contact details for the major book buyers for the chains well in advance. Be ready with e-mail confirmations of all the details e.g. the publisher, the subject, the price, market it was aimed at, references etc

11) Set up a website Look at info in Mslexia and book websites to get ideas, i.e: www.tallissecret.com. If you’re not a computer wizard, don’t worry, find one in your contacts.

12) Arrange a post office box - more professional when giving out the business address on the radio etc.

13) Go online and register on websites where you can post information ie “Friends Reunited”, University alumni news, sites relative to the content of your book.

14) Find regional literary newsletters/arts listings magazines. These types of publications are very useful for getting your name known, e.g The Yorkshire Word Editor likes to include information about self-published books and is very encouraging, asking me to do the ‘masthead’.

15) Design/print duplicated customer record sheets your contact details/ customer’s information/number of books taken/ commission rate.

16) Launch Book with media coverage, e.g radio/tv,

The launch serves several purposes:
Proves that self-publishing is a viable option
Tells the world about the book via media coverage/ social networking
Sells books!

17) Address all the envelopes ready for sample books that need to be sent asap

18) Enjoy the achievement - and concentrate on getting the books out there!

19)make sure plenty of people know about it, enlist family and friends to put posters up/ radio- event guides or interviews/ television/ newspaper everything you can think of. Take photographs to put on website/ send to media etc

20) Deliver the books to the outlets along with customer record sheets - both sign and keep a copy, and flyers. Don’t forget the library!

21) Send out review copies to newspapers/magazines/radio or tv programmes that you

i) think would be interested
ii) are a fan of
iii) never heard of till you started all this!
Get contact names by telephoning or emailing first, so that the book receives a more favourable impression when it lands on somebody’s desk.

22) Scour pages of Mslexia/ magazines/ websites for competitions you can enter. Fun to try and if you win- more media coverage!

23) Who else is there? Approach schools, Writer’s Groups, book groups, bookshops for book signings, Writer in residence in a business (the more unusual the better, from a media point of view), meet the author, workshops with drama or writing?

24) Keep optimistic and keep going! Obviously, the more effort you put in, the more you learn, the greater your chance of success!

# Anything else you’d like to share about your experiences/ about being a writer that would be useful for other writers, especially women writers to hear about.

Speaking from personal experience I believe that my ability to write and convey a range of emotions and trap them into words has saved my sanity, particularly over the last 15 months. As many writers have discovered (esp. the Brontes) the ability to escape into another world can mean the difference between accepting a difficult reality and being oppressed by it, or revelling in a world where you are in charge to a certain extent, for if like me your books are character-driven rather than plot-driven you’ll find you can be as little in charge in your literary existence as in your real-life!

As a woman and mother of three (and soon four) children I have found the greatest hindrance to my work is my own attitude towards it. So often I’d constantly place the children’s needs, wants and desires (including a definite desire not have to do any domestic chores) above my need to write, but unfortunately it was instilled into me at an early age that mothers must be self sacrificing to the point of martyrdom. This does not make any one happy nor is it good for the children to be given such an example. This is why it is very important to maintain a very business like approach to your work, especially if you’re a mother with the bulk of the domestic arrangements on your own shoulders. If you tell yourself, your children and everyone else that what you’re doing is a ‘proper’ job, you can carve out writing time without feeling guilty that most of the rooms in their house haven’t been dusted since Christmas and the children’s clothes need ironing (you just drape them on a hanger and shove them in the wardrobe). Then you have to recognise that you need to set aside time not just for writing a book but for thinking through and studying all the good works such as the classics, or rediscovering little known women authors and examining texts to see what works for certain writers and what doesn’t.

If you can act business like about your writing (and convincing yourself can be as hard as convincing everyone else) you’re most of the way there, which is why self-publishing Talli’s Secret was such a success for me.

I know there are plenty of stories about people who have not begun writing until late in life and still make a terrific success of it and though we all can find comfort in this while we wait for recognition in the meantime don’t give up trying! Write to the best of your ability, keep learning and keep sending things out and you can do it, I bet you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To find out more about Julie and “Talli’s Secret”, go to www.tallissecret.com

To find out more about Mslexia, go to www.mslexia.co.uk

Starting on Tuesday 10 July over four consecutive days, I will be posting up my interviews with three self-published authors and a book publishing insider on what it takes to self-publish your novel and act as publisher, sales director and publicist to get your product out to the great reading public. This project is in conjunction with Mslexia, the quarterly journal for women writers - Mslexia is publishing my article on The Writer as Entrepreneur in this month’s issue of the magazine and in an innovative initiative, they - and my interviewees - have agreed to my making my research for that article available online at Fusion View.

To find out more about Mslexia, go to their website at www.mslexia.co.uk.

The latest issue of Mslexia is now available. I will be posting up my resources to co-incide with the publication of this July edition as follows:

Tues 10 July - Interview with Julie Noble, author of Talli’s Secret
Wed 11 July - Interview with Scott Pack, ex-Managing Buyer at Waterstone’s and now Commercial Director of The Friday Project
Thurs 12 July - Interview with Mark Blayney, author of Two Kinds of Silence
Fri 13 July - Podcast of my telephone interview with Preethi Nair, author of Gypsy Masala

Mslexia is a fantastic quarterly journal for women writers, with news about what’s happening in the UK publishing industry and topical features which are hugely relevant to all writers and women writers in particular. It cost just over £18 for an annual subscription if you are in the UK and is really worth that minimal cost. It is published in hard copy and will be posted to you once a quarter. I was a subscriber for years before they invited me to write the Entrepreneur article and it really kept me abreast of all the hot issues for writers in an in-depth and informed way. If you’re not already a subscriber, go to their website and check it out.

The following series of three posts is taken from an essay I wrote for a collection of essays by various Malaysian-connected writers coming out in Malaysia sometime soon to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Malaysian Independence from British rule.

Part 1 - The meal that made me cry

I stared down at my plate. There was one soggy piece of toast on it, drowned in a pool of orangey-brown baked beans. I looked around me at the crowded dining hall. The girls were all taller and bigger and heavier and stronger than me, all tucking in to their lunch of baked beans on toast, all laughing and chatting. There were a few black faces but otherwise, they were all Caucasian, pale skinned and robust. I was the only South East Asian, skinny and small and caramel-toned. It was my first day at boarding school in the UK. It was 1975 and I was twelve.

The morning had been a tumble of classes and new friends as I trailed behind my new classmates to change rooms for each new lesson. In Malaysia, we had the same teacher for most subjects and any specialist teacher who taught us came to our classroom while we stayed put. This new pattern of packing up my pencils and books after each class and fighting my way through the chaotic corridors to find the next lesson confused me. Several times, I got lost, like a new recruit left behind by her platoon, and stood bewildered as girls hurried past me.

By lunchtime, I was exhausted and disorientated. My legs felt cold in the navy school kilt and my arms felt tightly constrained in a long-sleeved sweater. My knee-high socks prickled my shins. Lunch would help me feel better, I thought. I always liked break-time at school in Kuala Lumpur. My friends and I bought curry laksa at the canteen, the spicy soup ladled out of huge steaming vats into a bowl of noodles, beansprouts, soya and chicken. Sometimes, I brought in fried rice and would eat it lukewarm from the tupperware. Friends would bring in soy sauce noodles and vegetables. But here in this rowdy English place, lunch had not turned out how I had expected. I stared down at the baked beans and toast on my plate.

I looked up at the clock on the wall. It was just after 1pm. I looked at the strange, noisy, pale girls around me. It struck me that I had five years here. Five long years of baked beans on toast. Five years without curry laksa. Or stir-fried vegetables. Or soy sauce chicken or grilled satay or beef rendang or nasi lemak. Or anything that I knew as food. Real food. I burst into tears. The girls sitting at my table fell silent, staring at me uncomfortably. A sixth-former said, “She’s just homesick. She’ll be all right.” And they left me alone to sob despairingly over my baked beans.

Later, when I was older, I realised that this was probably not an uncommon experience for Malaysians going to study abroad - especially back in the ’70s and ’80s. These days, in the 21st century, even the remotest part of the UK will probably have a Malaysian restaurant or at least an eatery that can do a decent curry. Back then, England was still emerging uncomfortably from its post-war troubles and coming to grips with the loss of its empire. It had been used to exporting its culture and habits and food across the world and it would be some decades yet before a new generation would return from the hippy trail with bottles of fish sauce and chilli belacan and recipes for Thai green curry and satay. Back then, curry was a strange concoction involving a plain curry sauce, pineapple and raisins. To my horror, they also mixed curry powder with sweet salad cream to make a weird cold dish called Coronation Chicken.

For five years, I learnt to eat potatoes with everything. Roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, buttered potatoes, jacket potatoes, sauteed potatoes, chips, mash, potato salad. The were lots of interesting things you could do with potatoes. But none of them turned the spud into rice. Every now and then, though, we would have rice. Aaah, rice. Those were my favourite meals. Except that the rice would come with that pineapply-raisiny curry and I’d have to spend ages picking out the bits of fruit. Or with chicken fricassee, a mix of shredded chicken in what tasted like Campbell’s cream of chicken condensed soup - which was marginally better than pineapply curry in that I could pretend it was chicken a la king.

When I went to university, it was like a liberation after prison….

To be continued next Friday (06 July 2007)…

Photo: thanks to Johnnie Shannon on flickr.com

lffd

After a successful print run in hardback, tradeback and paperback, my second novel Mindgame has now pretty much sold out. However, I have the last 100 copies of the paperback edition of Mindgame sitting in my hallway.

The blurb:

In MINDGAME, the career of ambitious young lawyer Fei-Li Qwong looks set to soar as she steers her major clients to the successful launch of their visionary sanitorium. Piers and Ginny Wyndham claim their Centre for Mental Health and Excellence will revolutionise Asia’s health care practices. Fei is proud to be part of the team.But Fei’s professional success masks a turbulent private life as she tries in vain to reconcile her Western education and outlook with the restrictions of life in Kuala Lumpur and the feminine qualities of charm, modesty and family-mindedness demanded of tranditional Asian womanhood.Her problems have only just begun. As she begins to uncover the dark reality behind the Wyndhams’ public front, Fei finds herself drawn deep into a pall of intrigue and murder to a secret experiment that could enslave Asia under a terrifying new tyranny.

If you’d like to buy a signed copy direct from me, here’s the deal:

RRP: £6.99

My price: £5
plus post and packaging: £2*

*This is for one book posted by the public postal system to an address in the UK. If you would like to order more than one book or to have it / them posted to an address outside the UK, email me the details and I’ll work out the cost and let you know.

What you need to do:

1. Contact me using via the Email Me link on the top of the far right sidebar with the following details:

• Your name and address

• No. of books

• Name and Address to post the book(s) to (if different from yours)

• Any short message you’d like me to include when I sign the book(s)**

2. I will email you back to confirm the cost and give you an address to send your cheque to. I can only accept UK cheques drawn from a UK clearing bank.

3. Once I receive the cheque for the cost I quoted to you, I will post the book(s) within 28 days and confirm this action to you by email. When sending your cheque, please include a print out of our email exchange. If the address to post the book to is not the same as your address, please also ensure that you include with it your name and address so I can contact you if necessary.

4. Please note the following:
4.1 I will post the book(s) by the public postal system. I am not liable for loss or damage caused by any acts or omissions of the postal services in the UK or any other country.
4.2 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 book(s). These remain the liability of the recipient and it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure compliance with the laws of their country.
4.3 By sending the cheque for purchase of the book(s), 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 purchase the book(s).
4.4 I reserve the right not to make any sale whatsoever and in such circumstances, I will inform you of this by email and return your cheque to you by post.

** Please be sensible - I won’t write any offensive, obscene or inappropriate message nor anything over lengthy.

This is a cross-post from my social media blog ZenGuide

I was recently profiled in the journal of the International Association of Business Communicators, Communication World, about how I have evolved from a novelist into a blogger - dowload “A Novel Approach” pdf article here . It started me thinking about how my love affair with blogging started and how, at the start of my venture into the online world, I had no idea that it would lead me to develop a valuable expertise that would become the foundation for my social media consultancy here at ZenGuide.

After publishing two novels, I stopped and started a number of third novels only to stumble into the doldrums after the first few chapters. I found that I did not have the inclination any more to sit quietly by myself and my imaginary characters, engaging in an imaginary landscape. The real world and all its real activities and people seemed much more interesting. I was also finding myself intrigued by developments in technology and in particular web-based technologies.

For those who have read my two legal thrillers, they will know that technology and gadgets play a critical role in the stories. In my first novel, The Flame Tree, the hero Luke does something clever with his mobile phone so he can secretly record a dangerous meeting with the bad guy and the heroine Jasmine dials in to listen to the message from her office phone - only to find that it cuts off just at the point that gunshots ring out. In Mindgame, Sam encrypts secret files into the code of digital photographs before destroying the original CDs and computer hard drive and the whole plot revolves around mind control using drugs and computer-generated imagery (CGI) in real time. So it was only a small step for me to move from being an author to a geek, checking out all the clever Web 2.0 gadgetry that is changing the way that we all communicate and relate to each other.

I started blogging to try and kickstart my enthusiasm for writing. I started out at www.yangmayooi.blogspot.com with Yang-May Ooi’s LitBlog, playing around with the HTML code to semi-personalise the standard template. I wrote a few posts and had a go and connecting with other bloggers and networks. The blog was picked up fairly quickly by Global Voices Online, the site that watches and comments on bridge blogs ie blogs that bridge cultures.

After a month or so, I realised that there was huge potential to use blogging as a marketing tool for my books and to share my experience as a published novelist in an increasingly competitive publishing market. My home-made site looked a bit tacky and lame in my eyes so I commissioned web designers to re-design the site - it was not cheap but, looking back, it was the best investment I have made in my life. The new site Fusion View has a confident, professional feel to it and many people have commented to me how much they like the look of it. For my books website, the designers retained the same design but tweaked it in different colours, thereby giving me two sites that sat well together within a branded identity. I was also then able to have the same designers create the look for ZenGuide many months later, within the same branded identity.

And as I blogged and explored the online world, concepts like “new media” and “social media” began to emerge. It seemed I was one of the new communicators. When I started blogging in April 2006, I had 200 unique visitors a month. Last month (May 2007), Fusion View clocked just over 8,000 unique visitors. People were starting to ask me for advice about how to use blogging in a business context. As I approach social media from the point of view of a communicator and writer rather than as a programmer or web developer, I can help my clients focus on developing quality content. Clients have also appreciated my experience in the legal and business worlds so that we can discuss in-depth how social media fits in with their marketing and business strategies. So, it made sense to start up a new blog and website for this specialist consultancy service so that all the technology- and social media- related information could sit in a distinct place from the cross-cultural arts and writing posts that make up Fusion View.

I’m having a fun time with this social media consultancy. It combines online activities like blogging with offline activities like meeting with clients, giving seminars and networking - which for me feels much more rounded than sitting alone in a fantasy world of fiction. I’ve learnt a great deal about social networks and online communications tools and I’m learning more every day in this ever-moving sector. I’ve also met some interesting and dynamic people on this journey so far and I’m looking forward to meeting many more - online and offline.

Photo: thanks to tandtinc.om

I am delighted to officially announce the launch of my new Social Media Consultancy, ZenGuide.

Interactive web tools like blogging, podcasting and social networking are increasingly being used by businesses to communicate with their customers and stakeholders at a conversational level. Professionals can showcase their expertise. Businesses can engage with customers in a direct and immediate way. The key is a clear, integrated marketing strategy between online and offline media as well as effective blog management.

The ZenGuide consultancy draws on my success as a writer and blogger as well as my experience in the legal and local government sector to offer strategic consultancy to businesses and professionals on how effective use of social media tools can contribute to their business and personal success. We also provide a range of related services from writing bespoke web-content to web and blog design as well as blog editing and management.

You can visit the combined website and blog at www.zenguide.co.uk .

You can find out more about our range of services by clicking on the What We Do tab at the top of the home page at ZenGuide.

For more information about me and my areas of expertise as well as about the associate web design team, click on the Who We Are tab at the top of the home page.

I hope you enjoy reading the ZenGuide blog which aims to bring you views and analysis of current issues and trends in the world of blogging and social media - all in plain English. You’ll see a number of ways to subscribe in the far right sidebar on the homepage of ZenGuide.

If you’d like to find out more about how ZenGuide can help you and/ or your business, do get in touch with me via the Contact page where you’ll find a contact form and my Skype and telephone contact details.

There’s a great article in the Independent today by Danuta Keane about “Why so many novels never make it to the big screen”.

“Books provide filmmakers with ready-made plots on which to base screenplays
(useful when plagiarism claims start to fly), and a proven audience. But unless
they are global mega-sellers like Dan Brown, J K Rowling or Michael Crichton,
the actual authors are lower on the food chain than the screenwriter, and if you
think they are respected, watch Sunset Boulevard or The Player.”

The Player is one of my favourite movies - showing how a sensitive literary story is turned into a blockbuster starring Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis in an explosively ridiculous ending.

I had my own brush with Hollywood with my first novel The Flame Tree. It was truly a brief encounter but telling none the less. It went something like this:

Hollywood production company: Love the story.  Where is Malaysia? Can we set it in Vietnam?

Me: Uh, no.

The End.

Danuta’s article also has a list of the 5 best film adaptations of books and also the 5 worst. I’d add to the best adaptations “Gone With The Wind”, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” and “Maurice”. And amongst the worst - Polanski’s “Tess of the D’Urbevilles”.

What are your favourite or least favourite film adaptations of books? Which adaptations do you think are the best or the worst? Add a comment or email me and let’s see if we get a consensus or lots of different views!

Here are some pics from the Readings event on the Saturday afternoon, when I had the privilege of reading my work alongside talented, local writers.

Pic 4: With Sharanya Mannivanan, poet, and Eric Forbes
Pic 5: With Wong Pui Nam, celebrated playwright; Shan Mughalingam, well-known writer and his friend Christina
Pic 6: With Ted Mahsun, writer and blogger and his friend, Amina
Pic 7: With Mike, journalist for The Star and blogger
Pic 8: With Sharon Bakar, literary hub of the KL writing scene and Chet, writer
Pic 9: Reading from my work in progress

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I’m now back in London after a week in Kuala Lumpur and most importantly, I’m back at my computer and able to do fun things like upload photos and blog in writing about my whirlwind visit to my hometown.

Breakfast with Litbloggers

I will start off my series of written posts about my KL trip with a recap of the book events I was invited to in KL last Saturday. In the morning, I spoke at the inaugural meeting of the Breakfast with Litbloggers series organised by booksellers and book publishers, MPH. You can listen to my phoneblog (episode 6) about the event here. It seemed that anyone who was anyone in the blogging world was there - and I was thrilled that the latest UK-published Malaysian-writer Tan Twan Eng was also there. You can also read Sharon Bakar’s write up of the event over at her blog in her post Litbloggers Breakie and Yang-May for Breakfast - she also has some great photos, some of which I’ve reproduced below.

Pic 1: The Breakfast Club at MPH
Pic 2: With Eric Forbes, editor at MPH Publications
Pic 3: With Tan Twan Eng, author of The Gift of Rain

.

.