Welcome news on the publishing front.
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News & views
An old typewriter
John Steinbeck's advice to writers
John Steinbeck on writing.
Read MoreAn insane way to keep you focused
in News & views
If you fond it difficult to stay focused on your writing, then maybe this is just the boot up the backside you need....
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The format makes a difference Photo from www.pexels.com
E-reading vs p-reading: your brain knows the difference
Whether you read books on an ebook reader or read the paper versions instead makes a more profound difference than you might imagine.
Read MoreShould book reviews be detailed or concise?
in Reviews, News & views
The long and short of book review lengths, or why I decided to start writing thumbnail sketch book reviews instead of full length ones.
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We should disinfect our writing against ugly language! Picture from www.pixabay.com CC0
"Driving" should be driven out!
Management-speak, clichés and just plainly ridiculous terms that nobody uses in their normal everyday lives should have no place in our writing.
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You could let Grammarly take some of the strain of proofreading. Photo by Pink Sherbert Photography https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/
Review of Grammarly -- and a competition
in News & views, Reference, Reviews
Read about a great proofreading tool, and maybe win a year's subscription!
Read More7 characteristics of good writers
What do good writers have that bad writers don't?
Read MoreThe perils of writing software manuals
Writers of software manuals face a rather unfortunate occupational hazard...
Read MoreA self-referential autobiography
I know that autobiographies are, by definition, self-referential, but Stan Lee's one is actually written in a self-referential way.
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Some useful reference books for writers
8 useful books for writers
I've either read, or am in the process of reading, several books to do with writing or self-publishing. Here's a list of 8 that I have found useful.
Read MoreWe’re moving…
in News & views
I’m in the process of changing this website to a mobile-friendly version. With any luck, this website won’t disappear in the meantime. If you do happen to get one of those horrible “Page not found” messages, please keep trying. Apparently it can take up to 72 hours for it all to come to life again.Reflections on writing and technology
Many of my articles on this blog are reflections on writing and technology. Although there are some writers who eschew the idea of technology, I believe that if you define “technology” widely enough, it becomes obvious that all writers use technology.
Even those who are fortunate enough to have an assistant to whom they can dictate their thoughts, and who will then type them up, are using technology – albeit at one remove
7 ways to tackle writing a book when you need to write articles too
My aim is very simple: I should like to generate a passive income. I could do so by selling affiliate products or by having ads all over the place. But I prefer to do it, mainly at least, by writing.
But there’s a problem.
Thoughts on Amazon’s new royalties system
in News & views
Amazon very recently introduced a new way of calculating royalties for books borrowed in the Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library schemes. Whereas previously royalties were based on the number of times a book has been borrowed, they will now be based on the number of pages read. Amazon will define what a page is according to font size and other parameters, so authors can’t pull a fast one by making the font huge!Freelancing vs authoring Part 1
If, like me, you enjoy writing and you would like to earn money from it, should you go down the freelance writing route or write books, or both?
From my experience, here are the pros and cons of freelancing.
Money, Money, Money
This article is not about writing or related matters as such; it's more about my experience of attitudes to paying for work. It's worth reading, I think, if any of the following applies to you:
- you're thinking of asking a writer to do some work
- you have some students who are hoping to earn money from writing
- you are thinking of writing yourself.
2000AD ditches DRM
A couple of weeks ago I asked: Is Digital Rights Management effective against piracy?Reflections on the London Book Fair 2015
Well, the London Book Fair has been and gone. Is it only a week ago that I was trudging home with publishers’ catalogues and notes from the various sessions I attended?
I found it really useful: three days’-worth of excellent talks and discussions, for the princely sum of £35.
What do writers earn?
A recent piece of research from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) makes for some depressing reading – unless you are extremely optimistic.
The figures relate to 2013, and are not as good as their equivalents of ten years ago, in 2005. Well, not for the most part anyway. Here are some of them: