Inheritance of Time: Alison Weir's book launch at the Tower of London

Regular readers will know how keen I am on history and historical fiction, so I was delighted when Alison Weir invited me to the launch of her new book, A Dangerous Inheritance, at the Tower of London on Wednesday evening. For many years, Alison has been famous for her numerous books on history, covering subjects from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry VII's wives. A few years ago, she started writing historical fiction too, her first novel, Innocent Traitor, being about the nine days' queen, Lady Jane Grey. Her close knowledge of the period has of course lent all her novels authority, plus readers are always keen on the 'what might have happened' possibilities of history. Her latest has two central characters: Katherine Grey, imprisoned in the Tower like her ill-fated sister Jane, and Kate Plantagenet, the illegitimate daughter of Richard III, who has set herself the task of finding out what happened to the Princes in the Tower, seeking to clear her father's name of the crime of murdering them. The two time periods and the supernatural hints put me in mind of Barbara Erskine.

As in her other novels and in much of popular historical fiction, Alison explores the position of women in times of threat and oppression: women who are married off or discarded at will, women who are expected to breed or not breed as the politics of the time demands, women who are expected to be passive even when treated cruelly and unjustly, women who are victims of dynastic struggle.

The launch was held in a gorgeous room in the New Armouries building of the Tower and it was extremely well attended: Alison clearly has legions of loyal fans. She talked fascinatingly about the research she's done for the novel and of her view of the two main characters, interspersing this with readings. Kate Plantagenet is the more obscure, less-documented character. The benefit of this is that Alison has had more scope to imagine what she was like and what actions she might have taken, whereas Katherine Grey's life is much more fully recorded. Clearly Alison sympathises with both, but with perhaps a slight note of impatience towards Katherine Grey, who probably wasn't the brightest of bunnies compared with her formidably learned sister. What does create enormous sympathy, though, is how young these girls were when dreadful events overtook them. This reminded me of the unfortunate Katherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife, whose air-headedness brought her to the block. In another era, she'd have just been yet another giggling girl, with her fads and fancies and promiscuity, and eventually she'd have grown up and settled down - only she wasn't given the chance.

Alison went on to talk about writing historical fiction in general and engaged in a lively question and answer session with her audience. She discussed the perennial problem of diction in historical fiction - the tension between two many prithees and a jarringly modern tone, agreeing that it's impossible to please everyone with the language you choose. She talked of the joys of switching between history and fiction and how she's getting more used to using a 'dollop of imagination', while at the same time making sure it's an 'informed imagination'. She told us how her agent said at one point 'You've got to come off the fence and stop being a historian and start being a novelist.' She never loses her love of research, the desire to find out, the desire to base her ideas on evidence. With regard to future topics for her history books, she said 'I don't count sheep at night, I count subjects I can write about!' Before signing books and chatting to fans, she declared 'It's lovely to be let out to do events' after the solitary writing process.

Afterwards, I took the opportunity to stroll around the Tower site. Scroll down to view some of the photos I took: I was particularly struck by how the views blended ancient and modern - a plane heading for Heathrow passing by the weathervanes on the White Tower, Tower Bridge in the background with the giant Olympic rings hanging from it, the very striking glass sculpture etched with the names of those who were beheaded on Tower Green, the sign inviting us to visit Torture at the Tower, the gleaming pyramid of the Shard seen beyond the half-timbered house where Guy Fawkes was questioned. Everything neat, manicured, signposted for tourists, and yet chilling. That tidy lawn saw executions. That tower saw imprisonment of despairing souls. That gate on the water let in those who would never depart. It's a fantastic tourist attraction - but we should all feel more than a delicious shiver at the thought of the past's dark deeds. The raven himself was hoarse that flapped down past me to land on the Information booth ...

Arch under the Bloody Tower

Traitor's Gate

Attracting an agent and agent attractions, Winchester Writers' Conference 2012

Authors come to writers' conferences not only to network with one another and learn writing techniques but to encounter agents and editors. The annual Writers' Conference at the University of Winchester is no exception. Last weekend, hundreds of delegates attended workshops, Masters' Courses, lectures and the conference's famous and hugely popular One-to-One appointments. During my One-to-Ones, where I gave advice on editing and submitting, the fifteen-minute changeovers were signalled by a conference volunteer barking 'Five minutes!', then 'Changeover NOW!' with all the relish of a sergeant-major.

I was there not only to have One-to-Ones but to run my Making Memorable Scenes Masters' Course on Friday and deliver my talk Cracking Openings to a packed room on Saturday. Apart from the usual intense networking, I try to get to a couple of lectures as well. This year, I attended talks given by two agents, Becky Bagnell and David Headley, the latter in conjunction with his client, author Adrian Magson. Both Becky and David were keen to demonstrate the value of an agent to a writer: I don't think that's in doubt when it comes to negotiating contracts, interpreting royalty statements or leaning on publishers who don't play ball with their writers. I also feel that one of the great strengths of an agent - or any agent worth his or her salt - is knowledge of the market and of editors' individual likes and interests at any one time. An agent who can look at your script and envisage the perfect home for it is going to target your submission far more effectively than you can yourself.

Becky was highly-animated, enthusiastic, friendly. She gave the sort of submission package advice - letter/synopsis/three chapters - that every writer should be familiar with. She has come from the world of publishing herself, having been an editor, and it was clear that she feels a lot of passion and will really get behind a book she cares about. However, there were some salutary moments among the glee, so take note. She receives around fifteen scripts a day, so even though you're submitting three chapters, she will probably make a judgement call on the first 1-3 pages. If she's going to reject, she needs 'to reject as quickly as possible'. This is perfectly reasonable: she's an agent looking for a saleable commodity, not an adoring best mate, not an editor who is paid to put in effort to see the gold within the dross and make sure it shines through. She will look, judge, move on. Earlier that day I'd said in my talk how crucial it is to get the opening right because readers in bookshops make quick judgements, as do Kindle readers who've downloaded their free samples. Here too is the stress on the quick return on the reader's investment of attention. Scary, but there it is. Hone that opening!

Becky reads those first three pages and will read on if, and only if 'a world is opening up', because she says 'an agent is looking for any reason to reject' (to hear that sentiment echoed, read Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages). She wants to believe in the world the writer creates, with its characters and setting and she expects something to intrigue her. She says the sales team at a publishing house will ask 'What's the hook?' What's yours?

When I'm critiquing or editing submissions, I start with the opening chapters and I make it my policy not to look at the synopsis initially, on the grounds that the reader won't have a synopsis sitting there to nudge them towards understanding or make them see the opening in terms of the whole. If they're going to be confused, bored or exasperated, it will happen in the opening - and no wonderful synopsis will ever solve that. Becky also does this, only reading the synopsis to confirm that the engaging opening has the potential to maintain interest as a whole story. She advises your synopsis should be no more than one side long, introducing the main characters, telling a mini-story. If both opening and synopsis have worked for her, she'll return to the covering letter to get a sense of you, the writer, so in your letter remember to include any personal experience that led you to write your book and any writing credentials you have. Don't ever say 'My Mum loves it!'

Even if you are rejected, Becky says you should feel that 'any feedback is an achievement' and reiterates what we all know: that publishers are risk-averse. During both agent talks, members of the audience wanted to know what was going to be hot in the market (apart from hyperventilating unarousing erotica currently riding high in the sales-charts, of course ...) - Becky's view is that it's easier to sell children's books and that historical fiction for the children's market is being requested.

David Headley, on the other hand, feels the children's market is saturated, so he doesn't take on children's writers. So you see, you've got to shop around. Talking of shops, what makes David very interesting as an agent is that, unlike Becky, he has come from the world of bookselling. He runs Goldsboro Books in London - in fact, I blogged about his History in the Court event last autumn and he has Crime in the Court upcoming, on July 3rd, with an amazing roster of authors appearing.

His bookselling background gives David a commercial outlook. His entire talk was sprinkled with the words 'commercial', 'return' and 'market'. Quite right, you may say: this is a business and he clearly sees it as such and is upfront about it. If there is no potential for reward there is no motivation. He didn't mince words about this or about anything else. He thinks self-publishing will burn out because so many are doing it that nobody can stand out, so there will be a return to traditional publishing. He says he works very hard with his client, seeing the novel through as many drafts as it takes before sending it out. His client Adrian Magson was clearly happy with their relationship: there was a lot of laddish joshing going on. However, be warned. He receives around 400 submissions a month and is not interested unless he can see some 'edge' and unless a writer is prepared to trust him and work with him. 'You have to change what the publisher wants changed' and you have to be able to produce two books a year if need be. Woah there! Here's a potential problem both for unknown writers and those who are established, whether traditionally or independently. You as writer strive to create an appetite for your work, but once you've created it you discover it's voracious, an open maw constantly gaping to be filled. Can you do this? I think that with industry and professionalism you can, if you're writing genre fiction where there is a clear model for your work and the elements your reader expects to see in it. But this doesn't apply to all writers, all books. Some stories need a long time to grow and if rushed, they end up pale and leggy like forced plants in a greenhouse.

On a more positive note, David says 'Nothing will stop me reading a good story' - this is the bottom line for all of us. Writing - and reading - damn good stories.

So, what comes out of all this? Yes, there are the usual depressing references to how hard the market is, how cautious the publishers, how genre-oriented the bookshops. As David says, 'You cannot be precious as a writer.' You're entering a world of business, with business-values, not a hobby-group. Agents tell you to write the book that's dear to your heart, then tell you to be market-aware, malleable, commercial, inhumanly productive. They predict upcoming fads in fiction, they spout contradictory messages ...

But in spite of it all, there's hope: key to these talks was my feeling that somewhere, for all of us, is the right agent. One-to-ones and agent-appearances are a kind of speed-dating. They give you the chance to weigh up a potential relationship. Instinct will tell you if you're likely to get along or whether the chemistry isn't there. Write the right book, find the right agent, trust the agent to find the right publisher. Repeat as necessary.

Easy, eh?

Finally, it was a joy, as ever, to meet up with some lovely people at Winchester, to hug old friends, to read new manuscripts, to confirm once again that we writers never quite break free of our dreams, our addiction to writing, no matter what - and that even jaded editors and agents have their dreams too: of THE book, the book that will inspire instant passion - and earn a lot of bucks for its bang.

Four key lessons about writing, editing, publishing and marketing

Trinity College Oxford

Last month I ran four Fictionfire courses here in Oxford, designed to guide writers through all the stages of producing a book, from sourcing first ideas through to marketing. These courses were ambitious in their scope and intense to say the least but all those who attended came away feeling they'd learned a great deal and I learned - or at least reinforced my awareness of - some lessons myself, which I want to share with you.

1   Write the thing! It's easy to get carried away by the notion of selling books and making millions (hollow laugh) but you need to create the story first. This will involve hard graft and commitment - no way round it. You also need to be open to learning and honing your writing skills. Remember, writing is the apprenticeship that never ends.

Oxford's Radcliffe Square, looking stunning on a May morning

2   Once it's written, you have to make it the very best it can be. That first draft is just the start: you must find the self-discipline and dedication to revise it, over and over, bringing in editorial help if need be. If you want to be proud of your work, you need to think like a professional. That means being able to take criticism and suggestions. It means cutting your beloved prose so that the shape of your story can shine through. It means checking every apostrophe. It means going an extra mile. And then another.

3   Don't shut the door to any publishing options. If you're afraid of the digital world, don't be. But don't allow yourself to be herded into the e-publishing corral if you feel it's not the right place for you. Exciting developments have taken place in the past couple of years and they've happened at a dizzying pace. This is wonderful. But it's not for everybody, this e-publishing, self-publishing business. If you're a fan of digital, don't blind yourself to what traditional publishing may still be able to offer you. The key word is options: there are more possibilities open to you than ever before. You choose what's right for you.

4   It's never too early to think about how to market your book. Whether you've chosen traditional publishing or self-publishing, you need to start making contacts and building relationships not just with potential customers but with bloggers, reviewers, fellow writers, reading groups - people who can put the word out about your book. You need also to have a clear sense of what your book is, what it offers the reader and who that reader might be. Think about genre and readership. Think about comparable books/authors. I, for instance, will market The Chase when I republish it, as 'Daphne du Maurier meets Joanne Harris', because it contains mystery and sensory richness, it's set in rural France, it's about people haunted by the past and it's steeped in a sense of place.

Guest speaker Ali Luke

I'd like to thank all the wonderful course attendees for their enthusiasm and stamina! I've loved hearing about the 'Aha!' moments of realisation they experienced and one person has declared that the courses took her 'from desperation to determination'. I also want to give wholehearted thanks to the inspirational Ali Luke of Aliventures and Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn. Their presentations during the second week were fantastic: so well-illustrated, informative, encouraging and exciting!

Guest speaker Joanna Penn

It's summer now (another hollow laugh), so I'm hoping to get down to some of my own writing, making progress with my new novel. I will be running more Focus Workshops at the end of the summer and will post details of these as soon as they are organised. If you're interested in my courses or workshops, please contact me at info@fictionfire.co.uk  - and let me know if there are any particular topics you'd like me to cover. You can also find details of my manuscript appraisal, editing and mentoring services on my website, www.fictionfire.co.uk.

My next teaching gig will be at the Winchester Writers' Conference: I'll be running a Masters' Course, Making Memorable Scenes, on 22nd June and giving a talk on writing Cracking Openings on 23rd June, followed by a day-long workshop on dialogue on 28th June. I may well see you there!

Write, Edit, Publish and Market your Book in an Inspiring Oxford College Setting

Trinity College Gardens

As there's only one week to go before I close bookings for Write It! and Edit It!, I thought I'd take you on a little tour of Trinity College, the wonderful venue for my Fictionfire day courses. You can discover more historical details about Trinity on the college's own website and on my Course Venue and Directions page, but I prefer to devote this blogpost to entrancing you with photos taken when the weather was kinder than it has been for the past few weeks!

Clarendon Building and Bodleian Library

Jackson Building, Trinity

Trinity College is on Broad Street, just along from the world-famous Blackwell's Bookshop, where you can browse at lunchtime and after your Fictionfire course finishes. It's also very close to the Sheldonian Theatre and the Bodleian Library. Oxford is a wonderful place to stroll around. I've lived here for decades and even now some tiny architectural detail will suddenly announce itself or I'll feel that rush of delight and sense of privilege that I actually live here! Writers who attend my courses can come for the day or stay longer in Oxford in order to steep themselves in the city's unique atmosphere, and feel as if they've strayed into the pages of Brideshead Revisited or Northern Lights, or wandered onto the set of Lewis. In fact, last year, an episode of Lewis was actually being filmed at Trinity while I was running a course and one of my students inadvertently strayed across Kevin Whately's eyeline and was glared at!

Trinity Gardens

Oxford has always been a city of inspiration, partly because of the sense, somehow, that you're on a retreat. You enter college gates, cross a quadrangle or two, mount the stairs to a wood-panelled room ... and the world, the real everyday world, fades away. Oxford is still a place of complacency and exclusivity, it's true - but it's also a place where reading, thinking, staring into space, formulating ideas, refining words, designing arguments and structures are all valued. Oxford in fiction opens routes into other worlds, worlds of the imagination - whether you knock on a front door in Hobbiton or pass through a wardrobe into Narnia or tumble down a rabbit-hole into Wonderland.

The Sutro Room

Grinling Gibbons carving in Trinity Chapel

I chose the Sutro Room at Trinity because I felt it had a wonderfully serene yet inspiring quality. It's on the first floor, with views of the chapel and front quad, and beside an archway which leads to Trinity's renowned gardens. It's a room associated with literary figures such as Graham Greene, with some fascinating artwork, letters and literary editions on display, as you'll see if you join us.

So, let me tempt you! On 19th May my Write it! course is designed to encourage you to explore your motivation,  bring characters to life, write good dialogue, compose your plot and create atmosphere with your setting. Everything an aspiring novelist needs, from finding ideas to finishing that first draft.

Trinity Chapel

On 20th May Edit It! will cover how to revise and polish your work before getting it ready to submit to agents and publishers.

Publish It! on 26th May will help you choose whether to aim for traditional or independent publication. We'll see what traditional publishers can still offer to writers and how the the publication process works. We'll examine how you can publish your own work in e-book and print formats.

Market It! on the 27th will advise you how to create your author 'platform' and how best to build a loyal readership and promote your work effectively.

Trinity Dining Hall

For Publish It! and Market It! I'm delighted that Ali Luke of Aliventures and Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn will be joining me. They have a wealth of totally up-to-date knowledge of the fast-moving and exciting digital publishing world to share with you and both are dynamic, enthusiastic speakers. You can find out more about them on my website at Course Dates and Details.

Finally, here's a very important note: I will close bookings for Write It! and Edit It! on the 17th May and for Publish It! and Market It! on the 24th, so don't leave it too long! Cross over to the site, read through full details at Course Dates and Details and make your booking!

Let Oxford cast its spell of inspiration over you. Pass through the doorway to another world ...

Above the entrance to the Sutro Room

The setting was superb. (Liz C)


I very much enjoyed the Fictionfire day last Saturday, because it was the right balance for me of stimulating teaching, having a go at writing and meeting other people with their unique perspectives. (Sarah D.)


Thank you so much for a really informative day! Not a second was wasted and I learned heaps about plotting which let me see the shape of my own work more clearly. Also, I appreciated the relaxed atmosphere in the class - there really was no pressure. (E.G.)

Why Every Self-Publishing Author Needs an Editor - Ali Luke of Aliventures Guest-posts

Why Every Self-Publishing Author Needs an Editor

Over the past couple of years, self-publishing (often called “indie publishing”) has finally become a legitimate option for novelists. With big time authors like Jackie Collins turning to self-publishing – plus previously-unknowns like Amanda Hocking and John Locke becoming hugely successful – you may be making plans to self-publish your own novel.

Inspired by Joanna Penn’s experiences with indie-publishing, in 2011, I brought out my first novel, Lycopolis, as an ebook; I’ve just released it as a print-on-demand paperback too. One critical part of my plan was to get the book professionally edited. (By Lorna, who did a fantastic job; you can find her editing services on her Fictionfire site.)

Here’s why you need an editor if you’re going to self-publish.

You Want Your Novel to Be as Good as Possible

In the fast-paced world of ebooks, print-on-demand, blogs and social media, it might well feel like you’re already behind. Maybe you’ve watched, a little enviously, as other authors have pumped out book after book and found success.

However tempting it is, don’t decide that your manuscript is “good enough” and put it online during a free weekend. You want your novel to be as good as it can possibly be, before you launch it to the world. Yes, it’s relatively easy to update an ebook or print-on-demand book – but you really want those first few readers to love your book. (That way, they’ll write reviews, tell their friends, and help you get the marketing ball rolling.)

I know that Lycopolis wouldn’t be receiving nearly such a good reception without Lorna’s hard work. She suggested cutting the manuscript considerably; in the end, I cut it down from 135,000 words to 85,000. “Fast paced” has come up in a lot of reviews and comments, and I know that’s thanks to her advice – the novel wouldn’t be receiving nearly such good feedback if it had stayed at its original bloated length.

Your Readers Expect High Standards

When you buy a traditionally-published novel, you expect certain standards. If the latest Joanne Harris or Alexander McCall Smith book was full of typos and mistakes, you’d be justifiably annoyed. It’s hard to read through misspelt words, missing quotation marks, or characters whose names change mid-way ... these sorts of slips jolt you out of the story.

As an independent author, you’re in charge of both the writing and the publishing. If you do your job well, many of the readers who buy your book may not even realise it’s been independently published – so don’t expect them to cut you any slack.

I’ve read lots of great self-published novels. I’ve also read a few that could’ve been great, but that had distracting mistakes (from stylistic slips to misspellings). I know how hard it is to get everything right on your own – which is why it makes so much sense to hire an editor.

Beta-Readers (Generally) Aren’t Professionals

You might worry that the investment in editing isn’t going to be worth it: after all, can’t you just get a few friends to look over your manuscript? In the indie publishing world, you’ll often hear authors talk about their “beta-readers”. These people play a role a little like beta-testers in the software industry, checking out a pre-release version of a novel for any problems and offering feedback.

Beta-readers do a fantastic job, and I’ve had hugely valuable feedback from mine (two writing groups). They can usually help you spot any major problems, like plot holes, or inconsistent characterisation and style. On a micro level, eagle-eyed beta readers may well pick up on typos, spelling mistakes, and factual errors.

However ... beta-readers aren’t generally professional authors or editors. It would be unreasonable of you to expect them to spend the same amount of time on your novel as a paid editor would. You may well be showing your novel to them piecemeal, if you belong to a writers’ group, making it hard for them to assess overall issues like structure and pace. While their feedback is very valuable during the drafting process, it doesn’t replace the need for a keen editorial eye once you reach your almost-final draft.

Whatever stage you’re at with your work-in-progress, think about how you might invest in editing. If you can’t afford to pay to have the whole of your magnum opus edited, you could get the first three chapters critiqued. (Even if you don’t decide to go down the self-publishing route, professional editing could make the difference between a polite “no thanks” from an agent and a request for your full manuscript.)

Having my novel edited gave me the confidence to publish it, knowing it was as good as it could be. I’m thrilled now to be getting reviews that make it really clear to me just how valuable that editing was.

Ali Luke is currently on a virtual book tour for her novel Lycopolis, a fast-paced supernatural thriller centred on a group of online role-players who summon a demon into their game ... and into the world. Described by readers as "a fast and furious, addictive piece of escapism" and "absolutely gripping", Lycopolis is available in print and ebook form. Find out more at www.lycopolis.co.uk.

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Lycopolis-ebook/dp/B0068R6GAC

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lycopolis-ebook/dp/B0068R6GAC

Do you want to hear Ali speak in person?

I'm delighted that Ali will be joining me, along with Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn, for two information-packed day courses I'm running at Trinity College, Oxford next month. The first is Publish It! on the 26th May - we'll be helping you to set and achieve your publishing goals: do you want to pursue a traditional route to publication or do you want to publish independently? There's never been a more exciting time for writers, with the freedom to choose from a variety of avenues to publication, but this variety can seem overwhelming. I'll be talking about mainstream publishing and Joanna and Ali, as successful independent publishers, will share their personal experiences and the lessons they've learned along the way. We'll  give you a wealth of  practical advice to help you make the right choice for you and to maximise your chances of success. 

On 27th May, the course is titled Market It!: we'll be sharing advice and information about how to publicise your work, whether you've opted for the traditional or independent route. We'll explore all the online and offline opportunities open to you to connect with readers and spread the word. It doesn't matter how wonderful your book is, if no one knows it exists it's going to languish in obscurity. We'll show you how to bring it out into the light.

Trinity College, Oxford

Of course, you can neither publish nor publicise unless you have a book written and in the best, most polished state for bringing to a readership, so during the weekend of 19th and 20th May, I'll be running Write It! and Edit It! which will teach you how to construct your novel and then revise it. Full details of these courses, the speakers and the venue can be found on my website here.

Discounts are available if you book more than one course.

Don't leave it too late to book! Booking for Write It! and Edit It! will close Thursday 17th May and for Publish It! and Market It! on Thursday 24th May. If you have any questions do please contact me at info@fictionfire.co.uk or call 07827 455723. I do hope you can join us!

London Book Fair and the launch of The Alliance of Independent Authors

The publishing industry year is punctuated by various beanfeasts and bonanzas, including the London Book Fair. As a writer, I've always felt that it wouldn't be appropriate or useful to attend, as the Fair is all about wheeling and dealing amongst publishing folks and agents. Strange, though, isn't it, that writers, who produce the material these deals will be based on, feel like interlopers, when it's the products of their imagination and commitment that provide the raw material for the deals?

This, though, is an industry engaged in looking at the future, with a rabbit-caught-in-headlights expression. It's trying to adjust to the speed of change: digital proliferation, digital rights management, the power of Amazon, the influence of Google ...

For writers, there has been change too. In some ways, disastrous change, in that we've seen publishers become more and more risk-averse, more and more governed by sales figures, more and more in thrall to the power of the supermarkets. Writers have been dropped because sales figures are not good enough. Writers are not taken on because the publishing house can't afford to take a punt on them. Writers are dashing their skulls against the barriers of the industry or sitting at home counting their proliferating grey hairs.

Orna Ross

Or are they? The times they are a'changing and no mistake. Reader, I went to the London Book Fair this year, for the very first time. And I had a blast. The trigger for my visit was the official launch of The Alliance of Independent Authors. Now, that's an irony for a start, isn't it? Orna Ross, an award-winning novelist who has set up the Alliance, chose to do so at the heart of the Book Fair: we were in a room that looked down on the vast arena of publishers' stands, with the low buzz of it rising up to us as we celebrated the power of independence and freedom for us, as writers, to bring our words to the public in the manner of our choosing.

Joanna Penn

Orna introduced two panel discussions. The first was chaired by Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn: industry professionals set out their stalls, trying to woo us with the services they can offer. There was a pretty hyped transatlantic tone to this - the verbal equivalent of punching the air. Tom Kephart of Amazon's CreateSpace advised writers to include as much effective metadata in the descriptions of their books as possible, to help with visibility (or that clumsy word 'discoverability'). Teresa Pereira of print-on-demand service Blurb UK stressed that writers often want print versions as well as electronic versions of their books available. She referred to the recent biography of Apple's Steve Jobs and how readers wanted the portability of the e-version but the production values of the hardback too. Michael Tamblyn of Kobo (which supplies its e-readers to WH Smith's), told us that 7-10% of the books they now deliver are self-published. He said they were looking at making it possible for authors to comment on their own books - having marginal notes, for instance, explaining what they were thinking when they wrote a particular paragraph. Hmn. As if writing the bleedin' thing isn't enough, we now have to analyse our meaning and motivation - when probably all we were doing was thinking of when we could justifiably stop for a coffee and a Kit-Kat!

Linda Gillard

A panel discussion of authors, chaired by Sam Missingham of The Bookseller, followed. This featured Scottish writer John Logan, who self-published after far too many years of 'rave rejections', along with Dan Holloway from Oxford, who ploughs a highly-individualistic furrow with his writing, enjoying experimentation, interaction and the 'freedom to fail'. Joni Rodgers, a vibrant Texan, has experienced both traditional publishing and independent publishing. She was amazingly confident, an absolute hoot. She sees the New York publishing industry as being obsessed with celebrity and says the hallmark of self-publishing will be when it becomes 'the high ground of creative risk-takers'. Then there was our own Linda Gillard (I've just featured her on Literascribe): she's making a satisfying living from self-publishing after being dropped as a mid-list author by her traditional publisher. She reinforced the message that indie publishing is ideal if you don't write in a particular genre, if you want to tackle different types of novel. There was a fascinating discussion of pricing strategies and how authors can experiment with different price-points to gain the best returns. Sam Missingham pointed out the irony that people will happily pay £2.50 for a greetings card yet balk at paying that for an entire e-book. Linda reminded us that the royalty rate in traditional publishing is poor.

In the question and answer session afterwards, the panel members were asked about reviews. Linda feels book reviews don't really sell books anyway. Alison Baverstock, course leader for the Master's in Publishing at Kingston University, highlighted that respected book-bloggers can have a huge influence and Amazon's Tom Kephart stressed the importance of good customer reviews. It was agreed that writers have always had to do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of promotion, whether traditionally published or not. The tricky thing, as Joni reminded us, is protecting writing time and resisting the temptation to 'pull the trigger' prematurely when putting work out there.

Some writers have of course made the news by generating enormous income as indie writers and then doing deals with traditional publishers. (You may remember my interviews with Mark Edwards and Louise Voss last year - they e-published their thrillers Catch your Death and Killing Cupid before landing a contract with HarperCollins.) Linda and Joni both want nothing further to do with traditional publishing, and you often hear the question these days - what can publishers offer us that we can't do for ourselves? However, I do think that writers and publishers don't need to hide behind opposing ramparts, firing off pot-shots at one another. We should all be working together to advocate reading and bookselling. Orna says that the Alliance is all about 'collaboration, connection, contact' and that writing books is 'like football. You've got the Premier League - that doesn't stop you kicking a ball about the garden.' Historically, there's been a lot of snootiness with regard to self-publishing and God knows, there's a lot of dross out there and a lot of dross being encouraged by ease of access to publishing services. But there's a lot of great material out there too, material denied a platform because of market/industry dictats and limitations. I have had the experience of traditional publishing with a highly-respected publisher (Bloomsbury) with whom I was proud to be associated. The harsh reality is that any writer's time in the sun is limited because publishers and booksellers produce and display work briefly and then move on. Self-publishing allows you to take advantage of the 'long tail' of possible sales. It gives you freedom, it does away with the agony of waiting for responses, it gives you control over your income. Traditional publishing still gives you validation and kudos and it gives you access to bookshops, and foreign rights deals you might not be able to garner for yourself. Linda finds self-publishing is 'a way of making friends', Dan sees it as a way of being 'true', Joni talks of 'artistic freedom'. But it doesn't have to be a case of either/or. Orna wants writers to be seen as 'partners' in publishing, not as 'a resource to be mined'. If you buy a hybrid car, you can choose to power it with electricity or petrol. What's truly truly exciting for writers now is that we can choose a hybrid career, publishing independently or traditionally as it suits us. As it suits us. Suits me!

If you want to see and hear more about the launch of ALLIA, here's the link to Joanna Penn's video of interviews with those attending.

 Here is the link to a fascinating and lively interview she and Orna took part in on Radio Litopia - and if you want to find out more about the Alliance and how to join, just click on the button in the sidebar of this blog.

Remember, if you're a writer just starting out, you've finished your book and want to edit it or you're ready to take your book to the market, my upcoming Fictionfire courses, two of which I'm running with Joanna Penn, will offer you practical advice and inspiration.

Write It! will cover all the elements of composing your story, from finding ideas to finishing your first draft.

Edit It! will teach you crucial techniques for polishing and presenting your work effectively.

Joanna Penn of TheCreativePenn.com and Ali Luke of Aliventures.com will join me for Publish It!, where you'll learn to set and achieve your publishing goals, and Market It!, where we'll show you all the exciting online and offline opportunities for you to publicise and sell your work.

Trinity College

Full details of these courses are on the Course Dates and Details page of my website: www.fictionfire.co.uk and there are discounts if you wish to book more than one course. The courses run on 19th, 20th, 26th and 27th May at Trinity College Oxford - so don't leave it too long to make your booking!

Linda Gillard: Hearts and Crafts and Independence

I've just finished Emotional Geology, the third of Linda Gillard's novels I've read and enjoyed - the others being House of Silence and Untying the Knot. Linda has recently been setting us a fine example as a mid-list novelist who, having been dropped by her publisher, has proved that it's perfectly possible to be a successful indie writer and publisher. Her original publisher was worried when she wanted to experiment with genre: this is a very common problem with publishers who want writers to 'brand' themselves in a limited way. So, if you write thrillers you can't write rom-coms. If you have too many genre-elements in your novel, the bookseller 'won't know where to put you on the shelves' - this was said to me once when a publisher who 'loved' my writing wouldn't buy my book unless I chose to focus on one of the elements she perceived in my story and one only, and revise the book accordingly. I refused to fillet my book in that way. I sold my novel later, all the same.

This attitude is not only galling to writers, but patronising towards readers, as if the poor dears can't cope with too many elements at once. Readers, actually, are often bored out of their minds by the same-old same-old on the tables in bookshops. Readers want to be startled, refreshed, amazed, enraptured. Readers want writers they've fallen in love with to write books which have the capacity to take them by surprise. They want to be gripped: they don't want a rushed pot-boiler written to order, following the same jaded recipe as the previous three, ten or twenty books that novelist has written.

This is not to say that writers can't happily plough the same furrow all their writing career: what this is about is giving writers the freedom to veer off that course if they choose. Linda Gillard has achieved this freedom: her next story will be a supernatural story, because that's what she feels like producing. She's already decided to pull it from submission to traditional publishers. She has a loyal fanbase of readers who will follow her because they like her writing, no matter which nominal genre it seems to fall into.

So what have I enjoyed in Linda's writing? Heart, first of all. She has a warm and vibrant interest in what makes men and women tick. Her heroines are challenged by being outcast or ill, by being middle-aged in a youth-dominated culture. They are highly individual, creative and frequently troubled. They are scarred by memory. They fear but they also risk. They have children, grown up, with whom they conduct a loving war of the generations. They love the colours and tactile joys of textiles: they express imagination and feeling through shape and texture, finding creativity soothing and affirming when life knocks them off their feet. They commune with nature, are uplifted and healed by it in a way that any Romantic poet would relate to. They have men: and I mean it, dear reader - they have men. Linda's heroines are full of passion and longing, yet they fear to trust, because the men who awake that burning lust in them are imperfect. Her men are sexy, they talk a lot, they are strong and weak, they carry baggage from the past and they don't always handle that baggage - or the baggage they fancy - all that well.

Linda writes about imperfection: her characters are always human and frequently haunted (in Untying the Knot literally so). Her writing veers from high comedy to pathos to tragedy and back again. Her stories are sustained by the beauty of the descriptions of the landscapes and by the vigour of the sparky dialogue. She is popular because women, grown-up women, are her focus - and grown-up women are looking for grown-up books which will engage them and satisfy them. Commentators on Facebook even weigh up which of her heroes, her imperfect yet chivalrous heroes, is their favourite.

Calum for me, by the way ...

So far ...

Linda's website(with gorgeous photographs) is here.

If you're a writer and you're considering going indie, The Alliance of Independent Authors is officially launching at the London Book Fair on Wednesday 18th April (check the link button on the sidebar of this blog). I'm going to be there because I'm going to republish my previously traditionally-published novel The Chase in the summer as an ebook and I'm very excited about taking control of my own publishing destiny. Watch this space!

If you want to write and sell your own work, you might also be interested in these upcoming day courses: I'd love it if you could join us!

Do you want to tell a tale? Unlock your writing potential at my upcoming series of four Fictionfire day courses at Trinity College, Oxford in May.


Write It! will cover all the elements of composing your story, from finding ideas to finishing your first draft.


Edit It! will teach you crucial techniques for polishing and presenting your work effectively.

Trinity College

Joanna Penn of TheCreativePenn.com and Ali Luke of Aliventures.com will join me for Publish It!, where you'll learn to set and achieve your publishing goals, and Market It!, where we'll show you all the exciting online and offline opportunities for you to publicise your work.

Full details of these courses are on the Course Dates and Details page of my website: www.fictionfire.co.uk and there are discounts if you wish to book more than one course!