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Hilda’s Back On The Rampage!
In: Fiction|New Releases
13 Apr 2012
Hilda Hopkins, The Day Of The Mobots is out on Lulu and if they had an embed code that didn’t require Adobe Flash 8.00 which I have downloaded and installed umpteen times and still it all refuses to work, you could see it here. Lulu changed their set up recently and all my client’s addresses that I ship books to have been wiped. Do the geeks that rewrite the code actually think of anything other than making the code better? Like the impact their actions have on the people who use the programs? Methinks not, we are all too wrapped up in our own worlds to think of others’.
Anyway, Hilda is back and this time saving the world from some evil scientists and their creations. Soon to be released as an eBook via Smashwords and Kindle, so stay tuned!
2012 Miles-Franklin Longlist Announced
1 Apr 2012
On Wednesday 28 March they announced the Longlist for the 2012 Miles-Franklin Award and ‘Twenty Seven Seventy’ wasn’t among the chosen few. The list has just 13 out of the 61 entries. Of course there can be only one winner, or sometimes two. Next year! I will enter again and it will be a better novel. This entry was a rushed, NaNoWriMo effort and in need of some serious editing (since done). You can’t enter the top literary competition in the country and expect to win with a rough, unfinished novel. All grist for the mill of experience.
Hilda Hopkins Makes The Cover Of Machine Knitting Monthly
In: General
9 Mar 2012
Hilda Hopkins strikes again! As well as now being made available in paperback on Amazon.com in a three novella compendium (Murder She Knit, Bed & Burial and Domi-Knit-Rix) thanks to Create Space. This coincides with the fabulous coverage author Vivienne Fagan has received from Machine Knitting Monthly magazine, the biggest in the UK and probably the world on this topic. The Editor at MKM has been superb and so easy to work with. I guess it helps that Vivienne’s books have such a distinct ‘platform’ and that ties in totally with MKM but still the support given has been very encouraging for both author and publisher. The first book, ‘Murder She Knit’ is now free to download at Smashwords.com and will be serialized in MKM in coming months. We also plan to offer a complete collection of the novellas as a prize for a competition held by MKM. The coverage of which we speak is a mention on the cover and a huge spread inside the magazine which is on sale in the UK now and will be online in April as it is in the April edition. Buy a copy!
Next we will publish the second three volume compendium under the title ‘Hilda Hopkins, For Queen And Country’, containing that novel as well as M.I.Knits and Saints & Sinners. There is a seventh novella in production as we speak but even I haven’t gotten around to reading the draft!
Prime Minister’s Literary Award
In: Writing Contests
19 Jan 2012
‘Twenty Seven Seventy’ has been entered in the 2012 Prime Minister’s Literary Award. This prestigious award carries a first prize of $80,000. Of late, many in the literary world in Australia have commented how the major prizes are being passed around by a cabal of writers who seem to be taking all the major prizes and dominating the scene. Be that as it may, the only way to shift such a cabal, should it exist, is to write better novels and enter them in the competitions and challenge the grip of this clique.
A quick look at the winners of the Miles-Franklin, Prime Minister’s and various state Premier’s literary prizes in recent years will toss up many of the same names over and over. It is not unusual for Book A to win all the major prizes. Is this the fault of the author or the prize judges? Does this scream conspiracy or merely underline that if it was good enough to win Prize X then it should be no surprise it also won Prizes Y and Z.
We either sit and sulk or we get writing and then enter these competitions. As they say with the Lotto, you have to be in it to win it! Speaking of exclamation marks, I just got rid of nearly all the 467 I had in ‘The Cool Side Of The Pillow’. A 65,000 word novel with one exclamation mark every 139 words. I also fixed a few other ‘niggles’ and re-released it via Lulu and Create Space (Amazon) in paperback. It had to be done. I had been meaning to do justice to my first novel with a major revision and edit for years and finally got it done. The new edition is the novel I always wanted it to be.
I am editing and re-releasing all of of my titles now I have a better grasp of how to publish a decent book. Once they are all done I will get copies printed and then commence a sales tour of libraries and book shops, organise sales, signings and other promotional events. Should be fun!
Cool Side Revisited
In: Fiction
16 Jan 2012
After meaning to revisit my first novel, ‘The Cool Side Of The Pillow’ pretty much after the first, limited run edition was released in 2006, I finally got this done. It was a labour of love and really interesting to revisit a novel that meant so much to me when I wrote it and still means a lot to me today. I cringed at the semi-colon usage and the plethora of exclamation marks (467 in a 65,000 word novel). I fixed up some really awkward sentences and made a few things much clearer for the reader and above all else I was finally able to get rid of all the lines I had inserted between sections. I also sorted out the cover and while still using the lovely Michael Kauffman photo, I made sure the title was exclamation mark free at last.
I will release it through Lulu and also Create Space. It will be interesting to see how the two outfits print the same manuscript. Already, despite using Lulu’s US Trade template, the final file has a space between paragraphs that is not in the template. I have no idea how that happened in the transition from the uploaded file in their template to the finished file for printing. If it happens with Create Space I guess I just have to accept that is the fate of this novel. There will always be some formatting glitch. Don;t get me wrong, it still looks great and I fixed the typos of old, as well as anything else but it might not be the example of publishing perfection I wish it to be.
The next step is to sell it and I have a bold and cunning plan, but more of that soon.
Free Short Story Contest!
In: Writing Contests
13 Jan 2012
For those of you who would like the chance to be published both online and in print, for free, not to mention have your writing judged by experts, StreetWise Publications and The Word Shop have got together to offer the first annual Robert Gamsby Short Story Awards. Named in honour of my uncle Bob, himself a great writer of short stories, there is no entry fee charged and you can enter as many stories as you like in as many categories as you wish. The thing is, the judges are those of you who enter a story. This is a true peer reviewed competition. So if you enter one story you have to judge five others. If you enter two stories, then you will judge ten other stories and so on. There are two length divisions, Under 1,000 Words and 1,000 – 5,000 Words. Stories longer than 5,000 words will need volunteers to read them, or people who also have longish short stories.
The writing of a short story is a craft, an art form, a skill all its own. You need the five basic elements of setting, plot, characters, conflict and theme to be in there and yet half the skill is in knowing what to leave out. Judging will be like scoring a boxing match, you use a ten points must system. In other words a perfect story will get a perfect score of ten. Those that get enough tens, win their category. Winners will be published online, here and also offered in anthologies published as eBooks through Smashwords and distributed to all the major online stores as well as in paperback form through Lulu and Create Space. You can buy copies of the printed anthologies at cost plus shipping. They will be sold with the least markup allowed an any proceeds will go towards our expenses, no royalties will be paid. eBook copies can be downloaded in the format of your choice through smashwords as I will issue a coupon code for a 100% discount and you can ‘buy’ them from there.
The aim is to write, be read and get published so that you have a body of work you can refer to when promoting yourself and your writing. And have fun along the way, not to mention read some great stories and judge them, as you would want to be judged. The scoring criteria are:
1: Was this a good story? Yes 2 points, No 1 point
2: Was it well written? Yes 2 points, No 1 point
3: Did you wish you had written it? Yes 2 points, No 1 point
4: Was it properly presented, spelling, grammar, punctuation etc? Yes 2 points, No 1 point
5: Would you pay $0.99 for a book of ten stories of this standard? Yes 2 points, No 1 point
Scoring will be like boxing on a ten points must system. So all stories start off with ten points then lose a point if the five criteria are not met. Worst case should be a 5 . If there are a few perfect scores in a category then we go by how many judges scored it that high. We will add up the scores for each story then average them by the number of judgings. If it gets any more complicated then that we will award a shared prize or offer them up for a re-read.
You can start submitting entries using the Submissions page on this site. If you somehow get your own story back to judge, do the right thing and score it perfectly… I mean let me know and I will send you another ripping yarn in its place.
Discounts Galore!
In: General
10 Jan 2012
Every title other than the runaway best selling success Hilda Hopkins series is discounted for purchase through Smashwords eBooks! When you order, include the Coupon Code with each title and enjoy discounts ranging from 10% to 50%!
Anak! YT25H Was $1.99 Now $1.49
Ashes Of Time ST64Y Was $1.99 Now $0.99
Icicles And A Warm Breeze XD35H Was $2.99 Now $1.50
Twenty Seven Seventy BV27J Was $1.99 Now $1.49
StreetWise Philippines series all 20% OFF!
Platforms Pay!
In: Fiction
2 Jan 2012
The first question many agents and publishers ask a writer is ‘What’s your platform?’ They mean, who are you aiming the book at? Who will buy it? It pays to have a platform and with Vivienne Fagan and the Hilda Hopkins series, it is either knitters or serial killers. Just kidding. Hilda is a senior lady, toad like according to Viv, who is a machine knitting whizz. She knits little figurines of her murder victims among other things. So when we decided to test market the series as it had reached five books and was about to have a sixth added (see below), we were fortunate enough to be given a chance to talk about Hilda on a knitting web site. Well, not just any knitting web site but arguably one of the most prestigious knitting web sites on the web, which always helps of course. Our new very best friend Sue Jalowiec at Knit It Now kindly gave Hilda a leg up over a wall and she is now off and running, as usual. This time, instead of escaping the clutches of PC Barbara Grey she is racing up our sales charts!
The response from the knitting readers of Knit It Now dot Com has been wonderful. Many of them have ordered all six eBooks at once. At just $1.99 they are great value and excellent reads. We have some nice reviews and of course, a growing fan base. We plan to reward the fan base with some genuine Hilda Hopkins knitting patterns, even how to knit a ladder to escape from your cell with! We’ll leave her signature ligature, the hand knitted garotte, I don’t think our insurers would like that. If nothing else this terrific response thanks to the blog post has proven the concept that you will sell more overall if you offer a series of books from the same author, especially if they have the same main characters and develop a loyal fan base. It has also proven what we already knew, that targeted marketing is the key and that means you have to know your target audience, in other words, have a platform.
Saints And Sinners In Time For Xmas!
In: Fiction
19 Dec 2011
The sixth Hilda Hopkins crime thriller, ‘Hilda Hopkins, Saints And Sinners’ is now out in time for Xmas, but only if you live in the USA or UK. The rest of her fans have to wait until either the week between Xmas and New Year’s or 2012 itself! Nevertheless, it is worth the wait… for the print copy. Of course the eBook is available even at 2am December 25 while you can hear the fat guy squeezing himself down your chimney!
Sixth Hilda Hopkins In Production!
In: Fiction
18 Dec 2011
The sixth Hilda Hopkins machine knitting serial killing crime thriller, ‘Saints And Sinners’ is in production as you read this! The manuscript was delivered in a machine knitted valise just the other day and is undergoing proofing, editing and formatting and will be published before Christmas! While eBook versions will be available as last minute Xmas gifts, print copies will have to wait for the new year.
Not giving anything away but this time things get pretty serious! Shotguns, bank robbers, hostage taking, it all happens and of course our anti-heroine Hilda is right in the thick of it. Stay tuned!
